Brand new to this

[Mason603]

If that tank is 37 gallons as your pics show then you need to do a much larger water change then 5 gallons to bring ammonia down. More like 25 gallons and add nitrifying bacteria after.

Only had 5gal on hand

 

[lulubap]

Upon looking at reviews of this water, people are already pointing out the low pH. I suggest looking into salt mixes like fritz RPM and mixing your own saltwater according to this calculator. If you'd rather skip the work for your size tank, then you can always get pre mixed saltwater from a trusted LFS. I say this because I wouldn't trust my LFS if they gave me the green light for fish 2 days into cycling. Always ask for parameters on the saltwater. Target salinity is 1.024-1.026 and target pH is 8.0-8.4.

I'd also suggest getting trusted test kits that have a good reputation in the reefkeeping community, such as salifert, hanna, and red sea. They may be a bit more expensive, but price absolutely matters in this hobby. Buy cheap and you're buying twice.

 

[Pure Fishigan]

What you need to mix salt

RODI unit or water From LFS no tap water
Any type of Marine salt I use tropic marine and reef crystals
A mixing pump
A heater
Some sort of mixing bin I suggest a 5 gallon bucket or for your large water change a Brute trash can I own several
Let me know if you need any help welcome to R2R

 

[lulubap]

What you need to mix salt

RODI unit or water From LFS no tap water
Any type of Marine salt I use tropic marine and reef crystals
A mixing pump
A heater
Some sort of mixing bin I suggest a 5 gallon bucket or for your large water change a Brute trash can I own several
Let me know if you need any help welcome to R2R

This is the perfect list! I should have added this myself but thank you for taking the time to do it for me.

 

[Pure Fishigan]

And make sure your topping off tank with RODI, not saltwater, I made that mistake on my fist tank years ago

 

[Dom]

Just did a test and here it is

Cool... this is a huge help!

Observations:

The light you have in that tank is adequate for "Fish Only" tanks, but an upgrade will be required to support Anemones and corals.

The amount of live rock in the tank is inadequate. The general rule is 1 pound of live rock per gallon.

It is difficult to see colors and matches in photos. But it does seem that there is ammonia present.

Pre-made water is fine, but, it will get expensive. A tank like yours will require faithful, weekly 20% water changes. Your tank has a listed capacity of 37 gallons. A 10% water change = 3.7 gallons. You need to do 20% which is 7.4 gallons. Round it up to an 8 gallon water change weekly. The investment into an RODI system and salt mix will be much cheaper in the long term.

 

[jfoahs04]

You're basically doing a fish-in cycle at this point which, as you can see, is stressful for the fish. It's going to take some time for the nitrifying bacteria to establish enough to convert that ammonia to nitrite and eventually nitrate. If you can't temporarily re-home your fish with someone nearby, it's going to take some effort to reduce the stress. As others have suggested, adding bottled bacteria can help speed up the process and Prime can help reduce stress (though it doesn't eliminate ammonia). Regular big water changes are key.

There's not really much wrong with that boxed water (I'm assuming all of your stuff is from Petco - that's the only place I've seen that water). However, it's going to be expensive to use it for your regular water changes. Especially during the cycle where you'll need frequent large ones. If you can't make your own RODI water to mix, I'd suggest reaching out to Myk at Blue Light Aquatics. He's in your area and he's the best. They sell pre-mixed saltwater (and fresh RODI) for much cheaper than Petco. He's also a great resource for livestock (3 of my 4 fish are from him) - he quarantines everything. I can certainly vouch.

If you find yourself in Boston, feel free to shoot me a message. I have some live rock rubble you could take to help speed the cycle.

 

[melonheadorion]

me personally, i would make it a priority to get to an LFS that is not petco, to get some nitrifying bacteria. if you havent already, i would be doing it immediately as soon as they open. this will help eliminate the ammonia issue, but water changes will be needed. everything that jfoahs has mentioned, is the advice that most, if not all, would go with. that water from petco, should be ok, but youre throwing money away. you would be best mixing your own RODI saltwater or buying it from the LFS that he mentioned. until you get comfortable with things, i would probably steer clear of petco for now. its not that they dont have good products, but they are not giving the best info, or are just selling things just to sell them, expecting the customer to know what they need. get yourself started with the LFS mentioned, and then when you need little things, petco might be an option. i personally try to give my business to an LFS anyway, unless they dont have what i need. Salt is the one thing i use a large retailer for, and thats because chewy sells buckets of instant ocean salt for half the price of anywhere else.
i hate to be the person that says this again, if its been said already, but please do some reviews, check out youtube videos, or whatever, to get some beginner direction on how all of this works. that way, you know the why behind everything that is being suggested. these forums are a great place to start. any question you have, or question you dont even know you have, has been asked here at least a dozen times. its a great place for help, so get yourself going on how saltwater aquariums, and aquariums in general need to work, to keep your finned friends alive.

 

[melonheadorion]

also, to head off a probably issue. tap water contains a lot of "stuff". try avoiding tap water if you decide to mix your own. one thing that tap water contains is chlorine. chlorine is intended to clean water for human consumption and will likely kill anything in a tank. this isnt even to mention the other stuff in tap water, so just get used to buying water from an LFS, or making your own RODI water.

 

[Blue Cheese]

Did the fish make it the night?

 

[Mason603]

Did the fish make it the night?

Yes fish are still with us I’m hoping to do a water change today I have removed everything new except the established rock from petco that had one of the nems on it. Going to do a test in a few

 

[melonheadorion]

if you have established rock from petco, i assume youre referring to the stuff that you can buy that is inside their display tanks that have fish in them? if so, thats good. glad you have those. one thing i would recommend from here, is to not use that fancy colored rock substrate, and use some of their caribsea stuff, or other saltwater tank sand. it will help be a place for more bacteria to find home.
from here, stay on top of testing and water changes. if you can do that, you can definately help the fish

 

[EeyoreIsMySpiritAnimal]

Prime will help, as will water changes. However, never use Prime with copper medications, it can break the copper/amine bond and release toxic amounts of free copper.

What levels of ammonia are you seeing with your test?

Jay

Also, don't use Prime with Bio-Spira. There may be other bottled bacteria products that don't interact well with Prime, but that is the one I know for sure.

*If you do add bacteria while using Prime, it's a good idea to also have an air stone to increase oxygen.

 

[Mason603]

Also, don't use Prime with Bio-Spira. There may be other bottled bacteria products that don't interact well with Prime, but that is the one I know for sure.

*If you do add bacteria while using Prime, it's a good idea to also have an air stone to increase oxygen.

Would the bubble wall and power head be enough to safely add bio and prime? To the new water change

 

[Mason603]

if you have established rock from petco, i assume youre referring to the stuff that you can buy that is inside their display tanks that have fish in them? if so, thats good. glad you have those. one thing i would recommend from here, is to not use that fancy colored rock substrate, and use some of their caribsea stuff, or other saltwater tank sand. it will help be a place for more bacteria to find home.
from here, stay on top of testing and water changes. if you can do that, you can definately help the fish

Yes a rock from their tank, should I go get sand and another live rock with a water change? Add bio spira and prime?

 

[Blue Cheese]

My opinion the sand will cycle,that will add an ammonia source,adding more rock from their tank will be good,I would wait until the fish recover and then add a cup of sand here and there and let the rock take care of the small amount of ammonia not add sand all at once

 

[jfoahs04]

Yes a rock from their tank, should I go get sand and another live rock with a water change? Add bio spira and prime?

Another live rock would certainly help, but having one already should definitely speed things along since it has the established bacterial colony and you're not starting from scratch. I don't think the sand is urgent. I can't weigh in on how to use Prime and Bio Spira together since I've never done it.

 

[Mason603]

Another live rock would certainly help, but having one already should definitely speed things along since it has the established bacterial colony and you're not starting from scratch. I don't think the sand is urgent. I can't weigh in on how to use Prime and Bio Spira together since I've never done it.

I do have a new live rock not established. Would it be a good idea to put that back in for mor bacteria to build up on? Ammonia has gone up since last night tho so wouldn’t adding that rock back in create more ammonia? This test is right now

 

[melonheadorion]

creating a dry rock that never had anything on it, should not increase ammonia. it will create more area for additional bacteria to go to, so that part would be good.
if you add another rock that doesnt have bacteria on it, bio spira will help seed it. just follow the instructions.

right now, the issue that you are having is that you hve bacteria in the tank, which is what you need, but you have something giving off more ammonia than the bacteria can handle, this would be why you are seeing ammonia increase. giving more surface area, and more bacteria to the tank via bio spira, will help equalize the two so that bacteria is outcompeting whatever is leeching ammonia.

I also do not think that sand is too important. it will help add a place for bacteria, but another rock will probably create more area than the sand would

 

[jfoahs04]

I do have a new live rock not established. Would it be a good idea to put that back in for mor bacteria to build up on? Ammonia has gone up since last night tho so wouldn’t adding that rock back in create more ammonia? This test is right now

I thought you said that you have a rock in your tank that was from a Petco tank (with the anemones). If you do, then that's an established live rock (since it was established with beneficial bacteria) in their system. Another would be great.

The ammonia spike is not unusual - you're going through a pretty standard cycle and you'll continue to read ammonia for a bit. You should also start getting nitrite soon. Fish and food create waste which creates ammonia and as long as you have fish and feed them, they'll continue to produce ammonia. Eventually, your bacteria will efficiently convert that ammonia to nitrite and then nitrate preventing a buildup of toxic ammonia. But because you have fish in there and ammonia is toxic to fish, you've got to take extra measures (hence the extra water changes, addition of Prime, etc) to keep ammonia from building up too much. If it weren't for the fish, you could just let it ride until you stop reading ammonia and start reading nitrate.