How quickly to add livestock?

[antsbumblebee]

Hiya

So how fast is too fast for adding fish and when should I add them? Is it to do with what point you're at in your cycle?

I now have a yellow tail damsel and three hermits crabs that I added Monday night....and I have to say that I'm totally loving it seeing some activity in the tank! I'm so pleased, my parameters are consistent except that my ammonias gone up to .25 which I'm assuming is just my tank cycling. I planned to add one fish and just keep testing the parameters until I run out of my basic test kit, upgrade to a reef test kit and focus on getting some corals going (also planned on getting an hob protein skimmer and LEDs but been too lazy) but now I'm kind of thinking about just playing around with my livestock for a bit...I don't think I'll go beyond three fish for now and some snails for a clean up crew. Just curious if I'm on the right track as far as that's concerned. Thanks!

 

[Pete polyp]

The presence of ammonia means you're not cycled. Until your ammonia is 0 it's not recommended to have any fish.

 

[KillerKlownFish]

Mine cycled pretty quickly. I waited a few weeks to be safe. How big is your tank? Many people say add a fish every month until you reach you max. You don't want an issue w the bio load. Also there is a limit based on the max size fish get and the size of your tank. Example I have a 34 gal and max number of fish is 5-7 depending on how big they get.
Post a pic of your tank

 

[Pete polyp]

Mine cycled pretty quickly. I waited a few weeks to be safe. How big is your tank? Many people say add a fish every month until you reach you max. You don't want an issue w the bio load. Also there is a limit based on the max size fish get and the size of your tank. Example I have a 34 gal and max number of fish is 5-7 depending on how big they get.
Post a pic of your tank

Mine cycled in 6 days. I added a clown on day 7. Over 18
Months later I still have the clown.

 

[antsbumblebee]

The presence of ammonia means you're not cycled. Until your ammonia is 0 it's not recommended to have any fish.

It's been 0 a while, it's just gone up to .25 today

 

[Reefing Madness]

It's been 0 a while, it's just gone up to .25 today

Retest it then, it usually doesn't shoot back up on its own.

 

[antsbumblebee]

55g

 

[JZ199]

How long is a while,While it was at 0 were you ghost feeding or did you add a dead deli shrimp to start a cycle?... Do you have any live rock Or other form if filtration?

 

[antsbumblebee]

Retest it then, it usually doesn't shoot back up on its own.

Is it not suppose to go up ever? I just assumed it constantly goes through cycles

 

[JZ199]

I posted my comment literally seconds after that picture, now most of them are answered lol

 

[cpayne015]

is that dead rock also???

 

[cpayne015]

I would make sure you have 55 to 80 lbs of rock too

 

[JZ199]

If that's dry/dead rock you should be adding bacteria to make it become "live" that takes quite some time

 

[Reefing Madness]

Is it not suppose to go up ever? I just assumed it constantly goes through cycles

Nope, not unless you add a ton of fish all at once.

 

[antsbumblebee]

55lbs dry rock, 20 lbs live sand and I was ghost feeding. Tanks about a month and a half old.

So I'll just test everything again tomorrow, maybe it was a fluke as I'm using the the apparently famously inaccurate API tests but I'm still curious about when to add more fish?

 

[Pete polyp]

With dry rock it can take months for your tank to cycle. If you went and bought some live rock at a lfs it can greatly reduce that. I will only use live rock, never dry base rock.

 

[JZ199]

I wouldn't worry about adding anymore fish for atleast a weeks until you make sure everything is alright with your parameters and fish that are currently in there

 

[Pete polyp]

I wouldn't worry about adding anymore fish for atleast a weeks until you make sure everything is alright with your parameters and fish that are currently in there

+1.