Macropharyngodon Bipartitus (Blue Star Leopard Wrasse)
The Macropharyngodon bipartitus is a wrasse indigenous to the Indian ocean off the coast of Africa (Reference). This is a sexually dichromatic species, meaning that the males and females display different coloration and patterns (Reference). Below is my female leopard wrasse named Migi, as a juvenile. At the time of this phot0 measuring in the neighborhood of 6.5 cm, though currently is around 8 cm to 9 cm. At night while this species sleeps like many other wrasses dives into and buries itself in sand. Below is a video of Migi today.
Today I added 2 Nassarius Snails, 2 Blue Legged Hermit Crabs, and a Royal Gramma. This species of snail burrows into the sand and looks for detritus to eat, while most hermit crabs eat various species of algae.
Ammonia levels hit zero 2 days ago so I re-dosed ammonia, which again dropped to zero within 24 hours. This suggests that the nitrogen cycle has been established.
Today I added a small power head to add currents to the tank, the power of the power head varies on a sinusoidal curve. The ammonia levels have steadily dropped since redosing nitrifying bacteria.
Ammonia levels have remained unchanged for 7 days, so I added more rocks, and re-dosed 1 oz of nitrifying bacteria.
Parameter Update:
Ammonia has dropped to around 1.5 ppm, and Nitrite around 0.4 ppm, meaning that the nitrogen cycle is showing signs of starting, once ammonia and nitrite both dip below 1 ppm, I will re-dose ammonium chloride in order to get an ammonia level back to 2ppm to feed the nitrifying bacteria.
Cycle Day 3 Parameter Testing
Ammonia Level – 2.0 ppm
Nitrite Level – 0.0 ppm
Nitrate Level – 0.0 ppm
PH – 7.9
These readings suggest the nitrogen cycle is yet to establish, meaning the bacteria population is currently too low to process the ammonia quickly.
I added ammonia (NH4+/NH3) to kick start the cycle. The nitrifying bacteria, then oxidizes the ammonia producing nitrite (NO2), which is then further nitrified into nitrate (N03), which is then denitrified either by algae or anaerobic bacteria living deep in the sand bed, and escapes the water as nitrogen gas (N2).
Day 3 of cycling has commenced.
Water has cleared, and I cleaned the glass.
Clear Water
Glass Cleaner
Added Nitrifying bacteria and ammonia to the shrimpie tank to begin the cycle.
