i need nelp o getting my nitrites down

[j-j_02]

my nitite is at 1.6 and my amonia is at 1.5 i dnt know how to get them down. i have a 55g tank wit 4 damsels in it. nolive rock and about 50lb of sand. the tank has been up for almost a month now. should i just wait it out and let it corect itself. oh and i got PENGUIN 350 filter. PLEASE hELP!!!!!!!!!

 

[big-fish]

well, it means that your tank is now cycling

 

[reefkprz]

your going to need LR to boost the filtering capabilities. right now the sand has to do all the work and its not as efficient as LR would be. adding cured LR would help.

 

[j-j_02]

and will the live rock be ok eventhough i dnt have a sump or anything special like that? im not too sure wat i have o do to keep live rock ok in my tank, oh and i just got sum regular lights too. there not anything special either, the guy at the lfs told m that the lights would be fine for my tank. thank you you guys.

 

[reefkprz]

regular lights are fine for LR, honestlty you should have put LR in the tank WAY before any fish.

 

[jacrmill]

live rock doesnt really need anything special like that. Just put fully cured live rock in there and it will speed up your cycle. you dont have to have a sump to have live rock, you keep it in your display tank, it is worth looking at. Regular lights are fine for your tank as long as you dont want a reef tank. live rock grows more coraline algae with better lighting, but i have very poor lighting, and still get strong coraline algae growth.
dont panic, everything is going according to plan, and if you throw live rock in there it will help the process....

 

[j-j_02]

thanx alot guys, i really really really appreciate t. so i should get some live rock a.s.ap. then? oh and how much of it?

 

[j-j_02]

if you guys can hang on for a minute ill post a pic of how my tank looks as of now, k.

 

[j-j_02]

ok, its kida sorry cuz it was from a cmera phone and theres sum reflections and other ugly crap but thats pretty much it. <a href="http://photobucket.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i64.photobucket.com/albums/h199/j-j_02/untitled-10.jpg" border="0" alt="Photo Sharing and Video Hosting at Photobucket"></a>

 

[j-j_02]

ok now here it is.

 

[reefkprz]

if its a 55g your going to want a total of 55-75lbs. you can of course get there in stages buy 10-15lbs at a time but You really dont want to add any fish untill you have about that much rock as you are really heavy on the bioload already.

 

[j-j_02]

awww damnit, are they going to be ok tho? and thank you for responding.

 

[j-j_02]

wow, live rock is expensive! wat is cured rock? sorry if im asking to many questions but i finally get to talk to sum1 who knows wat there doing.

 

[reefkprz]

Questions are good, dont feel bad about asking. if you dont know ask, thats what this place is for.
As for if the fish are going to be ok, who knows, damsels are tough but ammonia is deadly.
Cured LR is rock that has no die off and is established. Buying cured rock is effective as long as it isnt shipped, if you carry it home in a bucket of water it is still cured, if it is shipped there will be die off and it will need to be recured, usually the rock available at your LFS is supposed to be cured.
Where you are in your initiation of your cycle phase, if it were me I would take the damsels back to the store and just buy any LR cured or not and cycle my tank that way, that way you dont run the risk of killing animals.

 

[j-j_02]

thats good, im most likey gunna do that thanx. wen i do get live rock how do i aclimate it and all that?

 

[jacrmill]

what reefkprz said is a good idea. you dont really want those damsels in your tank. do a search on damsels and you will see that most of the posts are "how do I get these guys out of my tank". see if you can take them back to your fish store, buy some rock and put it in your tank. this will cycle your tank and you wont be left with aggressive fish in your tank.

 

[sk8shorty01]

Originally Posted by j-j_02
thats good, im most likey gunna do that thanx. wen i do get live rock how do i aclimate it and all that?

No need to acclimate it. Just throw it in and position it how you want. Good luck!

 

[j-j_02]

thanx alot guys, really appreciate it.

 

[weberian]

How long was your Penguin up and running with the damsels in there? The bio-wheels should have taken care of the ammonia and nitrite, unless the bio-wheels didn't have time to establish yet.

 

[j-j_02]

the filter has been up for about a week b4 i got the damsels in.