Adding fish on day 7 ?

[Reef Witherspoon]

Hi

I'm completely new to saltwater and have a question about adding livestock


I have a 29 gallon tank with a fluval 70 HOB filter.

It's been running for almost a week with 30LBs of Live Sand & 15LBs of purple algea rock. The hydrometer's been at 1.023 from the start.


Would it be safe to put in a Chocolate chip star fish.... or any fish?


I'm not sure if the tank is cycled. Could anything survive by itself while the tank finished .....if by chance it wasn't fully cycled?


Thanks!

 

[jman9331]

You need to test the waters 7 days is real early. Your test should consist of ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, and PH. Once you have an ammonia spike and it levels back to 0 and your nitrites are 0 then you should be able to add live stock. This process and takes weeks sometimes a couple months to occur. If you add stock now the chances of it dying when you hit your spike is very very high.

 

[jman9331]

Also read this it will help your understand a lot more! As well as, what you should expect during the cycling process. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/ne...guide-setting-up-saltwater-reef-aquarium.html

 

[FL_Reefer]

Wait and love your name by the way, lol. Like said before, need to test but a week is really early to add anything. Also if you plan on adding coral you need to bring your salinity up to at least 1.025. If your planning on adding coral, forget about a chocolate chip SF.

 

[Reef Witherspoon]

I ended up buying a damsel today. He's been alive for more than 12 hours in his new setup. He seems happy and active exploring the rocks.


Since He's alive and well,.... Is there any way i could replace him with a 1-2" clownfish?

I figured if the tank wasn't ready, the baby damsel would've died by now.

What's the worst that can happen? I don't want to make them suffer, but the damsel seems normal.




i

 

[printerrob]

like someone else says you need to check your parameters, that will tell you if your tank is cycled or not. Damsels are very hardy fish and some people use them to help cycle their tanks though i don't recommend it because it can harm the fish. Also i would ditch the hydrometer and get yourself a refractometer, they are more accurate since your able to calibrate it with the 35ppt fluid (if it comes with it) or you can use rodi water. when i first started i used a hydrometer and it said i was at 1.025 but when i finally checked it against a refractometer it was really at 1.042, i was wondering why i had to use a lot more salt than the directions said

 

[printerrob]

oh yea and API saltwater master test kit is a good cheap test kit but if you have the money i would go with red sea or sulfurate (SP) sorry can't spell the last one right, i never could

 

[FlyinBryan]

I wait a minimum of 4 weeks before adding anything live. If you can detect ANY ammonia, you have too much (mr swt), it true. Fish are not your test tubes. Just saying.

 

[jman9331]

hopefully everything works out, hopefully when you get your ammonia spike which you will everything pulls through. If patience isnt your thing thier are shortcuts around cycling. Then again if patience isnt for you you may be in the wrong hobby. good luck with it though!

 

[nelson"s reef]

The dr.tim nutrifine bacteria will help to make the cycle more faster I used on my reef tank and whith no problems,mrs saltwatertank on youtube have infomation on that bacteria, works awesome.

 

[saltyphish]

Please do not add anymore fish. Your tank needs to fully cycle. Damsels are a very hardy fish and unfortunately used to help cycle a tank. It is cruel and unhealthy for that fish. Slow down and let the cycle complete before adding anything else. Also when adding livestock add them slowly. I would only add a fish at a time and wait a month before adding another allowing the bacteria to increase for the added bioload. I would also recommend QT all fish before adding them to your DT Good luck.

I ended up buying a damsel today. He's been alive for more than 12 hours in his new setup. He seems happy and active exploring the rocks.


Since He's alive and well,.... Is there any way i could replace him with a 1-2" clownfish?

I figured if the tank wasn't ready, the baby damsel would've died by now.

What's the worst that can happen? I don't want to make them suffer, but the damsel seems normal.




i

 

[printerrob]

Please do not add anymore fish. Your tank needs to fully cycle. Damsels are a very hardy fish and unfortunately used to help cycle a tank. It is cruel and unhealthy for that fish. Slow down and let the cycle complete before adding anything else. Also when adding livestock add them slowly. I would only add a fish at a time and wait a month before adding another allowing the bacteria to increase for the added bioload. I would also recommend QT all fish before adding them to your DT Good luck.

++1

 

[knotsmart]

wait 30 days.. everything( well, almost everything) in this hobby is a calculated science.. it takes 30 days for your tank to cycle.. any thing you put in there will be exposed to unnecessary levels of toxins.

 

[glb]

Agree with what everyone is saying. Cycling can be down totally without livestock and it would be a shame for you (and the fish) if they didn't make it. Usually after the cycle is done, the first thing you add is crabs, snails and other 'clean up critters' to keep the tank clean. Once they've been doing ok, you can add a fish or two at most and let the tank get used to more waste. The newly cycled tank still has a fragile biofilter, and if you rush things, nothing good will come from it. I'd return the damsel if you can for his sake and yours. They get aggressive and are lousy tankmates for a nano. Good luck!

 

[saltyphish]

Not true. There is no set time limit for cycling a tank. Some tanks take longer than others you go by the parameters not time. Once nitrites and ammonia are reading zero then you are cycled.

wait 30 days.. everything( well, almost everything) in this hobby is a calculated science.. it takes 30 day for your tank to cycle.. any thing you put in there will be exposed to unnecessary levels of toxins.

 

[printerrob]

Not true. There is no set time limit for cycling a tank. Some tanks take longer than others you go by the parameters not time. Once nitrites and ammonia are reading zero then you are cycled.
QUOTE=knotsmart;2259438]wait 30 days.. everything( well, almost everything) in this hobby is a calculated science.. it takes 30 day for your tank to cycle.. any thing you put in there will be exposed to unnecessary levels of toxins.

[/QUOTE]

Agreed. The tank I just set up last month cycled in just 1 week, then again I used some live rock from the 10g I tore down.

 

[glb]

wait 30 days.. everything( well, almost everything) in this hobby is a calculated science.. it takes 30 days for your tank to cycle.. any thing you put in there will be exposed to unnecessary levels of toxins.

Even if a tank can cycle quicker, I agree here that waiting is better than rushing. New biofilters can easily crash. My tank cycled in a few days when it was new but I still added things very, very slowly. This allowed the biofilter to strengthen and I didn't have a lot of loss as a result.

 

[Longnose Hawkfish]

The fish should not have been added until the cycle was completely over. There is no direct time frame for this but one can surely know by testing the water for ammonia nitrite and nitrate and observe their behaviors. At this point we will never know if your tank was done cycling but you need to get your water tested for the three levels mentioned above. My tank cycled in one week while others take months. Test your water and go from there.

 

[knotsmart]

ok , I concede, I stand corrected.. in my case, my live rock was from Figi , when in opened the box it was covered in mud and seaweed. I was told to put it in the tank with the skimmer on, cover the tank with a blanket so no light gets in and wait thirty days and then do a 50% water change. it would take 30 days for the crap to decompose which would spike ammonia, turn into nitrite ,into nitrate and build up the bio to make it all happen. I admit when I did that years ago you couldn't buy the live refrigerated bio to help the cycle along. either way, I still stand by the game plan.. in this hobby, patience pays.... literally.. well.. maybe I should say ..patience saves..when you rush .. everything dies..slowly, but it dies. youre much better off taking it slow..

 

[knotsmart]

ok , I concede, I stand corrected.. in my case, my live rock was from Figi , when in opened the box it was covered in mud and seaweed. I was told to put it in the tank with the skimmer on, cover the tank with a blanket so no light gets in and wait thirty days and then do a 50% water change. it would take 30 days for the crap to decompose which would spike ammonia, turn into nitrite ,into nitrate and build up the bio to make it all happen.I admit when I did that years ago you couldn't buy the live refrigerated bio to help the cycle along. either way, I still stand by the game plan.. in this hobby, patience pays.... literally.. well.. maybe I should say ..patience saves..when you rush .. everything dies..slowly, but it dies. youre much better off taking it slow..