clayswim
Well-known member
1.024 is right where it should be. Try to keep it somewhere between 1.022 and 1.025.
81 is a little warm, maybe using some fans over the water will help cool it down. Check your temps with a good digital thermometer to get an accurate reading. You can pick one up at Radio Shack if your LFS doesn't carry them.
As for testing; go ahead and start testing in a few days, for ammonia at the very least. If ammonia stays at zero (which it might with 100lbs. of cured rock), then there's a good chance nitrites will read zero as well. Nitrates may start to climb in the next couple of weeks if the rock isn't fully cycled (if they used a biological filter like a wet/dry it won't be cycled for nitrates).
We talked earlier about a possible algae outbreak. Don't let one concern you too much at this point. When you're cycling a tank they might look like crap, but they're actually quite useful. Some types like cyno will produce oxygen, which helps water quality; and all of them will consume phosphates, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Throw some snails in once it really starts growing to control it. Also, I don't know what kind of freshwater you're using, but using an RO/DI system can help a great deal in preventing algae growth.
Keep us posted,
Clayton
81 is a little warm, maybe using some fans over the water will help cool it down. Check your temps with a good digital thermometer to get an accurate reading. You can pick one up at Radio Shack if your LFS doesn't carry them.
As for testing; go ahead and start testing in a few days, for ammonia at the very least. If ammonia stays at zero (which it might with 100lbs. of cured rock), then there's a good chance nitrites will read zero as well. Nitrates may start to climb in the next couple of weeks if the rock isn't fully cycled (if they used a biological filter like a wet/dry it won't be cycled for nitrates).
We talked earlier about a possible algae outbreak. Don't let one concern you too much at this point. When you're cycling a tank they might look like crap, but they're actually quite useful. Some types like cyno will produce oxygen, which helps water quality; and all of them will consume phosphates, ammonia, nitrites and nitrates. Throw some snails in once it really starts growing to control it. Also, I don't know what kind of freshwater you're using, but using an RO/DI system can help a great deal in preventing algae growth.
Keep us posted,
Clayton