just starting my tank, please help
- Thread starter badfet
- Start date
drkegel
Member
To answer that question, you'll have to test your water regularly. As you may or may not know, a new tank must undergo the nitrogen cycle. You need to introduce ammonia into your tank, from either a hardy fish, like a damsel, or from raw shrimp you can throw in the tank. Raw shrimp, you'll only need a couple, are most easily found at a grocery store, and are greenish brown in color typically. Orange ones have been cooked.
After a few days/weeks, you'll be able to see a brown diatom bloom on the rocks and substrate. This is completely normal and a sign that your tank is progressing properly through the cycle.
The cycle takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but usually it takes about a month. You'll either want to test the water yourself with a test kit, or bring a water sample into a good LFS (local fish store) where they will test the water for free.
Your water will be safe for beginner fish and inverts after the water parameters test ZERO for ammonia, ZERO for nitrite, and andywhere from ZERO to 30 for nitrates. Ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic to most things that live in the water, and nitrates are toxic as well, but usually only in higher quantities.
Hope this helps, and keep us posted!
After a few days/weeks, you'll be able to see a brown diatom bloom on the rocks and substrate. This is completely normal and a sign that your tank is progressing properly through the cycle.
The cycle takes anywhere from a few days to a few weeks, but usually it takes about a month. You'll either want to test the water yourself with a test kit, or bring a water sample into a good LFS (local fish store) where they will test the water for free.
Your water will be safe for beginner fish and inverts after the water parameters test ZERO for ammonia, ZERO for nitrite, and andywhere from ZERO to 30 for nitrates. Ammonia and nitrite are highly toxic to most things that live in the water, and nitrates are toxic as well, but usually only in higher quantities.
Hope this helps, and keep us posted!
surfnturf
Member
Badfet,
Good advice in the previous replies, but I just wanted to add a few things. How much live rock did you add (should be at least 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon of tank capacity), and where did you get it from. If you purchased it and had it shipped, it will need to go through a die off period during which you should suspend the lighting and use a good skimmer, monitor the ammonia and nitrite. When these levels have fallen to zero (takes on average 1-1.5 months) you can slowly start to add fish, one at a time, and give at least a week of zero readings between additions. If you bought the LR from a petstore and it was out of water 1/2 hour or so, you should use some damsels to cycle the tank. This can take up to six weeks or so, you need to monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and don't add anything else until those levels reach zero. After that, one fish at a time and monitor those levels as you did before, no more fish until zero across the board. BTW, if you intend to add inverts to the tank, you need to also watch the nitrate levels and do the necessary water changes, inverts are immensely more sensitive to nitrates than fish.
Good advice in the previous replies, but I just wanted to add a few things. How much live rock did you add (should be at least 1 to 1.5 lbs per gallon of tank capacity), and where did you get it from. If you purchased it and had it shipped, it will need to go through a die off period during which you should suspend the lighting and use a good skimmer, monitor the ammonia and nitrite. When these levels have fallen to zero (takes on average 1-1.5 months) you can slowly start to add fish, one at a time, and give at least a week of zero readings between additions. If you bought the LR from a petstore and it was out of water 1/2 hour or so, you should use some damsels to cycle the tank. This can take up to six weeks or so, you need to monitor the ammonia and nitrite levels and don't add anything else until those levels reach zero. After that, one fish at a time and monitor those levels as you did before, no more fish until zero across the board. BTW, if you intend to add inverts to the tank, you need to also watch the nitrate levels and do the necessary water changes, inverts are immensely more sensitive to nitrates than fish.