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Samira Waters

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Hi everyone!! My husband and I have always wanted a saltwater tank but never got to do it......until now. About 2 weeks ago we bought a 30gal starter tank (that will later be a quarantine tank) and did the "cycle in a bottle" (not sure if thats whats its called). We already have 6 fishes in there: 2 clowns, blue devil damsel, domino damsel and 2 silver moony. We just bought a 60gal so we can start cycling it and make it a reef tank. My dream tank is a large predator tank!!! Slowly were working our way towards it! As newbies theres a lot we want to learn. Anyone have any tips??? Thanks for letting me part of this forum!!

Samira and Dustin
 
Deltec
Welcome home, you will love it here!

Although those bottles of beneficial bacteria kick start the nitrogen cycle they will not replace it. You should still wait weeks before adding fish because you’ll have to do many water changes and repeated doses of bacteria in a bottle (Dr Tim’s and BioSpira to name the two best IME) to keep the fish from dying. The other issue is that a new tank has other parameter swings that stress fish.

Sorry, don’t mean to be negative, just wanted to provide some guidance :) Keep us posted with your builds with lots of photos! :D
 
Tidal Gardens
Chewy.com
Welcome aboard @Samira Waters
It's a great hobby, and you've found a great family and resource.

Regarding your initial startup. Do yourself (and fish) a favor and monitor your Ammonia. As @4FordFamily mentioned, even with utilizing bacteria in a bottle, your tank still needs to properly cycle through its' stages in the establishment of permanent bacteria colonies.

Enjoy your journey!
 
Welcome to R2R! Remember to take it slow, 6 fish in two weeks is kind of fast. A wise man on here once said "Good things dont happen overnight in this hobby, only bad things. If you think you're going slow already, slow down even more"
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#WelcometoR2R
 
Welcome to R2R!

First advice, friendly, is slow way, way down. That's a ton of livestock for 2-3weeks in.

Continue using the bacteria booster regularly and like it was said above, ammonia and Nitrites are the killers. Test for them often (3 times a week minimum) until your tank bacteria has established itself.
 
Top Shelf Aquatics
Welcome!!!!

I agree you may need to slow down a bit. This hobby can get so exciting and you want what you see others may have. Sometimes just an idea in your head and you want it now. We get it! We all do!

But key is to take it slow. You do not want to experience disappointment right off the bat. Just remember, your system needs to build up to tolerate more livestock. Just like you would not go run a marathon without training. You cannot have a reef without building slowly up to it.
 
Hello and welcome to R2R :)
It's a pleasure to have you here with us ;)
Like a few other people have stated you must have patience to everything take everything really slow, alot of us have made the mistake before ;)

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Tidal Gardens
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IF YOU HAD TO TAKE A REEFING EXAM, WOULD YOU PASS?

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  • Not yet, but I have one that I want to buy in mind!

    Votes: 9 12.9%

  • No.

    Votes: 26 37.1%

  • Other (please explain).

    Votes: 3 4.3%
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