novice needing help

[checht]

I am a novice and feel more and more like a failure daily. I have had several african tanks without this much trouble. My tank is a 30gal long, with a coralife 2-96W compact light, an emperor 400, protein skimmer (seaclone) powerhead 226. I have 15 lbs of live rock, had one damsel until tonight, and three snails. My tank cycled for six months without fish or live rock, then I added a damsel, then the live rock two weeks later. After reading on another website about liverock, it was suggested that I pull out any liverock with white areas (dead as they were described), scrub them in a salt water solution, then return it to the tank. After doing this last Friday, my tank had all major readings (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) spike, which in turn made me panic. I did a 10% water change two days in a row. My nitrate levels are still high now, but the other two levels have returned to within normal limits. Was this a huge mistake? Can the live rock live? What do you suggest now?

 

[usinkit]

It sounds like you did not go through a cycle in the 6 months you had no fish or live rock in the tank. If you had no fish or live rock in the tank there would be no way your tank could cycle. What happen when you put the damsel and live rock in that started your cycle. What you should do is just let the live rock stay in the tank and wait until your amonia spikes and then come down to zero then your ntrites will do the same and once that is done you will be ready to start adding fish. It will take anywere from 2 weeks to 6 weeks to finish the cycle. when the cycle is complete add one fish and monitor your ammonia level and it should stay at zero, if it stays at zero for two weeks add another and follow these steps with future additions of fish.

 

[cprdnick]

Do you mean your levels spiked for 6 months or you just let the tank sit with no inhabitants for that long? If you just let it sit with no bio-load you started another cycle by adding LR and a damsel. You nitrifying bacteria must have a bio-load in order to maintain their colonies.
You may also want to add more LR to the setup, 1 lb per gallon minimum. Add it slowly unless you want to start another cycle, 2lbs per week would be the smart way to go about it. This is why adding as much LR as possible during the cycle is recommended.

 

[leopard_babe]

I have lost ALOT of fish. It happens. Do not let it discourage you. I felt that I should never have a tank, because everything that could go wrong, pretty much did. Keep it up. It is a great hobby. Have patients that is huge in the hobby. It will take a while to get all of the kinks out and successfully keep fish. Don't worry, and TAKE YOUR TIME.
Also a thought, if you scrubbed your rock to hard, then you could have caused a spike. I scrubbed the algea off of the rock. But not to hard because it will harm the beneficial bacteria, and can cause your tank to recycle. Ok if I were you I would start the cycle over. you have to have something to start the cycle. Since you have a little spike now see what happens. When the levels go down to 0 add another fish. See what happens. Now that you have a spike, your tank should cycle, and you can start to SLOWLY add fish.

 

[cprdnick]

Originally posted by Leopard_babe
I have lost ALOT of fish. It happens. Do not let it discourage you. I felt that I should never have a tank, because everything that could go wrong, pretty much did. Keep it up. It is a great hobby. Have patients that is huge in the hobby. It will take a while to get all of the kinks out and successfully keep fish. Don't worry, and TAKE YOUR TIME.

Yeah, I'm sorry I didn't add that in my post as well. We all make beginner mistakes, some make more than others. I made my share, plus more. I have learned a great amount of patience since starting this hobby, and have also learned the value of proper research. Buy yourself a good book on the hobby and learn as much as you can before any livestock or equipment purchases. Remember, in this hobby, only bad things happen quickly.