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Fijicube 81 gallon (1 Viewer)

I will say the best part of cycling a new tank is no maintenance 😁 I ended up using the start xlm after dosing Microbacter 7 for a couple days. Started with ammonia at around 2ppm and was down to 1.2 last night. Have about .5 ppm nitrites right now. No instructions on water changes on the bottles so I’ll just keep monitoring it. If ammonia or nitrites get too high I’ll change some water.
 
Cycle update
Ammonia is going down from a high of 2ppm down to .4
Nitrite is holding stubborn at 2ppm
Wondering if Nitrite will go down with the cycle or if a water change will be needed at some point.
It’s only been about a week
 
That doesn’t seem high enough to warrant a water change I don’t think. Seems like the nitrogen cycle is well under way. Nitrite had to spike, I guess if it doesn’t start coming down in a few days/ a week or so, then maybe you’d think there is an issue. Seems like you’re well on the path.
 
Ammonia is down to zero
Nitrite still at 2
Added small amount of ammonia quick cycle. Once ammonia goes back down to zero guessing in next day or two I’ll check for nitrates. Guessing I can move a fish or two over soon but not until Nitrites are at zero
 
Ammonia is definitely being taken up. Back down to .2 even after adding more. I assume I need to keep adding a little ammonia since I don’t have any fish in there yet. Also nitrites are staying at 2 and nitrites were 19. I did a 25% water change and turned my Reefmat on. I’ll turn the skimmer on soon to work on nitrates along with more water changes. All the equipment is running good and as advertised image.jpg
 
Clownfish in. Two days of 0 ammonia and nitrites are at 0 as well. Did another 25% water change then added the fish. She has been with me for a long time, hoping for the best. IMG_2821.jpeg
 
Tank is cycled. I am going to follow the Brightwell program on this tank as well as some advise from BRS videos. Added Microbacter Clean to the tank tonight after another large water change. Nitrates were at 9 prior to the water change. I plan to keep the lights off as well and only have the light from the living room on for the fish. The hawkfish will be moved next, probably tomorrow. I am hesitant to move my spotted mandarin due to the lack of pods in the new tank so will move it and the Copperband last. Other than a touchy overflow everything is running very well.
 
All is going well with the new tank. My only complaint is my overflow. I believe I may have too big of a return pump for my 800 GPH overflow or its way too touchy, I don't know. I am currently running a Reef Octopus Varios 6 at its lowest setting. I recently purchased a Varios 4 and plan on putting that in if this continues. I cannot keep the water level at the same spot and even the slightest adjustment on the gate valve makes the level rise or lower an inch or two. I usually leave it running lower than I want and listen to the constant noise. I would rather do that than risk too much overflow into the emergency overflow pipe or worse. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have a Eshopps Eclipse M overflow with a main drain and an emergency overflow so only two pipes. Or are all of these extremely touchy as far as adjustments go.IMG_2846.jpeg
 
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Jake said:
All is going well with the new tank. My only complaint is my overflow. I believe I may have too big of a return pump for my 800 GPH overflow or it’s way too touchy, I don't know. I am currently running a Reef Octopus Varios 6 at its lowest setting. I recently purchased a Varios 4 and plan on putting that in if this continues. I cannot keep the water level at the same spot and even the slightest adjustment on the gate valve makes the level rise or lower an inch or two. I usually leave it running lower than I want and listen to the constant noise. I would rather do that than risk too much overflow into the emergency overflow pipe or worse. Does anyone have any suggestions? I have a Eshopps Eclipse M overflow with a main drain and an emergency overflow so only two pipes. Or are all of these extremely touchy as far as adjustments go.View attachment 65292
Click to expand...
Should I maybe replace this strainer thing with a pice of PVC pipe to help with flow and reduce the noise?
 
How high is your e-drain pipe? Have a picture showing the placement if the gate valve? What percent are you running your return pump at?

On a side question, mostly out of curiosity, but how much reefmat roll are you using a day and is it consistent day to day?
 
MistakesWereMade said:
How high is your e-drain pipe? Have a picture showing the placement if the gate valve? What percent are you running your return pump at?

On a side question, mostly out of curiosity, but how much reefmat roll are you using a day and is it consistent day to day?
Click to expand...
Not using much on the reefmat as I only have 2 fish in there right now and not feeding a ton. E drain pipe is about an inch or two above the main drain
 
raise the e drain as high as you can or are willing. The higher the better. Had similar setup on a Figi cube that I just took down. I used the various 4 and still had issues needing to adjust the gate valve somewhat often.
 
I think replacing the strainer would help a bunch personally
 
Jake said:
Not using much on the reefmat
Click to expand...
What is the advancement set to? I run the reefmat 1200 and it is set to .8-1". Mine is adjustable down to 0.2-0.4". If it advances less, it might be less likely to change the overflow water level as much.

I agree with @reef junkie about raising the e-drain as high as you feel comfortable. To add a quick inch or so, just put a coupler on top of the pvc pipe and see if it helps any. No need to glue it.

The strainer thing could also be removed unless you are actually catching debris. Removing that may increase the flow a bit as well. Not sure what will be small enough to make it through the overflow slots but not make it through the gate valve. I assume that is the goal for it. Reefmat catches everything else.

I wouldn't change too many things at once though, just throwing out possibilities to try.
 
Fishfoo said:
I think replacing the strainer would help a bunch personally
Click to expand...
I’m thinking I’ll try that and replace it with a piece of PVC and see what happens I’m thinking water may flow down the open pipe better
 
MistakesWereMade said:
What is the advancement set to? I run the reefmat 1200 and it is set to .8-1". Mine is adjustable down to 0.2-0.4". If it advances less, it might be less likely to change the overflow water level as much.

I agree with @reef junkie about raising the e-drain as high as you feel comfortable. To add a quick inch or so, just put a coupler on top of the pvc pipe and see if it helps any. No need to glue it.

The strainer thing could also be removed unless you are actually catching debris. Removing that may increase the flow a bit as well. Not sure what will be small enough to make it through the overflow slots but not make it through the gate valve. I assume that is the goal for it. Reefmat catches everything else.

I wouldn't change too many things at once though, just throwing out possibilities to try.
Click to expand...
Mine is set to .8 - 1”
 
Jake said:
I’m thinking I’ll try that and replace it with a piece of PVC and see what happens I’m thinking water may flow down the open pipe better
Click to expand...
I had to put a strainer on my old tank to keep it from tornadoing inside the overflow box. I did this act for 2 years. Best I got was super tall emergency drain, short main drain with strainer and set it as best as I could with the gate valve. Hope you have better luck then I
 
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