cycle?

st3

Member
when do u know if your water has cycled? 3 weeks?
what do you test for? when can i put in a mandarin goby ? its been like almost 2 weeks now.
i have 30 lbs. of live rock to assist the cycle.
 

st3

Member
i have a test kit made by hagen and have used it it once testing ph solinity calcium and something else but i lost the piece of paper that the results were on. what are the main things that i should look out for. all of my fish are still alive after 1 week.(damsels and clowns) i also have feather dusters that are still alive also. is it possible for a tank to cycle in 2 weeks?
 
st3,
To have a healthy reef tank you need to check
ammonia
nitrites
nitrates
phosphates
ph
kh/alkalinity
calcium
salinity
So far it sounds like you have been lucky that your livestock has survived if you only tested for salinity and calcium!! sometimes your cycle can take alot longer.
 

ebeckels

Active Member
I'd wait about a year or so to put in a mandarin dragon fish. They need lots of LR with pods in the tank. if you put in the mandarin without a lot of live food, it will starve to death.
 

ebeckels

Active Member
ya but this person has only 30lbs of LR... the mandarin would DEFINITELY starve unless he is eating other foods besides live food. I'd still say wait MANY months if not a full year to add a mandarin...or at least get 100 more lbs of LR if ur tank is a 90 gallon...once you have 130 lbs of LR I'd say then wait a few months and then ur pod population should be pretty high...also, this is just an estimation as to when ur pod population will be high enough...if see tons and tons of pods now then you can add one soon...more likely than not, it will take a long time to see the pods get really high in a new tank.
 

st3

Member
i just went to the fish store and bought 11 more pounds so its 36 now or so. mandarins kick ass man!
 
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