Adding fish and coral soon need to know what levels are acceptable

[agREEFs]

Hello, Everyone I am adding fish and coral soon. What are acceptable Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia and Ph levels?

I am adding SPS and LPS coral, Flame Angelfish, Designer Clownfish, Mandarin Goby, Cleaner Shrimp, maybe 1 more fish.

 

[Alex Cataldo]

Nitrite and Ammonia should not be detectable. Nitrate can be from 0ppm to 30ppm but for coral you should keep it no more than 10. pH can be from 7.8 to 8.6 and shouldn’t be of much concern as long as you have good air and water circulation.

 

[agREEFs]

Nitrite and Ammonia should not be detectable. Nitrate can be from 0ppm to 30ppm but for coral you should keep it no more than 10. pH can be from 7.8 to 8.6 and shouldn’t be of much concern as long as you have good air and water circulation.

Okay, thank you. I am cycling right now how long should I wait for levels to normalize. My Nitrate are around 10 right now. Nitrite was .5 and Ammonia .5

 

[agREEFs]

Okay, thank you. I am cycling right now how long should I wait for levels to normalize. My Nitrate are around 10 right now. Nitrite was .5 and Ammonia .5

Ammonia .25 about

 

[John Bolden]

you want ammonia 0 as it will burn the fish's gills and cause stress.

 

[John Bolden]

 

[agREEFs]

Thank you, I appreciate it!

 

[docforestal]

In this hobby patience is important.
When your tank is fully cycled consider watching the tank a week or two and making sure the parameters are stable,

when fish go in, consider not adding all at once : once you start feeding the fish, expect the "mini'cycles" to happen and you want to avoid your ammonia go too high and stressing the fish. As you feed more, your bacterial load will need to increase to deal with more waste, so testing more frequently to make sure the mini cycle is gone before adding the next few.

also with your fish plan, adding the lease aggressive first allows them to establish themselves and are less likely to get picked on by the more aggressive fish

Last as the cycle happens and algae starts blooming consider adding a few cerith snails and hermits to munch and clean the algae off the rocks

 

[Tamberav]

Hello, Everyone I am adding fish and coral soon. What are acceptable Nitrite, Nitrate, Ammonia and Ph levels?

I am adding SPS and LPS coral, Flame Angelfish, Designer Clownfish, Mandarin Goby, Cleaner Shrimp, maybe 1 more fish.

Flame angel: add later, angels are a bit more sensitive and flames can be MEAN to anything added after them, put in last/near last.

Clownfish: whenever ammonia is 0/tank cycled

Mandarin goby: whenever tank is mature and full of pods, otherwise it may starve, may take a long time if you started with dry rock

SPS: depends what type, dry rock, live rock, etc. I would just start with hardier LPS and go from there.

Cleaner shrimp: I would probably add after I have some coral is doing well - these guys will pester and steal food from your LPS, cool looking but terribly annoying at times...

 

[agREEFs]

In this hobby patience is important.
When your tank is fully cycled consider watching the tank a week or two and making sure the parameters are stable,

when fish go in, consider not adding all at once : once you start feeding the fish, expect the "mini'cycles" to happen and you want to avoid your ammonia go too high and stressing the fish. As you feed more, your bacterial load will need to increase to deal with more waste, so testing more frequently to make sure the mini cycle is gone before adding the next few.

also with your fish plan, adding the lease aggressive first allows them to establish themselves and are less likely to get picked on by the more aggressive fish

Last as the cycle happens and algae starts blooming consider adding a few cerith snails and hermits to munch and clean the algae off the rocks

Thanks, I will add probably a pair of clownfish first don’t know which type though. Then I’ll add flame angel and mandarin goby, cleaner shrimp etc.

 

[agREEFs]

Flame angel: add later, angels are a bit more sensitive and flames can be MEAN to anything added after them, put in last/near last.

Clownfish: whenever ammonia is 0/tank cycled

Mandarin goby: whenever tank is mature and full of pods, otherwise it may starve, may take a long time if you started with dry rock

SPS: depends what type, dry rock, live rock, etc. I would just start with hardier LPS and go from there.

Cleaner shrimp: I would probably add after I have some coral is doing well - these guys will pester and steal food from your LPS, cool looking but terribly annoying at times...

Thank you very much, I’ll add clownfish this weekend and then purchase pods for goby’s and add flame angel.

 

[John Bolden]

Thank you very much, I’ll add clownfish this weekend and then purchase pods for goby’s and add flame angel.

Yes as the people said before me you should add the flame near or last I also would add pods a few times and add phytoplankton to feed them after your tank is cycled and has steady levels. The goby can go though pods like crazy so make sure your pod population is good before adding because these fish can eat thousands per day. In some cases I've seen them eat pellets or frozen food so when you go to buy one make sure to ask if they eat frozen or pellets and if you can ask to see them eat because they can be picky eaters. It will be a challenge but if you do it right you can do it!

 

[John Bolden]

Thank you very much, I’ll add clownfish this weekend and then purchase pods for goby’s and add flame angel.

I also would acclimate the clown fish longer because if the ammonia is detectible it will be stressful to go from no ammonia to some so prolong your acclimation process .

 

[V A R I A N T]

I’m going to suggest a different route. If you can’t answer those basic questions yourself, you might postpone those additions until you can.

 

[agREEFs]

I also would acclimate the clown fish longer because if the ammonia is detectible it will be stressful to go from no ammonia to some so prolong your acclimation process .

Thanks, I did that.

 

[agREEFs]

Thank you. I am going for a 2 clownfish (regular ones) I like them the best. I already got them in. Goby probably next with some coral. Then flame angel and 1 more fish.

 

[agREEFs]

 

[docforestal]

I agree with the above as well, if you are not sure , take a break, get some clean up crew and maybe the clowns, and get good at maintaining the tank. Read about each of the fish you want to keep, know what they eat and how hard they are to care for, how well they do with other fish.
A point on the mandarin goby, they are more of an expert fish and you may want to wait. They do have some captive bred ones that will be easier to feed.

 

[agREEFs]

I agree with the above as well, if you are not sure , take a break, get some clean up crew and maybe the clowns, and get good at maintaining the tank. Read about each of the fish you want to keep, know what they eat and how hard they are to care for, how well they do with other fish.
A point on the mandarin goby, they are more of an expert fish and you may want to wait. They do have some captive bred ones that will be easier to feed.

Thank you. I got some clownfish they’re doing well. Will purchase more fish but later.

 

[scottj6]

I’m going to suggest a different route. If you can’t answer those basic questions yourself, you might postpone those additions until you can.

THIS