Cycling new tank.

[Knight_Solaire01]

Hello everyone. I just started my second tank! It is a 10 gallon salt water tank with a small ten gallon filter. I understand that monitoring it will require more care then my 32 gallon tank, as with less volume of water there is less room for error if I get a spike of something nasty like ammonia. Currently I have some live rock in it as well as a few shots of water from my other tank to help boost bacteria. I had three mollies adjusted to it as they can be in salt water, but sadly two perished. My question to you all is, how long do you think it would take to fully cycle a 10 gallon tank before I try to put something new into it like say, clowns or anemones?

 

[Lasse]

Take some sand from your old aquarium (do not clean it!) - feed you molly very, very sparsely for three weeks and you should be fine. You can read this article too.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Take some sand from your old aquarium (do not clean it!) - feed you molly very, very sparsely for three weeks and you should be fine. You can read this article too.

Sincerely Lasse

You think it would really take three weeks? Gosh I can wait that long if it is that slow.

 

[Lasse]

With old sand and old stone it will speed up the process but take it carefully. The article gives a few tip´s. IMO - you can introduce CUC already now - but the feeding must be very sparsely.

You will probably get advices that three weeks are too short and that 3 weeks are too long - so - Just chose which advices you want to follow.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[A sea K]

Ill be in the 3 weeks is too short camp especially for anemones. Otherwise Lasse is on the mark about sand from an established system, the water will have little effect if any as little bacteria is suspended in the water column, sand is where its at.
I'm cycling a 15gal QT right now and am using bacteria in a bottle and straight ammonia. Took three days for the ammonia to come down so I was really impressed with that. I am going to give it a second dose of bacteria and ammonia today, if the ammonia comes down within 24 hrs I'll be very impressed as I have always regarded the bacteria in a bottle as snake oil

 

[Lasse]

You should also monitoring your nitrite levels if you should be impressed. IMO - the second dose of ammonia is just worthless. It is obvious that the first step is established (NH3/NH4 -> NO2) That you do not need to prove with another ammonia dose. What you need to prove is that the second step is working properly too. NO2 -> NO3. You only validate that with testing NO2. It you test NO3 - you will have a false reading if there is NO2 in the water. Please read this and this.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

I think I may need to go the safe route and wait a few weeks. The reason being is I am getting an Atlantic Pygmy Octopus. On top of being a one-animal-per-tank pet, they need special care to make sure they don't escape, and aren't that hardy as they are mollusks. I don't want to kill the little guy a day after settling him into the tank.

 

[Lasse]

Congratulations. I believe that these guys second name is Houdini They are able to escape from whatever. But I have learned a trick. If you use Euro brackets all around the aquarium - just glue some Astro Turf on the brackets and some centimeters down on the window panels. Of som reasons Octopus does not like to put their arms on this material. You need to cover the top because they can jump but if there - of mistake - will be hole in the cover - they will not climb over the astroturf covered euro brackets. We keep Octopus vulgaris that way for many years - without cover but one day he/she get scared and jump out. A cover is good.

Sincerely Lasse

 

[jda]

Lasse nailed this one... put a 1/2 cup of sand in there uncleaned.

Once you get a bit of film algae on the glass that you have to remove regularly, then you should be good. Octos can be very sensitive to ammonia, nitrite and other new-tank stuff, so take more caution that you might otherwise with a more hardy creature.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

Congratulations. I believe that these guys second name is Houdini They are able to escape from whatever. But I have learned a trick. If you use Euro brackets all around the aquarium - just glue some Astro Turf on the brackets and some centimeters down on the window panels. Of som reasons Octopus does not like to put their arms on this material. You need to cover the top because they can jump but if there - of mistake - will be hole in the cover - they will not climb over the astroturf covered euro brackets. We keep Octopus vulgaris that way for many years - without cover but one day he/she get scared and jump out. A cover is good.

Sincerely Lasse

I am going to cover the loose areas with spongy so they don't squeeze out. But that does sound like a better idea!

 

[jda]

We used to keep them in tanks with the water level down 6 inches, which is not likely possible for you. This seemed to keep them from wanting to reach up and crawl/squeeze out. It could just be a small sample size. We still needed a lid, though.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

We used to keep them in tanks with the water level down 6 inches, which is not likely possible for you. This seemed to keep them from wanting to reach up and crawl/squeeze out. It could just be a small sample size. We still needed a lid, though.

It will be a pygmy with plenty of hides that I plan to move around every now and then so it doesn't get bored and depressed. But I will consider lowering the water by 3 inches then seeing about using some SeaPora carbon padding.

 

[Knight_Solaire01]

We used to keep them in tanks with the water level down 6 inches, which is not likely possible for you. This seemed to keep them from wanting to reach up and crawl/squeeze out. It could just be a small sample size. We still needed a lid, though.

Can I DM you with questions regarding activities to make sure it is happy and stimulated? I have heard they need socializing as they can get depressed when they realize they are basically in a prison.