New nano 29g setup/new reefer!

[Justin_92_92]

Hello everyone!

My wife was so nice to me and bought me a jbj 29gal nano tank for Christmas. I got it early though for a head start. So far I used tap water (sorry just don't have ro/di yet) and mixed my salt in tank. Let it sit for 4 days. Went to LPS and picked up some live sand (in bags) and poured it in (imagine the dust cloud for 6 days lol). I let that sit for nearly two weeks (checking my levels a few times). I then went to petco and picked up some live rock that they had in their display tanks. I started to cure it in another tank but read a bit online that suggested I might be able to just put it in my tank since it had been in a tank at the store with fish. (I'm not sure if that was right or wrong). I had 5 snails tag along with the live rock too.

So far I have some air bubbles under my sand bed near top and I have brown covering a lot of my sand bed. I assume this is actually the live rock cycling.

I would like to add more live rock and something for algae cleaning. I'm not positive what is safe to add at this point. I will probably get the same style live rock as petco is the closest to me at over 2 hrs away.

Any suggestions or comments would be great. Thanks for reading my voyage! (I've had a saltwater tank before but I'm embarrassed how much I didn't know a out it lol)

 

[sutton6989]

Sounds like the normal cycle to me.. pick up an ammonia/nitrate/nitrite test kit. And test them every couple days and watch the ammonia rise then drop and nitrite rise and drop and same with nitrate. Once that drops the cycle is complete and slowly add fish/clean up crew

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[natesreef]

What I would suggest to do is put a source of ammonia in the tank like a small piece of shrimp or ammonia. Then either let the tank cycle, or to help with the cycle you can add biospira or dr Tim's one and only. Once it cycles and the ammonia is back to 0 you're ready for fosh

 

[Justin_92_92]

Thanks for the replies everyone! I cant wait to be able to share this hobby with my son in the next few years.

Is there anything I can put in the tank while the cylce process is going on as far as clean up crew? The snails were a tag along so kept them on their and they seem to be doing fine but wasnt sure if I should just let it cycle with only the live rock in there.

I just got some timers so I can start the lights on a schedule.

My wave maker has to be set to delay so each pump is on separately or it drains the rear of the tank. I imagine this is normal. My filter just has the sponge on top and the ceramic tubes and the charcoal on the bottom. Is that sufficiant or should I chang anything?

My test kit is old so i have a new one coming to double check everything. I really want to do things the right way this time around. I made HUGE mistakes the first time.

 

[sutton6989]

No inhabitants until ammonia drops to 0 just take it slow

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[Justin_92_92]

cool!Thanks for a quick reply. So I really should add all the LR that i want now and get the whole process over with.

 

[sutton6989]

Yes that's what I would do

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[Justin_92_92]

The comment about the shrimp, I read this somewhere else too..Am i clear on this...A raw shrimp from the supermarket?

I was just thinking too, If my tank is cycling....Should I keep the lights off the whole time?