New tank, am I missing something?

[Brandito]

Hello I have recently started a new tank (1st SW). My salinity is good, been running the filter/ heater for about 3 weeks now. Was also recommended to use seachem stability for a week (finished that 2 weeks ago). Is there anything else I need to do before getting some fish in there?

 

[Reefering1]

Have you read any of the thousands of threads about cycling/ starting a marine aquarium? If not, I would start there!

 

[Mr. Mojo Rising]

Test the water, the ammonia should be zero and you should have some nitrates.

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[PharmrJohn]

How big is your tank? How are you cycling and what are your goals for the tank? And reefering1 has a good point. There are SO many ways to cycle a tank. Different methods lead to different results, mainly in trying to avoid or minimize the ugly stage. IMO, a plan of action for what kind of fish you want in there is required. Each fish needs to be researched and even the order they are put in is important. Read, read, read!!!!

 

[Brandito]

How big is your tank? How are you cycling and what are your goals for the tank? And reefering1 has a good point. There are SO many ways to cycle a tank. Different methods lead to different results, mainly in trying to avoid or minimize the ugly stage. IMO, a plan of action for what kind of fish you want in there is required. Each fish needs to be researched and even the order they are put in is important. Read, read, read!!!!

29 Gallon tank, I thought I was cycling correctly by running the HOB filter and heater, and also adding seachem stability. Was told that would kick start the cycle

 

[PharmrJohn]

29 Gallon tank, I thought I was cycling correctly by running the HOB filter and heater, and also adding seachem stability. Was told that would kick start the cycle

And it should do that. But what are you gonna have? Corals? Fish only? I've run an HOB on a 29 decades ago and it worked fine. But they have some skimmers now you can put in a back corner that would do a great job. Also, do you have live rock?

 

[Brandito]

And it should do that. But what are you gonna have? Corals? Fish only? I've run an HOB on a 29 decades ago and it worked fine. But they have some skimmers now you can put in a back corner that would do a great job. Also, do you have live rock?

Yes live sand was put in first and then water was added. Rocks were put in as soon as the tank was filled. As for what I am going to put in the tank, I want 2 clown, a goby and maybe a starfish of some kind, probably a sand sifting star. Would also like to add an anemone at some point for the clowns

 

[PharmrJohn]

A sandsifting star would clean your sand, yes, but then it would eventually starve. It does that good of a job. Perhaps one micro brittle star. Stay away from green brittlestars. They are not reefsafe. And you may decide to keep some corals down the line. And yes to the anenome. Just wait on that until the tank is stable for on the order of months. They also need reef lighting as they are photosynthetic.

 

[Brandito]

A sandsifting star would clean your sand, yes, but then it would eventually starve. It does that good of a job. Perhaps one micro brittle star. Stay away from green brittlestars. They are not reefsafe. And you may decide to keep some corals down the line. And yes to the anenome. Just wait on that until the tank is stable for on the order of months. They also need reef lighting as they are photosynthetic.

Hmm ok good to know! So for water parameters my test strips are showing between 120-180 for GH, 180 for KH, 7.5 pH, 0.5 for Nitrite and 0 for nitrate. Am I in acceptable levels to start a pair of clowns?

 

[PharmrJohn]

What's your ammonia at? I'm a little concerned with zero nitrates. Also, you're only 3 weeks in. Personally, I'm gonna be doing a 4 month cycle and will start adding fish at about week 10. And then very slowly. Don't be in a rush here. This hobby is about patience. And with testing, I'd veer away from test strips. If you don't want to get into Hanna Checkers (a more expensive, but more accurate route), then Salifert is a pretty good option. Stay away from API. Also, GH is not used so much in SW tanks. Those measurements of Ca and Mg are done individually and are really tested with reef tanks. Your salt mix will give acceptable numbers for fish only.

 

[jabberwock]

Hmm ok good to know! So for water parameters my test strips are showing between 120-180 for GH, 180 for KH, 7.5 pH, 0.5 for Nitrite and 0 for nitrate. Am I in acceptable levels to start a pair of clowns?

You are a little too soon. If you get a clown pair, stop there. You will likely run into aggression issues as the clowns mature.

 

[NanoNana]

Definitely check your ammonia. Test strips are not ideal for SW.
where did you get live rock? Was it wet from the ocean or an established system live rock or was it dry rock?
Did you ghost feed the tank or add any ammonia source to start your cycle?

 

[ISpeakForTheSeas]

A sandsifting star would clean your sand, yes, but then it would eventually starve. It does that good of a job. Perhaps one micro brittle star. Stay away from green brittlestars. They are not reefsafe.

Just to add to this - true, tropical starfish (Asteroids) are not recommended for keeping at this point, as they either starve in our tanks, eat things like corals and other inverts in our tanks, or both.

Brittle/Serpent starfish (Ophiuroids) do much better and are generally reef-safe (so they won't eat your corals) - the one exception I've seen in the hobby is the Green Serpent Starfish, Ophiarachna incrassata, which is known to eat fish.

If you really want a true starfish, the only ones that seem to do well in our tanks consistently at this point are Aquilonastra starfish (known in the hobby as Asterina starfish), but they are known to reproduce very quickly (to the point of many people considering them pests), and some species from the genus seem to eat zoanthids (some very rare species may also go for other corals, but these species typically have a very dark topside and are easy to tell apart from the normal species).

 

[Brandito]

Definitely check your ammonia. Test strips are not ideal for SW.
where did you get live rock? Was it wet from the ocean or an established system live rock or was it dry rock?
Did you ghost feed the tank or add any ammonia source to start your cycle?

Yeah I'm using the API test strips from my old tank, as for the rock It came from my local aquarium store. Also did a bottle of seachem Stability

 

[NanoNana]

Yeah I'm using the API test strips from my old tank, as for the rock It came from my local aquarium store. Also did a bottle of seachem Stability

As others have suggested, I would move away from test strips. They just aren’t accurate for SW. API is notoriously inaccurate in the SW hobby and others have suggested the more accurate tests.
There may have been an ammonia source in your live rock but zero ammonia and zero nitrates sounds like the cycle hasn’t even started. Add ammonia to test.
Nitrites are not important in SW except very early on their presence will tell you the cycle has begun. You want nitrates in the tank. Zero nitrates will cause problems.
There are many great how to cycle the tank threads and articles on the board that cover a variety of methods.

 

[Glowurm]

Hello I have recently started a new tank (1st SW). My salinity is good, been running the filter/ heater for about 3 weeks now. Was also recommended to use seachem stability for a week (finished that 2 weeks ago). Is there anything else I need to do before getting some fish in there?

You probably need a source of ammonia, and then you need to see that this ammonia is being cycled into Nitrate. This is for me at least why you are seeing 0 for nitrate...

100% do not get a star fish, especially a sand sifting one as your tanks to small and will be too immature to support it.