Ready Yet?

[bbetta]

Hello everyone!

I’ve been in the FW hobby for more than a decade and these are my first steps to SW tanks. 

 

My 20G has been cycling for two weeks now. I started out with 2.5kg (5.5 pounds) dead rock and added about 0.5 kg (1.1 pounds) of LR the second week. Equipment includes a 2000l/h wavemaker, a 500l/h canister filter filled with carbon and phosphate absorbent , and a 75w heater - no skimmer yet.

I’ve been using live bacteria from Aquaforest and I’ve been adding 1-2 pellets every 3-4 days to help with the cycle. I’ve got 0 Ammonia and Nitrites, around 5-10 ppm Nitrates. There’s a thing that looks like a small feather duster on the LR along with something like a spaghetti worm, and they both seem to be fine.

 

Do you think the tank’s ready for the first fish (2 Ocellaris Clownfish)?  I’d do a 30% WC before adding anything to the tank.

 

Here’s an FTS before I added the LR. Thanks

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Clown79]

Did you ever see any ammonia or nitrite?

 

6 lbs in 20g is a little low. You should have 10-12lbs

[bbetta]

21 minutes ago, Clown79 said:

Did you ever see any ammonia or nitrite?

 

6 lbs in 20g is a little low. You should have 10-12lbs

I didn’t see any ammonia but I saw a little nitrite during the first week. I admit I overdosed the Bacteria the first days. I thought that I’d have at least one spike because I’ve added food like 5 times till now. The dead rock is the least heavy available and the LFS suggested that it has enough surface for bacteria. The piece of LR I got is at least 2 times heavier than a similarly sized dead rock piece so I guess if I used this variety I’d have at least 12lbs.