New To The Game

jrzy shore

jrzy shore

New Member
Hey....my name is matt and i recently purchased a new aquarium. Its a 29 gal. tank. I have had it for 4 days now and the Salinity level is correct, as well as the PH. Everything seems to be alrite...i have 3 fish in here right now and they seem ok....when should i get new fish that i really want? And what fish would be good for beginners like me?
 
jimmy g

jimmy g

Member
Well first let me just say ....WELCOME TO SWF!
In the future dont cycle a tank with damsals. A tank will ususally tank a month or maybe a little less to cycle.
Get some LR (30+Lbs)before you get fish and live sand(25+Lbs).
What kind of fish are you expecting on getting.
 
jrzy shore

jrzy shore

New Member
Aigh sounds good....what exactly goes on during this "cycle"?
So when i buy a LR and Live Sand....should i do any preperation or just toss them in the tank? What do i actually do with the whole acclimation process? Im not sure how to do that.
I plan on getting some clownfish...a cleaner shrimp....chocolate chip starfish...and whatever else is peacefull with all of them.
 
dedwards

dedwards

Member
A cycle is when you add anything to your tank and something starts to die off. If you start off with Live Rock (LR) or Live Sand (LS) some of the bacteria within those will die. This creates an ammonia spike. Ammonia will then be converted to Nitrites and then to Nitrates. Once your ammonia and nitrites go back to 0 then you have completed a cycle. Once the cycle is complete you will need to do a water change to get rid of nitrates. Still with me? good. Most Local Fish Stores (LFS) will tell you that you can add fish during this cycle. However it is frowned upon because there is a very high chance that you fish will die from the ammonia or nitrites.
 
dedwards

dedwards

Member
Crushed coral can become more maintance in the long run. With sand, the particles tend to bounce off or lay right on top for scavengers to munch on. With crushed coral (CC), the particles tend to get captured under the large particle size and can cause some problems. You can add LS on top of CC and that could help some but I will let other chime in on their preferences. Personally I just started my tank and it is cycling so I don't have anything in it except 20lbs LR & 20lb LS and 35lbs of aragonite sand. I leaned towards a Deep Sand Bed (DSB) so that my sand critters could have plenty to play in.
BTW: i have only been in the hobby for a few weeks. Just read the boards because they are very useful. Good luck.
 
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