How long should i wait to add fish or coral or inverts??
 

i just set up a new salt water fish tank and was wondering how long should i wait b4 add stuff in it. i heard that you could just add biozyme in to cycle your tank within like a few days???will this work or should i was a few weeks b4 i start adding stuff in

A few weeks should be good. Those bio enzymes are used to "kick start" the nitrogen cycle but I find they are just gimmics, IMO.

ahh darn it i guess it just got too excited and stufff...wonder if my fishes and inverts will dies???? :question:

does the dry/wet system help reduce the peaks or the nitrate ??

Wet/dry filters create nitrate. They remove nitrite and ammonia, but only once the bacteria is established.

I would never add livestock to a new reef tank, for at least a month and then slowly after that.

If livestock is already added to a new tank, the biological capability of the wet/dry or liverock or sandbed, is still to low to support them. A slow build up of ammonia and then nitrite will harm the occupants. If this is the case, they need large regular water changes, until the cycle is complete or removal for now.

You should really be monitoring your Ammonia and nitrite levels. You will see a spike in ammonia then a spike in nitrites then both will drop to zero. At that time you Nitrates will be fairly high and a water change of about 10% will being that down. The time line is different for everyone. But if you added fish and inverts right away the cycle will stress them out to the point were some loses may occur.
The point of the cycle is to establish a biological filter within your LR. It increases the organisms that eat ammonia and nitrite. So this is a very important step

J

I tried that Biozyme stuff in a small setup once, and I can report that it will not work. If you use sand and rock from an established system you could add things right away, but if it is a brand new system you would be better off waiting a long time. I have found that all my problems occurred within the first few months of setting up a tank. Time is your friend when setting up a new tank. :eek:

thanks for the info....but one more thing???so i have live rocks and live sand from an established system in my new tank, can i add stuff in it???

Well it all depends on how much rock and sand you have. If you have only a few pounds of rock and sand, you still need to wait for awhile. If you have a tank with a lot of LR, and sand you will be able to add a few things at a time. It takes time to mature a system. :rolleyes:

thanks bob

Namscam,
In my opinion tear down your tank, and sell the stuff before it dies. Sorry to be harsh, but reefkeeping is a hobby of patience and dedication. You must not have done any research otherwise it would have been blatantly obvious not to add anything untill the tank properly cycled. The fish and inverts you hastily added to your tank will now suffer the consequences. Start doing as much research as possible, monitor ammonia, and nitrite daily and keep doing water changes daily until those levels start to drop. Do not add anymore livestock until your tank is cycled. By the way to properly mix saltwater aerate water for a day, add salt mix, and mix with power head, make sure water parameters are the same, then do water change. Reefkeeping is a privilege and a responsibility, please treat it as such.

Mike

damn bud i know how to take care of stuff....just got to excited in getting the inverts and shit...and hey if it dies then it dies....i m not goin to sell it just cuz i got excited...and plus if they dies they ll help me cycle my tank for better inverts

You asked questions, and people offered you advice freely, and out of the goodness of their hearts. IMO if you don't want to take that freely given advice, you should go away. :snipersm:

shit that ain't advice hes telling me i should just quit...now wut kind of advice is that

Free Advice
 

Namscam. Take it easy. The people on this board are very generous and very dedicated to what they do. This hobby to most of them is more than a hobby. Your aproach so far seems to indicate a lack of research and generally a lack of respect for what ever advice was given.
Your last comment, well you didn't make any friends lets say. You could use hamburger to cycle your tank not living creatures. You will get opinions and ideas on this board and some opinions vary. With what you have said so far the opinions will be strong. Because like i said the people on this board treat this hobby like religion and are very sincere in what they do. Remember that in further posts. I hope your not too offended. Take it as a lesson and everyone has an opinion. Take what you need and do RESEARCH.

George :neutral:

hey if its good advice then i ll respect wut you have to say but if its just poop that puts people down then of course i m not gonna take n e crap.....

English as a second language :question: :question:

as a matter of fact yes, but i only write this way on the computer....of course i m not goin to write or talk like this formally...shit its not like i m a ref or n e thing.....i can probably speak and write just as good if not better than most people

How big is the tank,and how much established sand,liverock did you put in?Is there anyway you could get more live rock from a friend's tank to really help the cycle and the fish?

Jim

Hey Namscam. I think the point that people are trying to get across is not to quit altogether, but to take a step back while you're still only a couple of steps in. A new tank without livestock is much easier to control than a new tank full of animals. Removing your animals may just make it easier for you and avoid frustration in the future.

I was one who was guilty of adding too much too soon, and I have to say it cost me more animals than I'm comfortable with. It also caused big headaches with water quality and algae problems. Stuff that can easily frustrate someone into quiting altogether.

Doing your own research is very important in this hobby as well. Most experienced reefers have answered the same basic questions a hundred times, mostly on the net. This means that this info is there if you do a quick search. Often times you'll find that you can get answers faster if you look them up, rather than posting a question which may have been answered several times already.

Check out these links which may help you out...

http://reefcentral.com/modules.php?s...showpage&pid=1

http://www.reefs.org/library/newbieguide.htm

http://www.nano-reef.com/articles/


Good luck!

[/url]

80 gallon tank...have bout 80 lbs of LR but still trying to get more....have about 100 lbs of live sand from existing system that i bought from the fish store and 50 lbs of base sand. 2 clown fish 2 goby 2 anemone, a few green and purple mushroom and and 2 large feather duster

I guess I just have no problem writing,and reading complete words. I just find it easier to understand. But then that's me I guess. Computer keyboards have things like shift keys, and I like to use them. :biggrin:

Uh...ok really, is that something that needs to be pointed out? :rolleyes:

well as you can see i like to do things fast so no time to type correctly or use shift on computer unless its formally required

What kind of livestock do you have and can you maybe put them in a friend's tank untill the tank is cycled?

figi LR...and yeah i can put them in a friends tank

Thats problaly the best thing to do than,and once the fish are removed get more rock from an established tank to jumpstart the cycle.Hope things work out. :biggrin:

Jim

PS:would like to hear what kind of lighting and filtration your planning on running.

No, I don't think this needs to be pointed out. The language and spelling threads should stay in the lounge. Thanks!

I'm glad to hear you might consider moving a things for the moment into an established tank. I was really concerned when I read you have two anemones in your 80g...

1. Anemones should not be mixed when in small to moderate sized tanks at the best of times, unless they are clones of one another. They can interfere with each other.

2. Anemones require a tank that has stabilized. You can't rush the cycling process, but even if a tank is cycled after a week, there's just chemical/biological chaos in a system that is less than six months old. Anemones will have a really tough time adapting to captivity in conditions like that. All too often, they don't make it, which is a tragedy, because it means it was collected out of the wild only to perish.

You have to slow down if you want to get long-term enjoyment out of the hobby. Going too fast only sets you up for stress down the road.

Stepping on the soapbox ...
The ocean is not a grocery store for us to remove whatever we fancy at our whim. If we continue this attitude, there will be nothing left to collect within a few short years. When you purchase livestock for this hobby, bear in mind that only a very small percentage is captive propagated ... the rest has been removed from a real reef somewhere. That collection process has a real impact. Our reefs are disappearing; the least we can do is try not to encourage unsustainable collection practises. This means, each and every purchase needs to be a careful, measured decision. If we're not emphatically 100% certain that we can care for this animal for it's natural lifespan, then I think the question needs to be asked, what are we doing?

So, a few weeks to wait is really nothing. Reef tanks success is measured in units of years. I know it's frustrating at first, but anything that is worthwhile is worth waiting a little while for. I think you will be much happier if you let things progress at their own rate then if you rush it. Every stage of a tank's maturation is really quite exciting on its own. You can literally see things pop out of the rockwork.

I do wish you all the best success with your new tank, and welcome you to this very exciting pastime. :biggrin:

You might want to take the Anemone's back to the LFS and wait at least 6 months before you consider getting another one ( and only one to start ) ... did the LFS employee not warn you about putting all that stuff in a new tank ?

Cheers

:mrgreen: ... Hey Tony ... we posted at the same time again ( on the same subject :smile: ) :razz:

Hey Namscam,
Yes, the beginning of my post was harsh, but I think that was appropriate for your actions. If you read all of it, you would notice that I gave you the parameters to check for your water quality. Everybody get's too excited when they get into the hobby, but you were very irresponsible. Then you added insult to injury with the statement "if they die, then it will just cycle the tank quicker". As far as knowing how to take care of your stuff goes, I disagree. Adding livestock before cycling is not taking care of your tank.

It looks like you have a pretty good start as far as rock and sand goes, what about lighting, and filtration? This forum is a very good resource, and I along with everybody will be happy to help you and give you advice, but you will also get harsh criticism if you doom the inhabitants of your tank, knowingly or unknowingly.

Mike

thanx for advice tony, jim and steve.....
and for jims question.... i have a wet dry system....4 65 w compact light (2 actinic 2 10,000 k) and 2 40 w flourescent light (also one 10 , 000 and one actinic)...i ll prob move most of my animals into my friends 220 gallon tank

"if they die, then it will just cycle the tank quicker".
yeah i know that was a lil harsh and sorry if i offend n e one with that statment

Well I hope it works out and please don't be afraid to ask for help.I've learned so much from this form and made a bunch of new friends(boy are you guys in trouble :razz: )I don't think I would have survived this long without them :mrgreen:

Jim

Namscam,

If I can offer one piece of advice-Take it SLOW

There's a saying in this hobby that has alot of versions but it means the same thing- "most things happen fast in a reef for the wrong reason, and the right things take time"

In this hobby you can never be too prepared or educated, so read lot's, ask lot's, read lot's and take your time, as going too fast will always lead you into trouble :biggrin:

The only thing that happens fast is disaster! I know this from experience :frown: