Newbie to the salt water world

[strongr]

I am setting up a 125 gallon FOWLR tank. I have a 160 pounds of carib sea live sand and 75 pounds of live rock right now.

my question; is there a way to speed up the cycle process? my ammonia is 0, nitrite 2.0, ph 8.4. the tank has been running 8 days now.

these pictures were taken before the sand was added. I built the canopy and stand also.
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[frewl]

I have found this link for you try this

 

[sprayin70]

Welcome to the ARC!

 

[strongr]

thanks for the link and thanks for welcoming me. do any of you know a good ammonia I can buy to add to my tank to speed up the cycling process? Or if I can add a hardy fish to get some ammonia started.

 

[sprayin70]

you can use a big shrimp for the grocery store. Just take a raw shrimp and put it in your tank when it starts to decompose take it out and test your ammonia.

 

[fishybusiness]

Your live rock should cycle your tank for you. Normally as it is shipped and curing you have the die off that goes to feed the bacteria that has lived through the process. Its how I cycle all of my tanks and its pretty easy to just sit there and let it cook. Just be sure not to run your lights through the process or else your going to have a giant field of algae.

 

[strongr]

I have read an article on putting a shrimp in the tank. I will try that.

Thanks.

 

[strongr]

I have turned the lights on one time to take the picture of the tank. I will leave the lights off from now on. Thanks.

 

[fishybusiness]

just a quick turn on of the lights for a look around or a quick picture wont hurt it. Some people with brightly lit rooms and sunlight seem to have big algae problems during a cycle.

 

[tsciarini]

Welcome to the ARC! Looks like youre off to a good start... ask away if you have any questions.

 

[strongr]

thanks. when I get this tank going and gain more knowledge I am going to put together a 30g cube and move up to corals. I was going to make this 125 into a reef tank but wifie shut me out of the bank account after she found out how much the lights would cost me.

 

[dakota]

There is no way to speed up the cycle.

Time and Patience. That's it, and both are free.

All that Stability and Prime and Cycle and Arag Alive is nonsense.
Good in theory... and for their bank accounts.

My Dad is a microbiologist. Just trust me on this. Save your hard-earned cashola.... for those lights.

 

[strongr]

ok thanks

 

[chemically_balanced]

If you ordered the rock online you might want to pick-up some Live Rock from somebody with an established tank. I've always thought that if you add some rock that is already cured in the cycle takes less time. Plus you'll probably end up with some of the good hitch hikers like copepods.

Always remember nothing good happens fast in the saltwater hobby.

 

[strongr]

I picked up about 20lbs of live rock from a friend last weekend and added a damsel. I tested the water last night and my nitrites are down to 0.

Question: How much of a water change do I need to do before adding another fish 20%?

ammonia 0
nitrite 0
nitrate 5ppm
ph 8.4

 

[george]

Dakota;34913 wrote: Time and Patience. That's it, and both are free.

This goes for everything you do in this hobby.

Even though you'll find that many of us don't do just that from time to time because we get to thinking we've figured it all out. That's when we get bit.

 

[dakota]

You should <u>always</u> strive to do 10 - 20% water changes <u>weekly</u>.
I said strive.</em>

 

[strongr]

thanks for the reminder George.

Dakota I will do a 20% water change this weekend and strive to do a water change weekly.

 

[ms_ k]

I let my tank run without fish for about two months when I first entered the hobby. It's difficult to do, but the patience really pays off, I think. After that, I only added one additional fish per month at most, but I usually waited longer before adding fish. It's best, IMHO, to give the tank plenty of time to adjust. Moving too fast, especially at the beginning, can lead to very bad things.