Cycling a 120

squiddly

squiddly

Member
My 120 has been cycling for about a week now, and I think that the levels are where they should be expected. Ammonia is 0, Nitrites are 2, Nitrates are at 80. I figure it will be another few weeks or so. It currently has a sump system, a protein skimmer,and two maxjet 1200s. The lighting is 4 65 watt 8800K compact flourescent fixtures. Once this is all cycled up and after the cleaner crew goes in for a bit, I would like to put the following critters in the tank. Please let me know if I'm being ridiculous.
1 pair clownfish (from my 24 that is too small for 5)
1 snowflake eel
1 purple tang
1 french angel (not planning on having corals in here)
1 dwarf lionfish
1 jawfish
1 mandarin goby
1 or 2 anenomes, likely bubbletip.
Does this sound reasonable?
Thanks, as always, for your tips and assistance.
 
squiddly

squiddly

Member
Its only been up for a week. The ammonia has already spiked. I never knew the test kit would turn all those pretty colors :). My aquapod 24 never spiked nearly that high.
 
S

surfinusa

Guest
french angels need like a 500 gallon tank but when full grown he will be fine for a while
 
squiddly

squiddly

Member
Thanks guys. I don't want to be in the position of having to find someone to take a French Angel off my hands, so I'll find something else I like. I suppose that if I see them in the wild and they're HUGE then perhaps they won't go well in a tank. I've always wondered about the trigger fish since I've seen them REALLY huge and really nasty in the wild (a Queen Trigger bit my dive buddy through his glove for trying to shoo it away).
I'll also take your advice and hold off on the mandarin gobi. My LFS sells bottles of pods that supposedly multiply quickly, and that is what I was going to buy, but if waiting is better, then I'll wait.
Meantime, another LFS sold me seachem acid buffer to try to bring down the hardness of my water in my aquapod (approximately 6 meq/L, over 16 dKH), since water changes were not helping. MISTAKE! My 120 had JUST gone through its spikes and the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates had come down to zeros (thank goodness). When I put the acid buffer in my 24, one clownfish immediately lept out of the tank. I put him back but he was on his side gasping for air. The other 4 soon were stuck to one side of the tank at the top also gasping. I put an airstone in to see if it would help and did a 20% water change, but it didn't help. So, in a panic, I scooped them all up and threw them in the 120. No, I didn't acclimate them but it was an emergency. I stuck a polyfilter in the 120 just in case there was something I hadn't noticed in the tank. 24 hours later, they're all ok. I worried for my inverts and corals, but so far so good. The parameters are ok. Selenity 1.023 (yes, a bit low but I'm working on it.....VERY slowly), ammonia 0, nitrites 0, nitrates 0, still hard water, 4.70 meq/L 12 dKH and 500 on the calcium. Argh! Lesson learned.
The clownfish who had bonded with the anemone is really upset in the new tank, so I may move him back (with acclimation this time) to hopefully make him happier.
Chalk this up to another "newbie mistake".
 
squiddly

squiddly

Member
Originally Posted by Oceanists
wouldnt put a snowflake in there
Forgot to ask. Why wouldn't you put a snowflake in? Are there any other eels you would suggest? Or perhaps no eels at all? I'm partial to goldentails myself :)
 
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