New Office Tank, Cobalt C-Vue 45 Gallon

[Jarad]

Alright, after a lot of back and forth, our team here has finally settled on getting a tank for our office. I've been reading posts here and there for almost 2 years as we went back and forth on having one or not. Finally though we are taking the plunge, and everything is finally setup and running. Really like this tank for now, but we'll see how this goes. Wish Us Luck!

Started with Dry Rock, and dry sand to start from scratch. May add some Live rock from the LFS to add some diversity. Otherwise, some Ammonia solution and BioSpira, and we'll see what happens. Any thoughts would be much appreciated, but let the cycle and attempts at patience begin.

https://ibb.co/cM9O8U

 

[dball711]

Wow that looks really nice, wish I had something like that to look at while I’m at work...

 

[Adam]

Congrats on the new tank and thanks for joining. Welcome to ARC!

That's a nice looking cube. I've thought about putting one in my office but I've got enough going on at home with my big system. Maybe if we renew our lease in the building we're in I'll think about it. A nice little softy tank in here would be cool.

Good job on researching first before jumping in. The long wait for cycling is if you're doing it the natural way without an bacteria products. Since you're using BioSpira to seed the tank you're good to go with adding a fish or two now. Once you read zero ammonia and then zero nitrite after adding ammonia you will start seeing Nitrate climbing. At that point it's fish time.  Just no more additional ammonia once you add them.

Take it slow and you'll be on the right track. Keep us posted and ask any questions you may have.

 

[danh]

Great small tank choice and I love the scape!

 

[Jarad]

Thanks for the warm welcome. It's been fun to actually start a project I've envisioned for our office for awhile now.

So far so good, and I will try and be patient. Biospira definitely added some stuff, as I'm already reading all three components. I think I'll hold my breath for a little while, and wait until nitrite drops, but I'm at around 0.3ppm ammonia after dosing around 1ppm a few hours ago. Nitrite is at 0.8 after being zero yesterday (before adding BioSpira), and nitrate is already at 10 from zero. We'll see what happens when I dose ammonia next and see if it drops. Surprised to find all three after a day in the tank, but maybe that's something from the Biospira that will dissipate quickly and look more like what I see is a "normal" cycle. Will keep you posted.

 

[Adam]

That's exactly what the BioSpira does. It's seeds the system with nitrifying bacteria.

 

[Jarad]

Alright, after some waiting it seems we are pretty close to adding some fish. Measuring zeroish on the ammonia level, no nitrite and about 10-15 on the Nitrate scale. Was considering doing a large water change, then adding some additional ammonia to make sure it zeroes back out after 24hours. If so, Fish seems to be up next. What say you experts?

 

[Adam]

When the Ammonia is Zero, not zeroish, do a 30-40% water change. Don’t add more ammonia, just add fish.

 

[Jarad]

Agree on the ammonia. I dont see any green in the Red Sea card, but it's the first time it's been this yellow, so I was being cautious. Thanks for the water change suggestion. We'll do that and retest before I make it fish day. Thanks!

 

[Jarad]

OK, tested again, and still zeroes.  Zero ammonia, zero nitrite, nitrates at around 10.  pH is a little lower at 7.6 but should be fine from what I've read for a newer tank with nothing in it.  Alkalinity is sitting at 2.14.  All of that after a 20% water change the day before.  Thinking it might be time to throw in some hardier fish and see what happens.  Terrible idea?

 

[Adam]

Check your Calcium & Magnesium. All of the bacteria had a field day cycling the tank and it sucked up the Alk. A bigger water change that 20% would have increased the Alk a little more. If Cal & Mag are in range, 380-420 & 1320-1400, then you need to raise the Alk up in the 7 range. That will in turn raise the pH. None of that is a big deal until you start adding coral but getting the baseline numbers straight now will help later. It will also be easier on the new fish you add due to the higher pH.

Personally I'd just do another water change, 20-30% then check the numbers. It will make the adjustments easier to do the next day and then you're ready for fish.

 

[Jarad]

Thanks for the suggestions.  I dont have a mag/ca test kit just yet, as corals were much further down the line for me originally.  I'll see about getting these sooner though as it seems a potentially good idea.  That said, I did another water change, 30% this time.  Waited a day, and rechecked everything for the next few days.  Still basically identical though.  Alk moved up a little higher to around 2.8 though, but not anywhere near the range suggested.  Ammonia challenge of 1ppm was quenched of ammonia and nitrite within 24 hours, so that side checks out.



In terms of raising the alkalinity, I'm up for some thoughts on this front.  Could go the baking soda/soda ash route in the interim, but again not starting corals in the near future.  That said I'd like to have it normalized to something coral friendly before anything gets added really.  Thanks in advance!

 

[Adam]

With your Alk, is the number you're giving us meg/l or dKH? I didn't think to ask this when you first posted the numbers. I'm so used to people talking about Alk in dKH or ppm. If your reporting the number in meg/l then what it was last week was around 6dKH, still a good bit low but nowhere as bad as I initially thought. At 2.8 meg/l your very close to 8 dKH. This would make much more sense given the 30% water change.

pH should be up over 7.8, preferably closer to 8. But this may be hard in an enclosed office with a lot of people in the building if it doesn't have a good ventilation system. Testing pH with a titration type kit is notoriously inaccurate, mostly due to user error and co2 uptake. They'll get you in the general ballpark but nothing more and can be easily be off by 0.05~0.10.

 

[Jarad]

The alk is 8dKH (2.86meq/L).  Sorry I should've clarified, but still lower than I was thinking it might be.  Again, not too concerning, but I'd like a higher equilibrium before I start adding actual things that do and dont care about the Alk levels.

The pH from the Red Sea test is fairly spot on. I actually checked with our lab pH meter as well, and it's +/- 0.05 when I've compared them, so it's fairly reliable.  I'm sure part of it is the office and lack of ventilation.  I'll consider some pH raising additions overtime with some alkalinity additions in the future I guess.

 

[Adam]

You look good to go then.

I glad you didn't raise the Alk based off what I said earlier. I'm sorry I didn't clarify that with you before commenting.

 

[Jarad]

Great, and thanks for all the help.  After some considerations, we went ahead with trying a couple of fish out, with a minimal cleanup crew for now.  Got the light installed, fish acclimated, and we are off.



https://ibb.co/gj1u7K