Urgent! Need help/Cycling with fish

  • Thread starter Thread starter Orbela
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Those sized tangs will require frequent feedings, which will make water quality an issue.


I am guessing that your QT will be smaller, so there is less water volume. In turn the water quality will be an issue sooner. Meaning you are going to have to do more water changes than you would have to on the 55. Make sure you please some PVC pipe pieces in there --- for hiding spots.
 
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I bought 50 lbs of live rock. I rinsed the rock lightly in buckets with saltwater. Then placed the stone slowly one at a time over a period of 5 hours just so I don't stress the fish and don't change water quality dramatically. The lfs would take my fish but their own fish look like crap so I would need to find new lfs. And they would not sell any media for a qt tank so I am stuck leaving the fish in there but at least I increased my biological filtration. So hopefully my blue tang most expensive fish doesn't die. I am at the mercy stability and prime to cycle faster and keep my fish from dying. I will keep you guys posted thank you for all the support, understanding, and knowledge.
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go to your LFS and buy some BIO SPIRA MARINE its live bacteria to cycle your tank fast and will allow to put fish instantly. The cycle will happen one way or another but the fish should be able to tolerate it with the bacteria. OR you can borrow some tank water that is already cycled and put half of that into your quarantine tank with LR and fill the other half with new mixed saltwater. Use RO water though.
 
I'll get bio spira tomorrow isn't it the same as stability
 
go to your LFS and buy some BIO SPIRA MARINE its live bacteria to cycle your tank fast and will allow to put fish instantly. The cycle will happen one way or another but the fish should be able to tolerate it with the bacteria. OR you can borrow some tank water that is already cycled and put half of that into your quarantine tank with LR and fill the other half with new mixed saltwater. Use RO water though.

The water wouldn't help -- the bacteria is on/in the rocks. Very very little to none will be found in the water column. Would be better off getting a rock or 2 from a cycled tank.
 
Does it count buying the live rock from the display tank? I am sure they are cycled.
Isn't bio spira Sam as stability?
 
Was it a live rock display tank, or tank with fish/inverts etc in there that had live rock too?

Reason being, a lot of LFSs will keep live rock in a bin (( just the rock )) --- there would be much life producing watse to keep the bacteria levels at a high levels.
The rock from a tank with fish and whatnot would have high levels of bacteria.

Hope that makes sense --- clear to me, but I am not always the best at explaining things.
 
No it had fish but not sure about inverts. Yes I saw the live rock in a bin with water.
 
That should work -- the inverts don't matter, was just thinking of things that would produce waste, which would be helpful for bacteria levels.
 
The water wouldn't help -- the bacteria is on/in the rocks. Very very little to none will be found in the water column. Would be better off getting a rock or 2 from a cycled tank.

Oops forgot to add live rock. (Most important )
 
I'm late but hopefully not too late! ;)

The good news is that your numbers indicate declining ammonia and increasing nitrates.

It's not impossible IME, that you have zero ammonia right now. I've seen quite a few ammonia test kits give a false-positive at the lowest reading/color point....never reading what appears to be true zero.

I think your fish would be showing some kind of symptoms after several days' exposure to ammonia, even at a low level. If they are still all fine, then I think this is further evidence of no ammonia.

Presence of nitrate indicates there is a complete biofilter in place (all three bacteria at work)...which tells me that the above ideas are not impossible.

I would see if your local fish store can double check your test readings, especially on ammonia, and get their opinion on the amount present. If they say you're good, I would believe them. It would be awesome, but not necessary, if they had a better ammonia test kit than you. :)

-Matt

P.S. Do take everyone's advice to get your tank up to snuff for a marine system, but GO SLOWLY in general. Especially be very careful adding live rock...unless it's fully cured and has minimal-to-no exposure to air in between tanks, it is very likely to cause another ammonia cycle. (Fully cured rock CAN be safe to add though....you just need to be REALLY sure.)

P.P.S. For anyone this may help: saltwater critters make terrible gifts....buy a gift card instead. SO MUCH better that way. :)
 
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*Update
New test kits results
Salinity (34) PPT
Specific Gravity (1.025)
High Range pH (8.4)
Ammonia (NH3/NH4+) (0.5-1)ppm
*More closely coloring of .50 ppm
Nitrite(NO2-) (0)ppm
Nitrate(NO3-) (10-20)ppm
Is the Nitrate spike normal?
I dosed recommended Seachem Stability and Prime today after the test kit results. Could the spike of nitrate be due to the live rock I placed today? But shouldn't ammonia have spiked as well?
 
Is it safe to turn on my lighting stability recommends to keep it off? Any thoughts
 
I want to Double Down on Post #51. :)

-Matt

P.S. Yea, you can turn the lights on, but you may get a little algae growth. Shouldn't be the end of the world, but if the idea bothers you, keep them off until you get Nitrates under 10 ppm....should be more safe then.
 
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I am taking as much advice I looking into purchasing a carbon reactor and a better protein skimmer and a sump.
 
What does double down mean? I don't mind algae growth doesn't it indicate the cycling is going wel??
 
I think it's a betting term in poker where (in a nutshell) you are sure enough of your hand that you actually double your initial bet.

-Matt
 
Algae will moderate most unhealthy conditions, so on that basis alone I don't mind it.

If you overstock your tank or otherwise have nutrient issues, algae can take over a tank to teach the owner a lesson. ;) During a cycle it's exceedingly rare for it to get very bad.

-Matt
 
*Update
New test kits results
Salinity (34) PPT
Specific Gravity (1.026)
High Range pH (8.4)
Ammonia (NH3/NH4+) (1)ppm
Nitrite(NO2-) (1)ppm
Nitrate(NO3-) (40)ppm
I have dose the recommended dosage of Seachem Stability and Seachem Prime. Can I do a water change? or I can't because it is still cycling?
 
I have decided to quarantine my fish while the tank finishes cycling. Seems the levels reached high levels. Thanks everybody for the help.
 

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