Stocking suggestions for 12g nano

elbereth

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2018
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Uh oh. I took out some of my bigger pieces of live rock to glue them together yesterday and the surface dried out a little. Today my ammonia is at 0.5-1.0 ppm. I guess enough organisms died while the rock was exposed to air to cause a spike and I'll have a mini-cycle now.
 

BIG-G

Goliath Tigerfish
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Dec 12, 2005
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Maybe. Well at least you are aware of it. This is a prime example of why you move forward slowly and work through these things systematically.

I would like to see some pictures. You could start sort of a journal and track the tank as it changes.
 
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elbereth

Plecostomus
MFK Member
Feb 22, 2018
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Toronto, Canada
Maybe. Well at least you are aware of it. This is a prime example of why you move forward slowly and work through these things systematically.

I would like to see some pictures. You could start sort of a journal and track the tank as it changes.
I do have a journal going. Sorry for the crappy picture. I've removed some of the live rock in the bottom right corner since then to create more negative space in the tank.

ph 8.0, ammonia 0.5-1.0, nitrate and nitrate 0 today. I realized I probably also stressed the live rock because I topped up the tank (about 15-20%) with cooler saltwater the day before yesterday. Should I try something like Stability to help the bacteria bounce back?

Saltwater tank.jpg
 
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elbereth

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2018
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Ammonia still at 1.0 and nitrite/nitrate at 0. Doesn't make sense. I didn't expose all the live rock in the tank to air so there should be some bacteria left.
:help2:
 

BIG-G

Goliath Tigerfish
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Dec 12, 2005
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The tank may be cycling. Over the next few days you should see the nitrite slowly increase as the ammonia decrease.
Is your test kit reliable?
 

elbereth

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2018
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The tank may be cycling. Over the next few days you should see the nitrite slowly increase as the ammonia decrease.
Is your test kit reliable?
Seems that way. Makes me wonder if I killed off the bacteria somehow or if some of the live rock I bought just wasn't well seeded to begin with.

I hope it's not the kit. It's API. From what I've read I get the impression it's not too popular with very experienced reef keepers but I read enough good reviews about it so I thought it'd be sufficient to start. =(
 

BIG-G

Goliath Tigerfish
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Dec 12, 2005
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My experience API usually works just fine.
As long as it’s not to old. Some of the regents used in a lot of test kits do not work to well after a while.
 

elbereth

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2018
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I bought it a couple months ago but I can't speak to how long it's been on the shelf. I don't think it's the kit though because it showed 0 ammonia a few days ago. It couldn't have suddenly gone bad.

Still no nitrite. I'm seriously kicking myself for killing my live rock right now.
 

elbereth

Plecostomus
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Feb 22, 2018
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Some progress finally! Ammonia seems to have went down a bit to 0.25-0.5, nitrite still 0 but nitrate went up to 5.0. And I see quite a number of tiny copepods on the glass. =D
 
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