Adding fish on day 7 ?

[Reef Witherspoon]

I'm taking some water this week to my LFS to get checked.

The live rock i'm using is from fiji and covered in coraline algea from a 10YR+ established tank. I put some small frags of it in my filter.

So far so good, the damsel seems fine ....but what do i know?

 

[saltyphish]

The point I was making is not that it should be shorter or longer. I am trying to point out that there is no determined amount of time a tank will cycle. Some take longer some shorter. to assume after a set time such as 30 days that your tank is cycled is not a good estimate. The only way to be certain your tank is indeed done cycling is to test the parameters. 0 nitrites and 0 ammonia holding steady at those numbers means a tank is cycled.

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..

 

[saltyphish]

Damsels are extremely hardy fish they can live in a tank that is undergoing a cycle. It is also cruel to do that. I know some lfs and hobbyists who believe using damsels are good for cycling. However, it is still an unhealthy condition for any sw fish. Many fish would not survive those conditions. Just because it can be done does not mean it should be done. Good luck.

I'm taking some water this week to my LFS to get checked.

The live rock i'm using is from fiji and covered in coraline algea from a 10YR+ established tank. I put some small frags of it in my filter.

So far so good, the damsel seems fine ....but what do i know?

 

[printerrob]

Just like you we were all new at one time, hell I'm still a noob compared to everyone here but we aren't trying to discourage you we just want you to succeed in this wonderful hobby.

 

[SteveM]

Another thing to take into account is that once the tank is cycled, it is cycled for a fish. When everything is reading zero you are good with your damsel. Then if you want, you can add another fish. After that, you're going to have to let the bacteria build up to handle the additional load. That usually doesn't take very long (sometimes only a few hours) but just because your tank is cycled doesn't mean you can now dump 3 or 4 more fish in it.

Also, at 29 gallons, you have a nano so you might also want to do some research on nanoreefs (or tanks if you're not going to keep corals). You're limited to the size and number of fish you should keep but on the other hand, you don't have to worry so much about protein skimmer, reactors, etc. You can accomplish a lot of good for your tank with just a 5 gallon water change.

 

[glb]

Another thing to take into account is that once the tank is cycled, it is cycled for a fish. When everything is reading zero you are good with your damsel. Then if you want, you can add another fish. After that, you're going to have to let the bacteria build up to handle the additional load. That usually doesn't take very long (sometimes only a few hours) but just because your tank is cycled doesn't mean you can now dump 3 or 4 more fish in it.

Also, at 29 gallons, you have a nano so you might also want to do some research on nanoreefs (or tanks if you're not going to keep corals). You're limited to the size and number of fish you should keep but on the other hand, you don't have to worry so much about protein skimmer, reactors, etc. You can accomplish a lot of good for your tank with just a 5 gallon water change.

Exactly. The biofilter has to grow to accommodate more fish. In a nano you can't keep that many fish, but you can keep up water quality with water changes most of the time. I have a 12g nano with only one fish!