help with cycling tank....

aarontg88

New Member

alright i have had my tank up and running for about 4 days now on the 3erd day i added about 35 pounds of live rock and 3 hardy fish that i was told that would be good for starters in my tank... i am compleltly new too fish tanks and this is my first time ever running one i need help understanding what i do when i see nitrate riase in my test kit i need to know what i do when i see this becuase i read and it says thats when cycling has started i mean do i just add chemicals to kill it off or do i change and add water?? please help me with understanding a little better i would really like to get into the salt water life.
 

mr. limpid

Active Member
First thing is to go the thread at the top of this forum and read. These new fish are going have a rough couple of weeks until the tank cycles. If you can take them back to LFS until your tank is done cycling this would be the best thing for there survival.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
also lose the bubble maker.it serves no perpose in saltwater tanks.i would take out the bubble maker and put a korilia powerhead on that side.saltwater tanks meed alot of water movement not bubbles.all the bubbles will do is make salt creep down the side of the tank.i cant believe lfs still tell people to cycle with fish.like limpid said take them back and put a piece of raw shrimp in the tank for a few days.
 

deejeff442

Active Member
also did the lfs sell you the crushed coral?sand is a better botton crushed coral holds nitrates.
you sir have a crappy fish store ,sorry
 

aarontg88

New Member
yea he never said nothing about sand i was wondering to myself why he wanted me to use that instead of sand but i guess now since im like 7 days into it i gotta use what i got becuase i dont want to start over.... another question tho i read and do i need to do water changes like empty out some water and and more fresh tap water to the tank and if so how much?
 

hawkfish203

Member
My advice being only 7 days in it is way easier to just change to sand now. Trust me you don't want to try and change it down the road.
 

hawkfish203

Member
No it works it just collects nitrate and your not that deep in yet so it would be really easy to change and you will def be much happier with the end result.
 

aarontg88

New Member
how would you recomend me going about doing this? emptying all of the water out and just adding the sand....
 

meowzer

Moderator
I hate to say this.......my advice to you is to take the fish back asap......read teh top threads, and buy a book, it's apparent you have no SW knowledge yet
we can help with that, but you need to learn some on your own also
THE CC will actually limit what you can keep in the tank....NO SAND SIFTERS.....so you can look at it that way
YES...bubbler needs to go, you need more Live rock, and PLEASE...take the fish back
AND BUY A TEST KIT
 

deejeff442

Active Member
+1 to that. crushed coral is a pain to keep clean .sounds like you dont know a thing except what the store told you.go to the new hobbiest section and read the first two learning posts.it will give you alot of great starting advice.first off switch to sand .***** sells the argonite sand that will work.get more water moving in the tank .add a couple powerheads.water changes is saltwater swap out not top offs.a top off is adding freshwater to replace evaporation.salt doesnt evaporate just the water does.so the lower the water gets from evaporation the higher the salinity gets.you water should be around 1.025.i am not sure what the store told you but at this point they dont seem too swift.you can put the fish in a bucket with tank water for a few hours and put the rest of the water in a tub while you switch out the sand.the hang on filter you have will be fine.i wouldnt go back to that store except to tell them they suck.because you will tell them you have the tank running for 3 weeks and they will sell you 4 more fish .patience is the key to saltwater .if this store is that ignorant you can bet their fish have diseases also.if i were you and dont know how to look for disease on fish order them from this site .saltwaterfish.com is well known for healthy fish.i havnt gotten fish from here since i have been at this for 28 years but i have never hear anything bad about this places fish.also you will and i mean 10% get an algae bloom .itsnormal with a new tank and last usually a few months untill the tank stableizes.so from here,swap out the sand .put the fish back if thats what you are going to do instead of the dead shrimp thing to start the cycle.get a water test kit with ammonia,nitrite and nitrates at least.once the ammonia comes then the nitrates and you get the nitrates to below 40 or so.add some snails for the algae bloom that is coming.whew thats alot of typing.
oh yea welcome to the hobbie.
 

aarontg88

New Member
alright ill tommarow i ill go to this other fish store its a few more miles away i guess and get some sand and switch it out i already have a test kit my ph is 8.3 ammonia 0.25 and nitrite is either 0.25 or 0.50 my judgement on the color isnt so hot... and nitrate is 0ppm.... so tell me what u think about that.. everything should be at 0pp but ph level?
 

deejeff442

Active Member
looks like the cycle started nitrates will show up next.ammonia doesnt stick around too long like days not weeks.ammonia is the toxin to fish nitrites not as much and nitrates with levels under 100 are fine for fish but not good for corals.so dont worry if nitrates are around 20-40.
just keep asking questions on this forum.we arent trying to sell you anything :eek:)
pick up a korilia powerhead also very important probably a korilia #3 for now then probably add another later.as for rock you would do better if you had more see if you can afford maybe another 15 lbs.it doesnt have to be live rock .see if they have base rock its alot cheaper.
 

aarontg88

New Member
well i set aside 1500$ to do all of this so far i have spend 750$ so i still have some cash left maybe you could how me on amazon.com some stuff i can buy that i need and tommarow i will switch out too sand ... also what do you think about "live sand" ??? and i have been reading alot about SW maybe i didnt buy a book on it but i have been doing alot of internet and youtube research on it...
 

deejeff442

Active Member
you need to get a refractor.its some cash but you will use it all the time.it tells you what the salinity is.or you can buy mixed saltwater at the lfs.
tap water will create alot of algae.tap water has alot of crap in it that algae loves.this hobby is expensive at first.look into a r/o water unit.i have to buy one this week because i left mine outside the other day and it froze and blew up.but once you get all the right equipment and dont overstock you tank with fish it get alot easier.you might want to get a 20 gallon tank ,heater,powerhead and a hang on filter for a quarantine tank for new fish.if you buy fish and just put them in your main tank eventually a new fish will bring a disease and it will spread to the whole tank.go to new hobbyists and read up on a quarantine tank.worth every penny
 

meowzer

Moderator
is this what You have.....if so it is a glass hydrometer...not a refractometer
http://s.*****.com/Assets/product_images/7/742583732922C.jpg
 
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