Timeline question

[fraustdemon]

So after reading up on all this for the better part of a year, and obtaining a 10 gallon nano setup, I snagged a complete 65 gallon setup last weekend from craigslist. This greatly accelerated my plans on upgrading to a larger system.

I ended up emptying all of the rock and sand into a 20 gallon brute and 5 gallon buckets of water from the system when i took it down and transported them to my house where they went into a tub with about 15 gallons of the same water, a pump, and a heater.

I cleaned up the tank/stand, and set it up in the living room and filled it with RODI water and commenced mixing salt. After about a day and a half I checked the water parameters and then added eggcrate, rock, and sand. Once settled in I cranked up the sump (only circulation pumps running until then). Everything seems to be running pretty smoothly.

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Been testing it all week and am getting 0 on Ammonia/Nitrite/Nitrate. Had about 5ppm the first 2 days for Nitrate. Even been ghost feeding the system.

Currently the parameters are:
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 0
Ph ~8.3
Alkalinity (per the seachem test): 3.5
Temp: steady around 78

So with that information and it having been a week, at what stage am I in the grand scheme of things? I'm trying to take it slow, but I'm not sure how accelerated the cycle is right now due to the rock basically just being transferred a couple times to the current setup.

Additionally, I think it might be going through a slight diatom bloom. Seeing lots of brown on my rock (but none on my substrate...picture of some barnacle shell with the offending brown below) Not entirely sure though. If someone could enlighten me, I'd be greatful.

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Things I will be doing in no particular order:
Picking up a clean up crew
Setting up the refugium/light/chaeto
Stocking coral/fish (have 2 clownfish in the 10 gallon patiently awaiting their new home)
Getting better circulation pumps
Getting a paid membership to ARC

A little further out I want to upgrade the existing Coralife PC fixture to a Reefbreeder Photon24

 

[w_hartyjr]

Looking good so far. Give it time to do its thing.watch for the ammonia to spike ,do your regular water changes and hopefully will be ready for fish in 2-4 weeks.Keep us posted on your progress

 

[sewer urchin]

Congrats on the <u>first</u> upgrade... looks like you are on your way.
Sounds like you may have already had your NH3 spike and it became the NO2. Since you had a bunch of live rock ( if I'm reading that correctly) this process should happen real fast. Ghost feeding should allow the nitrifying ( and denitrifying) bacteria to grow, but you will have nitrates and phosphates and the end of the cycle so a water change or two might be in order. The brown dust sure does look like diatom growth.
I'm with Willie, just wait until your nitrates stabilize and the diatoms start to go away.


So what type of corals do you plan on keeping-Softies/zoas, SPS or mixed.

 

[fraustdemon]

Thanks guys!

I'll keep an eye on it, doing a water change tomorrow.

As far as corals go, I'm looking at a mixed setup, really like the looks of a lot of the lps stuff, and maybe a few sps.

Moving to an apartment in March. The saltwater tank is going in the living room, so I'm thoroughly happy with the smaller footprint on the 65, as space is limited. Ended up turning my 125 that was going to be my reef tank into a new home for my axolotls (that'll go in the 2nd bedroom when I move), besides, they need the legroom. I think going with the smaller setup is going to be ideal for me on startup costs and space. Whenever my other half and I get a bigger place, i'll definitely look into a more substantial amount of water for my reef tank.

 

[jennm]

If you just moved the system from point A to point B, then you probably won't or wouldn't have seen ammonia. Ammonia only happens if there's more die-off than there are viable bacteria to handle it. A fairly quick move, is a good thing, and doesn't necessarily create a "reset" or ammonia spike.

Let it settle. Yes, you'll probably have a diatom bloom because replacing all or most of the water, throws off the ionic balance, and it will be looking to find its equilibrium again, and that almost always results in diatoms. Totally normal and expected.

My suggestion would be to carry on as you are, wait for the diatom bloom to happen, and provided that water parameters still test with acceptable values - no ammonia or nitrate, and low nitrate, go ahead with the clean-up-crew, and then take your time stocking with the livestock of your choice, a fish or two at a time, and/or coral colony or two at a time, etc.

If you're moving in a few months, you may want to stick with a light bio-load, and the more hardy creatures you plan to keep, because you'll have to disrupt it all again when you move.

Looks like you're on your way!

Jenn