Originally Posted by queenB
thanx rudedog40 for yr speedy help, i had a lion, a clown, a semi, 2 butterflies, a goldie, a domino, a cleaner wrass,a starfish and a shrimp.Sorry bout earlier its a 6 foot(1.82m)tank. i bought a new tank that was running for a long time,after transportation i used the same water, added my rock and fish to tank(tank had a few rock as well). I had these strips to check the water and its compared to colour shades on the bottle, everything seemed normal. What do i do with the tank now, do i keep it running for a while or clean everything out and start fresh?
I think you may have been misinformed from whoever you purchased this tank from, that you could immediately stock the tank as soon as you got it home. Logically it would make sense that if you used the same water, the tank would be ready to go. However, anytime you change the water parameters, or add new live rock, the tank will most likely start a new "cycle". If you're not familiar with the cycling process, do a search on this site and you will get a better understanding as to what that process is. The other problem you had is adding the number of livestock in the tank at one time. Saltwater tanks are a very delicate ecosysytem. You have to constantly monitor them for chemical changes that will affect the types of fish and invertebrates you put in it. When you add the number of fish as you did at one time, I imagine it sent most of the critical levels through the roof. Unfortunately, the little test strips you used aren't the best indicators of the levels you need to check for. You should get one of the Saltwater or Reef Test Kits you see at your local stores where you can test each individual level. Before adding ANY livestock to the tank, you want to at least have the following measurements - Ammonia - 0, Nitrites - 0, Nitates - 0, Ph - 8.2 to 8.4, Salinity - 1.023 - 1.026.
Once you have these levels stable, then you can start adding fish and inverts. A good start would be to put some hermit crabs and various snails in. You could also add 1 or 2 hardy fish - maybe a clown and a green chromis. After these livestock have been in for around a month, you can add another fish or two to the mix. Again, before adding anything else, you need to actively monitor all the critical levels to insure none get out of hand.
I'm new to this hobby as you. I've found out quickly that maintaining a saltwater tank takes a lot of work and effort. It's easy to get discouraged because of all the maintenance that has to be done - periodically checking water parameters, performing a 20% water change every month, checking the status and health of the livestock on a daily basis, etc. However, the enjoyment I get from watching all the 'action' that goes on inside the tank, makes it worth it to me.
If you really are interested in keeping saltwater livestock, then I'd say stick with it and start fresh. The best thing you can do right now is either do some research online, or purchase a good book on starting a saltwater aquarium. There's a whole lot of information you need to go over before attempting to add more livestock to your tank. The information I gave you above is the slow process for adding livestock to a new tank. However, there's a bunch of preliminary work you have to do to setup the tank to insure anything you add to it will stay healthy. Why don't you also post the equipment that came with the tank - lights, filters, powerheads, protein skimmer, sump, etc. The equipment you use plays a big part on how to maintain a healthy saltwater tank. Also, do you know how many gallons of water your tank holds?
