The saga has continued

[roosworld]

Hello tankers
O.K. Took the fish back to the store and the water sample they asked for.Man did they make me feel like a piece of dirt.
I was told water was on the money .The fish looked great and since I was new why was I going to question them since this was there world.They do this every day.They need repeat business and they gave me the highest tech most top of the line set up that you can get and I was being nieve to buy into the store is just a bunch of salesmen stuff.
LOL wow was that a bad scene!
O.K. Liz thank you and everyone else! I really have been lucky to happen opon this site and you guys and gals really seem to care about the hobbie.
I have 42 lbs of live rock total in the tank right now alot of growth and a few extra critters! clams (2) feather coral or something like that.A brain coral super small and a crab hermit.
How can I get my tank in line and keep it from spiking to much.Ohhhh They only took the hippo and the fire angel not the clowns.They are still in the tank.
Can I add bacteria and more coral with out killing the clowns?How do I do a water change I only have tap water.
I have more questions to ask but I gotta put the kids down. I will be back
Thanks
Roo

 

[karajay]

Welcome Back and Kudos for standing up to the LFS
I wouldn't add anything else to that tank until it's cycled. Do you have a test kit? Your water should be tested every day. Watch it carefully, or your remaining inhabitants may not live either. I would strongly urge you to consider getting an RO/DI unit for your water or purchase RO or distilled water. Too many unknowns in tap water.

 

[iluvfish]

Good job Roo! Takes guts to stand up to people like that but you're better off! Wish I had found this board 6 months ago when I started - wouldn't have made the mistakes I made either!
I think you can get RO water from most machines and Walmart also carries it. The little town I live in has an R/O system - I just go down to the county shop and borrow their spicket and fill up 3 15gal jugs of water to use when I need it. A lot of us have to tote water from other places. I have a well where I live - would NEVER subject these critters to that horrid water!
I agree with Karajay - don't add anything else until you've cycled. What you still have in your tank may still be in trouble. Just watch closely!
Keep asking questions!!!!!! Good luck!!

 

[thomas712]

The spike in our little glass tanks will be normal, however there are many variables and every tank, and every cycle is different. If you start out with dry base rock and dry sand it will no doubt be a hard cycle. But when you add Live sand and Live rock they will normally have some bacteria in them which could conceivably shorten your cycle depending on the die off from the live rock. Then of course there is the additive bacteria that you can add which may help, I have not used it in a long time.
The cycle in my 90 was a hard one with dry rock and dry sand to which I also after the cycle added 50 or so pounds of live rock and then let it sit for another few weeks before adding a couple of green chromis fish. I used the raw shrimp to cycle and many of my tests were off the chart, dark red off the chart.
Please do not add any live coral to the tank at this time. Corals need a stable enviroment and right now you are far from that. Give it at least three months to start to stablize, 6 would be better.
I am personally pleased that you were able to take those two fish back, to me it showed great responsibility. You did the right thing IMO.
Depending on what is going on with your tank, I do not recommend doing water changes during a cycle, however you have two fish and what? a couple of corals? To save them you will need your lights on and during a cycle the photosynthetic algeas will bloom strong. YOu may want to limit your lighting to 4 or 6 hours a day. Can't say for sure but I would have a water change ready anyway.
If possable and you have a Meijer or Walmart with an RO dispensing unit, you might want to get several gallons of water from that source. I got some of those 5 gallon jugs from an water store in town, you should be able to get them at some of the larger stores like Walmart or Kmart or Meijer. Start using this water for your water top offs.
keep firing the questions, someone will be here.
Thomas

 

[scotts]

Roo,
I must admit that at first I was not sure if you were a troll or someone who jumped into the hobby. (A troll is someone who will ask a question that they know is wrong just to get people arguing on this board.) It now seems that you are legit. I am glad to see that. If I may be so bold as to offer some advice. Do a search on this site for cycling or cycle. Look at the top of the page to do a search. Another thing, and this is very important, research everything before you buy it. I saw a beautiful fish at the lfs and bought it. Then later on I found out that the fish changes color and grows to about 18" long. Way too big for my tank.
I jumped into this hobby and listened to the lfs. I had a FW tank and switched to SW. Everytime I would go to the lfs they would say, well are you adding this to your tank, you really need to. Here is a $20 bottle to add to your tank. If I had a problem they had another $20 bottle to add to the tank. After 6 months of this I found this site. I stopped adding the stuff to my tank and went back to the basics. All of my problems cleared up after awhile. I learned more in the first 3 months on this board that I did in the previous 6 months listening to the lfs.
Do your research on this site and you will learn alot. It would also help if you post everything that you have in your tank. What size, what type of substrate do you have, how much live rock, what type of filters do you have...
Good luck and like Thomas says fire away with those questions. As they say there is no stupid questions.
Scott

 

[piper]

You can get RO water in some supermarkets now too.

 

[beaslbob]

Roos
As I understand it you have a 55g with dasmels and are getting cycles? You also tried to add some larger fish which you took back.
Tanks time to establish a system and cycles during the first few months are not uncommon. If you only have dasmels now and you nitrItes are pegged, then try not feeding the fish for a few days. NitrItes should come down in that time.
then let the system run for a month or so to settle out.
Finally I am a great fan of using plant life to complete the system. I highly recommend you do that if you haven't already. Otherwise be ready for more continued cycles and algae blooms.

 

[scotts]

BTW, I would like to recommend the "Do Not" thread in the fish discussion of this forum. You can learn alot from our mistakes.
Scott