Cycliing

[Coldave85]

So i have been setting up my 35 gallon tank with a cpr hob protien skimmer and fluval 404 canister filter. I also have about 20 lbs of LR and i plan on getting 15lbs more. I've put stress coat, quick start and stress enzyme. I've been running both the skimmer and the canister filter. The canister filter has a sponge, carbon,a chemi-pure pack, and biomax filters in the filter. So i see a lot of poeple are against the canister filter. Should i turn it off and just run the skimmer and buy a power head for circulation? I've had the LR in the tank for 3 days now and i have yet to see it cycle. No ammunia spike, not even .25 ppm. Do i need it to cycle because the LR had 2 hermit crabs hidden in it and they seem to be doing fine. Also it has 3in of live sand bed. I will be making this mainly fish and LR with some hardy corral later down the road. Sorry for the long post i am new and i am trying to do things right from the start. Thanks

 

[blk822822]

Cycles can take awhile. Some tanks take months to cycle and others will go quick. You will get algae growths usually during cycling, brown green some times red slime. I have switched all my live stock and sand and live rock from one tank to another and still got a cycle. The cycle starts when waste such as fish food , poop, and stuff like that start to break down in the water. It turns into amonia, then goes into the nitrites and nitrates. Take your time and be careful not to rush into things.

 

[user 26995]

Well WELCOME to Reef Frontiers. So good to see you here. And congratulations on your new tank. Some people still use canister filters. Just keep it extra clean! You want it to collect all the detritus and extra food so you dont want it staying in the system long.
If your using live rock from an existing system, you may not see a cycle. You have not really put a bioload on it yet. When you do, you might see a small spike. If it is live rock and you have a couple hermit crabs, I would feed them some pieces of table shrimp and small pieces of algae sheets every other day or so. Not alot, just a really small piece. They need to do their work at eating algae in the tank too. Keep checking the ammonia, nitrites and nitrates and PH for at least 4-5 more weeks. Cycles take a while to start if its going to, and a while longer to finish. Give it some time, be paitient. You want to make sure it is safe to add fish. I started with live rock from an establish system. I had a bunch of snails and a few hermits that hitchhiked in and I think it was two months before I added a fish.
Everyone will tell you to take it slow. Get good test kits and check the parameters regularly. Regular water changes to keep the water quality good. It is probably the biggest cause of stress on fish and ick outbreaks. Oh, get and set up a quarantine tank. All new fish and coral should be quarantined for a period before adding them to the main tank, so not to introduce diseases or pests. Better be safe than sorry.
There are a lot of great threads on this site for reference and learning. And a lot of great members that are more than happy to help with any questions you may have, so dont be afraid to ask.
Good luck, and looking forward to seeing pics when you can start posting them.

 

[Coldave85]

Thanks for the info. I have a API master test kit and everything seems great. How often should i clean the filter and do water changes? Are they complete water changes or 20% like some others? Lasty do i need a power head? The 404 is pretty powerful and it moves the water pretty good.

 

[Coldave85]

One last thing should i add or remove any other filter medium to the canister?

 

[user 26995]

I have never used a canister filter, so I am not sure what media to use in it. There are others that do use them and hopefully they will post what they do.
The more flow in the tank to keep water moving, the better. Water changes...you should probably get into the habbit of doing an approx 20% change every week. Just my opinion. Many of us do water changes differently. Once your tank has been established for a long while, water changes can be adjusted to your own schedule.

 

[user 26995]

Oh, I almost forgot. I wanted to give you this link
Reef Frontiers - Cycling and recycling your tank

 

[Coldave85]

One last thing. My salt content seems to drop. I put pre mixed salt water back in to raise the sg again. From reading the forums it seems most people have the problem of to much salt over time but my tank does the oppossite. Is this because of the filter?

 

[Coldave85]

Thanks for all the help Ipisces blk822822

 

[Katchupoy]

One last thing. My salt content seems to drop. I put pre mixed salt water back in to raise the sg again. From reading the forums it seems most people have the problem of to much salt over time but my tank does the oppossite. Is this because of the filter?

No this is not because of the filter. For some reason you have an input of fresh water somewhere, or your refractometer is not correct. Im sorry to jump in without reading, but what do use for checking your salinity?

 

[Katchupoy]

Canister filter is really good in terms of filtering your water. The next step is how good in cleaning your media. What is in it right now? Filter floss and carbon will do wonders in your tank. Also you can do 100% filter floss then put carbon every now and then. No need to put carbon all the time.

May i suggest that you buy those filter floss from walmart, where you can buy them like 7 bucks for a pillow size filter. This will save you a lot of money.

I will suggest also to clean your floss every week. If you can divide the floss in two sections. So that you only clean 1 section at a time. This is good so that you dont totally wipe out 100% bacteria already in the floss. So maybe every 4 days per section?

The only reason canister filter fail is when you get lazy in cleaning them. You have to remove the detritus before it becomes a problem.

 

[Coldave85]

I am using a floating hydrometer. I am at 1.022 right now. I was at about 1.025

 

[Coldave85]

In the filter i have a polyfiber filter pad, biomax cylinders, chemi-pure packet and clearmax rubble. Also have a cpr hob skimmer.

 

[blk822822]

Be very carful with those floating hydrometers. The paper gauge in the tube can move up and down. My brother was using one and I could tap it on my hand on the bottom and watch the paper gage move down, then turned it over and tapped the top on my palm and the paper moved up the tube.

 

[Coldave85]

So what type of hydrometer/brand name do u recommend?

 

[blk822822]

The best are refractometers. They are around $50 but worth nowing where your salinity is. And they can be callibrated and tested.

 

[blk822822]

Your LFS should test your water for you for free. And have them check your hydrometer in there tanks to see how acurate it is. But if salinity is going down thats not right. In a small tank theres alot of evaporation and the salinity can change pretty fast, but should go up not down. Tank temp can affect salinity readings also.

 

[user 26995]

I am using a floating hydrometer. I am at 1.022 right now. I was at about 1.025

When you can, invest in a refractometer. 1.022 is okay for fish only system, but if you want to keep coral, you will want to keep your salinity in the area of1.025-1.026.

 

[Coldave85]

Thank u everyone for all your help. I actually had a friend come over and test for me with his refractometer. It turns out its at 1.025 so i feel much better. Anybody now of a local fls near lynnwood that would have one?

 

[NC2WA]

So what type of hydrometer/brand name do u recommend

recommendation is to use a refractometer instead...much more accurate...

this is mentioned in this article:

http://www.reeffrontiers.com/forums/f15/what-water-quality-27575/

if you can get one that is temperature correction, all the better.