A week and ready?

[AquaWave523]

Hi everyone, I was reading around and talking to the LFS and it appears that my tank is ready for live stock. I added 90lbs of "cured" live rocks and 15lbs of Live sand. I have been checking water parameters each day and it has been consistent.

Ammonia: 0ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 3ppm
PH: 8.4
Temperature: 82F
Salanity: 1.023

The LSF said I should not have any spike?

Let me know guys! Im getting mixed answers...

[Nikee1404]

If you haven't had any kind of ammonia, nitrite, or nitrate spikes then most likely, your tank hasn't cycled yet. A week is a short amount of time for a cycle to occur unless you used a commercial additive to speed up the cycle.

[AquaWave523]

No additives, the LFS said I shouldnt have any spike....so I'm not sure when that wil happen?

[jenjen]

You can try adding a piece of raw shrimp (from the grocery store) - once you see ammonia remove the shrimp, and once the ammonia returns to zero you're ready to add livestock. The reason for doing this is to ensure the bacteria in your tank is properly able to handle ammonia (which will be produced when fish waste enters your system). You want to ensure this before adding any fishes or other livestock to the tank.

[AquaWave523]

Hmm..I added 15lbs of Live Sand and 90lbs of "cured" Live Rocks. I figure this would do the trick...

[VacavilleFC3S]

even adding that, the tank still needs to cycle


don't listen to your LFS all the time, they will give good advice but there main objective is to make money off you.

i would wait atleast another week or 2. ideally you should wait about a month total, it gives copepods and other micro critters enough time to establish a sustainable colony before being devoured by your first inhabitants.

i'd suggest adding a bit more sand , 15lbs is barely a dusting across the bottom of a 90

you need should bring your salinity up to 1.026 and setup a fan to try and keep the tank under 81

[AquaWave523]

What about the 90lbs of Live Rocks though?

[jenjen]

Even with cured live rock, it's very difficult to get rock from the LFS into your tank with zero die-off. You will most often see an ammonia/nitrite/nitrate cycle even with cured rock, although it may be shorter and less extreme than with uncured rock.

[Octopus8]

I setup my current 24 gallon aquarium 1 1/2 years ago. I added live sand, 40 lbs. of live rock and saltwater. I left it alone with the pumps running and the lights cycling for 4 1/2 weeks. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate eventually spiked and I had the typical new aquarium diatom bloom. I added all three of my fish and some coral at 4 1/2 weeks. I added coral slowly over a 14 month period. My fish and corals are all doing fine and my rock is completely covered with pink, purple and red coraline algae. No nuisance algae problems. I haven't lost any fish or corals since setting it up 1 1/2 years ago with the exception of one Blastomussa Merletti frag that didn't make it. I took my time and everything has gone smoother than any other aquarium I've ever set up.

I've had saltwater aquariums since the 80's and made almost every mistake possible. The two most important things I've learned so far are:
1. SLOW DOWN when setting the aquarium up and introducing livestock and you'll have much better results.
2. The other is use RO/DI water. Don't use tap water with dechlorinator unless you want to battle green hair algae.

[Nikee1404]

If anything, wait for that algae bloom. If you plan on getting tangs or angels, then it gives the finicky eaters a stable environment to adjust to. Many fish won't go for commercial food at first, but they will happily graze algae off the rocks and sandbed. The worst thing you can do is rush the cycle and toss in a couple of fish assuming the tank has cycled. It's less expensive this way in the sense that you don't lose livestock and you don't have to waste salt and water on PWC you will have to do to keep the nitrites and ammonia down.

[mmedeiros2]

The spike might happen quickly and you might never see it. I started the same way and never seen ammonia. The only time I ever seen ammonia was when I stired my sand a bit one time. I would wait 6 weeks to be safe and then add 1 fish at a time, with 2 weeks between fish. This is going slow, which you should do. This also gives you time to read up on what you want to stock with. Don't forget to check here on compatability of species. DO NOT listen to the LFS on that one. Good luck.

[nikon187]

How did you move the rock from the LFS to your tank? Was it completly submerged in water the entire trip to minimize die off? I would wait at least a couple more weeks

[murfman]

Bring your temp down a few degrees. 82 is on the high end, if you are going to keep corals.

[fishing1114]

Hi there. We have been running our tank (65 gal) for a week. We are apparently spiking Alk now but the nitrite is almost zero. We are also using a marine lab test kit which is not as nice as what the LFS used. We are not crazy about looking down the barrel of the test tube to try to figure out what color it is. We read that we could add something to the water to raise the Nitrate, but I am wondering if we should be patient and wait for the numbers to change on their own. We have also added 50 lb of live rock and 40 lb live sand 3 days ago.
Not ready to buy livestock yet
Jay and Peg

[Indymann99]

When I setup my 120g I used cured LR from the LFS (13 min from house - I brought my own container and kept the rock submerged) AND bagged Live Sand.

I never saw any Am and prob could have added a fish after the sand settled.

That said I let the tank run for 8 weeks before adding the first fish.
I did ADD a CUC (hermits) after week 4 to help keep things clean and add something to watch in the tank.

Use some of the time you tank is starting up for QT of your first fish. I QT each fish for no less than 4 weeks. This proceedure also FORCES slow additions of fish to the tank (giving the bacteria time to adjust to the increasing bio-load).

Slow and steady wins the race.

[fishing1114]

Hi Indyman thanks for the post.
what does QT mean (oh we are really newbies here)??

We are still waiting to add fish. Before we knew what we were in for we made a plan to go back to PA where we got our tank (That Fish Place) this weekend. We're still going there, but will not be getting any fish right now. I think the tank is still cycling. Nitrate high, Nitrite zero, everything else seems to be fine. I read on the bag of the live sand that if you use the product you can add fish quickly, but I don't necessary believe everything the manufacturers say.

[AquaWave523]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15306592#post15306592 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Indymann99
When I setup my 120g I used cured LR from the LFS (13 min from house - I brought my own container and kept the rock submerged) AND bagged Live Sand.

I never saw any Am and prob could have added a fish after the sand settled.

That said I let the tank run for 8 weeks before adding the first fish.
I did ADD a CUC (hermits) after week 4 to help keep things clean and add something to watch in the tank.

Use some of the time you tank is starting up for QT of your first fish. I QT each fish for no less than 4 weeks. This proceedure also FORCES slow additions of fish to the tank (giving the bacteria time to adjust to the increasing bio-load).

Slow and steady wins the race.




Thanks for the replies everyone, a question popped out at me when reading this entire thread.

Someone mentioned to Quarantine (QT) the fish while waiting for my tank to cycle. I don't know how else to put this but...how can I Quarantine my fish when this is the aquarium I have which is still waiting to cycle. Could I just buy the fish and put it in another tank today? I guess the question is, how can I setup a Quarantine tank?

Anyone?

[jenjen]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=15307050#post15307050 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by fishing1114
what does QT mean (oh we are really newbies here)??


QT stands for quarantine, and it's when you set up a separate tank (usually small and very basic) that you put each fish in one at a time for around 4 weeks before introducing it to your tank.

Benefits of QT'ing are:
* you can better limit the addition of parasites and disease to your main display tank
* if the fish is sick you won't have to try and catch it to medicate (you can't medicate your main display)
* your fish has a quiet/safe environment to get used to your water, schedule and foods available
* you can easily tell if a new fish is eating, and what it's favorite foods are

If you aren't planning to QT, do a little searching here on RC and read a few threads of people trying to catch all their fish and leave their tank empty for 6 weeks because ich got introduced.

[SKremk]

Someone mentioned to Quarantine (QT) the fish while waiting for my tank to cycle. I don't know how else to put this but...how can I Quarantine my fish when this is the aquarium I have which is still waiting to cycle. Could I just buy the fish and put it in another tank today? I guess the question is, how can I setup a Quarantine tank?

Anyone?

As Jenjen said, Quarentine tanks are easy to set up. However, you have to cycle them just like you will have to cycle your display tank.

As several others have already said, take it slow. Only bad things will happen when you hurry. Beyond establishing the biological filter, waiting at least a few weeks gives you a chance to see how the aquarium functions, and lets you get accustomed to all the noises it makes, etc. Don't listen to everything a pet store says. Their ultimate goal is to make money. Don't assume that they have your best interests in mind, and don't assume that the person helping you knows any more than you about saltwater aquariums.

[Indymann99]

My QT, cost $70 total to setup.

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/QTTankcloseup.jpg

http://i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn10/Indymann99/QTinMixRm.jpg

[mmedeiros2]

+1 - SKremk

[jenjen]

I agree that the QT needs to cycle, but the cycle will be faster because the amount of ammonia you introduce will be much smaller and controlled. If you throw a piece of raw shrimp into a completely clean tank with only a sponge filter, it won't take long for the bacteria to build up to reduce the ammonia. Once that happens you can add a fish.

The reason DT's take so long to cycle is that we introduce a very large volume of dead or dying stuff, with very little 'good bacteria' to convert it. The bacteria levels take much longer to build up to those levels, whereas in a small & sterile QT there's very little ammonia to begin with so you don't need as many bacteria and this makes it faster.

You definitely want to monitor the cycle in a QT tank and make sure to either feed it or put in a raw shrimp to introduce some ammonia, but I'd expect to see the tank ready to go within 2 weeks. From then on make sure to keep some filter media or a couple of pieces of LR in your sump, so you can start up the QT anytime you want without worrying about waiting for it to cycle.

[JLAURIA751]

I would be patient u should wait another 3-5 weeks u could add a damsel they are cheap and very hardy but almost imposible to catch once its in your tank.