Beginning coral questions

[SeahorseKeeper]

When people say to add a piece of shrimp to a new tank, they mean to add a piece of fresh shrimp from the seafood department at the grocery store. The reason for this is to have it start to decompose in your tank. This starts the cycle. It introduces ammonia into your tank. Then, beneficial bacteria begins to colonize and turn the toxic ammonia into nitrite. Then, more bacteria colonizes to turn the nitrite into nitrate. Nitrate is removed through water changes and nutrient export. At this stage, I would not add a piece of shrimp. You have a fish in the tank. I would just monitor the ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels.

 

[G_Sanab922]

Yes ^ this is one option. Another would be to get your clown in a temporary tank and cycle

 

[Qh2214]

Ya right now my nitrates are pretty high at 20-30

 

[tyler1503]

Considering you already have nitrates my best guess would be that you have seen the worst of the cycle already. Too many changes now could stress the clown further and cause more issues. Your ammonia, if there even is any at the moment, should be minimal and clear up soon. Any amount of ammonia is bad, but it should be declining which is good.
I would suggest testing for ammonia and nitrite and if there is any, do a water change and pick up a bottle of Prime and a bottled bacteria.
Some people may recommend against water changes, but at this point it's not about having a perfect cycle. It's about doing what's best for the clown.
Good luck!

 

[Qh2214]

Will do! Totally I feel bad with all the changes when I started didn't know I'd make so many while I had the fish! What's the bottle of prime for and assuming the bacteria is to bring my rock to life?

 

[SeahorseKeeper]

Considering you already have nitrates my best guess would be that you have seen the worst of the cycle already. Too many changes now could stress the clown further and cause more issues. Your ammonia, if there even is any at the moment, should be minimal and clear up soon. Any amount of ammonia is bad, but it should be declining which is good.
I would suggest testing for ammonia and nitrite and if there is any, do a water change and pick up a bottle of Prime and a bottled bacteria.
Some people may recommend against water changes, but at this point it's not about having a perfect cycle. It's about doing what's best for the clown.
Good luck!

I agree! One thing to keep in mind with Prime though is that it just "locks" the ammonia which can cause issues with test kit readings of ammonia.

 

[tyler1503]

Will do! Totally I feel bad with all the changes when I started didn't know I'd make so many while I had the fish! What's the bottle of prime for and assuming the bacteria is to bring my rock to life?

Prime reduces the amount of toxic ammonia in the water. The ammonia is still in the water, but it is no longer dangerous to the livestock. Keep in mind what seahorsekeeper said, it may skew your ammonia test results. Lots of people use it with good results
And yes, the bottles bacteria will introduce the same types of bacteria that we grow during the cycling phase. It's essentially a cycle in a bottle. But it shouldn't be used and have fish thrown in the next day, a proper cycle still needs a few weeks/months to kick over!

 

[Qh2214]

Awesome thank you guys for the advice! Just picked up two pieces of rock today made a cave type of swim through for my angel!

 

[Mikesmith34]

Next stop diatom bloom. Your sand and rock will start to have all this brown dusty looking stuff grow all over it. Don't worry it will go away in time it's just part of it. Keep on waiting for any corals or livestock

 

[Qh2214]

Awesome! How long till it disappears? I think I have a little starting on my sand. My water test had me at Nh3/Nh4: .25 NO2: .25 NO3: 20 PH: 8.0 KH: 7 so looks like I'm still cycling right now but picked up some hermits and snails too.

 

[individ]

hey can u tell tank dimensions ?

 

[PostShawn]

Those parameters look like on the downward side of the cycle. The clown will probably survive ok. But definitely wait for anything else, even more fish. The corals you'll probably want to see the parameters steady where they should be for a couple weeks if not longer just to make sure things are ok. And they will need a good light so if you don't have your new light yet then definitely wait for that too. An anemone will need about 6 months of a steady tank doing good before you put that in. I jumped the gun on that too in the beginning and it died quickly. Save your money and the anemone's life and wait on that one. Some clown's will even host in corals so if you just wanted to see the clown have a home you might be able to get away with not needing the nem. My pair host on a large hairy mushroom.

Just a tip about going to LFS's (local fish stores). When you go with a plan on what you want do, research online first. Ask questions in forums, look up specs on websites, etc. I'm not saying you are going to get all the best info online. But at least you have a slight understanding before going in to ask the LFS. Then if the LFS says something totally different you know someone is wrong and to question who that is. You might want to hold off on whatever the trip was for and do a little more research if that's the case before purchasing. It's kind of a checks and balances system to see if you know what you need and if the store actually knows what you need and not just trying to sell you stuff.

I hate it when the stores give bad advice. They should never have sold you a fish right away even with the "dry" live rock and their bag of water. I used wet live rock, live sand, and good water and still waited two weeks to make sure everything would be ok. The stores have to understand if you sell people a setup and the fish dies right away the customer is more likely to spend a little more to keep trying but then just dump it all together. Just look how many cheap setups are on craigslist. We want more people interested in the hobby to keep it alive. Not more people thinking it's stupid and not meant pets. If the stores tell the customer to do things correctly they can hopefully make more money in the long run with the supplies sold and make more advocates of the hobby.

I like the look of your tank though. Good luck and I hope everything goes well.

 

[DrBoxedWine]

Ya for sure, when I bought the live rock it wasn't in a tank it was just dried out waiting to go into a tank. So the place I bought it from gave me a bag full of water from their established reef tank to help the right bacteria start to grow on my live rock to speed up the process of the mini cycle!

My suggestion is that you don't ask this person for advice anymore...lol. This is some crackpot advice if i've ever heard it. I don't want to put LFS employees down because most of them are hobbyists themselves and I think it's wrong to just say they're out to take people's money, but then i here things like this and I wonder. Either that employee just knows absolutely nothing about the hobby or he's looking to make a fast buck. There are 2 employees in my area i trust completely. This is out of 5 fish stores, and probably 3-8 employees at each. I haven't talked to all of them, but i've only found 2 that will actually talk someone out of buying something if it isn't right for their setup. In my opinion this is the mark of a trustworthy LFS employee. One thing i do is to get a question that i know the answer to, and see what they say. My usual is "can you do a yellow tang in a 55g or 75g?" If they say "yes, absolutely fine in either." Then i don't really ask for their help anymore. I feel this question is in a grey area for a 75g, so if they tell me "eeeehhhhh it can be done, but it's a stretch and likely won't last in the long run," then i'll have a little more faith in their advice.

Not get down on you here, it's natural to assume you can trust someone in a fish store. Anyway, definitely keep an eye on ammonia levels. NitrIte isn't a concern with most SW fish so don't sweat that. I made a similar mistake when i started out and had an ammonia spike, the fish were gasping for air at the top of the tank. I ended up getting a 5g home depot bucket and using an airstone for a few days until i could get ammonia back in check (my tank was cycled, i just added too much ammonia to keep the cycle going the day before and i didn't check the levels before i added the fish). 5g buckets are cheap secondary tanks, but you'll probably need an airpump.

A note on Prime, it only binds ammonia into non-toxic forms for up to 48 hours. So if you do a triple dose of prime, you'll need to do probably a 25% water change every other day and keep dosing to keep the fish safe. If you don't do water changes along with adding it, you'll end up with very high levels of prime after a few times.

Fortunately, it's not an insurmountable task, it's just a pain. It bothers me when fish stores do this because doing water changes every 2 days is a pain, and probably turns people off from the hobby. It just makes things harder than they need to be.

And the advice on waiting 6 months for the anemone is very good and will make your life easier. I started up a 75g in August (after having 75g and 125g cichlid tanks for 2 years, so i was more experienced that the average beginner), and i'm still not planning to add an anemone for a few more months. Make sure you can keep your nitrates at a good level for several months, and you're really confident in your skills. It just takes time and patience. If you add an anemone and then find out your parameters get out of whack, it'll be a massive pain to keep it alive. It sucks, but patience really is a virtue in this hobby. I think this is something most of us have learned the hard (and expensive) way. The way to keep costs down in this hobby is to take your time.

 

[Quasarlee]

If you are looking for local advice for your Saltwater tank, check out...

1. [h=3]Washington Area Marine Aquarist Society[/h]www.wamas.org/https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&rlz=1C1EODB_enUS573&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#
   
   • http://webcache.googleusercontent.c...zrsJ:www.wamas.org/+&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us
   • https://www.google.com/search?rlz=1...&sa=X&ei=vE5JVITCMIn8igKzooHwCA&ved=0CCIQHzAA
   
   
   
   The Washington D.C. Area Marine Aquarist Society, Inc. (WAMAS) is a non profit educational society dedicated to the husbandry of marine life in a captive ...‎WAMAS Forums - ‎Join - ‎About WAMAS - ‎Here
   
   
   

 

[Quasarlee]

Correction, I Though I had the Washington State Club, Found link that has info on local clubs. Clubs & Organizations - Saltwater Aquarium Guide on Sea and Sky Just click on Washington State
, List of several clubs, hope 1 is near you.

 

[Qh2214]

Got it I'll definitely keep that in mind next time I'm in my fish store! Awesome okay I just did a water change today before I put the new lights on and haven't done anything to it no prime or anything just kind of riding out the downward part of my cycle. The lights look really good in the tank though I'm pretty satisfied with them!

 

[Qh2214]

Unfortunately none of the clubs are close to me at my current location!

 

[Mikesmith34]

Awesome! How long till it disappears? I think I have a little starting on my sand. My water test had me at Nh3/Nh4: .25 NO2: .25 NO3: 20 PH: 8.0 KH: 7 so looks like I'm still cycling right now but picked up some hermits and snails too.

The diatoms (brown dusting) can last a month or two. Don't get worried and think something is all wrong. It is just part of the maturation process. Use this time to test and work on your husbandry skills. I like the look of your tank keep up the good work and happy reefing

 

[ninjabeaver]

Keep reading and educating yourself...nothing good happens fast in this hobby.

 

[Qh2214]

Okay got it! Thanks I'm pumped how it's turning out! I did a quick water change today before I put the new lights on. I was also wondering what you put your timers on or how long the lights should be on and off I have no idea what to judge that on?