40B Knasty
Valuable Member
I did a Thread about starting up a nano/small tank. 3 great wisdom tips I received and use. Click on my pic. Click on find all started threads. The one in the middle. It covers everything for starting.
Starting from scratch
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a6walter1
Active Member
Don't use a table shrimp... It takes far too long to cycle and tends to be stinky.
Get all the rock you want in your tank, live or dry and aquascape until you are happy.
Then get some Dr. Tim's One and Only (its a bacteria culture) as well as some Dr. Tim's Ammonia. Pour at least half the bottle of the bacteria into the tank, then add the ammonia according to the directions on the bottle.
This will cause your tank to cycle very quickly, even within a day or two!
Get all the rock you want in your tank, live or dry and aquascape until you are happy.
Then get some Dr. Tim's One and Only (its a bacteria culture) as well as some Dr. Tim's Ammonia. Pour at least half the bottle of the bacteria into the tank, then add the ammonia according to the directions on the bottle.
This will cause your tank to cycle very quickly, even within a day or two!
buckroe07
Active Member
Welcome to R2R! Here are some food for thought fish that I had in a 20g for a year and now in a 40B. Grammica Lined Dartfish, Swissguard Basslet, Spotted Mandarin, Randall's Prawn Goby, Yellow&Purple Wrasse and Last Bar Gray Clown.
I really like swissguard basslet. I want the candy basslet also!
buckroe07
Active Member
Correct, until it decays and ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate are undetectable. Then it has gone through the cycle and can add fish. Oh, and welcome! This is the best place to be
Brew12
Electrical Gru
You can do it now. It will stink for a few days. Get a candle of choice
Be careful with candles around aquariums. They release VOC's (volatile organic compounds) when burned that can fuel a bacteria bloom in your tank. Unless of course you like having a clear, snot like substance growing in your tank!
MaiReef
Valuable Member
Mr.Rocc
Valuable Member
Biggest advice to the bacteria though is to not rush. Yes your tank might "cycle" in 2 days but, from my experience, I would give it atleast 2-3 weeks just so you know for sure. No use in rushing then killing everything you put in.
Peter Blue Reef
Active Member
+1. Set it up with this or a similar product and don't touch your tank for 3 weeks. Don't even waste your time and money testing either. Test it after 3-4 weeks.
glb
7500 Club Member
I would add all the rock you're going to before adding fish. It's not a problem at all that you started with only a little since there's nothing in the tank yet. A cycle is when bacteria in your tank convert ammonia to nitrites to nitrates. The cycle is done when all you have is nitrates left for a few days. I'd add the other rocks now, buy testing kits for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and pH, and take your time. You can also add something like Dr. Tim's One and Only, which has the beneficial bacteria you need to cycle the tank. It takes patience, but waiting until the cycle is totally done before adding things saves you problems later. Good luck!
fishkeeper2
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The name of the game is definitely "water quality" and the stability of your tank to maintain it by keeping up with the poop and leftover food decaying on it.
Add 10 lbs more live rock. It is highly porous, good for growing bacteria and maintaining a higher water quality and fish need hiding places. They also graze the stuff growing on it, depending on the fish.
Make sure you have "live sand" in your tank. Petco sells it relatively cheap. It helps to maintain water quality as well.
After adding a fish or two and letting your tank get back to zero nitrites and nitrates add a few hermit crabs and/or snails. This is your clean up crew. They eat the left over food that would normally decay, improving water quality.
Consider using Chemipure elite as carbon filtration. Consider adding NO3-PO4-X by RedSea to further reduce nitrates, which build up in your tank over time.
Watch your pH. Seachem makes a $10 stick on that monitors pH. You can also add a ReefKeeper Lite pH probe for $199 or so. With a smaller tank pH may fluctuate more unless you really stay on top of those water changes.
pH drops occur due to accumulation of carbon dioxide over time from bioload and sometimes from drops in alkalinity. Keep you tank well oxygenated. Air stones or protein skinners work great.
OP
OP
Natashamarie
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I just got home to look at the stuff I had already added yesterday... I have attached the photo... the guy at the store gave me these. What are the purpose of these? Do I still need more to help it cycle?
OP
OP
Natashamarie
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This is my tank.. 15lbs of live rock... i will gwt more later if I have to but idk where to put it or how to stack more! Lol
40B Knasty
Valuable Member
Make sure you have enough room around the glass for a magnet glass cleaner. Also for when fish swim around them. They will try and possibly get scratched and get an infection.This is my tank.. 15lbs of live rock... i will gwt more later if I have to but idk where to put it or how to stack more! Lol
OP
OP
Natashamarie
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Never thought of that! Ill move everything closer to the middle.This is my tank.. 15lbs of live rock... i will gwt more later if I have to but idk where to put it or how to stack more! Lol
Well, it looks as though you've discovered that Reef2Reef is a great place to come for advice ... sometimes too _much_ advice!
Pretty much everything everyone has said is true, even though some of it sounds conflicting. So what's "best"?!
That's going to be a different answer for each tank and for every reefer. Below, some things off the top of my head that worked for me. (Please excuse me if I seem to be "mansplaining" - I don't know what you know, but I do know that a lot of information all at once, such as a new reefer experiences, can be confusing.)
Your two bottles will both help you deal with ammonia, a fairly toxic waste product of fish. "Nite-out" contains nitrifying bacteria (though it's not a brand I've used - I've only used Microbe-Lift's "Special Blend", and bacterial products from other companies). A lot of folks swear by "Dr. Tim's One-and-Only" and SeaChem's "Bio-Spira". Both are bacteria in a bottle, and both work well. .... Wait. Are we throwing _bacteria_ in our tanks?! Yes - these bacteria feed on ammonia, converting it to less-toxic nitrite, and even-less-toxic nitrate. Nitrate can be removed from your system by algae, by partial water changes, and by even more bacteria, these guys living deep within your liverock. They'll convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas.
"Prime" is for emergencies, primarily, and can help neutralize ammonia in a tank that already contains fish and other livestock.
You've added some liverock, you can go ahead and pour in some of the bacteria and something for them to convert. A table shrimp (buy a bunch and have scampi or stir-fry for dinner tonight!) can do the job, as can dropping in some fishfood, as though you already had fish in the tank. (Keep in mind that if that fishfood goes into your filter, it's still in your tank as far as producing ammonia goes!) You can also use _pure_ ammonia - don't use any ammonia you might find at the local market which contains "surfactants"! Those, you don't want in your water.
Next, you'll need some test kits - Ammonia and Nitrate are important ones, and they'll likely come bundled with a Nitrite kit. (It can be helpful to watch the nitrite level during your cycle.) Test the water regularly - daily isn't too much during your initial cycle. You'll see the ammonia level rise - sometimes off-the-charts - and then fall. (In my tank's case, the fall was almost overnight.) You'll see the nitrite rise, following the ammonia's path - and after the ammonia falls, the nitrite should follow a few days to a couple of weeks later. Finally, using your trusty test-kits, you'll see nitrate levels rise steadily. (Denitrifying bacteria deep in your liverock take longer to get cranked up.) Nitrates are _much_ less toxic to fish, but corals and invertebrates aren't big fans, so now's a good time to prepare a water change to lower the nitrate levels and start thinking about your first living creatures. (You may already be seeing your first algaes - welcome them!) Go slowly with adding life, keeping an eye on the ammonia level (should _always_ be zero after your cycle - if not, consider it a clear warning of impending danger!) and your nitrates. _Seriously_ consider some kind of quarantine protocol for every living creature you add, in order to prevent disease from entering your sparkling small environment and mucking up your week.
Oh - and there's this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
Enjoy the learning that is continuous, and the community that is reefing!
~Bruce
Pretty much everything everyone has said is true, even though some of it sounds conflicting. So what's "best"?!
That's going to be a different answer for each tank and for every reefer. Below, some things off the top of my head that worked for me. (Please excuse me if I seem to be "mansplaining" - I don't know what you know, but I do know that a lot of information all at once, such as a new reefer experiences, can be confusing.)
Your two bottles will both help you deal with ammonia, a fairly toxic waste product of fish. "Nite-out" contains nitrifying bacteria (though it's not a brand I've used - I've only used Microbe-Lift's "Special Blend", and bacterial products from other companies). A lot of folks swear by "Dr. Tim's One-and-Only" and SeaChem's "Bio-Spira". Both are bacteria in a bottle, and both work well. .... Wait. Are we throwing _bacteria_ in our tanks?! Yes - these bacteria feed on ammonia, converting it to less-toxic nitrite, and even-less-toxic nitrate. Nitrate can be removed from your system by algae, by partial water changes, and by even more bacteria, these guys living deep within your liverock. They'll convert the nitrates to nitrogen gas.
"Prime" is for emergencies, primarily, and can help neutralize ammonia in a tank that already contains fish and other livestock.
You've added some liverock, you can go ahead and pour in some of the bacteria and something for them to convert. A table shrimp (buy a bunch and have scampi or stir-fry for dinner tonight!) can do the job, as can dropping in some fishfood, as though you already had fish in the tank. (Keep in mind that if that fishfood goes into your filter, it's still in your tank as far as producing ammonia goes!) You can also use _pure_ ammonia - don't use any ammonia you might find at the local market which contains "surfactants"! Those, you don't want in your water.
Next, you'll need some test kits - Ammonia and Nitrate are important ones, and they'll likely come bundled with a Nitrite kit. (It can be helpful to watch the nitrite level during your cycle.) Test the water regularly - daily isn't too much during your initial cycle. You'll see the ammonia level rise - sometimes off-the-charts - and then fall. (In my tank's case, the fall was almost overnight.) You'll see the nitrite rise, following the ammonia's path - and after the ammonia falls, the nitrite should follow a few days to a couple of weeks later. Finally, using your trusty test-kits, you'll see nitrate levels rise steadily. (Denitrifying bacteria deep in your liverock take longer to get cranked up.) Nitrates are _much_ less toxic to fish, but corals and invertebrates aren't big fans, so now's a good time to prepare a water change to lower the nitrate levels and start thinking about your first living creatures. (You may already be seeing your first algaes - welcome them!) Go slowly with adding life, keeping an eye on the ammonia level (should _always_ be zero after your cycle - if not, consider it a clear warning of impending danger!) and your nitrates. _Seriously_ consider some kind of quarantine protocol for every living creature you add, in order to prevent disease from entering your sparkling small environment and mucking up your week.
Oh - and there's this thread: https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
Enjoy the learning that is continuous, and the community that is reefing!
~Bruce
MaiReef
Valuable Member
Put all rock on the bottom of the tank below the sand as certain fish or your hand may make it topple over. You can find larger pieces of LR to go higher or carefully stack for stability. You could also use reef epoxy(kind of like mortar) to stabilize the rock, but it isn't perfect, so just for stabilization and not holding the rock. The prime is only if you are using tap water, which imho you should not because of contaminants. Use either RO/DI or distilled for mixing. If you get Dr. Tim's ammonia you can tell if you are cycled and if not,use it to cycle your tank.
I did the same thing with my live rock. I have a 65 gallon. Bought 45 lbs set up my tank. 3 weeks later looked great. So i bought 20 more lbs of rock. Tank had to cycle all over again. Brown everywhere. If i had to do it over i would make sure i put all of my rock in at the beginning. Just my 2 cents..
