Today when I ran my water tests, I wasn't expecting to see them come up all at 0. I expected another week or so of water changes before I could add fish. All said and done, it's only been 18 days with the use of bacterial additives.
As a precaution, I chose not to purchase a fish on the 19th when I went out and decided to wait (however impatiently) like a good little reef junkie. Now that I've waited, I haven't really put much thought into what kind of fish I'm going to put into the tank. I think I'll devote a few hours tonight planning the stocking of the tank. Most of the fish I like I shouldn't put into my tank because of the limited space for growth, and given my penchant for feeding fish, they would likely outgrow my tanks too quickly.
More than likely, I'll start with a fairy wrasse and a few chromis or anthias. I'm also going to consider my coral purchases. However, I don't want to manually dose Alk/Ca/Mag, nor do I want to spend money on a Kalk reactor or dosing pump, so I may hold off on coral purchases until I get a large tank and my growout system set up.
I also have plans to swap out my T5s for LEDs at the end of April, so rather than fill the tank with coral and then acclimate everything to the light, I think I would rather acclimate a small amount of coral to the light to reduce any losses I might have, and then add more after the acclimation time. I'll decide more on that over the next couple of weeks, especially since my local clubs are running swaps April 20th, 27th, and then May 11th.
For now, I'm just going to stick to adding a few fish for the month of April.
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March 25, 2013 19:44
Despite my last posting, I decided to only change 5 gallons of water today. The ammonia levels are dropping fast and the nitrite and nitrate levels are going up, so it's just a matter of time before they start to level off. I have a small amount of livestock, but no fish. Depending on the weather, I may go out and get a fish tomorrow, but I don't want to have anything stress out and die.
I'm really trying to be patient with my tank this time around, but I don't like to have an empty tank. Last time around, this tank did well despite my impatience, but I would like to do a tank right at least once in my life. It doesn't help that I spend all of my spare time at my LFS and know the owners well. It makes it hard to not come home with something every time I go in there.
On another note, I need to make sure that I save some money for the frag swaps next month, or else I won't be able to get the corals I have requested from other reefers. Right now, I'm looking forward to getting a couple heads of a blue anchor coral and a green w/pink tips anchor coral, but I'm sure I'll have a bunch of other items by the time the swap weekend comes.
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March 18, 2013 18:39
Today, I changed 5 gallons of water, tested the water quality, and dosed some more Nite-Out II. When I got home from work last night, I noticed a significant algae bloom which required a bit of cleaning today, but I've also notice some pods on the glass while cleaning algae. All-in-all, I'm looking forward to seeing my water params hit 0.
I'll change 10 gallons of water on Monday and then test and dose as I did today.
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March 16, 2013 12:44
After viewing today's water test results, I've decided to buy into the "Bacteria in a Bottle" method of cycling. I want corals sooner than later, and to only begin to see the nitrites starting to rise a week after initially starting the tank bothered me. I want to be able to bring home frags and colonies from the frag swaps in April, but I need to get my tank established enough to add a fish or three by then.
I ended up going to KnockOut Aquatics on 611 in Bartonsville today and picked up a bottle of Microbe-Lift's Special Blend and Nite-Out II. Dosing was done as per the bottle's instructions as if today were Day 1 of my tank's cycling period. I'm looking forward to seeing the difference over the next week or two in my water test results.
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March 13, 2013 17:49
I just got everything off the Uhaul and moved into the house yesterday. Today, I cleaned out the room where I spend most of my time and got to setting up the tank.
My friends saw that I was setting up the tank already and asked me why I'm not waiting to do that. My response was simple. My fish tank is a coping mechanism. Any time I feel stressed or upset about something, my fish tank is where I go. Sometimes, it's just sitting down and watching the fish and corals. Others, it a flurry of activity as I do maintenance or change things around. The fact of the matter is that it adds structure to my daily life. Without it, I would have too much time on my hands to dwell on negative things.
Without my fish tank, I feel that I wouldn't be the person that I am. It keeps me emotionally level, and it gives me the focus to do what needs to be done so I can enjoy my life to the fullest.