Protein skimmer when cycling the Tank?

[JohnO]

[quote author=DC5 link=board=Newbie;num=1073360974;start=0#9 date=01/07/04 at 13:15:24]I understand the Nitrogen cycle and all, actually I have read a couple books before I started. So how much of an ammonia spike would you see before the nitrite to nitrate bacteria starts working? A ballpark in ppm?? someone? [/quote]

The Nitrogen cycle is not a "once off" occurance. It is something that is happening continually depending on die off and bio load. Probably the biggest spike of Ammonia and therefore Nitrite that you will ever see is when you are first setting up your tank and going through the process of cultivating the bacteria. Once estabished the bacteria levels will rise and fall dependant on the amount of food ( Ammonia ) available.

Therefore it is not possible to give any sort of ballpark figure to Ammonia and Nitrite levels. Surfice to say however that if you do initially see an Ammonia reading and then a Nitrite reading then you know that the Nitrogen cycle is functioning.

John

[Phil5613]

You may be past the initial spike and John's definition is dead on. what are your stocking plans/ideas? Are you planing more rock first, That would be the way to go if you are putting alot of rock in because that will cause your largest spike.

[DC5]

Great, thank you everyone for sharing some light on this matter! You guys are cool!

I am planning to go and get some more LR this weekend, probably another 10-15 lbs, I'm following the general guidelines of 2 lbs per gallon. But I'm sure more rock wouldn't hurt, right?

After the water is mature (I'm hoping it will be done around a month or so), I will add one kind of livestock that's on my list about once a week, and my order is as follow:

1. Soft corals
2. 5x funnel turbos
3. 1x Cleaner shrimp
4. 1x Orange Linkia Star
5. 1x Rainbow urchin
6. 1x Bubble tip Anemone
7. 2x Percula Clown
8. 1x Cleaner Wrasse
9. 1x Blue Surgeon
10. 1x Green Madarin Dragonet
11. 1x Gobe/Angelfish or a schoal of Green or Blue Chromis

Would that be too much?

Also, if my nitrate went up to about 20 ppm during my maturation process, should I change the water??

[Phil5613]

Great to see you adding more rock first! one tip is when following the pounds per gallon you need to consider the rock mass. Florida rock is dense while Bali is much less so. If you are useing a dense rock you willbe at the upper end of pounds per gallon. I like to mix rock to give the apperance I like plus have enough rock. As far as stocking goes An old hat a long time ago told me that you should wait 30 days minimum between additions. It works well for me I add 1-3 pieces of livestock (corals/fish) then wait and watch. The exception is cleaner crew stuff I feel the benefit outways the cost and add what I need.

[Gresham]

Theres no problem adding a cleaner shrimp now, it doesn't need something to clean as implied earlier. One of my first inhabitants years ago was a blood or fire shrimp (another type of cleaner shrimp). They make excellent first additions. It definitly is different then adding a dead prawn/shrimp to increase the bacteria though. When we start commercial systems, we throw in a large dead fish to help start the bacteria.

[Gresham]

What store(s) in Philly are you going to?

I would not use a cleaner shrimp for the first inhabitant.
A cheap fish of some kind would be better.

[Phil5613]

When I said
". I understand the misunderstanding of the live vs dead shrimp but why a cleaner shrimp as your first purchase? there is nothing or nobody to clean? "
It was meant to get a newbie to think about stocking procedure and not that it needs a fish to survive. The lesson is to plan how to stock not shrimp husbandry.
Or do peppermint shrimp really taste like peppermint? Eat candy canes? Is a sexy shrimp SEXY? Are turbo snails fast and do they need nitrous oxide to come off the line?

[Gresham]

Sorry for the confusion, I was just stating a cleaner shrimp makes an excellent 1st inhabitant. I ASSumed that since you asked about it not having cleaning mate that you figured it had to have one. My bad, again, sorry.

Peppermint shrimp taste like snot unless well prepared.
Actaully, peppermint shrimp, if hungary enough, have been known to snack on polyps, so they might just snack on cany canes if the need arises.
I find sexy shrimp to be lacking any sex appeal. They really don't turn me on. I find it odd that someone ACTUALLY found them to have sex appeal. To each his own, I guess.
Turbos are real fast, but only off the line, so the NO2 might actually help them get thru the race.

[Craig Manoukian]

[quote author=Phil5613 link=board=Newbie;num=1073360974;start=15#17 date=01/08/04 at 16:29:27]Do peppermint shrimp really taste like peppermint? Eat candy canes? Is a sexy shrimp SEXY? Are turbo snails fast and do they need nitrous oxide to come off the line?[/quote]

Whoa is that some serious reef humor or what? *Too fuuny, your killin' me!