I started a 10 gallon seed tank. Meaning this tank will biologically seed the larger tank in the future.
I have heard of many different methods, I have not heard of what I intend to do. I’m certain someone has done it.
I’m going to start at the bottom and work my way up. The tank will begin as a phyto tank, then I’ll add zooplankton, so on and so forth. I will report my findings on the tanks cycling starting with the bottom of the food chain and making its way up. It will be fun at the very least.
I ran the 10 gallon long enough that the biology stabilized, then jumped to a 30 gallon seed tank. Found a fun specimen.
Post pics soon
Its been many weeks: I took a thimble full of sand from a mature tank and added it to the system, the pods have exploded. I have hair algae- which is fantastic. The system seems stable and snails and inverts
The pods are doing well so thats an indicator that copper isn‘t too bad
No. Using RO water. I will test again soon.
are you using tap water? that may account for the presence of copper
Update:
I tested for copper and had a reading of 80 PPB. Which is a little high and after the test I assumed that caused the zooplankton to die. I prepped for a water change by turning off the pump, lo and behold, pods started swimming around- so they were not killed off just went into hiding. I performed the water change, added food, more pods and phyto and it’s been a while now and there are pods galore. I think it is going well. I also added a thimble full of sand from an established tank.
Not much zooplankton in the tank at All. Perhaps its just too new or not enough nutrients as I haven‘t been adding food of any sort other than phyto (as an experiment).
Although its unlikely because the pods lived for several weeks, I do want to check for copper as the ”rock” is ceramic and it’s composition is whats pulled from the ground and mixed by the manufacturer.
Have you done any cycle testing yet?
There has been a lot of pod movement until a couple days ago. I have been feeding phyto. Hopefully the zooplankton laid eggs… We’ll see with that. There is a bacteria starting to grow which is a good thing- the bio process has begun.
when things balance out I may do zoas as they are super easy.
How's this tank coming along?
The tank is up, salt is in, phyto is in, pods are in. I don’t think there is enough nutrients to feed the phyto in the tank so the plan is to keep dosing phyto. The pods are swimming around enjoying being out of the bottle and fridge.