I have had a few post on here about my colonial and then digitate hyrdiod problems. So after a year of endless battle, torching over and over and over again and them always coming back, I decided to start fresh my 29 gallon BC. I bought a used BC 14 and put all of my coral in it, two fish, and put my old live rock in a 10 gallon tank with one fish and most of my clean-up my crew.
I bought 20 lbs of dry rock and some dry sand. I cured it for 2 weeks in the dark, I heated it and added water flow. After two weeks, I put the 20 lbs plus pounds of cured rock in my BC 29 along with the sand. I added two fish, 4 snails, about 8 baby snails I plucked off my old rock, and 5 blue hermits. I also put in a small piece of clean live rock from my old system that was pest free. I also added some cycling bacteria to help speed the process. I am running purigen in it, but I have not added my chemi-pure elite to the system yet.
It has been 2 weeks since I have added the rock to my BC 29, but 4 weeks in total since the rock was exposed to salt water. When I first bought my tank, I bought live rock so I never had to deal with cycling (which is how I got that darn hydriod problem).
I have tested my water on the 7th and 14th day of adding the rock to the BC 29. My nitrites and ammonia are not registering, but I am getting a small build up of nitrates that is registering with my test kit. I tested on the 5th day and I did have a build up of ammonia and nitrites, but they had dissapeared when I tested on the 7th.
I think my cycle is complete but I never had the build up of algea or diatoms. My sand and rock has stayed as white as it was when I bought it.
I wanted to do a water change today and add in 2 or 3 very small, 5 to 10 polyp zoa colonies and some red pom pom pulsating xenia's, but I wanted get to everyone's input to see if that was a good idea or bad idea. I have a few easy care SPS frags and I know I need to wait a few months before I add those in, but is it safe to add in zoa's, acans, ricordea? I am also planning on adding my chemi-pure elite to the system today after I do a 5 gallon water change.
I bought 20 lbs of dry rock and some dry sand. I cured it for 2 weeks in the dark, I heated it and added water flow. After two weeks, I put the 20 lbs plus pounds of cured rock in my BC 29 along with the sand. I added two fish, 4 snails, about 8 baby snails I plucked off my old rock, and 5 blue hermits. I also put in a small piece of clean live rock from my old system that was pest free. I also added some cycling bacteria to help speed the process. I am running purigen in it, but I have not added my chemi-pure elite to the system yet.
It has been 2 weeks since I have added the rock to my BC 29, but 4 weeks in total since the rock was exposed to salt water. When I first bought my tank, I bought live rock so I never had to deal with cycling (which is how I got that darn hydriod problem).
I have tested my water on the 7th and 14th day of adding the rock to the BC 29. My nitrites and ammonia are not registering, but I am getting a small build up of nitrates that is registering with my test kit. I tested on the 5th day and I did have a build up of ammonia and nitrites, but they had dissapeared when I tested on the 7th.
I think my cycle is complete but I never had the build up of algea or diatoms. My sand and rock has stayed as white as it was when I bought it.
I wanted to do a water change today and add in 2 or 3 very small, 5 to 10 polyp zoa colonies and some red pom pom pulsating xenia's, but I wanted get to everyone's input to see if that was a good idea or bad idea. I have a few easy care SPS frags and I know I need to wait a few months before I add those in, but is it safe to add in zoa's, acans, ricordea? I am also planning on adding my chemi-pure elite to the system today after I do a 5 gallon water change.
