new set up

[david12]

by the way you know how when i very first started my tank up and things if i had of putt fish in there then would me putting fish in my tank in a few days be more of a risk now then if i had of put them in when i first started a few days ago i also got seeded bio balls from the pet shop what they had in therre fliters and stuff

 

[david12]

why the way when i am testing y ammonia it doesnt look like any of the colours it looks like it aolmost yellow but not kinda there net i think it could be almost 0 but i am not really sure how long does ammonia take to get out of my tank does this mean in my case as soon as ammonia is out becuase i have nirates in my tank i have almost ended my cycle?

 

[jjgomillion]

Originally Posted by jc germ
http:///forum/post/3170104
with my experience rushing with this hobby can be a disaster!!!!! but it’s up to you what you feel is right I waited 4 months before I even added 1 fish
just make sure you have all the necessary things to go ahead all your power heads, heaters, tests kits, skimmer and so on so !good luck

at the end the wait is worth it
this is my tank after 2 years and its not close to complette
can you take a side pic of your tank? I am planning a seethru tank between my office and living room... looking to see how equipment is arranged... i dont see any thin in this pic. What do you have running on it?

 

[jstdv8]

Well, that ammonia still has to turn into nitrites and then nitirites if it isnt at 0 there is still at least some that will have to go through the whole cycle. ammonia is the very fisrt thing. So once that little ammonia you have there is gone to 0 then its going to be nitirites and then nitrates. When i cycled my tank I was getting high nitrate numbers even before the ammonia was all gone, sounds like the same is going on with you.
Yes, if you would have bought your fish first they would most likley not have made it this far. They need stability just like in the ocean. The ocean has been fairly constant in its makeup for a long long time. Fish need that. it would be like taking you from outside and puting you in a small garage with a car running. You probably won't last too long.
Damsles are pretty hardy fish, this may be the way to go since its a small tank its going to be harder to keep the parameters perfect so a hardy fish will give you a little bit of room to work.

 

[david12]

ok i think my ammonia is gone and it looks really like it is reading o ppm i am really scared becuase the other day i added bio balls intill my tank i hope i havnt done anything wrong i rang up the pet shop they told me its sounds ok they will do a few test for me if i want i am preety sure it is reading 0 now or close to i so scared right now cos i have really taken a lot of time and money intill to this tank and them temp is really high becuase its really hot today i live in sydney and he told me to put ice or fan or open the lip will this help i am just really worred right now because as soon as i added the bio balls from the pet shop filter what they take care of every day i ask the man if i would

ok if i 0 ammonia to add fish he sed come down for the test to he goes if there is no ammonia it shouldnt be a probelm i really hope there is none please help me

 

[jstdv8]

If your ammonia is reading 0, your nitirites are reading 0 and your nitrates are 10 or less then "heaven help us" you can put a fish in the tank once you get the temperature problem figured out.
Try putting a fan on the tank and take the glass lid off, unless you have kids or something that might put something bad into the tank. this will help get your oxygen into the tank and cool it off too.
Also you should check your tanks PH just to make sure its about 8.2 or so. you could also ask the people at the pet store what thier fish taks PH is at so you know.
And of course dont just dump the fish in, you have to acclimate it which takes about an hour generally. put the closed up bag the fish will come in in the tank on top of the water and let it sit for 20 mins to get the water temp the same. Then I like to put about half of the water in the bag into a container either hanging on the tank or right near it and every 10 minutes i take a turkey baster and add some water from the tank in there for the next 40 minutes. At the end if the fish looks happy scoop him out with a net and put him in the tank and watch his behavior for a little while and make sure hes looking good.
Don't let any of the fish store water come in contact with your water. alot of fish stores have all of thier tanks attached to each other with one large area for filtration which means if a fish gets sick it has the potential to contaminate every tank in the place. Also some fish stores dont use RO water and have copper pipes which can be bad for any corals you may want to put in in the future.
Check as many perameters as you can before the fish goes in and don't add all the fish at the same time. Just start with one adn see how it does for a bit.
good luck

 

[david12]

this has made my day what do u think my changes are that the others are at 0 becuase i cant test them ? i dont have the other test kits the pet shop are telling me that my changes are good that fish mabye be able to be added in the next few days becuase they think by them getting me the bio balls that it helped get rip of ammiouma and they say there is a change that if there other arnt at 0 they soon will be becuase of bio balls ?what were seeded from there only tank

 

[jstdv8]

Im not sure. I personaly dont know anything about bio balls.
I do know that if yuo dont ahve the test kits for nitirites and nitrates you will want to have your LFS check those for you so you can be sure the perameters are where they need to be. like I said, ammonia is only the first level. all three need to be at 0. (nitrates less than 10 but prefferably 0)

 

[david12]

Jstdv8 and to all the other who have help me thank you every much to i went to pet shop got my water test this is as what it sed ammonia is at .025 he thinks its lower then that he sed its almost gone and my nitrite is at 1 my nitrate is at 20 my ph 8.2 my salinity is 31 now all i have to do is cool down my tank what do y think jstdv8 is my tank almost cycled throw and i was wondering would it be ok to frezze a drink water and let in go on top of the water ? thank u all for helpig me i am gussing at this stage it is only a matter of time ?c do you think my tank is almost cycle?

 

[jstdv8]

Sounds like it, when the first two numbers get low and the nitrate number is high then that should indicate you are nearing the end of the cylce. shouldnt be much longer and all of the ammonia and nitrite will have turned into nitrates. when you get a reading of 0 for the ammonia and the nitirites you can do a 30% or so water change which will cause your nitrates to reduce by 30% so if your nitrates were at 40 which would bring you down to about 28 or so, Dont do a real huge water change or you will start the cycle all over again because you will have taken out all the bacteria you just built up.
Looks like you are just about there.
AS far as the cooling I really dont know, you might wait for anotehr poster to answer or you could try googling it. I know alot of people that live in high temp places use chillers, but they are spendy and I would think there must be something better for a small tank like yours.

 

[jstdv8]

oops just noticed you said your nitrates were at 20. They may still go up a bit becuase your nitirites and ammonia is not all gone yet, but if the first two are at 0 and your nitrates are still at 20 do a 30% water change and you should be good to start adding a small clean up crew, give them a few days to cruise around in tehre and give you something to look at and then in a few more days you should check your nitrates and see if they are 10 or less.

 

[david12]

hello i am still cycling my tank and i started worrying last night that i am cycling my tank right the pet shop i go to that only has fish in there section thats all they deal with is fish only and ways i wen in there he looked at my ph and sait and other things and sed it was looking really good and then he looked at ammonia he sed there was under .025 in there more like .010 or something hardly anything in there he sed then he tested my nitrites and they where 1 he sed thats a bit high he sed but he sed its kool becuase your going thorw my cycling then he tested my nitrate he told me there where 20 he sed thats good but he goes if they go above that when i add fish i will have to do a water change to lower it abit can anyone tell me what they think of this i am also cycling with a live rock

 

[david12]

what i mean is how do i even know that my cycle has started if i have there numbers in my tank is it a good sign ??

 

[happyfeet]

You know your cycle started because first, your Ammonia rose, which gave birth to bacteria who breaks down Ammonia into Nitrite. The Nitrite in turn gives birth to bacteria that breaks down the Nitrite into Nitrate. Nitrate is removed via algae and macroalgaes. With a high nitrate I assume your about to start getting Diatom Algae, if you haven't already. (It starts as a brown tint on your rocks and sand)

 

[david12]

hello thank you for answering my question yesterday i put a fish on hold and put a put some money down for it as well two of clown fish and i need to to get it by 7 days do u think by what i have posted about my tank condtion that it will be cycled by then ? cos if i dont i lose my money and that mabye it was a dumb idea i have been cycling for a while now almost 3 weeks

 

[happyfeet]

Clownfish are pretty hardy. I think in 5 days you'd be fine to add them in.
MAKE SURE when you put them in you don't just float their bag in the water for 15 minutes and plop them in like you do Freshwater.
The way I like to acclimate my fish is:
-Take a water jug (The ones that look like milk jugs) Pour the water out, or top off your tank.
-Take scissors and cut the top off of the milk jug so its now a bowl.
-Take air line tubing (like 1 dollar at the fish store)
-about 6 -10 inches from the end of one side tie a loose knot
-Poke a hole high on the milk jug and thread the knotted side through the hole a little bit. (so the tubing drains into the milk jug)
-Acclimate your fish in the tank for 15 minutes with the lights off
-After 15 minutes open the bag and drain some water and fish into your milk jug. Fill with bag water about 2 inches in the milk jug. Pour the rest of the water down the drain or save it in another bowl incase you knock the jug over or something. (I've actually had a Popsicle stuck in the milk jug acclimating my fish by a curious child and was very lucky to have that extra water)
-Stick the unused end of the air tubing into your tank, tape it in place if you need to.
-Start a siphon through the air tubing and tighten the knot until about 3 drops come through the air tubing into the milk jug every second.
-Let the water level raise 4-5 inches. It will take about 3 hours.
After that your done! Put the fish in the display tank and keep the lights off for another couple of hours. It reduces their stress and helps them adjust to their new surroundings.

 

[david12]

thanks for helping me out but i still think i got nitrites i am preety sure like 97% sure the ammiona is gone will this still be deadly to a fish adding intill in 3 weeks in the cycle with i still got nitrites i dunno i still got them havent tested for about a week and i put some of the bed shop seeded bio balls to help cycle heaps quicker would i be ready for fiash in 6 days as i am scared i will lose my $80 i out down for the 2 clown fish if i dont get them by then if it not ready what should i do about it?

 

[david12]

any ideas ??

 

[jstdv8]

David,
About the only thing that you could try(And I definatley would) is when your week is up with the fish store and if your parameters still arent right go to the fish store with some of your water and tell them to test it. if it has nitrites in it still then tell them you cannot put the fish in yet or they may die.
Any self respecting fish store would not allow you let alone force you to take home fish that would likely not survive. most likley you are going to have that nitirite drop completley in that time or pretty close, but if it doesnt then you need a backup plan.

 

[happyfeet]

Once that Nitrite starts to go down it really goes down quickly. I think you will be fine at the end of your... 4 days now?
Anyway, I agree with above and take some water for them to test. I doubt they will force you to choose between your money or the lives of the fish if the water isn't good.
If they do make you choose, take the fish home, acclimate like I said above and hope for the best. My clowns have survived some pretty wacky stuff.