tank 2!

6 mo ago i nearly gave up on my 55g salt tank. too many disasters in the first 6 mo. I've sinced turned a corner and have a clarkii, blue tang, royal gramma, couple gobys and a few starfish and some great anemones! hooray!

so now my 2 girls (6 and 3yr) are budding salt water experts! So it's time to move the beta out and set up a 10g salt fish only system in their room. (after begging the wife for 1 last tank!)

i just bought all the stuff i need.

QUESTIONs:
1) i am going to put the sand and salt water in next week... then a few days later turn the new bio wheel 150 on..... is this a good plan?

2) is there a good starter fish for a 10g? Do i need a starter fish?

3) how long should a 10g fish only salt tank sit fish less before its safe to go get a cardinal/firefish/watchman goby? (those are the only fish they want) is it ok to leave it fish less for 2 months to make sure all levels are golden before pursuing the 3 fish above?

thanks! (and thanx for the help a while back turning the corner on the 55g reef!)

 

Your plan sounds fine just put in a frozen shrimp at first to get the cycle going.
Why wait a few days to turn the Biowheel on ?
Is this going to be a fish only tank or fish only with live rock?

Do you have any test kits
Ammonia
Nitrite
Nitrate?

:trampolin

 

use some of your liverock from your 55 and it will be ready a lot faster

 

it will be fish only
frozen shrimp sounds like the info i was lookin' for
i have test strips
as for the bio wheel... wasn't just thinking about letting all that sand settle for a bit... but if thats not neccessary i guess i will turn bio wheel on right away.
and i don't have live rock in my 55... its that rock thats real but not considered live rock.

is there an appropriate ammount of time or basically once it cycles and all the levels are in check?

thanks for the tips

 

Your tank should finish cycling in about a month. Just make sure you test everything. After everything is finished cycling all you need is maybe 1-2 water changes per month and your set. The smaller the tank the easier in my opinion, although so many people say its the other way around. Almost forgot, if you want you can go to your lfs and ask really nicely if they will give you a cup full of sand from one of their established tanks, all your beneficial bacteria will grow and grow and grow from that one cup full. Hope this helps!

 

last questions

sweet thanks!
i am almost understanding:

1. unless i am mistaken you are saying to put frozen shrimp and maybe sand from LFS in.... then let it sit for a month...?

2. during that first month do i do any water changes?

3. are there visible signs that the water is done cycling?

4. in month 2 where i do a couple water changes... do i keep fish out until the end of the 2nd month?


i think those are my last questions! thanks. i must have guessed my way through at the beginning of my 55g

i appreciate it

 

my lfs runs biowheels in their system and the few fish only tanks i had they would swap the biowheels out with mine so it was like instant cycle as long as you don't go overboard on fish. i would buy the filter, they would take the wheels off it, get two out of their system in a bag and send me on my way. My thinking is biowheels are great and i've even used them on a reef system before i converted to a sump.

 

not a frozen shrimp, an uncooked raw shrimp. no water changes during the cycle , it will just prolong it. your done cycling wheen your ammonia, nitrites then nitrates go wild , the slowly burn off and go to zero. then youre done cycling. once youre done cycling you should be able to add a hardy fish to start with , and do you water changes as you normally would. best to space adding fish after that at least a 2 week seperation.

guy