Wait?

[cam1102]

I was wondering how long i have to wait before i can start putting fish in my tank. I have had the tank for one week now and im getting so ancious.

[thor32766]

what are you cycling the tank with? Live rock? raw shrimp?

[rhenie]

Yes. Wait. For a few weeks at least.

[BigElephant]

4~6 weeks at least depending on your water condition.

[Sk8r]

Got a suggestion for you: get a couple of your intended fish and put them in quarantine [an observation period.] It's the recommended technique for making sure your tank is free of disease. You can get the cheapest possible rig at PetSmart, a mere plastic tank: get your testing equipment (refractometer, ph meter, nitrite/trate/ammonia test strips+ thermometer: it probably comes with rudimentary light and filter. Run it bare bottom (no sand, just a little pvc pipe for hiding) and watch your fish in there. When your tank is ready for them, you can put them in confident that you have done everything to be sure your tank is free of disease and that your fish get needed treatment if they should show any signs of parasites or bacterial infection.
This quarantining is the best way to go under all circumstances, particularly for a beginner, and you can have your cake---ah, fish, and be safe, too.

[andiruleu]

i dont think he has a qt.. being the first post seems like hes a new hobbiest? Welcome btw.. just wait 2 weeks.. and then put atleast a damsel in there.. if the damsel survives for 2-4 weeks then you can start putting stuff in... thats what worked for me..

[ttomkat1]

don't mean to bash ya andiruleu, but IF the damsels do survive, they will be very territorial and can harass/kill fish that are added later that they may atually want to keep.

I think chromis are a better choice, cheap, hardy, colorful and way more peaceful

Just my 2 pennies...

---ttomkat1

[Sk8r]

For cycling a tank, easiest to use a pinch of fishfood a day for a completely imaginary fish. That's all you need...and you never have to drag mere fishfood out of your rockwork. ;)

Re the qt tank, now is a good time to go get one.

[MCary]

I have to disagree. Your quarantine tank would be as suseptable to ammonia spikes as any new tank, which means you would probably lose all the quaratined fish. Also, a new tank has nothing in it. Quarantine is mostly used to protect an established system from new comers. A bunch of new fish placed in quarantine is no different than a bunch of new fish placed in a new system. They are all exposed to each other and can all be treated in either system.

You can begin putting in fish as soon as the ammonia drops to 0. It may be as little as 2-3 weeks if you have good and sufficient LR.

Mike

[miztic]

Just wanted to add my 2 cents, I agree with MCary that the QT system will be just as susceptible to ammonia spikes and poor water quality as a new tank, you need to cycle it just like the main one..
however, to keep diseases out of my main tank, all fish in my qt get medicated with copper wether they show signs or not, they can be carrying ich and not show signs, so to prevent it from ever reaching my main tank, they get medicated in the QT..
Obviously you can't medicate your main tank, even if it doesn't have anything but LR in it yet, so I would advise a QT even for a brandnew setup.
Its a giant pain but I learned my lesson the hard way..
(currently QTing new hermits for 6 weeks (can't copper medicate them have to wait for the ich to die out))

Edit: I should answer the main question too, measure ammonia/nitrites/nitrates , if they're all 0 (or maybe <10 nitrates) you're technically good to go, that is if you're feeding the empty tank or cycling with live rock.
The way I ended up setting up my QT tank (should work for any new tank) was to fill with saltwater, put in a powerhead and heater for movement, and started feeding the tank as if there were fish in there, about 6 weeks later ammonia/nitrites were 0 and 5ppm nitrates, ready to start qting fish..

hope that helps..

[DaveG99]

so you put hermits in a tank for 6 weeks before putting them in your tank? I couldnt do that. Thats just to much work but your right about it being the right way to do things.


Back to the original question: If you add a lot of live rock to the new tank your cycle will be very short. The live rock carry the necessary bacteria which will keep the amonia levels down. I agree with the chromis too. By a couple and throw them in. Make sure your salinity level is correct. Even if you use a swing arm hydrometer that costs $7 its better then nothing.

[miztic]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7517432#post7517432 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by DaveG99
so you put hermits in a tank for 6 weeks before putting them in your tank? I couldnt do that. Thats just to much work but your right about it being the right way to do things.


I'm on week 3 now, and it's taking all my willpower to keep from saying aww screw it, lets put them in the main tank.. its 'close enough'
But after having to drain the main tank to get all the fish out, and losing a beautiful potters angel in my shoddy initial QT setup, I've learned my lesson, no more ich!

[reefgeek84]

Wow the horrible misinformation in this thread.... what you need to do is wait until all your levels read 0 (with the exception of PH which should be between 8.0-8.6, it needs to be steady more then anything, people have reported having PH at 7.8 with great success). When all your levels read zero for about a week stright then you can add some fish...If it takes 6 weeks or 7 weeks to get there that does not matter what matters what the levels are.

[Marinemom]

Please do not put any fish in the tank to cycle it. It is completely unecessary not to mention cruel to the fish. Although damsels or chromis or even tank raised clowns can tolerate a cycle and the wild fluctuations why would you want the fish to live in an ammonia ridden a nd poisonous cesspool? I know you are new to the hobby but better to have the correct information from the beggining.

As far as quarentining the new arrivals, I would go ahead and do that. I learned the hard way when I did not quarentine a baby blue hippo tang(tangs are ich magnets)and the tang gave the dreaded marine ich to all the other fish in the tank and they all died except for one and he went into quarentine for the next 6 weeks while the main tank was allowed to go fallow for this length of time(fallow meaning no fish in the tank). If a parasite such as ich is introduced in the tank, the parasite needs to be starved off for about 6 weeks with no fish host before inroducing any more fish into the main display. Save yourself the headache and the frustration as well as the money you spend on the fish and the fish's life and set up a quarentine for all new arrivals ASAP.

I know this is a lot to digest at once but remember everything with saltwater takes a lot of time. Please do not rush things because this just leads to a lot of heartache and frustration. I hope this helps.

Marinemom

[Sk8r]

And you don't cycle a qt tank. It's an ad hoc tank with no sand, no rock, and it runs off an old fashioned filter which you keep clean. You don't medicate unless you have an observed problem. You set it up by mixing some ro/di salt water and letting it run and mix for a day or so so it's not completelyl raw, and you test it meticulously to be sure your test strips stay pristine at 0 nitrate. You don't feed much, just barely enough to keep the fish comfortable: there's not enough room for them to be running around and burning energy anyway, and you do not load the tank with fish. It should be at a good temperature, about 80, and relatively low-light compared to your tank: the fish should not be subject to too much stimulus while they settle.

[LegoZ81]

My best advice to everyone "here" is to read the maturity issue thread.

[MCary]

Sk8r,

Not sure where you came up with all that. A tank with fish in it will start to build ammonias right away. Whether you feed them or not. Withing a week your QT will have toxic level of ammonia. Your old fashion filter needs to be cycled. The best way to do this is to keep the filter in the main when the QT in broken down. The other choice is massive water changes daily. And nitrates are not a concern.

As far as introducing new fish to a system, a quaratine tank is a key to successful reefing. But this guy is just starting out. Putting his new fish together in a quaratine tank and putting them together in the new tank is exactly the same with two acceptions. If the fish are going to be adjevantly treated then a QT is better or if the the tank has lots of rocks or decorations and you think that they may have to be captured later then a QT is good.

Mike

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7517391#post7517391 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by miztic
Just wanted to add my 2 cents, I agree with MCary that the QT system will be just as susceptible to ammonia spikes and poor water quality as a new tank, you need to cycle it just like the main one..
however, to keep diseases out of my main tank, all fish in my qt get medicated with copper wether they show signs or not, they can be carrying ich and not show signs, so to prevent it from ever reaching my main tank, they get medicated in the QT..

You do realize treating with copper prophylactically has all sorts of negative effects on fish. Its not a good idea to treat for things that fish dont have.

As to preventing things from reaching the main tank, thats poppycock. If you're using tools,getting frags,etc, from anyone else tanks, and not quarantining them for months, you brought the stuff in with them.

I personally think QT'ing fish is more a benefit to the fish being QT'ed than the tank as a whole. This gives that fish a chance to start eating well, fatten up, and get in better shape before hes exposed to the stresses fo the tank.

[reefgeek84]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7520847#post7520847 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by LegoZ81
My best advice to everyone "here" is to read the maturity issue thread.

To everyone? I resent that. And the maturity thread is way more in depth and to what this is talking about and may confuse this person... It is simple...test until the tanks levels are at 0 then you can add a fish and then go slowly with everything.

[Amy83820]

As soon as a fish poops or you add food, the qt will start to cycle. How would a fish start the cycle on a display tank, but not a qt?

[Sk8r]

You monitor the levels and don't let it cycle.

[RichConley]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7521765#post7521765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
You monitor the levels and don't let it cycle.

FIrst of all, theres no way you can stop something from cycling other than killing off the bacteria with bleach (etc) or completely removing the food source (the fish).

QT tanks work WAY better when theyre cyled. Even very small levels of ammonia will seriously bother fish, and if the tank isnt cycled, you ARE going to have ammonia, no matter how quickly you remove filter pads.

[mickyfin]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=7521765#post7521765 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Sk8r
You monitor the levels and don't let it cycle.

Sorry. That is impossible.