New And Just Set Up My Tank

[Zippeay]

Hello everyone, I've been reading like crazy trying to educate myself on my new found hobby. I bought a 35 gallon tank a couple days ago from a guy I work with. He had the tank going for about 3 years until I bought it so the filter was all ready to go. Ok so let me get to my question, I've read as many threads on setting up my tank as I can "I've had the tank full for 2 days now with no fish". The guy I bought the tank from told me to buy 2 Damsel fish and keep then in the tank for 4-5 weeks but when I went to buy the fish I asked the salesman if that was a good idea. He told me "NO!" and told me to buy some live rock and let the tank cycle for at least 4 weeks. So I bought about 6 lbs of live rock and added them to my tank. Was this the right thing to do? If I would have found this forum earlier I would have tried the ammonia cycle trick but now its too late so I'll just stick this out now. O also the light bars that I have for the tank are "reef lights" is there a certain amount of time I should keep these on for? Is there such thing as having them on too long? Thanks for the help guys my eyes are killing me so I'll have to read more tomorrow. Thanks again -Zipp

 

[WILDER]

Hiya, and welcome to the board.
Ask a mod names in blue at the bottom of the forum to move this for you to the marine section.

 

[karen84]

Hi and

 

[Zippeay]

Thanks guys

 

[@ombomb]

This pinned topic would be a good place to start.

You will need more live rock for your tank, a minimum of 35lbs in total and there is no need to add ammonia, die off from the rock will provide the perfect source of ammonia for a good bacterial build up.

Good luck!

 

[SkiFletch]

Keep your lights on a 10-12 hour period (just like the sum ). Dont add damsels cause they tend to be aggressive and limit your future tankmate choices. Once your parameters settle down you can get some cleanup crew and a hardy fish, but thats going to take a fair bit of time. IN the meantime, go ahead and research through the stickies