New guy here. 29G hopeful Reef

[HarryPotter]

If in less than 24 hours the tank was able to consume the 2ppm ammonia, the bacteria is pretty good.

 

You should test nitrate/nitrite and see where thats at, and then double check your salinity and make sure its in range.

[thestreetzking]

updated my last post.

 

salinity is 1.025

 

I had my heater up to like 86 the last week

 

Mind you I started a week with live sand and the bio spira was added with the live rock a couple days ago

[HarryPotter]

 

I had my heater up to like 86 the last week

 

You should take it down to 78 to mimic actual conditions for the rest of the cycle, IMO. Its a nice kick start, but you want everything to be as if fish (ammonia you dose) are in it.

[thestreetzking]

alright sounds good I will lower it back down right now

 

What else should I be doing at this point? Whats my next step

[HarryPotter]

It needs more time at this point. Its been less than a week!

 

Let it build up and have an uninterrupted cycle, so later you can begin adding fish. If you are feeling rushed you should come up with a stock list or make more decisions- like if you will quarantine, what corals, etc.

 

My teeth are chattering while I'm waiting for my JBJ RL-45 to arrive- thats why I made the entire 3d design, including the plumbing modifications, mounting design, and sump layout in the meantime.

[thestreetzking]

lol im waiting, just asking so I dont forget an important step haha

[thestreetzking]

new light came in today, just built a stand for it so im waiting for the paint to dry lol. much happier with this one. pics to follow!

[thestreetzking]

 

the pic is bright but this was with the leds dialed down to like 25% to. I blame my phone lol

[Chefcito83]

I was reading some of your comments. I own a 29 gal nano also. I would stick with 3-4 maximum. Especially if you want corals. You so t want you corals to suffer due to your nitrates fluctuating.

 

6 line wrasse are a nice fish to have in your tank. I have a pair of clowns and a 6 line. They all play with each other.

[cjm3fl]

It needs more time at this point. Its been less than a week!

 

Let it build up and have an uninterrupted cycle, so later you can begin adding fish. If you are feeling rushed you should come up with a stock list or make more decisions- like if you will quarantine, what corals, etc.

 

 

This ^

Continue adding stuff that will produce the ammonia, or the ammonia that have been adding (this is a "pure" ammonia, right? No additives, no colors, no fragrance?).

 

The "cycle" will continue in your (our) tank(s) for as long as the cycling bacteria are kept healthy. The fish and other animals we place in them will produce waste which will continue keeping the cycle bacteria working from the waste they will produce.

When your tank has matured (keeps breaking down ammonia quickly, and turning nitrites into nitrates quickly) then you should be ready to add animals.

At the point when you start to add the animals you should stop adding the ammonia or ammonia producing things you've been used.

 

How long between maintaining the cycle and adding the first animals?

That isn't an easy question. Some might add them quicker then others and some will wait longer then others would wait.

I know folks who will start adding animals a month after the cycle stabilizes. I know more people who will wait (and maintain the cycle) for a couple of months.

 

Personally I like adding the CUC animals first. Different kinds of CUC animals are available; different snails, crabs if they will be safe with others in the tank (present and future), some shrimp, and maybe some animals that live in the substrate. I don't like to add all of the CUC animals at once.

"I" like adding CUC first because they will act as a my 'canary in the mine shaft'. If there is a problem in the tank, chemically or biologically, I'd rather have a problem with CUC animals then corals or fish.

I don't want to have problem with ANY of things I put in a tank. But CUC animals are easier to move to a QT then a bunch of fish and corals.

 

Also remember that the CUC animals will need to be fed. A newly cycled tank won't be able to produce food for them yet.

As a comment, I like to continue adding some food items for my CUC animals even in a long-established tank.

[thestreetzking]

thank you for the instructions! I really do appreciate all this.

 

I will dose ammonia again and see how it rolls. as of right now ammonia, nitrites are 0 and nitrates are like 3

[cjm3fl]

That's how it's done.

Keep the cycling going until you add living animals.

[thestreetzking]

Alright fish are in. On Thursday I received a nice package from my cousin. Pair of ocelaris clowns. Neon goby, pajama cardinal and an unfortunate doa Bengai cardinal. Also about 12 snails of different assortment.

 

As of today there all eating and seem great. Just tested the water now and it's 0 across the board.

 

I had done like a 15% change on Thursday night since all the acclimation took out some water and I took out a little on top.

 

I have some nice green hair algae that's growing quick. I think I want some shrimp to. The snails are cool.

 

Also Thursday night saw my first 2 hitch hikers. A nice 2 inch long bristle worm and a 7 pointed star fish

[HarryPotter]

Man that was too fast.... You are saying you fully cycled in two weeks? Sort of impossible!

 

The algae blooms have just started! IMO that was WAY too fast- adding all that livestock immediately and very early.

 

Good luck though! Lets see some pictures!

[aviator300]

Congratulations on your new tank. I've been following your thread but have kinda kept my mouth shut with suggestions. I remember what it was like having my first salt water tank and being all excited and impatient and impulsive.

 

You can advise a newcomer all you want and warn him that the worst problem he'll encounter is his own impatience, but everyone seems to have to learn this themselves. The chain of events is almost predictable. First he wants to test his water every day and if it doesn't read how he wants it, he panics and starts adding stuff and doing things when he should be having a beer or watching a ball game and just forgetting the tank for a week or 2 (except for top offs)..Then, if he feels it hasn't cycled in a week or 2, he gets impatient and adds more stuff and does more things when he should be having another beer etc, etc. Finally, after about 3 weeks at the longest he gets real impatient and rationalizes that it must be cycled and throws in a CUC and (heaven forbid) a bunch of little fishies when he should be....well, you know.

 

The next several months are just as predictable as he begins fighting Ammonia and Nitrate spikes, sick fish, different forms of algae, and all the other stuff that comes from Moving too fast in the beginning.

 

But, and thats a big but, once in a while he gets lucky and for some reason is able to avoid all these nasties. As far as my first tank went, I was not so lucky.

 

I hope you take this post in the spirit it was written and that is to make the point very clear that in this hobby, impatience and doing things too quickly will get you every time.

[thestreetzking]

Point taken!

 

And for future reference please don't feel the need to keep your mouth shut. It's a forum and we are all here to learn if people get upset about that then there's no help for them.

 

I do really appreciate everything. I plan on doing everything in my powers to keep this tank alive and I know I might come off as impatient in my acts I'm really not trying to be. I dosed the bio Spira when I added the live rock and again with adding the fish. I have had a diatom bloom in the first week that came and went and now tank is covered in cope pods and has the green hair algae. Now I'm not saying it's fully cycled I know that takes months but when dosing ammonia my tank got the nitrites to 0 overnight.

 

I guess we'll see. Like I said I'm gonna try like hell to keep the tank clean in the meantime

[CJJon]

Slow down, stop adding anything to the tank. Maybe some snails to deal with the algae. It's going to get worse as you just increased the bio load quite a bit. Clowns are little piggies! The fish won't care if you have an ugly tank for a while though. What are you using for top off water and to make up your saltwater? Tap? If so, it could be contributing to your algae issues. Go with RODI water only.

[Matteo]

I def. want a pair of clowns (ocellaris) , and some gobies. I know with a tank this size im probably only gonna get about 6 fish. Clean up crew of course when the time comes, some snails and shrimp, not sure if I want any crabs even though I think they look cool as hell.

 

As far as corals I really have no idea, probably zoa's and mushrooms and some other lower light stuff. I wanna see if I can get a hammer to work if I place it higher up on the rocks.

Clowns are cool but if you do get a pair spend some money and get the cool pateren ones. Like onyx, or snowflake clowns. Most people I know who get the oce. clowns get bored. they're sort of generic IMO. But your tank is your tank:)

im returning the lights to buy a better led setup, found one that can be dimmed and go from 8k to 20k full spectrum. plus people reviewing it say they can grow hard corals and i like having the option lol

what light?

[thestreetzking]

I used real ocean water for initial fill and changes and I use Rodi for top offs. And I don't plan on adding anything else.

 

If I mix my own water I'm using reef crystals but haven't yet.

 

Also the light is the Hobbie bug eupothica 16" led

[plainrt]

That's some nice looking rock.

[thestreetzking]

small update, everything so far is going good, been doing weekly 5 gallon water changes. got some green algae currently. I have a couple small corals that are already growing nicely, a 3 polyp zoa is now 6 polyps. I have slowly week by week added more rock as I was sure I didnt have enough, im happy with the scape now!

 

This is fun watching the changes in the tank

 

 

currently

 

0amm/0nitrite/0nitrate/0phos

460 calc/ 8.0 ph/ 8.5dkh