Getting up an running

[Mr.Miyagiii]

Hi there,

After some time I finally decided to pursue this hobby, I found a tank( fluval evo sea 52 liters), did some research and came to conclusion that I would be using a live rock and live sand. So after holiday season passed, I went to a LFS( not that local but the one with a good reputation and reviews) to get rock, sand and water. So on Tuesday I placed my 5kg of live rock and some live land, poured in premixed water and plugged in my little tank. This morning when I looked at it, it was cleared, water wasn't cloudy anymore. As I've been reading more and more about live rock on this forum and how you can see some life on it. I cannot see anything in mine, so I'm sort of confused now, if it is too early to see. Maybe it's not actually a live rock and just a wet rock with no living organisms in it. So I guess my question would be, should I buy and add bacteria from the bottle? Do I add prawn in the tank for ammonia? I am a bit confused now. Do I test my water every day or few times a week? I thought I had minimal knowledge, but the more I read, the more confused I get.

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

It can be a lot of info to take in at first.

As I've been reading more and more about live rock on this forum and how you can see some life on it. I cannot see anything in mine, so I'm sort of confused now, if it is too early to see. Maybe it's not actually a live rock and just a wet rock with no living organisms in it.

If you got the rock from your LFS, then it may be live rock (in the sense that it may have bacterial colonies on it), but it's probably not live rock in the same way as most live rock discussed on the forum here is. Most live rock talked about on the forum is "maricultured live rock" meaning it's rock that was dropped into the ocean for a long time, then pulled back out - this live rock has bacterial colonies, but it typically also has a bunch of different organisms like sponges, worms, algae, anemones, coralline algae, crabs, etc. on it too.

Most on here will tell you the maricultured live rock is better, but as long as the live rock from your LFS was actually live (i.e. had live bacteria colonies in it), it should work to cycle the tank just fine.

So I guess my question would be, should I buy and add bacteria from the bottle? Do I add prawn in the tank for ammonia?

Since we're not sure how live your rock is, I'd add some ammonia (you can add ammonia directly - like Dr. Tim's Ammonium Chloride Solution, for example - instead of adding a shrimp/prawn) give it a while (probably like an hour, but I'd defer to the chemistry forum regulars here for how long is appropriate) to mix in to the tank water, test it, and see if the tank processes it by testing the ammonia again the next day.

If it's processing the ammonia, then the test results should show a lower level of ammonia the next day - if it processing it, then I'd wait for the ammonia to read zero (or as close to zero as the test kit can read, which for some kits is 0.25-0.5) and considered the tank cycled.

If it's not processing it, then the ammonia level should stay the same - in this case, I'd suggest either getting some maricultured live rock or some bottle bacteria, adding it to the tank, and considering the tank cycled.

Do I test my water every day or few times a week?

There are lots of different opinions on this, but - as a general suggestion for a beginner - I'd personally say to start off testing frequently (a couple of times a week should be fine) to get a feel for both proper, regular testing and for your tank itself (specifically things like how fast the nutrient levels rise, or - once you have corals - how fast alk and calcium deplete). This should help you get a handle on how your tank responds to things as you add livestock, adjust your feeding, etc.

Then, once you've started to feel a bit more confident in your understanding of your tank and in your ability to keep things stable, dropping to less frequent testing (like once every week or so) would probably be fine.