How badly did I mess up?

[LeRenard]

Seems like it just needed some time. Tonight it's 1.0 amm, ~.75ppm nitrite, 0ppm nitrate.

No sign of my hitchhikers.

Guess I'll go back to reading threads for a few more weeks.. Still waiting for my light (Current USA Orbit Marine, I got a good deal but I know it'll be a little weak for much more than soft corals) and ATO (Hydor+AquaLifter) to arrive. My heater is all over the place (78-82F swings), so I'm also going to get that Ranco ordered and set up stat. I'm kind of wondering if I should return the Hydor ATO and just pop for an Apex Jr though.

[julie180]

If you can afford it, a controller is one of the best purchases that I made. You can also control your heaters with the apex. ATO was probably second best purchase.

You can enjoy your tank more when you don't have to worry about some of the little things, well, little but with huge consequences if things go wrong.

[LeRenard]

Since this tank started out with a natural disaster, and since I'm *still* having random equipment failures, I've nicknamed it "Disaster Reef". Yesterday I installed a new Current USA Orbit Marine fixture + timer.. come this morning, it's already completely unresponsive. +1 for Disaster reef.

I've got the Hydor Smart ATO in place with an aqualifter. The top offs take forever since the aqualifter only dribbles top off water, but after thinking about it since I'm adding it straight to the display tank that's probably a good thing. The first Aqualifter was DOA.. +1 Disaster reef.

I decided that since I can get called away to respond to emergencies at the hospital occasionally, an Apex just made sense since I could keep an eye on things while I was away. I ordered up an Apex Jr, but since my light crapped out I'm seriously considering returning the Jr for a standard Apex and ditching this Current USA light for something compatible with the Apex.

Any suggestions on lights that would work with a 30" wide, 20" deep tank that would play nice with the Apex and not bankrupt me? I can't say I have a strong interest in SPS (at least not yet) but a year or so from now I'd like to be able to keep an anemone and as I understand it they need fairly bright light. A brain coral would be cool, and I think that's LPS? Other than that most of the ones I like are soft corals or LPS. I think I'll be going slow in that area given the trouble I've had, but I'd like to get equipment I won't have to replace in a year

As for the cycle:

2/18 2.0 ppm Amm, 1.0 ppm Nitite, 0.0 ppm Nitrate
2/20 0.5 ppm Amm, 0.25 ppm Nitrite, 0.25 ppm Nitrate

[mrsixstrings12]

Originally Posted by LeRenard

Since this tank started out with a natural disaster, and since I'm *still* having random equipment failures, I've nicknamed it "Disaster Reef". Yesterday I installed a new Current USA Orbit Marine fixture + timer.. come this morning, it's already completely unresponsive. +1 for Disaster reef.

I've got the Hydor Smart ATO in place with an aqualifter. The top offs take forever since the aqualifter only dribbles top off water, but after thinking about it since I'm adding it straight to the display tank that's probably a good thing. The first Aqualifter was DOA.. +1 Disaster reef.

I decided that since I can get called away to respond to emergencies at the hospital occasionally, an Apex just made sense since I could keep an eye on things while I was away. I ordered up an Apex Jr, but since my light crapped out I'm seriously considering returning the Jr for a standard Apex and ditching this Current USA light for something compatible with the Apex.

Any suggestions on lights that would work with a 30" wide, 20" deep tank that would play nice with the Apex and not bankrupt me? I can't say I have a strong interest in SPS (at least not yet) but a year or so from now I'd like to be able to keep an anemone and as I understand it they need fairly bright light. A brain coral would be cool, and I think that's LPS? Other than that most of the ones I like are soft corals or LPS. I think I'll be going slow in that area given the trouble I've had, but I'd like to get equipment I won't have to replace in a year

As for the cycle:

2/18 2.0 ppm Amm, 1.0 ppm Nitite, 0.0 ppm Nitrate
2/20 0.5 ppm Amm, 0.25 ppm Nitrite, 0.25 ppm Nitrate

As for lights with the apex, anything will be able to be plugged in and turned on/off with the timer. You'll have to spend a little more dough to get ones that it will be able to ramp up and whatnot. I use 2 cheap "Evergrow" LED fixtures and I never had an issue with not enough light for corals.

[LeRenard]

Originally Posted by LeRenard

I took a water sample with me down to the LFS and had them check it with the refractometer.. 1.026 on the nose. I'm not surprised, I bought it premixed (at a different store) and it was 1.026 to start with and I've been downright retentive about topping up exactly. ATC refractometer ordered!

Just an update on that. The ATC refractometer arrived, and I calibrated it with 35 ppt fluid and checked quite a few samples. Do you know what it read? 1.019. EXACTLY what my Tropic Marin hydrometer had read and was reading (well, a little less, because I'd topped up the tank a bit more when installing the ATO)

I had about half of a 5 gallon pail left from when I'd purchased the premixed water, so I checked that.. 1.020.

So several lessons learned.. 1) Trust your LFS, but verify. 2) It's worth investing in good diagnostic equipment up front.

I've slowly brought it up to 1.0265 and the refractometer and Tropic Marin hydrometer agree now. My swing arm hydrometer reads 1.030, so that will probably become landfill. The ATO seems to keep the tank very stable.

[LeRenard]

I checked the tank tonight, day 14:

2/24 0 ppm Ammonia, 0 ppm Nitrite, .25-.5 Nitrate, 80.5 degrees F, 1.026 salinity

So how do I test now to see if it's cycled? Throw in another shrimp? I've been unable to find any pure ammonia nearby or I'd dose that :/ Do I keep ghost feeding?

[Deinonych]

Originally Posted by LeRenard

I checked the tank tonight, day 14:

2/24 0 ppm Ammonia, 0 ppm Nitrite, .25-.5 Nitrate, 80.5 degrees F, 1.026 salinity

So how do I test now to see if it's cycled? Throw in another shrimp? I've been unable to find any pure ammonia nearby or I'd dose that :/ Do I keep ghost feeding?

When I cycle tanks, I like to use ammonium chloride, as I can measure it directly. I know my tank is fully cycled when it will process 3ppm ammonia to nitrate in 24 hours or less (i.e. no ammonia or nitrite after 24 hours). At that point, it can handle the bioload of a couple small fish easily.

It usually takes a few weeks to get to that point, but I've always used dry rock.