Nebies new tank

rivrat

rivrat

Member
Hello,
I set may tank up on the 6th of Jan. with 20 pounds live sand,got the salinity to 1.023 and the temp to 78.This past friday the 14th I bought 21 pounds of Tonga live rock uncured and added it to my tank. I took the LS and pushed it all to the front of tank so I could place LR on the bare glass in the back to make it easier for clean up of the die off.
The uncured lr should start my cycle right and I sould moniter my amm. nitrites and nitrate levels every couple days till they all reach o ppm and ph gets between 8.1 and 8.4.
After the cycle is complete I need to do a 25% water change,is any water change need while cycling.
I'm tring to take it slow and easy so after the cycle is complete I plan on putting some turbo snails and scarlet hermit carbs in for alge control,then wait a couple weeks and put in 3 peppermint shrimp,1 scarlet cleaner shrimp, maybe a sea cucumber for savangers,then 2 weeks later add 2 common clowns. I would like to also add in at a time 1 royal gramma and maybe 1 bicolor or Midas blennie to the tank,you think that would be to much for a 29 gal.
The only light I will have will be the stock light strip the tank came with.I put in to maxi-jett 600's and a protien skimmer and 1 external air pump with an air stone.This will have only the LS,LR, cleanup crew and the fish.
Thanks for any advice want to take it slow and make it successful,
Newbie
 
blemmy_guy

blemmy_guy

Active Member
Go down and buy 3 Black Mollies and put them in your tank, but make sure you drip acclimate them with your salinity so high, let them stay in there the next 3 or so weeks. Also check up on the cucumber, i think there really bad for your tank if they die?? im not a hundred percent there but i think they put off some toxic stuff when they die, and you may want to wait till your tank is more established before you add a cucumber, other wise the other stuff your adding is fine as far as i can see... But wait for some other people to chime in , and see what they say too. best of luck to ya Todd:)
 
arkey.d

arkey.d

Member
Instead of the mollies, get a cocktailshrimp from the grocery store about 1 and a half inches with out the tail and place it in your tank and let it rot in there, that will start your cycle off without hurting any fish.
You plan sounds good to me, except for the cucumber, I was going to add two with my cleaner crew but I don't want to take a chance with them leaving off toxins when they are scared or dead. At least that's what I was told, that could happen.
Good Luck with your tank.
 
sula

sula

Member
Blemmy I'm not sure why you're suggesting the Black Mollies????
Is it to get the cycle going? Cuz the Uncured live rock should do that on it's own, in my opinion.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Uncured Live Rock will start a cycle just fine. I hope you've got good ventilation in your room. It's going to stink! :D
 
rivrat

rivrat

Member
Sorry for the bad spelling just got home from work,pulled an 18 hour shift last night.
I was just planning on using the lr and ls to cycle the tank with and not add nothing else till the cycle was complete.The lr is uncured the LFS just got it the moring I bought it.
By the way it does stink up the room,my wife let me know that real fast.lol
How long should it smell like this,I hope not long.
 
wax32

wax32

Active Member
Mine stank for only a few days. But I didn't have a LOT of die off... I think it can vary.
My wife was like "it better not smell like this ALL the time!" :eek:
 
rivrat

rivrat

Member
The smell is starting to get a little better,but the rock has some white stuff all over it now.Looks like co
ebs,is this good or bad?
 
mbrands

mbrands

Member

Originally posted by Blemmy_Guy
Also check up on the cucumber, i think there really bad for your tank if they die?? im not a hundred percent there but i think they put off some toxic stuff when they die
Blemmy_Guy - Are you sure it is cucumbers that release a toxin when stressed? I've definitely read that about sea apples because I originally wanted to keep one. I hadn't looked into cucumbers before, but I didn't realize this.
 
arkey.d

arkey.d

Member
In the wild if a cucumber gets attacked or injured, it will expel its internal organs, which may be toxic to fish.
 
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