Hey everyone!

Hey everyone, new to the aquarium hobby and 3reef and proud of it! I've always wanted an aquarium as a kid and it was about time I got one. I went straight for saltwater because the freshwater fish didn't really intrigue me enough and I have a lot of support and I'm hoping to get some more here!

I have a 29 gallon tank with crushed coral substrate and 20 lbs of live rock. I just started my tank about two weeks ago, and added two damsels on Monday (6/14) to start my cycle. Per the advice at my fish store I did a 5 gallon water change on Friday (6/18.), but not sure if I should have as it might have slowed down my tank cycle.

I have a Marineland chemistry test kit, and tested my water today at approximately .2 for ammonia and .2 for nitrite. My Ph had dropped from 8.2 when my tank was setup to 8.0 today, so I added one teaspoon of baking soda not too long ago. My salinity is at 1.022 which I hope to increase a bit through water changes, but again, not sure how much I should be doing that while trying to cycle my tank.

I feed my fish New Life Spectrum fish food, as well as mysis shrimp and sometimes small bits of Krill. The fish at first were skeptical about eating the NLS food, and small amounts would float to the bottom, so I might have jumped the gun a bit when I bought a fire shrimp and added him on Wednesday (6/16). He was drip acclimated and doing well. He's also the reason I want to raise the salinity. He hides on my life rock over by my filter intake, and comes out mostly at night or to feed sometimes when the fish eat, but not often. As it stands he's my most expensive investment at $30 so far, so I hope he doesn't die, haha.

I've noticed in the last two days my live rock is getting more color, and I think it might be brown diatom algae, but not sure. Well, that's about enough for now and thanks for having such a great forum! I can already tell I'll be here A LOT!

 

Welcome to 3reef!

You don't want to do any water changes until your cycle is complete, because it will just delay the cycle. Start testing ammonia, nitrite and nitrate daily to watch for spikes and then the fall to 0. When they all reach 0 you can do a water change and get on with the tank!

If what you're seeing are diatoms, that's usually a good sign, with regards to the cycle. They tend to pop up near the end, but you need to test your water to be sure.

 

Thanks for the advice! I'll avoid water changes from here on out. It's hard to tell if it's actually diatoms or just some brown coloration on my live rock. When I purchased the rock it was cured and mostly white, and has just started getting some color in the last few days. I first filled up the tank on 6/9 and the live was placed in on 6/11 once I had stabilized my temperature and salinity, etc. Then I added beneficial bacteria I got at my LFS and didn't run the lighting for about 60 hours. At that point I put the damsels in. So there's no way the tank could possibly have cycled by now, especially with my water change. I'll just keep monitoring my water daily and cross my fingers my fire shrimp doesn't die out from high ammonia or nitrite levels!

If he does it'll be my first lesson learned. This is definitely a hobby that teaches patience! ;D

 

Hey, Welcome to 3reef!! I was the same way as FW is OK but SW is much more fascinating!! You came to the right place!!

 

You'll know soon enough if they are diatoms or not. They will take over! Your rocks and sand will be covered. They will die off on their own in a few weeks, so don't worry about how ugly they look!

 

welcome to 3 reef

 

I was actually just glad to see my live rock get some color! : Hehe. I'll see if I can get the SD card slot to work on my computer so I can share some pictures of my tank! Going to my LFS right now to just browse around and I'm bringing my water to sample to see the results they get vs what I got this morning.

 

Hello and welcome to 3reef

 

Welcome to 3reef

 

welcome to 3 reef, Vendian

Steve