New hobbyist looking for thoughts

[Xephic]

I am new to saltwater and started my first cycle. Decided to make a post to get some opinions as I am not 100% in what to expect during my cycle.

Build:

20gal 30"L
Marineland;
- Penguin 100
- visi therm heater
Current Orbit IC 36" lights
Eflux 660 gph
SmartStart Complete

Caribbean aggalive sand 2" deep
Life rock 22#
Catalina ocean water
2x Yellow tail Damsels
2x Four black stripe Damsels

Cycle started 03/10/2017
Testing has been non changing
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 8
Salinity 1.028

 

[Flippers4pups]

Good read. You may consider rehoming your fish during the cycle.

http://www.melevsreef.com/cycle

 

[PJS]

Welcome to R2R!
I would get your salinity down to 1.026 and do it slow.
You're in the right place, lots of good, knowledgeable people!
Good luck with your new adventure!

 

[Salty1962]

Good read. You may consider rehoming your fish during the cycle.

http://www.melevsreef.com/cycle

++1

 

[Salty1962]

The best thing, other than re-homing your fish temp, is to keep an eye on you NH4 and No2. When they have been down for @2-3 weeks then slowly add livestock. This way your tank can recover from the extra bio-load. Your tank looks good!

 

[GatorScott]

Poor little fishys

 

[Xephic]

Damsels were recommended by my LFS, said to help the cycle....

 

[bing_ph]

Welcome to R2R!

Just put on a lot of patience during your cycling process and all will be well. Goodluck and enjoy this lovely hobby!

Also the right place to be...people here are very helpful....that is basing on my own personal experience...I was guided by a lot of them during my start-up.

 

[Smo]

Damsels were recommended by my LFS, said to help the cycle....

Old school. Really old school. Now considered in humane because of the stress to the fish. Suggest adding "bacteria in a bottle," e.g., BIO Spira to accelerate the cycle and help avoid an ammonia spike. Go really easy on the feeding, test for ammonia daily, perform water changes at the slightest hint of ammonia or at least 10% weekly. "The solution to pollution is dilution."

 

[Xephic]

I had an initial ammonia spike when I added the fish, but it dropped to 0 the next day and has remained 0.
I also added SmartStart Complete, which says it will instant cycle...

 

[Xephic]

Update---

Testing still roughly the same.

pH 8
Amo .25
Ni 0
Na 0
Salinity just over 1.026
Temp. ~79deg

My cops and robbers Damsels are doing good.

Starting to get the brown spots on the sand and rocks. From that I've read that's normal.
Changed the penguin filer as it was slimy white.

 

[SantaMonicaHelp]

I am new to saltwater and started my first cycle. Decided to make a post to get some opinions as I am not 100% in what to expect during my cycle.

Build:

20gal 30"L
Marineland;
- Penguin 100
- visi therm heater
Current Orbit IC 36" lights
Eflux 660 gph
SmartStart Complete

Caribbean aggalive sand 2" deep
Life rock 22#
Catalina ocean water
2x Yellow tail Damsels
2x Four black stripe Damsels

Cycle started 03/10/2017
Testing has been non changing
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
pH 8
Salinity 1.028

Hey Xephic,

Congratulations with the hobby!
Looking good...Is this your first tank?

Zhenya

 

[Xephic]

Hey Xephic,

Congratulations with the hobby!
Looking good...Is this your first tank?

Zhenya

This is my first saltwater! I have a freshwater tank with a Male beta and 4 snails.

 

[Chrisfish]

welcome to R2R, I started out with FW as well, now it's all SW for me ( I do miss my dwarf puffers though) ! Glad you've joined this awesome community

 

[Xephic]

Thought I would share a photo update...

Diatom Alge showed up and some green.... added 4x Astrea Snails.

 

[ebushrow]

Other than the suggestions above....I would HiGHLY suggest getting rid of the damsels while you are still cycling.....damsels are truely created by Satan and will be the bane of your existence in the future....they are highly territorial and will stress and kill most fish you will want to add to a 20 gallon tank.

 

[Xephic]

Added 4x Astrea Snails but lost one.
Added an Emerald Crab, she's awesome!
Lost a Yellow Tail Damsel, crab found it before I did....

Diatom is all cleared from the rocks and not much left on the sand bed.

All test scores have been 0, when ammonia does spike it has always dropped back to 0 the next day.
So I decided to add a pair of clownfish.
1x Ocellaris
1x Mocha