ammonia already??

[FishinInTheDark]

Well, after three weeks of collecting supplies and doing research, I've finally added water! This seems like such a monumentous occasion!

I have a 55G tank with 100# of aragonite sand, 30# base rock (from hirocks.com) and 30# live rock. I threw it all together today and added the water. Here are the stats:

Temperature: 82 F
pH: 8.4
SG: 1.0213
Nitrate: 0 mg/l
Nitrite: 0 mg/l
Ammonia: .5 mg/l

I'll get the temp down: have to play with the heater.

I know that pH is a little high, but it comes out of the tap at 7.8 here. Will 8.4 be okay, or should I expect to see it fluctuate?

The ammonia reading really surprised me. My LR was cured by my dealer, but it was a couple of hours in the trunk of my car (kept wet and relatively warm) before I could put it in the tank. Could there be that much decay already?

Thanks to all of you for your support thus far!

Conni

sound's o.k., i think the p.h. will be fine, some times local stores dont cure the rock as good as they should. it's o.k. though

[FishinInTheDark]

Okay, now I need some advice on trickle filters. I have a Pro Clear 75 wet/dry trickle filter. This thing is making me nuts! I must have something set up wrong, but the instructions are so cryptic that I'm just not sure what. . .

I can adjust the inflow by raising or lowering the half of the overflow box that is inside the aquarium Higher flow makes it quite noisy. I can adjust the outflow by adjusting the flow of the pump that came with the filter. (I had to figure this out for myself. The instructions say nothing about adjusting flow at all.) My problem is that I'm having trouble getting any balance. The thing is either over-filling or being pumped dry. I'm afraid to go to bed for fear of waking up to either a flooded room or a burned out pump. Should this be so hard?

Thanks again to anyone who can help!

Conni :(

it does take some figuring out, how big is the wet dry compared to the tank, i have a feeling your wet dry is to small. you want to be able to turn your pump off, and not have the box over flow. turn off your pump, and adjust the box so that water fill's 80% of your wet dry, then turn your pump on, and adjust your pump to keep it from running dry.

[MikeS]

Hi there

Some of the ammonia probably came from your tap water, and some dieoff with your rocks starting the tank to cycle. Most of our Wyoming tap water is bad news for a reef tank, it contains phoshphates, nitrates, silicates, copper, chloramines, and the list goes on. You really should use RO/DI water, it will make a ton of difference in the health and appearence of your tank....

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

Gregory, My wet/dry is rated for a 75G tank, and mine is only 55G, so I'm hoping I'll be alright there. I got it very close to correct. The pump is just slightly outworking the intake. I lost just under a centimeter an hour in my water level overnight. I'm just waiting to finish my coffee until I get my hands wet again!

Mike, I got a water quality report on my tap water, and you wouldn't believe the stuff in there! On the good side, calcium is 55.9 mg/L, herbicides and pesticides were undetectable. Chlorine is pretty low at .1 - .6 mg/L, but I can get that out so it doesn't bother me. Here are the kickers: copper .13 mg/L, lead .007 mg/L, nitrate .6 mg/L, phosphate mg.L, RADON 371 pci/L (EPA limits are 300 pci/L!), and a whole bunch of other elements that are either natural or not, but it's a little scary to think they're there! I'm definitely getting a tap water filter soon. I was hoping to wait until we finally get a Petco here in town. It's due to open in March. My LFS charges at least 50% more than the chain stores for supplies. (I learned from experience not to get fish there, though!) I hoped dechlorinated tap water would be okay since it's going to be FOWLR for quite some time, and periodic water changes should eventually thin out those nasties in there.

There I go! There should be a character number limit on posts so that I don't ramble on for hours! Thanks guys!

Conni

[FishinInTheDark]

Zack, Thanks! I'll definitely look into them!

Greg, My flow problem is solved! I always wait 'til my kids are in bed to do things like this, but I'm just not a sharp thinker at night! I just knew that all of this fine tinkering was just not right. I was trying to manipulate my intake by raising and lowering the inner box. Well, duh! The reason my intake was so slow was that the U-tube was sitting flush with the bottom of the box! If I lowered the box, I had more flow. Today, I raised the U-tube a couple of inches, turned the pump full blast, and everything is happy! I can't believe I was so frustrated and not thinking! Total dumb blonde moment! :oops:

Now that my water is clearer, and I can see all the little critters that came along with the rock are starting to move around, I'm really pleased with where this is going. Unfortunately, I have the flu, so I better take these minutes that I'm feeling better to get my water perams checked.

Thanks, All!

Conni

[MikeS]

ouch.....the flu...it's a nasty one this year....hope ya get over it soon!

glad you got your filter figured out. Do you have a protien skimmer?

A good RO/DI filter will remove the phosphate and nitrate in the tap water, they will definately cause cyano & algae problems at those levels.

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

Mike,

I do have a skimmer. I haven't gotten around to playing with it yet. It's just spinning away inside my filter right now. Not much happening with it. . .

RO/DI is definitely on my list. . .

My cycle is coming along amazingly! I guess live rock is just incredible stuff. I have nitrites already, which has been unheard of in the second day of a cycle in all my freshwater tanks!

Speaking of live rock, tell me that I'm not already infested. I was so happy to see little inhabitants that I decided to find out what they are. Is this an aiptaisia? I have quite a few of them. What should I do? Say it isn't so!


Thanks for going through all of this with me!

Conni

[Zack]

Hey
Yes that is an aptaisa and very easy to kill. Check out your lfs see if they sell kalk powder, mix withm water, take like a turkey blaster and shoot the mix right at it, gone!

[FishinInTheDark]

Thanks, Zack! I'll admire them while I'm recouperating, then I'll terminate them!

TC,

Conni

[MikeS]

Yeah, that's aptasia.....

Zacks method will work....but I think he accidently left out a detail....you must use HOT kalk mix for this method to work....heat it up in the microwave, then use a small turky baster or syringe to squirt the aptasia. Note on aptasia, they have amazing reproductive capibilities...if even a few cells survive, it will grow into a new aptasia! They can spread quickly this way. I use peppermint shrimp for aptasia control....they work pretty good, but you have to keep an eye on them, they seem to like similar looking polyps, like yellow polyps....

I would recommend not using the skimmer until your tank has completed its first cycle (no ammonia, no nitrite). Sometimes skimmers take too much out of the water, thereby not allowing your good bacteria to build a large population....

hope all goes well.....

Mike

[FishinInTheDark]

How sensitive are peppermint shrimp? Do I need to wait for my water perameters to get in order before adding? I plan on doing the kalk thing, but there are lots of little babies popping up, and I'm sure I need some long-term maintenance plan.

Speaking of sensitive: I have two 2" diameter leather corals that came with my rock. I don't expect that they'll survive the cycle as they're looking pretty sad already. Should I pluck them, or let them decay to skeletons? This may sound like a stupid question, but I really don't know. . .

Thanks, All!

Conni

[MikeS]

Hi there

You'll want to wait until your tank finishes it's first cycle before adding any livestock, including shrimp. Until then, I'd probably just leave the aptasia alone, to help minimize the spread of them.

Just my opinion, but I'd probably just leave the leather corals in there...they might survive, and if they don't, they will simply add food for your pods, bristleworms, and other scavengers living in your rock, as well as help strengthen your bacteria count. I never took anything off my live rock, and I was suprised at how much life on them survived the cycle...I will qualify that statement by adding that my tank was already an aged FO setup when I added the live rock, so my cycle was pretty minimal...

Here's a tip that might help you along...try and find a fellow reefkeeper where you live who has an established, healthy tank and see if you can talk him/her into giving you some water and sand from his/her tank....you won't need much, a cup or two of sand and a quart or so of water....add this to your tank, it will greatly speed up your cycle. One of the LFS's down there may be able to put you in touch with somebody....

MikeS

[FishinInTheDark]

Mike,

My hubby works with a guy with a reef tank who has already said he'd give me some corals if I want some. I bet he'd be willing to part with some sand and water pretty readily! Besides, that'd be a good excuse to go to his house and see his tank! Thanks for the tip!

Conni

[MikeS]

that's great....having a friend with an established tank is a good asset...
I think I'm the only one in my town that has a reef.... :doubt:

make sure the reef that you are getting sand and water from is established and heathy, ie no sick fish/dying coral, no huge cyano/algae problems, ect....

Mike