New tank

[jflowers]

Hi

I have recently set up a reef tank, 22x22x18. I have put in a total of 15.5Kg of live rock, about right? Its been running for 5 days now. What I want to know is when can I start adding clean up crew and fish (two clowns)? LFS says a month, but sure I have read here that with enough LR you can start sooner.

Temp. 80
Lighting 150W MH
SG 1.024
PH 8.4
Am 0
NI 0
NA 0

TIA

Jon

 

[MrMashashin]

well if it was me, I'd wait an aditional week just incase a spike acures. With the salty fish and that, I guess their much more sencative to chages in water conditions than FW fish. Plus their more expencive so you dont want your invesntents to die.

 

[jflowers]

Thanks for the reply. I will have to wait another week at least as I will be busy over christmas and spending lots of money (not on fish stuff ). So its gonna be 2nd or 3rd of Jan before I look at cleanup crew, too early?

Jon

 

[MrMashashin]

well.... if your getting a clean up crew first, I'd get a one of the fish you want with is becuase they would die from no food (fish poo) or if you got hermits they would probly kill eachother.

 

[Opcn]

That or even better you could not risk a fish and just add some food, The main purpose of a clean up crew is to eat what there is so the animals selected are animals that eat a variety of foods. Also the hermits shouldnt eat each other, especcially if you provide other food sources

 

[MrMashashin]

thats what i stated they wont eat eachother if there is food around but feeding them algae sheets slipped my mind lol

 

[Fishy411]

no. U need to wait a month b4 adding yur cleanup crew. U have to wait a lot longer for sw even with lr. It has to cure. also a good way to cycle is to feed food to the tank to get some bacteria in there. Please follow this advice so u dont kill yur fish and cleanup crew

 

[Sanj]

Hello Jflowers,

I was thinking about getting the Aquamedic Chromis aquarium. Are you seeting up for a reef setup as that is what it is designed to be able to support?

I thought it was 22"x22"x22"?

How many fish can you keep in there .?

What are your plans for stocking? Thanks

If i do get it would be my fisrt reef tank also

 

[Ed4567]

no. U need to wait a month b4 adding yur cleanup crew. U have to wait a lot longer for sw even with lr. It has to cure. also a good way to cycle is to feed food to the tank to get some bacteria in there. Please follow this advice so u dont kill yur fish and cleanup crew

Sorry but this is not true. If the live rock added is good quality, was cured at the fish shop and was not out of water long then there is no need to cycle. This is because there are already surficient populations of benficial bacteria on the rock for the demands of the tank.

I would add food to the tank daily for maybe four days and if there is still no trace of ammonia/ nitrite then I would start stocking the clean up crew.

This relys on you having fairly good quality live rock otherwise you may have to go through an extended cycle.

 

[jflowers]

Sanj.
Yes it is 22 x 22 x 22, but the water can only go 18" high because of the cut out in the back, I wanted to give more accurate water volume. And yes it is going to be a reef and boy is that LR expensive I got two live crabs with mine, nasty lookin bu**ers. I also added an eheim 2234 as I dont like the internal filter that came with it and its somewhere to put rowaphos and carbon when needed, just using that as a powerhead now.

8" of fish I estimate, a lot less than FW. I am planning two common clowns and one other fish I havn't decided on yet, 6 line wrasse maybe? And a good sized clean up crew, maybe thirty in total.

Ed and the rest.
I had decided to wait at least a couple more weeks before adding the clean up crew, If I do wait will it do any harm? or should I go ahead and stock? Only reason I ask is that with a cycled FW, no stock means no food, so it recycles. Spose I could just add food as suggested, is that best?

[EDIT: LFS told me that it was cured LR]

Jon

 

[Navarre]

1 question....
if you add fully cured live rock and have no food or any fish etc to give the bacteria within a food source, what is the liverock going to thrive on? No food equals liverock with reduced capacity.
You might find the liverock will handle less livestock by waiting (initially)

Ed is right, fully cured live rock will not need cycling if added in enough quantity to the tank.

 

[jflowers]

Ok, thanks, is MINE enough quantity? 15.5kg. Added some marine flake, just alittle and a brine shrimp or two when feeding my FW tanks as I thought this maybe the case. Not often, just every other day.

Jon

 

[Navarre]

22x22x18 (water level?) is equal to 31 gallons.

15kg is minimum for this volume. Yes its possible to add livestock with this amount. Just add slowly and check water peramters constantly.

I would continue to add more live rock though if possible

 

[jflowers]

[EDIT: Sounds like I am arguing, I am not, just want to know, what is a good amount]

Whats Ideal for this tank? Looked on lots of sites and here and found that one pound per gallon was best. Thats why I have stuck with the amount I have. Is this not the best, as I will get more if needed, love the idea of introducing new life into my tank (though need to catch a crab that I find impossible to catch).

Also think I am over the Min for a 31 gall if going by water volume. If I have 1" coral sand and 15.5Kg of LR then whats the water volume? Any suggestions? more rock then yer, how much? I will get it tommorow.

Thanks

Jon

 

[Navarre]

minimum liverock need is 1kg per 2 gallons. This is what you have. You can operate the tank on this but the more rock you add then the better it will handle bioload.