Noobie needed help

[yiling]

Hi all fellow marine enthuaists,

this is my first time writing in this forum. So greetings to all of you

My problem starts here............

I started my 2 feet tank that contain close to 18 US gallons last week.

Little do i know that i need to wait for the bacteria to cycle thus i did not wait at all:(

here is a short report of what i have done....

6/1-I bought a tank and external filter. I filled it up with seawater that i bought from a marine fish farm. Allowed the filter to run for a day.

7/1- got some life rocks and stack horns off a friend. Bought some new ones . Ive got about 5 kg of rocks and stackhorns in the tank.

8/1 - bought a tomato head nemo, moray eel and a small anemone.

9/1 - Got a few baby fishes (cheap ones- like damsels etc)

12/1- My fishes keep dying and im left with only the tomatohead, domino damsel eel and a gobifish.

13/1- bought a ammonia test kit and added bacteria growth

My question here is .......will i be too late if i add in the bacteria now?

will i be too late if i do the no2, no3 and ph level check now ?

Pls pardon my ignorance and i thank u all for advices:)

Yours sincerly

Yiling

[Gouldian]

Hi all fellow marine enthuaists,

this is my first time writing in this forum. So greetings to all of you

My problem starts here............

I started my 2 feet tank that contain close to 18 US gallons last week.

Little do i know that i need to wait for the bacteria to cycle thus i did not wait at all:(

here is a short report of what i have done....

6/1-I bought a tank and external filter. I filled it up with seawater that i bought from a marine fish farm. Allowed the filter to run for a day.

7/1- got some life rocks and stack horns off a friend. Bought some new ones . Ive got about 5 kg of rocks and stackhorns in the tank.

8/1 - bought a tomato head nemo, moray eel and a small anemone.

9/1 - Got a few baby fishes (cheap ones- like damsels etc)

12/1- My fishes keep dying and im left with only the tomatohead, domino damsel eel and a gobifish.

13/1- bought a ammonia test kit and added bacteria growth

My question here is .......will i be too late if i add in the bacteria now?

will i be too late if i do the no2, no3 and ph level check now ?

Pls pardon my ignorance and i thank u all for advices:)

Yours sincerly

Yiling

Dear yiling,

your problems start on 8/1! you were doing fine until 8/1. never add any livestocks when your tank is not fully cycle.

Do not add anymore livestocks! Leave your tank to cycle until you notice a amonia and nitrite spikes after which (which easily means 3-4 weeks) you then can add your fisrt livestock.

[Gouldian]

Read this link, its compiled by one of the seniors in SRC

Newbies

[yiling]

Oh no !! Ive just realized it till today:)

with confirmation by seniors, its affirmative now.

SO what should i do now?

do i buy those n02, no3 test kits?

Where do i keep my remainding fishes and eel?

help !!

thanks for all help and advices given...

[Achilles Tang]

I am sure you can pack ur livestock up and have the LFS hold it for you temporarily until your tank cycles properly.

In the meantime, do read up the basics and use the forum's search feature to go through many good info that has been posted up before in SRC!

Welcome to the club!

[tazzzz]

dare not say i'm senior.. oso setting up my new reef tank...

i think it's best for u to wait for the tank cycle complete be4 add anymore fishes...

mayb u can check wif the lfs whether they willing to hold the fishes for u while u wait for the cycle to complete, as the cycle usually take 3 to 4 weeks so it's better to ask them whether can hold for u for so long...

n u do need to buy the no2 n no3 kit to help u monitor the cyele....

hopes its help

[diabolus]

Oh no !! Ive just realized it till today:)

with confirmation by seniors, its affirmative now.

SO what should i do now?

do i buy those n02, no3 test kits?

Where do i keep my remainding fishes and eel?

help !!

thanks for all help and advices given...

You can try to ask the LFS like wat AT suggested,

either that, try to locate a fellow reefer staying nearby you to house the fishes 1st, the maroon clown should not be a problem, but the moray eel is, unless that reefer have a big refugium.

[ciaolong]

no comments

[yiling]

Ok...will leave my fishes with my friend first.

thanks for the advice.

so after i leave the fishes out, do i need to add in bacteria growth( which i had already bought),

Ph , N02 ,NO3 tester (which i have aleady ordered)?

or should i get new water and rocks to start the cycle all over again ? ( which i think i will less likely to choose this option)

is there any other ways to fix this problem of mine ?

Thanks for your time to read this noobie questions

[tazzzz]

the onli way now is to wait for the cycle to finish on it's own...

i dun think it's a gd idea to add in more rocks now as it'll onli lengthen ur cycle..

btw u never mention whether u add any sand in ur tank??

[Gouldian]

Ok...will leave my fishes with my friend first.

thanks for the advice.

so after i leave the fishes out, do i need to add in bacteria growth( which i had already bought),

Ph , N02 ,NO3 tester (which i have aleady ordered)?

or should i get new water and rocks to start the cycle all over again ? ( which i think i will less likely to choose this option)

is there any other ways to fix this problem of mine ?

Thanks for your time to read this noobie questions

No.

Let the tank run with proper circulation, skimming and filtration but without lights!

The die-offs will feeds the bacteria currently in your tank and multiply. You may add the bacterias prepartions you have bought but please read instructions on the labels.

Continue testing water until you notice a spike and after that wait for the fall and you have a cycled tank!

[aStRoBo|]

give away ur fishes, and do a cycling to ur tank. add more life rocks, a dead prawn to kick start ur cycling.

[ciaolong]

i am with astroboi or even give it to your friend i think u said u had one with a marine tank until your tank is fully cycled be4 adding them back

[yiling]

hi all,

thanks for the concern and advice.

I tried asking my friend today but he said it is fine.

What im curious is with the live rocks i have, which are 2nd hand from other cycled tanks. DO i still need to cycle ?

All my fishes and eel are homeless now.

Q1) So if i remain keeping them in the tank , will my cycle still take place? ( my livestock in there includes a

a)small moray eel

a tomatohead 2"

c) domino damsel 1 "

d)blue damsel 1 "

c)1 1/2 " gobi fish

Q2) Its been 8 days since my tank was form, and i just got my no2, ph level, ammonia tester. I just added bacteria growth yesterday and my readings are

a) ammonia = safe

NO2 = 0.3

c) pH = 7.5

temp maintaining at 26 degrees at nite and 28 in the day.

thanks for the HELP !!!

(Ive read the supposed reading but they never mention how to cycle with livestock in it.)

[tazzzz]

ur no2 may rise over the next few days n may cause the death of ur fishes again...

although ur rocks may b 2nd hand from other tanks but there could b still some die off during the transporting...

i think it's best to monitor ur tank paramteter closely now n leave the fish wif ur fren first...

btw the bast ph range for marine is between 8 to 8.5

juz my 2 cent...

[35Cents]

What im curious is with the live rocks i have, which are 2nd hand from other cycled tanks. DO i still need to cycle ?

During the transport to new tank, there will be some die-offs unless you seeded from your own tank in the same vicinity. Cycle the tank is not really 100% neccessary, but its always better to do it in all kinds of LR just in case.

So if i remain keeping them in the tank , will my cycle still take place?

I assume you are still talking about the LR yah?...yes cycle will still take place...but at your expense of doing harm to the livestocks.

8 days is not enough to cycle a tank. Normal tanks took ard 6 weeks to get fully cycled. Even my tank which is using LR and LS to cycle took about 2 weeks to see NH4 and NO2 to zero.

Patience dude... its one of the most important character you must have for this hobby... good luck for your cycling, hope your livestocks can make it thru.

[yiling]

yes decent kid,

thanks for the advice . I think my fishes already passed the ammonia stage now.

ive got 3-4 casualties already. ANd yes, i think its cruel too. I should have read in depth

So after my meter readings, does it mean that im waiting for my NO2 stage now ?

Where am i ?

[35Cents]

You are at waiting for NO2 to get zero.

[steven]

IMO, wait for nitrite and ammonia to be zero and nitrate to peak abt 20 to 50.

do a 20% water change and yr tank will be cycled.

however limit yr livestock till abt 6 mth.

Patience is the word to successful reef keeping !

good luck.

[yiling]

Thanks for all the advice again!

Im really impressed with this forum with the speed of how one member helps another.

I think im going to send back the fishes to the LFS and wait for the NO2 hike.

So if i continue from here, im still considered cycling the LR and Water right ?

BTW i got only a 2 inch DSB ..is it enough?

These are the accessories ive got so far, PLease tell me if i need to add in anything to make a good enviroment for the marines.

I got

Lights = a) dual light 2 feet florescent light (One blue , one white ),

A FL light 2 feet () another blue and white combo

Skimmer = got it off my friend... should be 10 dollars Made in China one.

Filtration = Jebao Cannistor filter 915

See bed = crushed corals that makes up to about 2 inch.

Blower = A mini Internal Water Blower to circulate water

A stick on ammonia tester

A stick on Thermometer

A floating type hydrometer

A Ph tester

A NO2 Tester

SO do i have anything else that i missed out ?

And below is a picture of my tank.

Pls Advice.

Thanks again

[tazzzz]

mayb u can provide some info on the u intending to keep so the bros n sis here can advice u on ur equipment

[steven]

my belief is to use a needle skimmer or a good skimmer.

SKimmer is very important IMO in keeping marine tank.

I had a 2 ft tank with lot of nitrate problem.

Weekly water change of 20% failed to lower nitrate.

I was using the air wood diffuser skimmer then.

After that, i bought a aqua macro AS100P needle driven and wow !

Ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are all within specs.

A point for you to think abt....

[Gouldian]

Thanks for all the advice again!

Im really impressed with this forum with the speed of how one member helps another.

I think im going to send back the fishes to the LFS and wait for the NO2 hike.

So if i continue from here, im still considered cycling the LR and Water right ?

BTW i got only a 2 inch DSB ..is it enough?

These are the accessories ive got so far, PLease tell me if i need to add in anything to make a good enviroment for the marines.

I got

Lights = a) dual light 2 feet florescent light (One blue , one white ),

A FL light 2 feet () another blue and white combo

Skimmer = got it off my friend... should be 10 dollars Made in China one.

Filtration = Jebao Cannistor filter 915

See bed = crushed corals that makes up to about 2 inch.

Blower = A mini Internal Water Blower to circulate water

A stick on ammonia tester

A stick on Thermometer

A floating type hydrometer

A Ph tester

A NO2 Tester

SO do i have anything else that i missed out ?

And below is a picture of my tank.

Pls Advice.

Thanks again

That's the attitude Sis!

There will always be some people advises you to take the convenient way out. But these people will not care when your livestocks suffers or your tank crashed!

I think you are begining to see who are the ones with Genuine Advises vs those that post for the sake of posting.

Btw, make upgrading your skimmer your first priority please. Skimmer is the most important devise in marine hobby.

Good luck with your cycling!

[steven]

juz curious.

yiling, how old r u ?

it surprised me that a lady is interested in keeping fish.

cos my mum and gf always complain abt my fish and the time i spent on them.

fyi,i am not sexist....

[Gouldian]

2 inch is not enough IMO...shld at least get a 3 inch...

why 3 inch....because bacteria which removes no3 thrives and only removes no3 in anaerobic conditions...which means no oxygen...so the deeper the sandbed, the lesser oxygen there is deeper down....so better....

next, get no3 test kit....do get it...

next, if u going into hard corals, pls do get better lights...best if T5...cos fl isnt bright enought for them...u will instead find your hard corals dying....

lastly, do wash your cannister often, usually dirt trapped in there will cause it to produce alot of nitrates

Great practical advise DecentKid, I couldn't have put it better.