Watar parameters to introduce CUC

[StevenSeas]

my main point was i advocate to not doing a water change, it will only impede the process imo let it set

[Ping]

Wait, do nothing but weekly water changes, add nothing, and with time, your rock will become alive. It takes time for the dead sponges and other life forms in the rock to fully decompose. Also it take longer for the small sized life forms that have survived the transport shock to begin to regrow deep inside the rock.

If one has the patience (I dont), let the tank age for at least 6 mos before you add any new life forms. The only person I have ever heard of who has actually waited the truely proper length of time for the rock to age is Sherri A.

[akjayintx]

Hey guys, I got copepods! Lots and lots of copepods! Must be doing something right...

Brown algae is still everywhere. Nitrites are almost gone I think, I only see a light pink color when I test so its less than .1.... When I initially set up the tank, I bought purified water from a LFS that I fund out later was only RO... I've been using water from Gabe's ever since for topoff which is RO/DI. So maybe thats why I had the algae bloom. Regardless, seeing all those copepods in there makes me think I'm doing ok... Ammonia is 0, nitrates 5. Water gets up to about 81 late in the day...is that too hot?

[ramsey]

That should be fine for the temperature though I'd try to get it down to about 79-80 with 2-3 degree max fluctuation. Also, I cycled my tank for about 2 months before I added my CUC. There was A TON of algae! I wish I had taken pictures. However, I added a handful of snails, three scarlet reef hermits and an emerald crab. Three days later, 90% of the algae was gone. It sounds too good to be true but you'd be very surprised how much the CUC can eat. The emerald is a PIG! He works hard to keep the tank clean.

[edit] Ammonia, nitrites and nitrates were all 0 when I added my CUC.

[ramsey]

Ah yes, I didn't do a single water change until all levels were 0. It's been about two months since I've added my CUC and they've all stayed zero. Since then, I've also added some coral and two fish. A few days ago, everything was still at zero. It pays off to wait.

[akjayintx]

Well here it is a month later and water parameters haven't changed a bit. 0.1 nitrite, 5 nitrate, 0 ammonia. So whats the deal? According to the nitrite test, there is a very light pink, and its not zero until its clear. Is this accurate? Because I would think that two months later without doing anything to the tank but topping off the water it would be zero by now... I'm getting pretty frustrate looking at a box of water every day with a bunch of rocks and some sand and nothing else in it. On the positive side, all the algae blooms have died off, but the rocks are covered in their residue. Not attractive at all.

[Europhyllia]

what kind of test kit do you have? Do you have any macro algae?

[ramsey]

I would try a different test kit. I use the API saltwater master for nitrites, nitrates and ammonia. It's pretty easy to read.

[akjayintx]

Well I finally gave up on waiting for 0 nitrites, it was actually pretty close to clear on the test so I bought CUC, a variety of 11 snails, and they seem to be doing just fine. Going to start doing water changes. Things look go so i'm much happier. Heat is still an issue, I'm looking at some kind of clip on lighting to replace the hood, I'm hoping that removing the hood will help reduce the temperature. As of now with summer heat etc it starts out around 80 and gets up to 82 around 3-4 pm so I usually shut off the lights then...that is with the door on the hood open.