Originally Posted by
BTLDreef
http:///forum/post/3144155
Welcome to the forum!
Your tank may be cycled, it may not. My suggestion, get rid of the damsels ASAP, they're evil little fish and they'll limit what other fish you can put in later on. I used them to cycle and then flushed them because they were so damn mean.
When I started up my 14G BioCube, our tank cycled in under 3 weeks, here's how:
We bought live sand that can be added right to a tank without a nitrate spike, established live rock, and the LFS's water. They told us to run the tank with rock and live sand for a week, then come back and get some damsels. We did, damsels were in it for another week or so and then we ended their lives. (Not the nicest thing to do, but as I tried to catch them, I kept getting bit after a long, bad day, and well, it was my revenge). We never had a nitrate spike. We never had a diatom bloom, etc. It just went well, and in less than a month I had 2 corals and 2 Clownfish. I have since cycled a 40G and a 155G in less than a week, it absolutely can be done, if done right. If you're readings are okay, you're probably alright from my experience, but I'm sure you'll hear from plenty people that you're steering towards disaster. So to anyone that tells you that your tank isn't cycled, it might be, it might not be, but I've done the same thing 3 times with a lot of success.
There's plenty of different ways to get rid of Aiptasia, but you definitely need to get rid of it ASAP. I didn't know any better in the beginning and it really took over a Candy Cane Coral I had. The only real thing that I've had luck with is AiptasiaX, removing it by hand never went well for me. Your rock is definitely from an established system if it has coraline on it like that. My LFS always has aiptasia on the rocks because the rocks brush up against each other whenever people buy a piece, which causes them to spore, or whatnot.
Unfortunately, I do not think that your starfish is going to survive. Most, if not all, need a very established tank to thrive, but there's always an exception to the rule. I had a lot of smaller brittle starfish that came along as hitch hikers in my rock and all of them survived, so who knows?
Here's my suggestion: Get a cleaner shrimp, maybe some snails and crabs, feed your fish, test your water for another week, if everything is still good, you should be fine. Then I'd get rid of the damsels if you plan on ever having another fish in your tank or keeping your hand intact any time you need to go into the tank! Do you have a protein skimmer? IMO, you don't need more than one Koralia, but if you feel you want another one, I'd go with the smaller size since your tank really isn't that large.
Just read everything and form your own conclusions, you'll find some general guidelines, but you'll also find a lot of things that COMPLETELY contradict each other. Research is a great virtue to have in this hobby.
Good luck
bringing this thread back on track here.
i've been talking to fretfreak and my diatom bloom had started today.
the aptasia will be taken care of in a few days here, tomorrow im going to the LFS to possibly get some Aptasia-x, but one of the LR's i have has a nice size colony between 10-15 of them.
The damsel's are going to go soon, and probably the star tomorrow because it seems like the aptasia has been stinging him when he travels across the rock.
I do not have a skimmer, yet that is, i do plan on it.
I bought this lighting yesterday.
http://www.oceanicsystems.com/produc...-tube-quad.php
i hope this was a good choice to future corals, as this is what my LFS recommended.
really
