Just One of Many Stupid Mistakes

[rad]

I'll start this off by letting you know I have no idea what Im doing but I just got a new tank, a 12 gallon aquapod, and I just dont want to screw it up. I put 12 and a half punds of live rock in there last night while the water was still murky because of the live sand I just put in. I got pissed off with trying to set the things up (since I couldnt see them) so I just waited till this morning to set them up. Needless to say I didnt put any bacteria in there because Im an idiot. I got to work today, remembered they (the live rock and what looks like a zoo growing on one of them) needed the bacteria to live. I went the hell home and put some bacteria in there right away, it was less than 12 hours they had no bacteria. So I put a little more than half the bottle when I was only supposed to put half a bottle over four days. (its two bottles) Tell me this: How bad did I screw up?
Also I plan on using this thread as a place where I'll ask all my questions, all of you are extremely helpful (Ive been lurking for about a week straight now) and I appreciate any info you throw my way. Besides, its not for me. Its for the fish.

 

[reefkprz]

if its actual nitrifiying bacteria you could dump the whole bottle in and nothign would happen except some of the bacteria would die off due to lack of food. what is the actual name and brand of the product you used?

 

[rad]

I realize overstocking the tank can be a problem. I plan to add in lots of different corals since they only need surface area on the live rock but animal-wise I am a little concerned. My hopefuls for the tank are:
Red Reef Lobster
Orange Linckia Starfish (or another, smaller, star)
Pair of False Percula Clownfish
Anemone Crab
Fire Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
and maybe a sea horse after the tank has been established.
I realize I cant just throw all these things in there but eventually thats what Im shooting for. Im sure I left some things out but if I can edit posts Ill add them later.

 

[rad]

Thanks for the response. Apparently the stuff I used is called TLC. Thats it, no brand (at least thats what my old lady told me, and you know how that goes). They were free samples. But my real question was did I harm my live rock or my zoo by not putting the bacteria in there right away?

 

[reefkprz]

the rock contains bacteria, you did not hurt your rock. you didnt hurt your zoo either but the zoo is probably going to die during the cycle phase of your tank, high amonia is rough on corals.
the linkia is a definite no in a tank that small

 

[reefkprz]

I did a search on TLC its freshwater bacteria dont use it again. all your doing is polluting your tank.

 

[reefkprz]

but look on the bright side you already introduced an ammonia source to start your cycle. how much do you know about the initial phases of marine aquaria?

 

[rad]

I know nothing about starting up a tank. And its interesting that you say Im polluting the tank with that stuff. My lfs said it was what they use and Ive been told by a couple people that there the best in town. Good to know they have their own bacteria and I didnt kill them though.

since Ive already put some of that stuff in there which route would you suggest to take as of now?
edit: I figured the star fish was too big. are there other smaller ones I can have or am I just out of luck with stars? and would you consider that an over or under crowed tank?

 

[rad]

So I was hoping I could find a thread all about the initial phases of having a tank but I had no luck. If someone knows of one, even a key word to use in the search function I would appreciate it.

 

[reefkprz]

search for cycleing

 

[halo_frk03]

check the archives forum

 

[rad]

duh. seems like such an obvious answer. I appreciate the help anyways, you've been more than helpful and now it seems as though with that search I had most of my questions answered, only one left is should I be monitoring my levels (nitrates, nitrites, ammonia) just yet? I havnt started and dont even have a kit. Im going to buy one but its just a matter of should I start immidiately or should I just leave it?

 

[inawe]

Do google searchs in every possible format...ie. saltwater aquarium cycles...set up new saltwater tank...etc. You'll get a lot of different sites, but they all basicly say the same thing. If you read it a bunch of times in different articles, it eventually starts to make sense

). And you'll be surprised at the "new" info you find after reading the same thing over several times!

 

[24aqua]

imo if i were you i would dump your water and start over in this hobby you have to have alot of patience.do you use ro water?if so do you let the water mix for 24-48hrs with a heater and power head?you should add a raw shrimp to your tank to start the cycle,i wouldnt even check my parameters for a month you can tell yourself when the cycle starts by alge outbreaks you can see it

 

[uberlink]

12 gallons is a quite small tank. You could have one cleaner shrimp and maybe one clown fish, along with some zoos and perhaps some other corals. Don't plan on more than one fish. As for stars, you could MAYBE do a brittle. What kind of lighting are you planning for your corals, etc?

 

[30-xtra high]

i'm not tryin to end your thread or anything, but you should post this thread in the "nano" section, those guys really know what you can do in small tanks, loook at the 5 page 12 gallon thread by demartini

 

[rad]

Originally Posted by 24aqua
imo if i were you i would dump your water and start over in this hobby you have to have alot of patience.do you use ro water?if so do you let the water mix for 24-48hrs with a heater and power head?you should add a raw shrimp to your tank to start the cycle,i wouldnt even check my parameters for a month you can tell yourself when the cycle starts by alge outbreaks you can see it
I used distilled water, I let it mix for 48 hours, Im not sure if I have a heater but I know I ran the powerhead the whole time. I was not instructed to add shrimp to start my cycle by the lfs and have read other posts on here about cycling and from the looks of it no shrimp is needed. and wheres the lack of patience? My fish guy gave me the TLC bacteria, I dont think he would steer me too wrong. No offence but its not like Im going to scrap my whole project just because some guy on the internet says he thinks I should, when I dont really even know if you know what Im putting in my tank. Im pretty sure the lfs I go to does. I was instructed to to use the TLC. Its not like Im trying to speed things up. I still havnt heard a good reason as to why that stuff is no good. Im open to suggestions, and if it is bad will it effect my live rock if I wait untill tuesday to talk to my lfs? I tried to go to today on my lunch break but its closed today and tomorrow for the holiday. Just my luck, I start cycleing and the fish store closes. Im not trying to sound grumpy, I appreciate all the feed back. but Im sure you can understand no one likes screwing up. I think my tank will be allright...

 

[rad]

Im at it again. If I took the cylindrical tubes (for the filtration system in the back) out of their filter bag before I put them in the filtration system. can this pose a problem to my pump? Im pretty sure I was supposed to take them out but I just read a post that made me think twice.