Newbie foolish mistake

[srobertb]

Hello all,

im new to reef tanks so please bear with me. Ive made the change from Discus to reef and need as much help in laymans terms until i get my head round anything.
So ive a 60litre tank in my apartment. Biggest im allowed for now . Ai prime hd 16 light with live rock and sand. Set up about 3 weeks ago.

I went to my lfs yesterday and tested my water and the ammonia and nitires were through the roof. Now this makes sense as the cycle is still on going? Correct?

foolishly i forgot to mention this to them and they suggested water change and 1ml bacto blend everyday for 3 days.

came home did 10L water change to realise ive probly just restarted my cycle?

so today i just added 1 ml of bactoblend and leaving it too it.
tank seems to have some algae starting to grow on back wall also

tank has 2 clowns and a G/B chromis

any advice guys

D

Ammonia “through the roof” is relative. I’ve accidentally let ammonia go too far. You can smell it. The tank is a hole of death. Nothing will live in it and it’s obvious.

buy some test kits.

you have living things so you are now a slave to water changes, big ones, until your parameters are back in line. They will come around. Saltwater tanks can take months when started dry. Once the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle completed you still have months of diatoms, cyano, hair algae, and other various thjngs.

saltwater tanks are like kids: start beautiful, become awkward and terrible, then become beautiful productive and stable (or endless money pits that can’t seem to get their stuff together).

 

[fromdiscustoreef]

Ammonia “through the roof” is relative. I’ve accidentally let ammonia go too far. You can smell it. The tank is a hole of death. Nothing will live in it and it’s obvious.

buy some test kits.

you have living things so you are now a slave to water changes, big ones, until your parameters are back in line. They will come around. Saltwater tanks can take months when started dry. Once the ammonia-nitrite-nitrate cycle completed you still have months of diatoms, cyano, hair algae, and other various thjngs.

saltwater tanks are like kids: start beautiful, become awkward and terrible, then become beautiful productive and stable (or endless money pits that can’t seem to get their stuff together).

Keep the water changes up so!!

thats the best analogy ive heard so far. Im for sure using it!

 

[ClownSchool]

Thatsbeen a great help. Thank you. Started watching BRS this afternoon and will def try the vinegar also.
Good idea on the food. Ive been cutting frozen cube food into 1/4s and using that much.
Thanks for your reply!!

I put a cube into a small cup and add a splash of R/O or tank water (squeeze bottle works best). With the cup, I use a tiny measuring spoon to control feeding.
Also, using fresh or frozen food limits nitrate buildup better than flakes or pellets.

 

[fromdiscustoreef]

I put a cube into a small cup and add a splash of R/O or tank water (squeeze bottle works best). With the cup, I use a tiny measuring spoon to control feeding.
Also, using fresh or frozen food limits nitrate buildup better than flakes or pellets.

Thats a great idea!!

 

[WHITEWOLF7417]

As for test kits get either redsea or salifert, those two are the best on the market imo. As for equipment get yourself a skimmer and some macro algae. That will help with nitrates and nitrites. If you have a cuc that's great if not get a cuc which is blue leg hermits and snails.

 

[ClownSchool]

Thats a great idea!!

If you keep it in the fridge, one cube should last about 5 days before starting to smell. Just wash it out, and repeat. There’s a little waste, but it’s worth it. And, I can get one package of frozen food to last over two months.

 

[brandon429]

notes from the field

we ain't out of the clear yet.

the greatest possible mistake a new tanker can make has nothing to do with cycling, any arrangement is going to cycle we can see by the inability to find an incompleted cycle with fish on any recent link, any reef board. the fish live because cycles always work out fine, water bac do water fine

the greatest mistake any new cycler makes is skipping fallow and qt. see u in the disease forum by December. that's not being mean its a searchable pattern,
B

mini summary:
number of failed cycle links we can find online where two fish didnt live, water clouds, tank crashed:
zero

number of successfully cycled reefs wiping out fish by the tens after a few months of seemingly great cruise control: see the whole fish disease forum, all pages, there's like 5000 examples.

Updated cycling science from 2020 said 100% of cycles complete and none stick, and that we can all have timely safe starts in reefing. that's panned out and logged.


2021 rule: fish disease is the new cyclers worry it'll never be nitrite, and it'll be ammonia as soon as someone googles up a single example of a truly failed initial cycle.

 

[ClownSchool]

As for test kits get either redsea or salifert, those two are the best on the market imo. As for equipment get yourself a skimmer and some macro algae. That will help with nitrates and nitrites. If you have a cuc that's great if not get a cuc which is blue leg hermits and snails.

There are affordable hang-on-back refugiums with LEDs available for the macro algae (just bought mine for $50 off eBay, on sale).
I accidentally fed $20 of Dragon’s Breath macro algae to my hermits by putting it directly into the tank, so...yeah.
I used a rubber band to secure a piece around the base of my return nozzle that worked pretty good for awhile, but it didn’t least a month before a fish pulled it off.