Tell me to quit messing with my tank

[Paulie069]

Okay. As EVERYONE of us is stuck at home
and MANY of us have started a new project.

I built my tank last week and got it salted and seeded on thursday.
I was ALMOST finished cycling on Monday. Then i added more raw meat and the chems screwed up again. Which just means more bacteria so not totally bad. i went the budget build route so i could spend money on some cool clowns to start the tank, goal is to keep those puppies alive for 10+ yrs.

ANYWAYS.
yesterday was told my chems were not good enough to purchase my mocha storms.
so
of course
i had to
Mess with the tank AGAIN

and i just added more live sand ((this time to the sump))
which i know in the long run is only going to be more beneficial because its more home for the bacteria.

BUT dang ALI. CAN YOU LEAVE THE TANK ALONE FOR ONE DAY.

anyways.

thought you'd find my monologue entertaining. gonna go sit on my hands now.

I hear ya, I’m forever messing with my tank

 

[alimac122]

Update:

So i have tested my water every two days for the last week:
4/13:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 0.5
Nitrate- 5

4/15:
Ammonia- 0.25
nitrite- 1.0
Nitrate- 10

4/17:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 5
Nitrate- 20


From the looks of it, it is nearing the peak (from research it looks like the peak tends to be around 10 [20 max] for nitrite).
I have no concerns about the nitrate levels. I will do a water change once the tank is cycled.

I have done daily maintenance with cleaning filter pads daily, and changing my socks every other day.
Should I add another ammonia source to keep increasing the bacteria colonies? I no longer have any food particles visible in the tank.

@AZMSGT @NS Mike D @Skynyrd Fish

 

[Paulie069]

Update:

So i have tested my water every two days for the last week:
4/13:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 0.5
Nitrate- 5

4/15:
Ammonia- 0.25
nitrite- 1.0
Nitrate- 10

4/17:
Ammonia-0
Nitrite- 5
Nitrate- 20


From the looks of it, it is nearing the peak (from research it looks like the peak tends to be around 10 [20 max] for nitrite).
I have no concerns about the nitrate levels. I will do a water change once the tank is cycled.

I have done daily maintenance with cleaning filter pads daily, and changing my socks every other day.
Should I add another ammonia source to keep increasing the bacteria colonies? I no longer have any food particles visible in the tank.

@AZMSGT @NS Mike D @Skynyrd Fish

Throw in a shrimp the kind that you would eat yourself don’t cook it just take it out of your freezer if you have it ,, defrost it and throw it in your tank
I got that information from the Paul B Aquarium book

 

[Paulie069]

Throw in a shrimp the kind that you would eat yourself don’t cook it just take it out of your freezer if you have it ,, defrost it and throw it in your tank
I got that information from the Paul B Aquarium book

That book is like a Bible for Aquariums with lots of Humor

 

[Silverfish]

Let me put it to u this way. If you r not patient u will b burning money or throwing out the window. Do yourself a favor and b patient! Many reefers hv made that mistake and we know how hard it is. It’s already an expensive hobby. Don’t make it worse. Happy Reefing!

 

[jordan10]

Should of got the 2 clowns and they would of cycled ur tank to start.

 

[tnyr5]

No touching! Paws off! *Swat with stick*

 

[Fourstars]

Ecclesiastes 3

 

[alimac122]

That book is like a Bible for Aquariums with lots of Humor

Link it please!

 

[alimac122]

Should of got the 2 clowns and they would of cycled ur tank to start.

That's what I wanted to do.
That's what i've seen others do.
But my LFS keeps suggesting I not buy fish until it cycles.

Idk. It's annoying to wait. But as annoying as it is, and as much as I dont want to hear it, I know these guys are right.

Maybe not wait 4 months to cycle with it empty. Maybe one month for one pair of fish, and four-six months for corals.

 

[jordan10]

That's what I wanted to do.
That's what i've seen others do.
But my LFS keeps suggesting I not buy fish until it cycles.

Idk. It's annoying to wait. But as annoying as it is, and as much as I dont want to hear it, I know these guys are right.

Maybe not wait 4 months to cycle with it empty. Maybe one month for one pair of fish, and four-six months for corals.

Know I did same thing live rock live sand and big bottle of ATM colony. And my two clowns and that was 4 years ago

.

But probably be best to just wait a few more days and I should be fine put couple Hardy fish in. And the. Just let it roll nice and slow

 

[Kris K]

Order Doctor Tims One and Only. Takes Once nitrite is 0 add your fish as long as your nitrates are within reason. You may have a fluctuation with your nitrates down the road but that isn't something a $50 carbon reactor and microbacter 7 can't fix

 

[Paulie069]

That's what I wanted to do.
That's what i've seen others do.
But my LFS keeps suggesting I not buy fish until it cycles.

Idk. It's annoying to wait. But as annoying as it is, and as much as I dont want to hear it, I know these guys are right.

Maybe not wait 4 months to cycle with it empty. Maybe one month for one pair of fish, and four-six months for corals.

Well my tank just turned four months old today it cycled in eight days and right away I added now get a pencil this up 16 seahorses seven fish 26 corals everything growing healthy and happy

 

[reefer fro canada]

Well Iam from Canada and up here everything is exspentive.I learned 20 years ago the hard way so I know what these guys are talking about.The slower you go the more you will enjoy your aquarium.If you rush it you will find out all the bad things can happen.If it takes you a month to get bad alge it will take at lease two to three to get it back and most people quit because they get so frustrated,So if I were you listen to the exsperts and slow down

 

[av8soulfly]

If you must rush in...set up a quarantine tank and get your clowns now. Plus, it'll give you something to do so you can leave your display tank alone for the cycle.

 

[Rick.45cal]

You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you I haven’t stuck my hands in my display in over 3 years, but it’s true. Not making changes constantly is the only way to attain stability.

 

[Paulie069]

You probably wouldn’t believe me if I told you I haven’t stuck my hands in my display in over 3 years, but it’s true. Not making changes constantly is the only way to attain stability.

Amen,, wish I figured that out sooner

 

[alimac122]

Well Iam from Canada and up here everything is exspentive.I learned 20 years ago the hard way so I know what these guys are talking about.The slower you go the more you will enjoy your aquarium.If you rush it you will find out all the bad things can happen.If it takes you a month to get bad alge it will take at lease two to three to get it back and most people quit because they get so frustrated,So if I were you listen to the exsperts and slow down

I AM listening to the experts. It'll be three weeks on Friday of me setting up my tank. I plan on getting fish this coming Friday. I think everyone who is giving me advice on waiting thinks that I am just going to jump in immediately and blow my entire stimulus on this tank.

I was a marine biologist at an aquarium for four years. I know the overall jist of this. We just never had to seed tanks, everything was already established once i began working there. I know slow is better. I KNOW they want me to be successful and not give up. Its sweet. I am well aware of the possible downfalls of not slow and steady

 

[lpsouth1978]

I havn't been making changes to the tank, but I have definitely given it more attention since this all started. I am actually maintaining it the way I should all the time. Socks are getting changed more often, skimmer cup gets cleaned more, water changes get done on time. Overall the tank is better off for it. Let's see if it stays this way once things get back yo normal.

 

[RollTideReefer]

That's what I wanted to do.
That's what i've seen others do.
But my LFS keeps suggesting I not buy fish until it cycles.

Idk. It's annoying to wait. But as annoying as it is, and as much as I dont want to hear it, I know these guys are right.

Maybe not wait 4 months to cycle with it empty. Maybe one month for one pair of fish, and four-six months for corals.

Some of the old timers here advocate for the old fashioned tank cycle, which can take over a month. It is not a wrong way but any means but alot of the industry is now taking a bottled bacteria approach that significantly speeds up the process so that you can have fish and corals much sooner than the two month wait of old. I suggest you search through the following thread. https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/bacteria-in-bottle-busting-myth-seneye-style.456820/ . I started my 139 gallon RedSea day two with four very small clowns. I used Fritz TurboStart 900 and it took the tank about 5 weeks before Nitrites went down to 0. But I have heard smaller tanks getting Nitrites down to 0 after 2-3 weeks. But Nitrites are only toxic to marine fish in very high doses so it rarely affects hardy fish. However, I only added my next fish after 6 weeks just to be safe.