Nate's Big 90 Upgrade!

[Sunny]

i poured in a bottle of bio spira in monday night and have tested ammonia twice a day since then, It has been at O for 4 days now. When would it be safe to add one fish? i was thinking i would put my B+W ocellaris in there first.

You are supposed to add some fish at the same time as biospira. You need a ammonia source which will be the food you feed the fish etc.
You can also add household ammonia to get the cycle started. If you used biospira the bacteria is already there, now you need to feed it.

Biospira usually cycles a tank in a day or so. I have used it many many times with consistent results.

Sunny

 

[panmanmatt]

i havent added any ammonia source. I will try that. About how much ammonia would be enough if i have 140 gallons of water?

If you are using household ammonia I would start with 1/4 ounce, test the water to see how close to 1ppm you are then add accordingly.

 

[natesreef]

i added 13ml's of ammonia and my reading is .5ppm should i bring it up to 1 or can i just leave it there? If i leave it at .5 that should be cycled out in a day right??

 

[panmanmatt]

I would bring it up to 1ppm just to be sure it can handle just about any bio-load you put on it.

 

[natesreef]

Alright. Just brought it up. On another note, I checked out how it looks with the light on (crappy iPhone pic)

 

[panmanmatt]

Test tomorrow and see if the ammonia has been converted. Also check your nitrites and see where they are. If both read zero then your tank is cycled adn you can add your fish. If either one is present then you need to wait a little longer.

 

[natesreef]

Alright. Sounds good.

 

[curt]

Nate it's looking good. I like the rock work.

 

[natesreef]

Thanks curt! As of this morning, the levels are as follows.
Ammonia: 0.25
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 10
I think the cycle will probably be done within the next few days.

 

[panmanmatt]

Looking good. Once your levels drop to 0, challenge it again. Ideally you want it to clear in roughly 12 hours time before you add your livestock.

 

[natesreef]

Alright. Thats the plan.

 

[natesreef]

Just tested:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .1
Probably going to kick up the ammonia back to .5 and let that clear again even though i doubt my clownfish will be creating much waste.

 

[Flare1185]

Looking good, did you get your list of fish yet? If this tank is any successful as your last one it will turn out to be one sweet tank.

 

[natesreef]

I do have a tentative list but that is always subject to change, I am not going to try a flame angel like I wanted to.
List right now:
2 B+W ocellaris clowns
1 yellow tang
1 yellow eyed kole tang
3 anthias (haven't decided which type)
1 Goby shrimp pair
2 wrasse pairs (undecided on type)

 

[kcstoker1]

Looks like a great list! (very similar to my own).

When you get Anthias, will you QT? I got 4 Ignitus Anthias and 3 of them didn't make it... So I'm left with 1, here. He's happy, but lonely. Flukes were the problem with the others, they didn't even survive a very gradual medication process.

Love to hear how it goes... And see some pics, especially of your wrasse pair(s) when you get them.

Good luck!

 

[natesreef]

I do plan to quarantine. Once I transfer coral over to the 90, the 20 will become a quarantine.

 

[natesreef]

Yesterday at about 5 I added another 10 ml's of ammonia. Then at 6 I added another bottle of bio spira (wanted to speed things up) ammonia was at 0 this morning. I checked nitrite, ammo, and nitrate again an hour ago. All 0. Then spent 30 minutes trying to catch my B+W clown, finally caught her (2 nets is the trick) and she is now acclimating in her soon to be new home. She is a fish I have had for 3 years, from my first 10 gallon tank when I was 11, she has been the first fish in every tank so far. Pics to come later.

 

[natesreef]

There she is. Checking out her big new home .

 

[natesreef]

Of the fish I'm going to be adding, which should go in first? I'm planning to pick another fish up at the invert group buy and was wondering, what would be best? Also, I can't seem to dial in my skimmer, (bermuda bps 3-c) I'm guessing it's because there is little to no waste in the tank, am I correct?

 

[natesreef]

The tank is going well. I just added some new corals and plan to add another fish once i can capture my bicolor dottyback. Thanks Will at AO for the awesome scoly and plate