Confused - Conflicting Advice

[lgarvey]

Hi Guys,

I recently bought all teh kit to set up a 90L nano marine aquarium. I've been trying to figure out whether to do FOWLR or reef, and I think for now I've decided to just go for reef.

In a previous post I asked what the process was for stocking a tank, based on using some cured LR and I now have a tank with cured (no smell) LR sat in it, but don't know how to proceed next.

The advice on here was to give it a week, test Am & Ni and if they are 0 put two small clown fish in. This sounds practical, and like the best route to follow, given the LR is ready cured and providing filtration and there's a skimmer and powerhead in place.

But the LFS (marine specialists) said not to think about putting any live stock except perhaps damsels in for the first 5+ weeks. But, if I decided to go down the reef route, I could stock with corals after 3 days + an array of inverts which produce low ammonia levels.

With FW, it seems, the difference in advice is minimal between the net and the LFS, but with SW, the difference is often vast and directly conflicting. For instance, the net seems to say avoid putting in corals until teh tank is fully cycled and super stable. Yet the LFS says put certain corals in immediately.

I am pretty sure I'm going to avoid corals for now anyway, so it will be FOWLR, but I'd like to her other peoples opinions / advice on how I should proceed and timeframes etc.

I fishless cycled my main FW tank and would have done hte same wiht the SW (and saved shed loads of LR) if that were possible! =)

L

 

[CageUK]

Hi

If you read the journals of the others who have started here recently you'll soon get the picture.

Basically, now the live rock is in the cycle begins. Depending on the quality of the live rock and the amount of die-off you have had will determine how long or extreme the cycle.

I would start testing the day after the live rock is introduced, this will give you an indication of how the cycle is starting. If for instance you have minimal ammonia, no nitrites and no nitrates, the cycle is likely to be starting from scratch and is likely to take a while to process.
If the ammonia and nitrites are minimal but you have a fair amount of nitrates then the process is well under way and nearly there.
If ammonia and nitrites are zero and you have nitrates then the cycle is complete. You may have at this stage a diatoms bloom.

Now is the time to do a large water change 40% or so and add some cuc. You don't really want to leave it too long to add some fish because you will need something to keep the tank live, unless you just feed the tank with flake or something until you are ready to add fish. Adding fish will add a bioload and this will keep the nitrifying bacteria fed.

So to summarise, shortly after the tank is cycled I'd recommend adding fish, but slowly. I wouldn't add the full load straight away.

Hope this helps

 

[xxBarneyxx]

I think most people on here will say once your LR is fully cured and your ammonia and nitrite is gone you are safe to start adding your fish and CUC.

With regards to corals I would tend to say leave them for a little while to make sure the tank is stable and to get used to keeping the tank running. If your confident though I dont see any problems with adding some tougher soft corals fairly early in (personally I would leave it up and running for at leats a month without any problems before adding the first corals).

 

[lgarvey]

I think most people on here will say once your LR is fully cured and your ammonia and nitrite is gone you are safe to start adding your fish and CUC.

With regards to corals I would tend to say leave them for a little while to make sure the tank is stable and to get used to keeping the tank running. If your confident though I dont see any problems with adding some tougher soft corals fairly early in (personally I would leave it up and running for at leats a month without any problems before adding the first corals).

I will test the water in a bit and figure out what is happening. The LR was in a large vat of water at the LFS. I purchased it and it was out of water for about 3 hours. So maybe there would be some die off, but I suspect it would be near cured now.

L

 

[BigC]

I always thought your Nitrates had to be below 10 befor considering adding any inverts.

 

[lgarvey]

I always thought your Nitrates had to be below 10 befor considering adding any inverts.

Well, I set up a FO 25 lire nano from the same fish shop. They said to start it with a damsel and a shrimp. I've had a peppermint and cleaner shrimp living in there throughout the cycling process and the ammonia and ni and na have been high. They appear to be doing fine. I cycled my mbuna tank with pure ammonia and would have preferred to have done it that way, but the LFS guy thought it was dumb. I bet, given the size it the tank, it would have cycled super fast with ammonia too. That or I could have bought a few chunks of cured LR.

With this new tank the LFS says to put inverts in straight away along with corals as they'll produce little am and tolerate any new tank conditions, which are likely to be minimised due to the cured LR. They said no no to putting in two clown fish though, but said a damsel is an option. I don't want to have to fish out a damsel afterwards though as I know how fast they move and how well they hide.

L

 

[CageUK]

Well my personal experience was when the cycle had complete (in around 2 days with some brilliant live rock!), I had around 10ppm nitrates and diatoms. My water change got the nitrates right down and I added cuc a couple of days later.

A week after that I added a pair of tank bred clowns. a couple of weeks after that I started to add some coral frags etc. Other than unstable PH which I used buffering to help I had no problems (that I can remember).

 

[lgarvey]

That sounds great. I have a pic of my new tank it's here: http/www.lyndongarvey.co.uk/marine.jpg. Does that look like enough live rock?

L

 

[SkiFletch]

Probably close enough. You may find you'll want more for extra space to anchor corals in the future, but it's a decent start