What next?

[very newbie]

Hi, I;ve been lurking around here again for a few days and can't quite find the info I am looking for. Maybe someone could direct me to what I need. I have my live rock and live sand in my 60 gallon. It has been set up and I have been doing water changes for about a month. I'm not down to 0 on the ammonia yet, but I have started thinking about what the next step is. Do I need to do anything else to the water after I hit 0 or do I start adding live product? What is the best thing to add first? I have never had a live tank before and am trying to absorb as much as possible, but much of it is still over my head!

 

[florida joe]

IMO this hobby is not a learn as you go but more of a start with a good fundamental foundation. That foundation is acquired by reading some good books and doing research on line

 

[fishyscientist]

Originally Posted by Very Newbie
http:///forum/post/3274822
Hi, I;ve been lurking around here again for a few days and can't quite find the info I am looking for. Maybe someone could direct me to what I need. I have my live rock and live sand in my 60 gallon. It has been set up and I have been doing water changes for about a month. I'm not down to 0 on the ammonia yet, but I have started thinking about what the next step is. Do I need to do anything else to the water after I hit 0 or do I start adding live product? What is the best thing to add first? I have never had a live tank before and am trying to absorb as much as possible, but much of it is still over my head!
Welcome!
What did you cycle your tank with? You definitely can't add anything live if you still have ammonia in the tank. You should be looking for ammonia to spike, then drop. Nitrites to spike, then drop. Nitrates to rise... do a nice water change, and THEN you can think about adding livestock. There is a nice thread on cycling in the "Helpful threads for all hobbyiests" section in this forum.

 

[beaslbob]

I would add live macro algaes (in some kind of container to protect it from the livestock) to the system. Macro algaes are algaes that are organized and can look like plants. As plant life they will consume the ammonia directly as the bacteria build up. Then when the bacteria is consuming the ammonia, the algae will consume the resulting nitrates. Plus they also consume carbon dioxide and return oxygen while consumeing phosphates as well.
my .02

 

[very newbie]

I am not quite ready to add livestock yet, I want to make sure everything is back to 0. I did a partial water change a week ago, so I want to give ammonia and such time to build up again before I check it to see if I need another water change before I go on to the next step. I am in no hurry to move on, I just am curious what you suggest the next step would be. My live rock does have some plant life on it--probably just algea. What would you suggest as far a adding macro algea? What would you use for that?