Rubens Nano 8g Build

R

Ruben705

Hello all,

First attempt at a SW tank or any tank at all. A friend that has a 8g convinced me to give in and give it a shot. [smilie=clapping.gif] Probably won't do any fish since it is such a small tank but who knows what will happen.

Here are some photos of me setting up the tank.

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I filled the tank up on 5/12 put in two more pieces of rock on 5/13 and measured the ammonia which was non-existent. I put 5 drops of ammonia in and it came in at .5 I figured that was a good start. Measured ammonia yesterday and it was still around .5 for kicks I measured nitrites and nitrates.

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Measured them again this morning 5/15 and they seem pretty close to yesterdays levels. [smilie=thinking.gif]

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I'm obviously a newb when it comes to all the levels but those levels seem odd across the board. Does anyone have any input in regards to the levels?
 
Hey, man. Cool tank! I have the same one.

For starters, I don't know how noob your are so I'm going to ask a few simple questions:

1) What water did you use to fill up the tank?
2) What all have you added to the tank...meaning have you added ammonia directly to the tank? I see you have live rock and sand. Anything else?
3) What is your salinity/specific gravity?
4) Are you running the media basket in the back of the tank?
5) THE BIG ONE - what do you plan to keep in this tank? You mentioned probably no fish, but what about corals? Maybe some easy ones? Zoas, mushrooms, softies, etc..to start out?

To start off, when I cycled my tank, I went to the store and bought a raw table shrimp. Make sure it is fresh and raw. No preservatives. Cut the shrimp in half and let it set in your tank. It will eventually decompose and the bacteria in the tank will being to feed on the ammonia released during decomposition. You will first see a big ammonia spike, then a nitrite spike, then eventually a nitrate spike. Once you have seen the nitrates spike, do a large water change and test your nitrates again. If you are somewhere in the 0-10ppm your initial cycle is complete. This will all happen over a course of 20-30 days. Some like to wait longer before adding coral and fish. PLEASE REMOVE THE MEDIA BASKET FROM THE BACK OF THE TANK. It will help your tank cycle faster.

Am I missing anything, anyone?
 
1. I used saltwater from a LFS, been topping off with RO/DI from same store
2. Live rock, sand, and on 5/13 I added 5 drops of ammonia.
3. I haven't measured salinity my refractometer comes in tomorrow.
4. I am running the stock filters and basket. (I should take this out? Does it matter that it's been in for the first few days?)
5. Just the easy stuff Zoas, Mushrooms, softies and CUC.
 
Awesome. Sounds like you're on the right track. I, personally, would take out the filter media. There are carbon and phosphate sponges in there. While they probably don't work so well, it will prohibit your cycle a little. Basically, you are trying to muck up your water so bacteria can feed on the muck to grow the bacteria population. If the media is removing some of the muck, you aren't cycling as fast. Make sense? Mine cycled for 4 weeks. It was probably done after 3, but wanted to wait the extra week to make sure.
 
The rock that was put in on 5/12 was dried and cured, the rock on 5/13 was live but was only 2lbs so we just dosed a little ammonia. My tank cycled in a week and a half with dowsing ammonia but then again it's only a 8 gallon with actually about 6 gallons of water.
 
Just a quick update, nothing has been added to tank since previous post. Past four days of testing ammonia has been .5, nitrites 5, and nitrates 80ppm. The ammonia never rose above 1. Is this common? It only went to 1 for roughly two days.
 
@Ruben705 wrote:
Just a quick update said:
That's not unheard of. My ammonia in my 14g tank never went very high at all either. Just keep waiting until your ammonia and nitrites are 0. About that time you'll probably get some algae showing up. Do a few water changes to get the nitrates down, and you'll be ready for some snails, hermit crabs, etc for a clean up crew.
Click to expand...
 
I like the rock you put in there. I just got the same tank as well, good luck and have fun. It's very addicting and can get expensive. I'd recommend an ATO to make life easier if you don't already have one.
 
This was the test from this morning, good for a water change or do I still need to wait longer?

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Starting to get stuff growing on the rocks. The fabricated rock has very little

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The live rock already had some growth but now its really growing.

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Not yet, the ammonia and nitrate levels are just now coming down from Cycle. Is it ready for a water change/CUC or should I let ammonia and nitrates go down a bit more?
 
@Ruben705 wrote:
Not yet said:
Ammonia and Nitrites should be 0. Nitrates will be higher, since the nitrites are turned into nitrates, so you'll want to do some water changes to get those down once the other two are 0. Then you're ready to add your CUC.
Click to expand...
 
Finally got all the levels down to 0, got some CUC in the tank last night.

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Mr. Krabs

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Mr. Krabs & Pierre

Also added in a Nassarius and some hermits, tonight I'll do a water change and add in a couple zoas that have been in a friends tank.
 
Has your emerald crab been munching on that hair algea yet? Need to add one to my 8g nano if he likes it.
 
Last night I put in two small zoas and a torch along with a water change and today my levels went up a bit. I haven't put in a filter yet because I started the cycle with one and then pulled it to help the cycle and haven't bought new filters yet. Is that what would cause the levels to go up?

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