This is Part Four of JO-BERT, Step By Step Guide To Setting Up Your Own Reef Aquarium. Jola, Should the ammonia rise again and become real high (>5 ppm) perform a 15 gallon water change please. Do not use products that remove ammonia. We do not want to do so as we need to ensure that your rock builds up a good biological filter and for that to happen some ammonia and some nitrite needs to be present in the tank. Albert Albert, Well, the ammo this morning at 7 am was at 1.5. The nitrite was at 0.3. Both readings are lower than last night at 8 p.m.. Jola Jola, Excellent, that means that the bacteria are multiplying and that your filter is getting there. As more die off occurs the values may go up again before they go down but I cannot predict whether or not that will happen. Your tests will tell us though Albert Albert, The water has clouded with the addition of all the new rock yesterday. It has never cleared up after adding the rocks. In Step 1, the water was completely clear after 24 hours. What about this? Jola Jola, Due to all the bacterial activity going on you probably have a bacterial "bloom" which clouds the water. This will disappear in a matter of days. No need to do anything about it at this time. Albert Albert, Test reading tonight is as follows: SG - 1.025 Nitrate - 0.3 pH-8.28. This was at 9 p.m., following a 15 gallon water change after all the rocks were rearranged. Jola Jola, Those are good results considering you just moved rocks in and out and changed water. You are getting a little ahead but not much. We need 4 to 6 inches width and will make the sand layer 3 inches thick. You will need to have someone cut a piece of clear acrylic that is 4" tall and as long as the tank is. It will be placed in front of the rock, vertically, meaning with the 4 inches up to hold the sand in place. Yes and as explained the bottom corner will need to be rounded off somewhat in view of the silicone at the sides of the tank. If this is not done the plate will not fit all the way to the bottom. Also if it does not fit real well sand will slowly migrate underneath and end up in the back of the tank which is what we are trying to avoid. Live sand will be used. I am looking around for some real good stuff with lots of life forms in it. Will keep you posted. Albert Albert, I will get the plexiglass tomorrow. Jola Jola, Great. If you have any question relating to it please let me know. Once you have it just hold on to it for a couple of days until the sand goes in. At this stage since you still have ammonia and nitrite in the tank I am inclined to wait a few more days before putting in live sand. Well you have completed step 1 for sure. You have in fact gotten into step 2 because you are now in the cycling of the tank mode. We have been exchanging messages on ammonia and nitrite levels for a few days now and nitrites being at 0.7 indicate the Nitrosomonas are present and are actively converting the ammonia to nitrite. We now have to wait for Nitrobacter to build up and reduce the nitrite levels. Once that occurs the tank will be cycled and you will have achieved two things: - a biological filter inside the rocks - a water quality level higher than what you would normally have. Just to recap what we are actually doing and how far we are. The ORP meter you ordered is on the way. When the ORP meter arrives just place the probe somewhere in the water where you have good water circulation and then wait for a while to get a good reading. Reading is not instantaneous. Takes a few hours really. I will post a message on the exact use of the ORP meter in a day or so. We are now well into phase 2 or step 2. You have set up the rock you had. You have added more rock. That rock is cycling and it appears from the last post that nitrites are on the way down. You have made space for the live sand. I expect we will be putting that in next week. The next item to go in is Astrea Snails. I will ship those to you as soon as they arrive here. All you need to do when they get to you is make sure they are alive. Your nose should tell you They do indeed smell pretty bad when they are dead! The snails will go in before the sand BTW. I will acclimate them here for you so all you have to do is add them to the tank one by one or a few at a time. Although they can upright themselves if they happen to sink into the water and fall on their side or backs, I would turn them over to the suction part is facing down. That's all for this message. Keep an eye on the nitrite and ammonia please and post me the results. Thanks Albert Albert, Test results this am at 5:30 are: pH-8.17 Nitrite-0.7. The water is a little bit more clear than it was and doesn't smell hardly as bad either. Jola Jola, Wonderful. Keep watching the nitrite though as it may still go up although, based on previous readings it may go down further since that is what has been happening? Right now I know of 11 people who are following this thread and setting up thanks using these messages and feedback from them. Thanks. Albert Albert, The test results at 5:30am are: SG- -1.025 Nitrite-0.4 and pH-8.1. The water this am is completely clear! Jola Jola, Yes, for the evening reading that is too low. Please add a small amount of buffer. Start with half a tsp. Wait an hour before you decide on what its impact has been on the pH. Let me know what you come up so we can adjust the dosage. Albert Albert, pH tonight at 10 p.m. is 8.18. Do you think this is to low? Jola Jola, The die-off which resulted in ammonia build up caused this to happen. As the ammonia disappears and the water chemistry gets back to normal things will slowly get back to normal. You may be pleasantly surprised. Corals are pretty hardy! Let's check them again tomorrow. Albert Albert, Well, they have all reacted real bad! They have hated it ! Would highly recommend folks to get them another house for awhile! The Elegance , I do not look to survive all this. The Leather , I believe will be fine , although it is not a bit happy . The Devil' Hand is droopy and slimed over. The Green Stripe Mushrooms I believe will be okay, they look somewhat better than they have been. The Ricordia Mushrooms are going to be fine. Don't seem like they have ever minded all the changes. They did, close up somewhat for a few days, but that's all. All the corals started behaving this way the day all the changes were made. Jola Jola, Corals protect themselves from the environment by closing up. When the water quality is better they will reopen. Hope all of them come through this. Albert Albert, Tests results at 5:30 p.m. are as follows: SG- -1.025 Phosphate-0 Temp-81 degrees Ca- 340 pH- 8.30 Nitrite- 0.5 KH- 8 Ammo-0 Oxygen-7 Jola Jola, Very glad to say that these test are really much better and that we are on the right track: Calcium is a little low and the KW addition will bring that up slowly You can increase the tank's temp. if you want by one or so degrees. This will increase evaporation and allow you to put in more KW. If you have time this morning please run another Ammonia and nitrite test and let me know what the pH is and if the ORP meter has arrived what the ORP is. Albert Albert, The test results for May 12th, 5:30 am are Ammo - 0, Nitrite - 0.25, pH - 8.26, ORP - 129 Jola Jola, That is excellent. The ammonia is history, the nitrite is on its way down even more. pH is OK for now. ORP will slowly start to go up, day by day as the water ages and improves. Today is SNAIL day ... nothing else. No rocks to move (aren't you thrilled) Thanks for posting the results. Gee you do start early don't you! Albert Albert, Yes, All the Corals are doing much better today, except for the Elegance, which is the only hard coral. The Green Stripe Mushrooms and the Ricordia are looking -much- better today! Jola Jola, Well I don't really know. Now that the ammonia and the nitrite are down even that Elegance may still surprise you. Albert Albert, No, the Elegance has died. It completely pulled from the base and just did not pull through. My opinion still has to be that people temporarily house their corals elsewhere when you renovate to this extent. All of the other corals, I believe, are going to be fine. But, they have not liked this experience -at all-. Jola Jola, I agree with you completely. If animals are in the tank some will not suffer at all yet others will. It is hard to decide in advance which ones will and which one will not. Since it is better to be safe than sorry, I suggest to all others what you stated. Sorry to hear about the Elegance. It did teach all a lesson though and that is the positive side of the matter. Since one cannot predict how much die-off will occur it is indeed better as you suggest, to remove all animals and not put them back until one is sure that no ammonia and no nitrite are present. Thank you. Albert Albert, Quite a few of the snails we added on Friday have not moved anywhere. Do you think they are okay? I can see their "caps" inside the shell, so I don't -think- they are dead. Jola Jola, As long as you see their caps they are OK. They move more at night than during the day. I have them in my tank too and sometimes they will remain in the same spot for days on end. Only when the gut comes out do you have to suspect they may have died. Check to make sure that all snails made it through the night. Do not need to tell you how to find out They tell you themselves. Often when "gone" the gut will stick out and will not retract if you try to touch it. Let me know what the test results are in the AM We are surely moving ahead. Just about ready for the live sand. Albert Albert, So far, one snail has not made it. It would not retract back into the shell. Jola Jola, Considering you put 50 or so in the tank that is very good. Usually more than that will not make it. Keep an eye on them though. If you really want to see them move, watch them at night. Of course I know of better things to do at night sleep for instance. Albert Albert, Yes, I do too! But, I will keep an eye on them, some of them have not moved from the spot that I put them in on Friday! What is the deal? Do you think they are dead? If I smell them, and they smell really bad, are they dead for sure? Jola Jola, If they smell bad they ARE dead as a doornail. That is for sure the best way to tell Rotten eggs actually smell better Albert Albert, You sure got that right!!!! I got out about 20 of them that -were- dead! I thought that I would throw up!!! Jola Jola, Well I am glad you did check the little buggers and got the nasty smelling ones out. Astreas do not seem to travel all that well but do a super cleaning job in the tank. After they survive the first week or so they seem to be pretty hardy IMOE Albert Albert, Test results on May 14, at 7:30am are: pH- 8.15, did add 1 tsp of buffer after the test being this low. Nitrite-0.25 ORP- 305 Jola Jola, I am really impressed with the rise in the ORP over the last few days. That is what we are looking for. That 0.25 nitrite still bothers me a little though. Let's watch it about half an hour to an hour after the lights come on. Good of you to buffer. Please test the pH again in an hour or so. Thanks. Albert Albert, Test results at 7:30pm are as follows: pH-8.32 ORP-307 Nitrite 0.1+ Jola Jola, That is a good pH for the evening. It will increase still as time goes on but for now I find it OK. Still some nitrite though, not much but we need to get rid of that. Should go away soon after maybe a small spike. Keep me posted (I know you will). Albert Albert, I have found 3 of those small Anemones that grow out of the rocks. What do I need to do? No way to pull them out , because they suck back in when you even get close to them. Why are they a bad thing? Jola Jola, If they are Aiptasias we need to get rid of them. Check the Baensch book I would imagine they are in there. Don't have one here so I cannot check. If they are let me know and I will tell you what to do. Albert Albert, I will check the book, but I'm pretty sure that is what they are. Jola Jola, Aiptasias multiply like weed and will be all over the tank if they are not removed. They become like pests. They grow even on the glass and behind rocks. Let's make sure that they are Aiptasias first though. Albert Albert, But, what is so bad about them? Why does it make a difference if they grow like crazy? I mean it is some live stuff in there. Jola Jola, It is hard to explain but if you do not get rid of them you will have hundreds and hundreds and they overgrow everything. They also can sting other corals and damage them. The displace whatever is in their way and take over. I have seen tanks where they started growing on Mushroom rock (Purple Actinodiscus) and within 2 weeks the rock was full of Aiptasias and there were no Mushrooms left. They had just literally killed them all off. Albert Albert, There is lots of little bitty pieces of rock and what looks like sand, in front of the rock formation. Do I need to remove this now? What will happen if I don't remove it? Jola Jola, The little amounts of rubble are OK. You can reposition them later when the sand goes in (now scheduled for next week - not this coming one). You can just stack them somewhere where they fit. Albert Albert, I'm still not adding any types of "additives" to the tank. Do I still not need to add anything other than KW at this point? Jola Jola, At this stage I would only add KW. You may want to put some Iodine in too as you do have animals in the tank. I would start adding LG Pro as of next week. As me again and after all readings are OK we will start putting it in. You will need Pro-Grow too. Do you have any? Albert Albert, Yes, I've got Pro-Grow. When needed , you just let me know what additives to start adding and how much on a daily basis. Jola Jola, As soon as the nitrites are down to zero we want to start adding the various additives. I will post exactly what you need to add. Albert Albert, There is quite a bit of the same sand looking stuff in the sump. Do I need to remove it ? Jola Jola, No not at all. We want to leave it there. Eventually life forms will grow in it and we want to keep those. As long as it does not plug up the pumps just leave it where it is. Albert Albert, Test results at 5:30am on May 15th are as follows: pH- 8.20 Nitrite- 0.25 ORP-318 Jola Jola, Thanks for posting the test results. Still some nitrite. That is the only thing now that has get down to zero. Should be soon although you may find that I may rise first before really falling to zero. Keep the faith. You are doing marvelous. Jo-Bert Recap : At this stage we have accomplished the following : - we have added more rock to the tank - we have converted the filtration to BM/LS - we are preparing the tank to receive Live Sand - we are adjusting the water chemistry slowly to reef parameters - we have added snails (Astrea) to take care of algae - we are cycling the live rock (nearly completed) - we have no fish in the tank (will be added later) - we do have some inverts (they are starting to look better) - we have cleared space for the live sand which should go in next week - we have eliminated undesirables (at least it appears so) - you have Aiptasias though and we need to get rid of those. - skimming is running at an efficient rate - lighting is now reef type - Kalkwasser is being added. A doser pump is on the way to you - You will start adding LG Pro etc... in the next few days - the ORP is starting to show a healthy climb - the pH is slowly getting higher into the reef ranges - salinity is at reef levels - detritus has been removed - die-off on the rock has stopped - tests are being ran just about every day to monitor conditions That sort of summarizes all we have done so far Jola. If you wish to add to this please do so. Albert Albert, I do still wonder if the current lighting is sufficient , and what will be okay for folks to get ? I already had these lights on hand, a lot of folks probably don't, they will be buying new stuff , and I wonder if this is what they should copy? What is your opinion on this? Jola Jola, Lighting for a reef is very dependent on the type of animals that go into it. We may very well change it as we go along. Right now what you have is just fine. The details can be found in the files stored in the library here for those who are interested. Albert Albert, I've got the faith! We will succeed at the Jo-Bert project! We will have a "show quality" reef , constructed over 1400 miles of telephone line! I'm a professional "novice reefer!" If I can do it, anybody can! Jola Jola, Yes indeed building (setting up) a reef by electronic mail is really a first in this industry. I can only say that your dedication and hard work are the key to success and you have demonstrated to all those who are following this that you possess both qualities and learn real quickly ! The reef will be gorgeous by the time we are finished. That I agree. Thanks Jola for putting all the effort into this. Albert Albert, Test results on May 16 at 5:30 am are: pH-8.21 ORP-320 Nitrite0.1 Jola Jola, Thanks for the morning results. Notice that NO2 is down again. pH at 8.21 not bad at all. Albert Albert, The only thing that I can add at this point , is on the water tests. We are checking the ORP, the Nitrite, and the pH , 2 times a day. In the a.m. at around 5:30 and the p.m. at around 7. Jola