Wierd tank pics, this normal?

[reeffreak]

Its sounds okay to me.Its doubtful that it will cause any problems.

 

[Doc]

I agree

-Dr Marco :sfish:

 

[joeman]

i know that if you get a uv sterilizer its best that you do that if you are only planning a fowlr. If your planning otherwise its not the best idea because you are not only killing bad bacteria and things like that but your going to destroy things that are good for your reef too. uv for fowlr - yes.... uv for reef - no just the 2 pennies out of my loafers

I think this is sound advice - this is where I have ended up. When I had the 'pea soup' in my FOWLR I bought a UV (TurboTwist) which cleared it up - once I read the packaging telling me all the great things it could do I bought a second smaller one for my reef. Now whilst there was no obvious detremental impact from using it, I needed to switch it off every time I fed phytoplancton etc, so "why would I turn it back on?" ...

I have stopped using it on my reef but 24/7 on my FOWLR to kill any water born organizims before they become an issue.

 

[Bifferwine]

I agree with all of the above! Wait it out. Since you don't have anything in your tank yet, it's not going to do any harm.

 

[yote]

I agree too,Wait it out.
Probably wouldnt hurt to leave the lights off for 2 or 3 days though.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Ok, cycle 2 weeks in and I had a Nitrite spike, Ammonia spike(both at 0 now) and my nitrates are sitting at about 180 or so. Instead of the water being neon green, its very yellow... Almost like someone took a pee in the tank.... I have yet to see any algae bloom, diatoms, rock is still bone white... Am I missing something here? Skimmer is still pullin junk out of the tank on a daily basis.

For some reason I am thinking that there will be this huge blast of algae to appear.. Will it or shall I start adding a CUC after I do a 60 gallon water change?

 

[reeffreak]

There's no dusty green or brown stuff on the glass?

I'm having a brain fart...whats a CUC?

 

[MikMcgyver]

Clean up Crew, maybe a lil bit of brown stuff on the glass, thought it was just dust settling though....

 

[reeffreak]

Since your not really having an algae problem...Go with fish and scavengers now then algae eaters later.Say a fish or two and some nassarius.

 

[MikMcgyver]

What kind of scavengers? Definately nassarius, how many in the 125?

10-12 to start or that too many?

 

[reeffreak]

Start with 10 of the large Tongan nassarius or 25 or so of the small.Heck,even a mixture of the two.Fighting conchs,Queen conches are scavengers as well as algae eaters.Around 4 total will be good for now.Don't add any scavengers unless your going to add fish.Hermit crabs are scavengers too but I don't like them.I'm sure you heard all the stories,the decision will have to be up to you.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Thanks man, will do my water change today and get the snails and conches goin today

 

[Bifferwine]

Holy crapola, nitrates at 180? Do some BIG water changes before you try to add a cleaner crew to that. Get those 'trates down below 20.

 

[MikMcgyver]

Ya, tested again this morning and they were down to about 80 or so, doing a 60 gallon change today so that should wipe most of it out...

 

[Ctimpson]

Hey mike, which LFS do you goto... Check out Ron @ aquariums in motion... It is in fullerton of state college and orangethorpe... Might be a little of a drive, but I promise you, it will be well worth the trip...

 

[MikMcgyver]

I goto Jeffs Exotic Fish in Costa Mesa.. He has another store in Orange too.. I will check that place out today. Got an itch to goto a different store..

 

[fishbait]

wow! I have never heard of nitrates spiking to 180! does a test kit go up that high?

 

[Bifferwine]

Mine got to 150 this one time... Test kits don't normally go that high. You have to dilute your water sample out with RODI water to 1/10th of what it's supposed to be, so whatever it reads, you multiply that by 10 to get the actual value. For example, if your nitrates are off the chart, dilute it to 1/10th concentration with RODI water, and then if it reads 10, multiply that by 10, so your actual reading is 100.

 

[Doc]

I would wait a bit longer before adding any CUC to your tank. it seems a bit too unstable yet. I would hate for you to add livestock and kill them, adding an ammonia problem to the list. Let it sit another week or so and check the parameters then.

-Doc

 

[MikMcgyver]

Did a water change 2 days ago and the nitrates have dropped to about 60-80 or so. The water is fairly clear now, just a small yellow haze. I am going to wait till saturday, do another water change and see where that lands me...