Journey to my 120 begins

[Yates273]

Having tested water yet amd no ammonia source. Do I need to if I have live rock or can I add some of my fish

 

[jd120988]

Having tested water yet amd no ammonia source. Do I need to if I have live rock or can I add some of my fish

Hard to say. I would probably make sure the tank is ready to go by processing an ammonia source before tossing my fish in. Or to play it safe run some bottle bacteria like Dr Tim's or turbostart 9000 and toss an ammonia alert badge in the tank when you add the fish. I know from experience the turbostart9000 works great and I plan on using it when I do my transfer to avoid any ammonia spikes and help with the transfer.

 

[Yates273]

Copy that. I know I threw 2 bottles of Dr Tims one amd only in the brute when I stored rock last year. Not sure if that survived though over the year since I didn’t do anything else to the rock but leave it in saltwater.

 

[jd120988]

How's the new setup otherwise? Did you get the noise issues sorted out?

 

[Yates273]

Yes I rushed to get it going before work. Now it’s good to go has a full siphon and not that noisy anymore. I know it’s going to make a little more noise than normal because I plan on setting up the pump through my Neptune and have it run a few different programs which will most likely cause it to fluctuate in the display. But the little noise it makes I can live with considering it’s in the basement.

 

[Yates273]

Also took care of the foaming problem. Never had a DC skimmer before it was turned all the way up. Since turning that down it’s good to go

 

[Yates273]

Well here is the ammonia reason using API. I know they give off false readings but this is what I get with other tanks that are 0.

 

[Salted]

My son and I both used Instant Ocean Bio-Spira when we did our tanks swaps. Neither of us had any issues. BIO-Spira® for Safely Treating Aquarium Water from Instant Ocean®

 

[jd120988]

Yes I rushed to get it going before work. Now it’s good to go has a full siphon and not that noisy anymore. I know it’s going to make a little more noise than normal because I plan on setting up the pump through my Neptune and have it run a few different programs which will most likely cause it to fluctuate in the display. But the little noise it makes I can live with considering it’s in the basement.

Man I wish I had a basement, it would open up the possibilities for my setup. Glad to hear you got it quieted down though.

 

[jd120988]

My son and I both used Instant Ocean Bio-Spira when we did our tanks swaps. Neither of us had any issues. BIO-Spira® for Safely Treating Aquarium Water from Instant Ocean®

I've heard very good things about biospira as well. Can't speak from experience though.

 

[Yates273]

Just dumped a bottle of Biro Spira in tank. Didn’t realize I had a bottle of it in my stash. May buy one more bottle since it only treats 75 gallons or should I be good?

 

[MadReefer]

Used it in both my moves with no problems.

I've heard very good things about biospira as well. Can't speak from experience th

 

[jd120988]

Just dumped a bottle of Biro Spira in tank. Didn’t realize I had a bottle of it in my stash. May buy one more bottle since it only treats 75 gallons or should I be good?

It's cheap enough for reassurance to add a second bottle. Then I'd probably look into adding a fish or two soon into the tank to get things rolling if you feel it's ready which it sounds promising. Those seachem ammonia badges are pretty cheap as well and wouldn't hurt to add so u don't have to test like crazy. May be a good idea to monitor your ammonia, nitrite and Nitrate for a few days to see that everything is going smooth too but I think if you move slowly enough like your doing then your going to be fine. I wish I was in your shoes right now getting my 120 up and running. To me this is one of the best parts of the hobby. Getting all your planning put together and getting the system up and running then adding livestock. It's a good feeling once things come together.

 

[Yates273]

I agree. I love putting it all together and watching an idea come to reality. I enjoy the planning stage. I remember when I was younger and really into drag racing. I loved getting my car ready for race day. I also enjoyed working on my car and making my engine bay as clean as I could with the wiring. Now I feel that way when routing pipes and wires for my tank. I enjoy making it look nice amd a lot of that comes from everyone on these forums and seeing what they did. I have seen many great ideas here amd other forums that has helped me so much.

 

[Yates273]

So there are signs of life. I added about 25 micro brittle stars last week and this guy is scouring the rock like he’s in the desert. Soon enough there will be more life. One small step at a time.

 

[Yates273]

Well I took some of today to transfer some of my Neptune modules and wiring over to new tank and begin the task of routing the wires so it looks clean. It’s slowly getting there once everything is up and running I will do a final on the wiring. Some of it is just plugged into strip until I transfer the Eb832 over so still looks a little sloppy like the last photo. Good thing is once Neptune cabinet door is closed all you see are modules and no wiring.

 

[diana a]

Coming along nicely!

 

[jd120988]

Well I took some of today to transfer some of my Neptune modules and wiring over to new tank and begin the task of routing the wires so it looks clean. It’s slowly getting there once everything is up and running I will do a final on the wiring. Some of it is just plugged into strip until I transfer the Eb832 over so still looks a little sloppy like the last photo. Good thing is once Neptune cabinet door is closed all you see are modules and no wiring.

My least favorite task. Wire management lol. Coming together good though.

 

[Yates273]

Woohoo. We have nitrates after only a few days. I used filtration from my established tank and it looks like it only took a few days to get everything up and running. Will dose 1ppm ammonia today and recheck tomorrow before adding a fish but it looks promising. Also noticing pods running around on rock in sump most likely from the foam pad I stuck down there.

 

[Yates273]

Ugh so I added ammonia the other night (11-11-21) and the 1 ppm was not processed in a 24 hour period. It is processing about .25 in a 24 hour period. Just did another test today. Ammonia is now 0 nitrates are at 10 and nitrites are at .25. I guess I am slowly getting there even with a seeded sponge in my sump. Added more ammonium chloride and will recheck tomorrow to see how it’s going. So close but yet so far. Guess it could be worse. Without the sponge I wouldn’t be anywhere close to what I have now