Tank crash possibility?

I dont have any powerheads, and am not running airstones. (I believe airstones are for the skimmer correct?, please do tell me so if im wrong...) Just the instructions on the skimmer said that airstones were not needed.

 

I agree with Pack.. Dont let em die.. You have to have atleast one fish store somewhat near your area that will be willing to hold your fish for you while you're tank is cycling. If you haven't found this store, you haven't looked hard enough.. Where do you live.. I will find you a store if it exists. I would pay someone to hold them before I would let them die. Not too mention its going to cost you double to replace them. Good Luck...

P.S I just recently found a LFS 30 mins from my house that has been around for 25 years.. I never knew it..

 

You are only an hour away from Milwaukee. Call around. There has got to be a good LFS that would hold them for you until you are cycled. Would be alot cheaper than having to buy them new after you kill them all.

 

I agree on taking them back, or look for local reef clubs to see if someone may be willing to help you out. If you were close, I would take them from you until your tank matures. The fact that they sh!tcanned you like that "consider them a donation" BS, I would take my business elsewhere and spread the word how dishonest and unethical they are. The price of fish are small in this hobby, it's the upkeep of equipment where they make money. Take your budget for a skimmer and lights elsewhere, like the sponsors for this site. Sorry you are in a bind, I truly feel for you.

 

You will need powerheads, they provide vital water flow within the aquarium. I like koralias, but right now, anything is better than nothing. Airstones can be used for skimmers, but most don't require them, they use a pump with a needle wheel or a venturi type valve. With a 120, and that many fish, you will need a good skimmer. I use a PM Redline 125, rated for a 125 gal. tank, it's not too expensive and works great.

 

I am sorry you are in this situation now but like many of us (or ALL of us) :you may have rushed things a little . If you really don't have a friend close by with an established system you may have a problem keeping the fish alive the cycle is going to take a while and the fish might not all make it. I would get some more live rock in the bigger display tank if that is the one you are going to keep and let it run its course. In a few months when it finishes cycling hopefully some of the fish will make it . A few things watch your feeding as overfeeding is going to cause major problems in the tank without the bacteria cycle going. Get the skimmer running full blast. Don't change any water for a while. Don't test everyday because it will be unreliable for now. I would not add anything else to the system except More Live rock and a big clean up crew of hermits, snails ,starfish ,urchins etc. No more fish for a while because honestly you will be wasting your money untill the tank establishes itself. You will be ok but you got to slow your roll. I would also consider a sump for a filter if your budget allows for it you will do much better with that than the canister and the hang on filter. Keep us posted8)

 

Please don't be offended or anything I am speaking from experience I rushed things in the beginning when I started and I bought fish too soon when I should have been buying equipment and I lost a lot of fish.

 

Water changes during a cycle will NOT slow down the cycle- and have actually been shown often speed it up.

water changes during a cycle are perfectly fine, and recommended if you jumped the gun and put fish in a uncycled tank. I would recommend doing some major 30% water changes every day until your ammonia is remaining at 0 and nitrites very close to. Nitrifying bacteria live on the rocks/equipment/sand/glass. Very little actually lives in the water column.

Both the hang on ammonia-alert and the ammonia dip sticks are relatively unreliable. I would not trust either of these as they are well known for their lack of reliability. Instead, buy a proper reagent test kit.

 

Update:

So, I reached my feelers out on facebook, and found an old higschool friend who took some of the fish to take care of them, in his 150g. All that remains now is the 2 foxface rabbitfish, powder brown tang, and purple tang. He couldnt take them all... Due to his other fish might not get along with the ones I had left. As for the stats on the waters condition, I ended up going to the store and found an API tester kit that was mentioned. It was either that or strips. I did some tests and omg the strips where way off... but in a good way. the levels on the tank where half the amount that was posted above. I don't remember off the top of my head what they where though.

As for the purple tang, It is now in the hospital tank. I went and purchased around 70 lbs of live rock to get the tank up to where it was suppose to be. I put them in the display tank and bam, the purple tang got covered with ick . He is now in the QT tank. However the tang has been there a few days now and he seems to be getting covered with it worse by the day.... He still has an appetite and pigs out on about just anything... So at this point I don't know what else there is to do for him other then pray.

I was wondering with the live rock I purchased from the store, Is it possible that ick was transported into the aquarium from the rock? Because everyone was fine and dandy till I put the LR in ...

On the powerhead thought. I was told at the LFS that I didnt need power heads... The skimmer that i got has maxi-jets on it which from what i was told is a power head. Please correct me if Im wrong. I do have enough with my filters to circulate a 155 gallon aquarium for the 120... Maybe Im thinking of the wrong thing?

Thanks again for all the advice!

 

The live rock didn't bring ich to you. Basically, Ich is present all the time, just dormant. Placing all the live rock in caused another cycle spike. This spike caused stress to your fish which weakens the immune system to allow the ich to attack the fish.

Powerheads. Your skimmer does have a powerhead on it, however it is not enough flow to support a 55 gallon tank. A pair of maxijets or koralias, one in each corner would most likely be enough flow. The more flow you have, the less algae problems you will have.

Smart move finding a friend. Good luck.