cvcdrk's 29g Mini Reef

The dry rock came!
I got some really nice pieces. Very happy with my purchase there. I bought one of the ones he had assembled on the website but mainly just because it was the right amount of rock and I set it up the way I wanted to. I adjusted the larger powerhead too as the current in the tank was moving all the sand away from the front of the tank and just leaving the larger rocks and stuff in the front. Didn't look nice but a quick adjustment and now everything is moving well.

I still have not seen the ammonia spike Last time I tested was last night before bed. I'm beginning to wonder if there is going to be a spike at all. What do you guys think? I used a lot of live sand and live rock from the LFS that was only out of water for like 20 mins. tops....it's all been in the tank for five days now...still no spikes.

I'm also not sure about the temperature. It's held steady now for three full days at 76.0 degrees. I don't feel like this is warm enough, especially for the soft corals and things that I eventually want. The original plan was just to let it go for awhile because that was in the range (although the low end) for a healthy tank and I figured the MH/T5 lighting system I originally planned on would raise the temp by a few degrees...but the LEDs should have no affect on temperature now so do I need to get a better heater? I like how this one is small but I'm not married to it.

I plan to test everything this afternoon to see what all my levels are but I haven't been able to see any discernible ammonia or nitrites yet which is discouraging at this point. :-/

It's not that I'm impatient. I will wait weeks if I have to...but I'm wondering if there is even going to be a spike or if I need to introduce a massive source of ammonia to bring the levels to where I need them. Do I need to get a small hardy fish now or should I just keep waiting?

Still no lights but I ordered them and they said 5-8 business days. Free shipping, though. I bought the marineland reef capable LED lighting system. Got it for $189 shipped so I don't think I can beat that.

Anyway, pic of the new setup with all the rock included:

You need to drop in a piece of raw table shrimp to get the cycle going :) That is your source of ammonia. Cycling with fish is needlessly cruel.

I would raise the temp up to 79degF

Can you recommend me a cheap (and preferably small) heater that I can raise the temp with? I don't like the really long ones as they don't look good in the tank.

As for the shrimp, I haven't done it yet. I used the fish food. I dumped a whole package of fish flakes in there two days ago and haven't seen any spike...but if you think I'm still waiting on the cycle I will make a trip to the supermarket and buy a shrimp. I think I will feel weird asking or one raw shrimp. haha

If you added the dry food you should be good, just give it a few more days of testing. If you dont see a spike, then i would do a water change and say you are ready to go!

Well I don't know if it is good news or bad news but my nitrates rose again to 15ppm.

Ammonia and Nitrites are both 0 still (although I really hate he ammonia test....the color I am getting is not like any of the greens or pale yellows on the card....its difficult to read in my opinion).

I wish the electric/digital tests were cheaper. I would feel so much more comfortable not matching colors to a card. :-\

I happened to be shopping with the girlfriend today so I picked up 1 raw shrimp...got a really weird look when I asked for it...but I got it for $.47 and I tossed it in the tank. How long until I see a big ammonia spike and do I remove it when that happens or just let it completely break down?

Another new pic. Was at the LFS today too and grabbed a background for $1. It's just blue wave things but it makes the tank look nicer and I think it will look good under the lights.

The other pic is their current selection of frags. apparently they had a problem with their big frag tank and its been down and out for a month now but it's back to working again and they're expecting to get some more soon. Are any of these any good? Seems expensive but I don't really know.

Those do seem a little expensive to me, but coral prices tend to vary a lot depending on where you are.

And the shrimp will start to fall apart pretty quick. Once you see the ammonia begin to rise you can pull out the shrimp if it will stay together. Sometimes they totally fall apart. Either way you are fine.

Ok so the tank is cycling so well! I'm very happy with it. Ammonia has been holding steady for about three days but nitrites have dropped off a little bit from more than .75ppm about 4 days ago to about .25ppm last night when I tested.

I'm figuring on there being another week or two left in the cycle before I see 0's.

The nitrate issue worries me a little bit. It spiked to 80ppm but is down to about 60ppm as of last night (not sure how it went down but whose complaining?).

My next questions are:
1. When do i do a water change and HOW MUCH should i do? Should I do a 50% water change when my ammonia and nitrites both read 0?
2. I bought an AquaC Remora in-tank skimmer from a user on this site and it should come next week. I'm going to detach my cannister filter for the time being. It comes with a Maxijet 1200....is that another 1200gph of flow? If so, I may remove my 250gph powerhead and just use that to move water in my water change buckets. If I remove it I'll just move the Hydor 750gph powerhead to the other side of the tank and let the two effectively oppose each other. Would Having the 1200, 750 and the 250 all in at once cause problems?
3. My stocking plan is to get one clownfish that I like because they're hardy and a clean up crew soon. I'm debating on whether I should spend a little extra and order this stuff online or just get it from my petco (only LFS around)...but anyway, for a CUC i was thinking a few nassarius snails (3 maybe), 1 emerald crab, 1 turbo snail, and 1 cleaner shrimp. Is this enough to start off with? I don't want to just pile in CUC and I don't have a TON of algae for them to eat, although I could potentiall buy some algae wafers if I need to.
I figure I'll add the CUC first and see how they do and then a few days later if everything checks out I'll add the clownfish. Does this sound like a good plan to start out?

1. Do a water change when both your ammonia and nitrite are reading zero, and you want to do between 10%-20% of your water volume.

2. The maxi jet 1200 only pumps about 295 gph, but you can still use it! And IMO, the more flow you have, the better you are off. The ocean is never still, so why should your tank be :)

3. Petco/petsmart can be hit or miss, some are good some are bad. I personally avoid them because i dont want to encourage the bad ones to keep selling, however most clowns are captive breed in which case I think its ok to buy from them. However, I wouldnt buy a wild clown unless you absolutely have to. The captive breed ones are more sustainable and easier to care for because they are already adapted to tank life.

I would go with 5-10 nass snails, and then a variety of other snails like asternia snails, ceirth snails etc. Each will target a different type of algae. And you will need more than just one snail, but you can add them as your algae grows. I would check out a site like reefcleaners.org to see all the different types of snails out there.

And fish are hardier than inverts, so I would add the fish first and then the CUC.

I just tested my tank and my levels appear to have bottomed out from last night. Tested twice to be sure. 0;0;30 were my readings today.

So tomorrow I'm going to do two 5 gallon water changes and test again. I will have the lights on the tank for the first time tomorrow afternoon...so I'll post some updated pics then. I think my algae might take off when I have the lights up.

I will go to petco and see how their fish look this week to decide on whether I will be buying one from them or not.

Cool...sounds like the cycle is complete. A good water change, and you'll be good to go with adding a fish.

Sounds good! Make sure you post pics when you get your fishie!!!

Oh I will! :-)

I've been though thousands of pages in topics on this board looking at the progression of other people's tanks and learning what I can. My goal is to carefully document each thing I do with the tank...even minor things like small rocks being moved and stuff.

We do love our photos around here!!!

Lights are up and running!

Did a 4-gallon water change too.

I took pics...sorry the water is a little cloudy from the water change. Played with some powerhead direction too but I'm still not happy about it...I just don't know what I want to do with it. ugh.

Still no life. I want to wait a day or two and see how my water parameters are. I will be testing them as soon as the cloudiness subsides.

PICS!

Had to throw in one of Watson. He seemed jealous on his throne. :-)

Any comments are appreciated!

Off to a great start!! And I like your scape, but make sure those rocks are stable!

Just did a test:
Ammonia: 0ppm (in pic it looks greener than to me in person)
Nitrites: 0ppm
Nitrates: 20ppm
pH: 8.1
Calcium: 420ppm
Phosphates: 0ppm
Salinity: 1.0255

Looks real good loving your aquascaping.

Thanks!

Yeah it just needs a nice coating of beautiful purple and green algae and it will be wonderful.
I bought Kent Marine Purple Tech and I added some the last few days according to the instructions. I figure it can't hurt. I've seen no algae yet...although there is a white algae that you can kind of see in some pics on the glass at the bottom.

IMO, that stuff is actually junk. Its just very finely ground up sand which is suppose to raise your calcium level up - however, you calcium level should be just fine if you are doing even semi regular water changes. And more isnt better, and often its dangerous. You should never dose anything you arent testing for and never dose for anything you can prove you need.

Plus, there is no coralline spores in that stuff so if you dont already have some on your rocks, you wont grow it all.

I have found that coralline grows much faster under bluer light, if you are interested in that.