gvincent
New Member
Well its time i start to document my build, ill try to make it short and sweet. As i write this i am on day 2 of cycling. But will include details from weeks prior.
Day 1: Getting the tank
So first started with actually getting the tank in the mail and assembling the stand, as we can see i have VERY limited room for tank placement hence why i went with this Red Sea Reefer 200 gen2+
With careful measurements i determined i would be within +/- 1” on either side of wall trim and couch, i know this is far from ideal but unfortunately this is what i have to work with..
Day 2: Filling tank
Day 2 consisted of leveling tank, filling, and aquascaping. Not much here other than a cloudy tank, at this point i went ahead and let the tank sit for a week to clean itself up and let everything settle out.
Week 2: Introduction of livestock and bacteria
The start of week 2 consisted of letting the tank cycle. Being that i used live sand i figured “some” bacteria would have established within the tank but with no ammonia source that could have very easily died off, using dry rock from caribsea would also have no effect upon cycling.
So i was cought between a “fishless cycle” or “fish cycle” in the past ive always thrown a damsel or 2 in the tank and let it do its thing for a month or 2.. these days it seems to be use bacteria that speed up the process, so i went ahead with using Fritz 9 beneficial bacteria to try it out as they state livestock can be introduced immediately, my LFS recommend using 2 small fish for my tank size along with 1 hermit and 1 snail to start.
Testing water after 24 hours shows 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 nitrate.
Week 2, Day 2 of cycle
Day 2 of our cycle consists of own clowns getting much more acclimated in the tank, i turned down the flow on the jecod dcp4000 to the lowest setting (30%) as it seems the clowns were struggling with it at 40%.. they are eating frozen brine at this time. Tank shows no signs of any algae yet. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate eh could be 0 could be 5 could be in-between?
This will be it for the first post, i will update day by day as we cycle, keeping a constant eye on parameters.
Thoughts, questions, and concerns are always welcome!
Day 1: Getting the tank
So first started with actually getting the tank in the mail and assembling the stand, as we can see i have VERY limited room for tank placement hence why i went with this Red Sea Reefer 200 gen2+
With careful measurements i determined i would be within +/- 1” on either side of wall trim and couch, i know this is far from ideal but unfortunately this is what i have to work with..
Day 2: Filling tank
Day 2 consisted of leveling tank, filling, and aquascaping. Not much here other than a cloudy tank, at this point i went ahead and let the tank sit for a week to clean itself up and let everything settle out.
Week 2: Introduction of livestock and bacteria
The start of week 2 consisted of letting the tank cycle. Being that i used live sand i figured “some” bacteria would have established within the tank but with no ammonia source that could have very easily died off, using dry rock from caribsea would also have no effect upon cycling.
So i was cought between a “fishless cycle” or “fish cycle” in the past ive always thrown a damsel or 2 in the tank and let it do its thing for a month or 2.. these days it seems to be use bacteria that speed up the process, so i went ahead with using Fritz 9 beneficial bacteria to try it out as they state livestock can be introduced immediately, my LFS recommend using 2 small fish for my tank size along with 1 hermit and 1 snail to start.
Testing water after 24 hours shows 0 Ammonia 0 Nitrite 0 nitrate.
Week 2, Day 2 of cycle
Day 2 of our cycle consists of own clowns getting much more acclimated in the tank, i turned down the flow on the jecod dcp4000 to the lowest setting (30%) as it seems the clowns were struggling with it at 40%.. they are eating frozen brine at this time. Tank shows no signs of any algae yet. Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0, Nitrate eh could be 0 could be 5 could be in-between?
This will be it for the first post, i will update day by day as we cycle, keeping a constant eye on parameters.
Thoughts, questions, and concerns are always welcome!
