New to Saltwater set up

[Kantherion]

I have a 36 gallon tank, added 40 pounds of CaribSea live sand to create a bottom that had an inch to two+ inches of depth in it for a Mantis Shrimp. Added PVC piping buried in the sand with open entrances for it. After a few days test strips are reading around 10 ppm of Nitrates and 0 nitrites. I haven't gotten then amonia test strips yet but they should arrive in a day or two. Salinity is in a good range. I added some dry rock and it clouded up the water a bit but it cleared up quick enough. My question is, shouldn't there be some sort of nitrites going on with it being so new? I know that's a lot of livesand for a tank that size, would that have sped the cycling up?

 

[littlefoxx]

I have a 36 gallon tank, added 40 pounds of CaribSea live sand to create a bottom that had an inch to two+ inches of depth in it for a Mantis Shrimp. Added PVC piping buried in the sand with open entrances for it. After a few days test strips are reading around 10 ppm of Nitrates and 0 nitrites. I haven't gotten then amonia test strips yet but they should arrive in a day or two. Salinity is in a good range. I added some dry rock and it clouded up the water a bit but it cleared up quick enough. My question is, shouldn't there be some sort of nitrites going on with it being so new? I know that's a lot of livesand for a tank that size, would that have sped the cycling up?

Whats your ammonia source? Also did you use bottled bacteria??

 

[Kantherion]

Using Dr. Tim's for Amonia. I didn't use bottled bacteria though I do have some Dr. Tim's one and only on the way.

 

[Fish Fan]

I would encourage you not to use test strips here. They are typically rebranded swimming pool test strips, and even pool owners don't consider them accurate. I would encourage you to consider getting some good aquarium specific test kits, the Salifert brand is thought to be inexpensive, accurate and easy to use/read.

Your sand may contain some bacteria, but it's not really going to speed up your cycle, not dramatically anyway. You may benefit by adding a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only or something like Fritz TurboStart, or Brightwell's Microbacter products are popular.

I'm assuming your setting up for a Peacock Mantis, they are cool critters. There is a Mantis specific subforum here too with a lot of good information:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/mantis-shrimp.953/
Good luck!

 

[AydenLincoln]

I would encourage you not to use test strips here. They are typically rebranded swimming pool test strips, and even pool owners don't consider them accurate. I would encourage you to consider getting some good aquarium specific test kits, the Salifert brand is thought to be inexpensive, accurate and easy to use/read.

Your sand may contain some bacteria, but it's not really going to speed up your cycle, not dramatically anyway. You may benefit by adding a bottle of Dr. Tim's One and Only or something like Fritz TurboStart, or Brightwell's Microbacter products are popular.

I'm assuming your setting up for a Peacock Mantis, they are cool critters. There is a Mantis specific subforum here too with a lot of good information:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/mantis-shrimp.953/
Good luck!

I second this!

 

[Kantherion]

Yes setting up for one of them.I'll look for those test strips. The ones I have are Aqueon that were a quick pick up. I'll definitely be adding the Dr. Tim's one and only when it gets here. I may have gotten ahead of myself and didn't think before settling a pair of emerald crabs into the tank. Now I feel pretty awful for sentencing them to an apparent slow death from toxic tank water.

 

[Fish Fan]

Yes setting up for one of them.I'll look for those test strips. The ones I have are Aqueon that were a quick pick up. I'll definitely be adding the Dr. Tim's one and only when it gets here. I may have gotten ahead of myself and didn't think before settling a pair of emerald crabs into the tank. Now I feel pretty awful for sentencing them to an apparent slow death from toxic tank water.

The crabs will be fine, but you know they won't be alright once you have a Mantis, right?

I wouldn't use test strips of any kind. Look for kits like these:
https://www.chewy.com/salifert-aqua...KIroWD0PB94hhuABAe9h_u4qaXmi6ouhoCkh4QAvD_BwE

 

[Kantherion]

Oh yes I know they're toast once the mantis is in there. Named them Entree and Dessert because... well.... anyhoo... I have set up getting a peacock mantis this Saturday at a Frag Show in Chicago. I worry I may have jumped a bit to fast at getting it but it was a way to avoid shipping one and the dangers I've read that comes with that to the animal.

I worry the tank may not be suitable for the mantis by the time I have him.

 

[Fish Fan]

I would be worried about that too, though I'm not sure if Peacocks are particularly sensitive to ammonia. But best practice I believe would be to fully cycle the tank before adding livestock.

I would suggest trying to find some Fritz TurboStart, it's a beneficial bacteria product, but it's said to work the fastest out of all of them. I like and use Dr. Tim's One and Only, but it's not known for being fast, often taking three or four weeks to fully cycle a tank. The Fritz product works immediately to a few days:
https://fritzaquatics.com/products/fritzzyme-turbostart-900-saltwater
Additionally, monitor the ammonia with a good test kit like the Salifert above or maybe a SeaChem Ammonia Alert badge, and if it gets high be prepared to do a large water change to bring it down. This would be if you do get a mantis, you don't typically do water changes during a cycle if there's no livestock, which is the ideal way to do it:
https://www.petco.com/shop/en/petco...u4G43rFyqk2zzNeVlphoCXKQQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Kantherion]

I got the Salifert kit ordered and it will be here on Weds, thanks for the advice on that. There's a store nearby that carries the Fritz so I'll be sure to grab that tomorrow and get it in there. I really appreciate the advice!

 

[Fish Fan]

I got the Salifert kit ordered and it will be here on Weds, thanks for the advice on that. There's a store nearby that carries the Fritz so I'll be sure to grab that tomorrow and get it in there. I really appreciate the advice!

Good! I think that's a solid start. I'm happy to try and help :)

 

[Kantherion]

The bacteria in the Fritz and the bacteria from the live sand won't have a conflict of any sort would they?

 

[Fish Fan]

The bacteria in the Fritz and the bacteria from the live sand won't have a conflict of any sort would they?

Not at all. You could even add the Dr. Tim's One and Only too, shouldn't hurt anything.

 

[Kantherion]

So today I added a sizeable live rock that had spent the last 3 years in an established tank that belonged to a friend. Fritz's turbo arives tomorrow. The snail I added to the tank a couple days ago seems fine, he's crawled all the way up to near the water line then sped across the entire tank to the other side in a single night. He's hanging out next to the little jet thing I have in the tank to create a gentle current.

Any other advice on making sure the tank is ready for the mantis would be greatly appreciated!

 

[Fish Fan]

So today I added a sizeable live rock that had spent the last 3 years in an established tank that belonged to a friend. Fritz's turbo arives tomorrow. The snail I added to the tank a couple days ago seems fine, he's crawled all the way up to near the water line then sped across the entire tank to the other side in a single night. He's hanging out next to the little jet thing I have in the tank to create a gentle current.

Any other advice on making sure the tank is ready for the mantis would be greatly appreciated!

That chunk of live rock was an excellent addition! You'll likely have no worries, and if you still wanted to add the Fritz or Dr. Tim's, couldn't hurt, but likely not necessary.

 

[Kantherion]

So tested the ammonia tonight it was between .25 and .5 according to the test water color. The Fritz 900 came as well so I added that after testing the ammonia. I'll test it again tomorrow around the same time. That live rock really seemed to do the trick.

Though I am curious as to what size live rock would work well for a 36 gallon tank. The one I got was about a foot in length, fairly flat and varied from about 3 to 6 inches in width. It had been in an established tank for 3 years so I'm hoping that it had a decent bacteria load, I did transport it but it was kept moist and wrapped. Took about 30 minutes for the drive.

 

[Fish Fan]

So tested the ammonia tonight it was between .25 and .5 according to the test water color. The Fritz 900 came as well so I added that after testing the ammonia. I'll test it again tomorrow around the same time. That live rock really seemed to do the trick.

Though I am curious as to what size live rock would work well for a 36 gallon tank. The one I got was about a foot in length, fairly flat and varied from about 3 to 6 inches in width. It had been in an established tank for 3 years so I'm hoping that it had a decent bacteria load, I did transport it but it was kept moist and wrapped. Took about 30 minutes for the drive.

No worries about it drying out, I'm sure your fine. Sounds like a large rock, I'm sure that added a lot of biodiversity to your tank coming from an established system.

If you're using the API brand test kits, they are not know to be laboratory accurate, and sometimes the ammonia in particular will show about 0.25 ppm when it's likely zero or near zero.

I think you're going to be alright for your upcoming mantis; good luck!

 

[Kantherion]

So I tested the water tonight with an Imagitarium Ammonia test kit. This kit tests total ammonia so both NH3 and NH4 levels. First test was a real light green that indicated just over .25ppm according to the saltwater color chart. On the kit it states this is a safe level but is it really? I was thinking about doing a water change just in case.

 

[Fish Fan]

The gurus that I trust on R2R suggest that ammonia has to be >50.0 ppm before you start to panic.

Others may jump in and offer different or even better advice, but with with everything you've done, I think you're fine.

Please know that many of our hobby level test kits can be less than accurate. These are not laboratory grade tests. They should, in my opinion, be used to identify trends, such as the ammonia went up, and now is down. Don't get hung up on hard numbers with these test kits.

 

[Kantherion]

Thanks. Being new and taking in a lot of new information at once I'm doing my best to keep from panicking every other moment lol.