Hi so my question is I just finished setting my tank up how long do I need to wait? What kind of fish are good starts and what about a "clean up crew" I'm new to salt water in general also how often should I test my water? Any help is greatly appreciated thank!
New tank
- Thread starter Austin R
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Welcome to R2R!
Here's a good primer on how to start a reef tank. All of the info is likely relevant (as a checklist if nothing else), but what you're asking about specifically is covered in "Section 5: The Cycle". There are many other guides and articles on the subject as well; just look for "nitrogen cycle".
As far as testing frequency goes; the only downside to testing too often is that you consume the agents. My suggestion is to test daily at the start. Be sure to log all the numbers somewhere (there are apps, spreadsheets, or just a piece of paper is fine). Do this until you have a good understanding of how to perform the test and get correct results (this may mean running the same test two - or more - times in one sitting). This phase is more about gaining confidence in your ability to execute a test more than anything else, in other words (some of the tests you may eventually use can be pretty tricky to execute correctly). Once you're comfortable executing the tests, you'll start to get a feel for how the tank looks at the various levels. This takes time to develop (years, I'd guess - since I'm still learning that myself). Once you're through the cycle, you should be fine running tests every few days. Then once a week or so. Then, for some tests, almost never unless something is going on in the tank you don't understand. Note: Things you don't understand covers just about everything when you start off, so frequent testing is to be expected.
Enjoy the journey you've started on and don't be hesitant to ask any questions you may have. Cheers!
Here's a good primer on how to start a reef tank. All of the info is likely relevant (as a checklist if nothing else), but what you're asking about specifically is covered in "Section 5: The Cycle". There are many other guides and articles on the subject as well; just look for "nitrogen cycle".
As far as testing frequency goes; the only downside to testing too often is that you consume the agents. My suggestion is to test daily at the start. Be sure to log all the numbers somewhere (there are apps, spreadsheets, or just a piece of paper is fine). Do this until you have a good understanding of how to perform the test and get correct results (this may mean running the same test two - or more - times in one sitting). This phase is more about gaining confidence in your ability to execute a test more than anything else, in other words (some of the tests you may eventually use can be pretty tricky to execute correctly). Once you're comfortable executing the tests, you'll start to get a feel for how the tank looks at the various levels. This takes time to develop (years, I'd guess - since I'm still learning that myself). Once you're through the cycle, you should be fine running tests every few days. Then once a week or so. Then, for some tests, almost never unless something is going on in the tank you don't understand. Note: Things you don't understand covers just about everything when you start off, so frequent testing is to be expected.
Enjoy the journey you've started on and don't be hesitant to ask any questions you may have. Cheers!
SantaMonicaHelp
Valuable Member
Hi so my question is I just finished setting my tank up how long do I need to wait? What kind of fish are good starts and what about a "clean up crew" I'm new to salt water in general also how often should I test my water? Any help is greatly appreciated thank!
Hey Austin,
Looking great
What about tangs?
Zhenya
I would not recommend tangs, myself - not in a tank that size, but certainly not to start. Tangs require room to swim and are generally not recommended in tanks under 4ft (or more) in length. More importantly here, they are one of the more delicate types of fish to care for - more prone to illness and finicky habits than other options.
Top of the "first fish" list is usually clowns. Hardy, consistent, easy to care for and find, and inexpensive. There are "designer" clownfish you could go for, but the run-of-the-mill "orange and black" are a good place to start. Look for "tank raised" and they get even easier (most clownfish I've seen are these days). Beyond clowns, gobys and cardinalfish seem to be common early-tank fishes?
One thing to note is that the general rule of thumb is that you want about 1lb of rock per gallon of water in the system (not just the display; sump included). More or less is okay (within reason), but the rock (and sand, but mostly rock) is where your beneficial bacteria will grow. Live rock starts off with this bacteria (thus the "live" part), so having the right amount of it from the start will really help to get you into - and through - the cycle easier and faster.
I'm not sure what your volumes are, but it looks a little light on rock weight. If you're going for a minimal aquascape, you'll very likely still want to balance that with rock (or other porous material) down in your sump. Note that adding more rock can be done later, but it usually takes quite some time to "prep" new rock to go into an established tank - months, often.
Of course, setting up a tank is costly. ;-) If more rock isn't in the budget right now, it'll be easier on you if you can ensure that however you got the rock you have remains an option in the future. In other words; if/when you need more rock, it'll be easier to get it from the same location. Getting rock from different sources can be fine, but it can also be problematic if the biology on the rocks is dramatically different.
Jason mack
Monti madness
And patience ..... you need lots and lots of patience in this hobby ... nothing good ever happens fast in a reef tank , if you want easy corals too start with .. you can try toadstools , hamers , frogspawn , pulsing xania s too name but a few !
There are a lot of opinions on this one - some argue for no CUC, while others swear by them. Myself; I'm somewhere in the middle - they help, but if you buy the "clean up crew" packages, you'll end up with way too many critters in your tank - some of which you may regret.
In any case; I don't suggest adding anything living into your tank until you are through the cycle. So you have time to research.
And the possible invertebrates to add are a good place to start - certainly before any fish. Case-in-point; my first batch of CUC all died within days (because I was using the wrong type of refractometer, it turns out). That was sad and annoying, but nowhere near as costly as if I had lost my first batch of fish.Ceriths and Nassarius would not be a poor choice for initial snails, to start you off.
In general; when you have algae growth. That's a general indicator that your tank is producing the nutrients and such that are needed to support reef life. This is just one indicator, however - testing the water for ammonia, nitrite, and then nitrate will be a more quantifiable guide.
Anything you add to your tank now stands a better chance of dying than surviving at this point.
You could (should, really) set up a quarantine tank (QT) anyways. If you were to fill that with rocks and water from another established tank, such as from your local fish store (LFS), that would give you a place to start while your display tank (DT) is cycling. Even that "newish" tank could experience a mini-cycle as it balances itself, however, so you would likely want to wait at least a week or so (guessing there - better to measure the same three chemicals above).
Once that tank was stable, you could - conceptually - start getting coral frags, inverts, and even fish. BIG caution here, however: you have no idea how long it will take your DT to cycle. So anything you put into the QT would have to be able to stay in there for - potentially - months (it shouldn't take that, but better safe than sorry, IMO). This includes things like pumps for flow, lights, filtration, heat, etc. There's also the caution that you don't yet have the experience with even an "empty" tank. The options - and time - you have to deal with problems greatly decreases when you add something alive into the tank - not to mention the stress level increases.
My suggestion is to wait. Cultivate patience now if you want to have a reef that grows. If you REALLY want something to do, look to one of the "cycle in bottle" products available. For example; I used the Red Sea Reef Mature Pro kit to kick-start my tank. I don't think it really sped things up overly much and I may have had a perfectly fine "natural" cycle without it, but the kit did give me something guided to do nearly every day so that I didn't mess up my tank by "working" it too much.
