stitch
New Member
Just started a saltwater tank, and i know I have made some mistakes, but so far, thankfully, there has been no lose of life.
I have a 72 gallon AGA reef ready tank, an Amiracle wet dry filter, and a Nautalis te skimmer.
I set up my tank two weeks ago. I used 40 lbs of live sand, and 40lbs of regular sand as substrate. After two days I added two green chromis to cycle the tank. I know that's bad. After one or two days the Ammonia spiked to .25 then went back to zero. I never got the high spike. Nitrites stayed at 0. After a week of zero readings I got anxious and added 2 clowns, the ones with 3 stripes, and one scooter blenny. I know this wasn't too bright. The ammonia spiked to .25 again, but leveled to zero.
Today is day 4 after the new addittions. My ammonia spiked to somewhere between .25 and .50, and my water became a bit cloudy. So I went and bought a protein skimmer, the nautilis te. The lfs I bought the original setup from told me I didn't need one. I also bought a Cycle chemical to try to bring the ammonia down.
My fish all appear to be fine. They are behaving well, and eating well. My skimmer is making a terrible gargling noise, that only goes away if I plug the air tube, which i know I'm not supposed to do. Is this noise normal? Will it eventually go away? It's been about an hour, my water is cloudier, and there is no foam built up in the skimmer yet, although the water is very murky in the skimmer. Is this normal?
I know i got anxious, but I'm hoping my live sand helped quickly cycle my tank. I don't want to kill any fish. It's not a money issue. I would just feel horrible about it. Any help would be appreciatted.
I have a 72 gallon AGA reef ready tank, an Amiracle wet dry filter, and a Nautalis te skimmer.
I set up my tank two weeks ago. I used 40 lbs of live sand, and 40lbs of regular sand as substrate. After two days I added two green chromis to cycle the tank. I know that's bad. After one or two days the Ammonia spiked to .25 then went back to zero. I never got the high spike. Nitrites stayed at 0. After a week of zero readings I got anxious and added 2 clowns, the ones with 3 stripes, and one scooter blenny. I know this wasn't too bright. The ammonia spiked to .25 again, but leveled to zero.
Today is day 4 after the new addittions. My ammonia spiked to somewhere between .25 and .50, and my water became a bit cloudy. So I went and bought a protein skimmer, the nautilis te. The lfs I bought the original setup from told me I didn't need one. I also bought a Cycle chemical to try to bring the ammonia down.
My fish all appear to be fine. They are behaving well, and eating well. My skimmer is making a terrible gargling noise, that only goes away if I plug the air tube, which i know I'm not supposed to do. Is this noise normal? Will it eventually go away? It's been about an hour, my water is cloudier, and there is no foam built up in the skimmer yet, although the water is very murky in the skimmer. Is this normal?
I know i got anxious, but I'm hoping my live sand helped quickly cycle my tank. I don't want to kill any fish. It's not a money issue. I would just feel horrible about it. Any help would be appreciatted.