The universe has a way of reminding us, especially when things appear to ne going well, that we are not in charge of anything. I set up the bio-farm a couple of days ago. I have done this about 7 times over the years. I usually start with a bottle of Dr. Tim's bacteria. Expected this would be needed I grabbed a bottle good for 120 gals. around 5 weeks ago when doing an Amazon order. The weather should be good for that in terms of in-transit. When it arrived it went right into the refrigerator.
I set up the bio-farm and dosed it. I had added some filter squeezing and a bag of crushed coral as well. I mixed the ammonium chloride to produce about 3+ ppm of ammonia into the tank (I have a gram scale). I rounded up s a couple of the calculations is why there is a + after the 3. When I tested the tank using an API kit, it red between 3 and 4. The tank is a 40B with 14 Poret cubes- 6 are 5x5x5 and the rest are 4x4x4s. I covered the tank with a big towel.
Given the above, the tank should have cleared the ammonia in 24 hours. But when I tested about 36 hours later, it was almost 2 ppm. Something was not right. I had let the bacteria come up to room temp before adding them. I figured I would give it another day in case the bacteria had been slow to go from dormant to working. But the next test was at lest 1.5 ppm. Clearly the bottle had been mishandled somewhere along the way from being filled to coming to me. The contents were clearly dead.
I even added do baking soda to the tank- 1/2 teaspoon or so and did another squeezing of filter media into the tank. But this morning it was still at 1.5 ppm. Last night I gambled and ordered another bottle of Dr, Tim's on Amazon. It is due Friday but I am betting it may arrive sooner.
The thing is I need to cycle those 14 filters for 210 gals of tank capacity and do so in about 35 gals of water. That required the bio-farm tank be able to process 9 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours or less. getting there is a process of ramping up. At no time should the ammonia in the tank be over 6.25 ppm on a Total Ion scale kit.
On another note, I lost control and paid for 8 of the TR Altum angels and their shipping. I did ask the breeder to hold them for me for about 2 weeks. I need to do a major cleaning in the Altum tank and then a minor rescape. I need a couple of weeks with 36 hour days. It is June and that means canisters get cleaned.
"Damn the snailpedoes, full munch ahead!"
I set up the bio-farm and dosed it. I had added some filter squeezing and a bag of crushed coral as well. I mixed the ammonium chloride to produce about 3+ ppm of ammonia into the tank (I have a gram scale). I rounded up s a couple of the calculations is why there is a + after the 3. When I tested the tank using an API kit, it red between 3 and 4. The tank is a 40B with 14 Poret cubes- 6 are 5x5x5 and the rest are 4x4x4s. I covered the tank with a big towel.
Given the above, the tank should have cleared the ammonia in 24 hours. But when I tested about 36 hours later, it was almost 2 ppm. Something was not right. I had let the bacteria come up to room temp before adding them. I figured I would give it another day in case the bacteria had been slow to go from dormant to working. But the next test was at lest 1.5 ppm. Clearly the bottle had been mishandled somewhere along the way from being filled to coming to me. The contents were clearly dead.
I even added do baking soda to the tank- 1/2 teaspoon or so and did another squeezing of filter media into the tank. But this morning it was still at 1.5 ppm. Last night I gambled and ordered another bottle of Dr, Tim's on Amazon. It is due Friday but I am betting it may arrive sooner.
The thing is I need to cycle those 14 filters for 210 gals of tank capacity and do so in about 35 gals of water. That required the bio-farm tank be able to process 9 ppm of ammonia in 24 hours or less. getting there is a process of ramping up. At no time should the ammonia in the tank be over 6.25 ppm on a Total Ion scale kit.
On another note, I lost control and paid for 8 of the TR Altum angels and their shipping. I did ask the breeder to hold them for me for about 2 weeks. I need to do a major cleaning in the Altum tank and then a minor rescape. I need a couple of weeks with 36 hour days. It is June and that means canisters get cleaned.
"Damn the snailpedoes, full munch ahead!"
