New Tank Please HELP!

[Dom]

I have a new 3 week old saltwater tank. I have 7 fishes. I currently have brown spots on my sand and here's a picture of how my water tested. Is there anything that I need to do or is this part of the cycle?

3 weeks and 7 fish?

Patience...

You have to give the colony of nitrifying bacteria colony time to grow. This is what handles the bio load produced by the fish.

 

[Dom]

i figured that now. but the reef shop had told me otherwise that my tank would never cycle without fish. My conclusion is they may have lied to sell the fish. Should i do any water change or that would not help or distrupt the cycle?. What would prime do?

Well... there are some less-than-ethical LFS out there. This is entirely possible.

Based on your pic, I'd say that the fish in your tank are generally hearty and will probably survive the cycle process. FYI: you can cycle the tank with a raw shrimp.

Most of all... IMO... I'd just ride it out. Give the tank time; I'd let it self correct. Hopefully, you won't lose anything.

 

[Forsaken77]

Thank you for your reply, when i first set up the tank i did add Dr. Tim's One And Only, would i need to add another bottle?. Also what is LFS sorry im new to the forum so not sure what that means. I also have a clown trigger, want to make sure my fish dont die and i dont know why the reef shop recommended me to add these fish if now i am in this situation

If you do cycle a tank with fish, you would would use 1 or 2 small, cheap fish in your size tank. Usually people use 2 damsels that stay around 2 inches, but the preferred way is to use an ammonium chloride solution instead of fish for waste to start cycling a tank, for future reference.

The Local Fish Store (LFS) had you fully stock your tank with fish, which is a sure fire way to kill them and have you back there buying more.

A Clown Trigger, which is not a cycling fish, cannot go in a 60 gallonotank. It'll get way too big all by itself, besides the other 6 fish in there with it.

It also looks like your Ph is low, from what I can see. You should shoot for around 7.8 at the lowest.

But like others have said, you will have to do frequent 20% water changes every 4 days or so, depending on your ammonia and nitrite levels, until they get to, and stay at, 0.

Try to feed lightly, maybe every other day right now.

 

[BigBoss88]

How much percent water change would you recommend?.

Any ammonia in the water is going to be toxic.

Prime will bind the ammonia for ~48 hours, IIRC, which may give your bacteria time to get to work on it. If it was myself, I would probably do a water change, then dose the tank with Prime. (No sense dosing before the water change, only to pull the prime from the tank . . . )

~Bruce

would 10 gallons be sufficient?

 

[Friday24]

The 2 Pilot fish you have I there need to be fed multiple times a day and are quickly going to outgrow your tank. They are very fast growers.

 

[BigBoss88]

Any ammonia in the water is going to be toxic.

Prime will bind the ammonia for ~48 hours, IIRC, which may give your bacteria time to get to work on it. If it was myself, I would probably do a water change, then dose the tank with Prime. (No sense dosing before the water change, only to pull the prime from the tank . . . )

~Bruce

How much water do you recommend a change?. i contacted the local store and he recommended i basically dont do anything that its part of the cycle and let it run its course maybe he doesnt care about the fish to get me to go in and get more once they die. I dont want my fish in harms way but unfortunately they misguided me and put me in this bind now

 

[BigBoss88]

The 2 Pilot fish you have I there need to be fed multiple times a day and are quickly going to outgrow your tank. They are very fast growers.

hopefully by the time they get bigger i plan to upgrade to a larger tank, do you know how big they may grow? i wish the local fish store wouldnt have sold me fish that would not be able to go in my 60 gallon tank

 

[Friday24]

hopefully by the time they get bigger i plan to upgrade to a larger tank, do you know how big they may grow? i wish the local fish store wouldnt have sold me fish that would not be able to go in my 60 gallon tank

They need at least a 300g to keep them several years. In the wild they grow 24”-48”. They’re also called a Golden Trevally or Golden Jack. Best in schools of 4 or more. I have 4, and they’ve grown from about 2.5” to around 4” in 6 months. I feed mine heavy 2-4 times a day a day. I feed heavy now so the other fish can get food as they devour food as fast as it hits the water. Wouldn’t be good tank mates for shy/finicky eaters.

 

[BigBoss88]

They need at least a 300g to keep them several years. In the wild they grow 24”-48”. They’re also called a Golden Trevally or Golden Jack. Best in schools of 4 or more. I have 4, and they’ve grown from about 2.5” to around 4” in 6 months. I feed mine heavy 2-4 times a day a day. I feed heavy now so the other fish can get food as they devour food as fast as it hits the water. Wouldn’t be good tank mates for shy/finicky eaters.

i have a baby clown trigger and 4 damsels, are the other fish in danger with this clown trigger?

 

[Friday24]

i have a baby clown trigger and 4 damsels, are the other fish in danger with this clown trigger?

Maybe the damsels as they stay small, but damsels are pretty aggressive in their own right toward similar sized fish. From others on here and research I’ve done while deciding on a trigger for myself, Clown Triggers are one of the most aggressive species of Triggers. It will probably leave the Pilot Fish alone since they’re are scavenger/cleaners in the wild following large species of fish and sharks. Clown Trigger will probably go to town on any sails, crabs and shrimp you put in as it gets bigger.

 

[40B Knasty]

#1 get a new LFS
#2 Let the prime do its work.
#3 add live bacteria as suggested. Dr. Tim's or Nite-Out ll(you can find a Petco)
#4 don't panic about the diatoms. I would say add a fighting conch for that, but I would wait on the cycling to finish.
#5 the Jacks need a new home. The trigger as well. Way to small of a tank.
#6 pickup a better test kit. The API pH and Nitrite kit is pretty good. The rest are bad. The major problem with that kit is the laser etched line is not exactly 5ml. The others suggested are very good. I recommend ELOS.
#7 you learned a valuable lesson about this hobby. Don't trust no one trying to sell you something. If you don't know. Don't buy it. Look it up online or ask this forum.
I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Friday24]

Live bacteria is a must to keep the ammonia at a safe enough level for the fish to survive. Turbo Start I’ve had good luck with cycling, I’ve never done it with fish but they claim you can add fish immediately after dosing. Algae Barn sells it on their website. If you start to notice splotches of discoloration on the fish I’d pull them immediately as it could be from high ammonia levels. All you fish are pretty hardy especially the damsels which sometimes survive a complete cycle but keep a close eye on them. Doing water changes helps but also prolongs the cycle time. As for the diatoms, it’s a normal part of a new tank and once you can get a clean up crew going they will clean up what’s there. Again after the cycle they can be added.

 

[SUSIESON]

#1 get a new LFS
#2 Let the prime do its work.
#3 add live bacteria as suggested. Dr. Tim's or Nite-Out ll(you can find a Petco)
#4 don't panic about the diatoms. I would say add a fighting conch for that, but I would wait on the cycling to finish.
#5 the Jacks need a new home. The trigger as well. Way to small of a tank.
#6 pickup a better test kit. The API pH and Nitrite kit is pretty good. The rest are bad. The major problem with that kit is the laser etched line is not exactly 5ml. The others suggested are very good. I recommend ELOS.
#7 you learned a valuable lesson about this hobby. Don't trust no one trying to sell you something. If you don't know. Don't buy it. Look it up online or ask this forum.
I wish you the best of luck.

100% agree!!!

 

[BigBoss88]

100% agree!!!

Hello thank you for your reply, but i did add DR TIMS when the tank was empty shall i add again?. i do have a liquid named stress zyme not sure if for saltwater would it be a good idea to add some or not?

 

[timnem70]

Is everyone not also seeing a Penquin powerwheel filter? Not nearly enough to export the food it'll require to keep those Travally in an aquarium that size with the amount of food you'll need to feed. See if maybe you could get the Store to hold those fish until you get something going that'll get you success while learning. Mayne a credit for equipment? Skimmer? Or...
Get a small sump or build one outta a 20long from Petsmart THEN you can...
Do what everyone else has suggested.
I have see stores have fish only tanks with those type filters usually when they have quick turnover in a tank but for any type of long term success, you will need equipment that will sustain a bioload you're trying to introduce to your tank and export the nutrients it'll produce. After it is done cycling add 3 or 4 fish but do some research, some of the choices you've made to this point will get far to large for your sized tank.
Good luck

 

[Steve Jewell]

I would also turn your wavemakers toward the top of the water or sides of the glass, not directly on the floor

 

[reefertank]

I would return the fish before they die. Sounds like you are in the middle of a cycle.

 

[Will Perry]

I would test for ammonia & nitrite using a better test kit: Red Sea, Salifert, Seachem, Giesemann, etc.

API is notorious for showing false positives. Also, I find it hard to believe that a tank with diatoms is still cycling.

I worked in my LFS for a while and we used API. It was fine. The main problem here is 7 fish after 3 weeks. Thats a HUGE bioload after such a short time. It may crash.

 

[mike werner]

lots of great advise for you to apply to your tank in the above threads.some better than others but Camaros and opinions right?you guys know the other saying.
I gotta ask did your fish store know what size tank and how long it was set up before you bought those fish?when you say lfs do you mean a privately owned one or a chain store?big difference in the quality of advice you will get.
now my advise.i would do 10% or so water changes every 4 or 5 days for the next few weeks.prime is a great product and will help detoxify the ammonia and nitrites that will kill those fish first.USE IT! I would just ride the cycling process out now.don't add any more fish of course.feed the ones you have lightly and keep an eye on them.they are your best indicators NOW how the tank is cycling.if they die it's bad if they live it's good.TEST TEST TEST EVERY FEW DAYS.
don't do anything drastic,that will just cause more problems.don't give up we all start out the same way.it just takes some time make it work.

 

[40B Knasty]

Looking at the amount of live rock from the pictures provided. It looks about 35lbs of live rock in 60g tank. Each one of those rocks look about 4lbs at best. Some are about 2lbs. So I would say @BigBoss88, beef up your live rock. Good rule of thumb is 1lb of live rock per gallon. Unless it is tonga branch. The porosity is horrible compared to the density. A person would need double the amount in weight. So you should definitely get those 2 fish suggested back to the store.