We're on day 2 of what should hopefully be a less than 4 week nitrogen cycle. I hadn't been worrying about the temperature yet since there wasn't any macrofauna present, but in an effort to get to stable water parameters, I installed the thermometer and 200W heater. It was sitting at about 72F, which means there must have been a lot of evaporation. The water we used to fill the tank had been sitting in the garage, so it was 95+, and our house holds a constant 74F all summer. After installing the heater last night, it is holding pretty constant around 79F.
I also did my first water chemistry analysis this morning. pH was right about 8.0. Interestingly, even though it's only been two days, the NH3 (Ammonia) was not zero, but was at least 0.5ppm. NO2 (Nitrite) and NO3 (Nitrate) were zero. But hopefully having some ammonia means we'll be starting the cycle pretty quick. Specific Gravity (salinity) was holding a constant 1.025. All in all, pretty good.
Monica has been in Austin and the boys and I needed something to do, so I loaded all four of them up and took them to the local fish store, Fish Land, on Westheimer near Eldridge. They have a really quality selection of fish and corals at good prices. I can't wait to go back there when I can actually bring something home!
No comments:
Post a Comment