7 week old 220 gallon

I let the tank go for two weeks with live rock only and nothing changed as far as I could see through testing daily. From there I bought 3 clowns to continue the cycle,( or start it ?) When you don't see levels change it's hard to tell when its over!! All is good at this point except the anemones are hiding. 12hrs and counting.

 

I agree with the stable parameters. Mine have been the same since I started. Hope I'm not just lucky? Is the 6 months something the is used to guide new comers hoping that by then they can keep salinity calcium PH etc. at a constant level?

 

I'm not mad at you for adding livestock to your tank. I'm just telling you what I thought.

Lucky? I don't know. Most people have to add a source of ammonia to kick-start the cycle. I.E. - a piece of live rock (probably a few pounds for your large tank) or a fresh shrimp, like you can get at the deli. Bacteria has to decay/die off in order for ammonia to appear. Ammonia spikes, then nitrites...ammonia will go down, nitrates spike, nitrates will go down and hit zero, nitrates should be at or near 0 (There will always be some amount of nitrates, even if small, or non-delectable by our test-kits, but just try to keep them under 10, after the cycle has completed).

 

An exact time limit or period of time is stupid. Everybody's tank is different. The 6 months is just a general guideline. But whether a newcomer to the hobby or an experienced reefer, I would not suggest adding an anemone to a newly established tank. 6 months is a general rule of thumb. Many people wait even 8 months -1year after the tank has cycled, to add an anemone.

Me? I plant to add a BTA to my 29. It's been running for 8 months and got a reading today of 5 nitrates. I'd add it now, but I haven't bought my lights yet.

 

Speaking of lights, what kind of lights are you running?

 

My 210 never showed any signs of a cycle either. I just kept adding a couple fish a week and never did see any ammonia, nitrite, etc. I used all live rock. In a large tank with a lot of rock, you won't see the level peak from small bioloads. Just add new fish slowly, like 2 small a week or 1 large and you shouldn't have any trouble. The processing power of 300lbs of rock is impressive. Though, i would be more wary with only 60lbs. It going to take more to start the cycle in a tank your size, and depending on the condition of the rock you used may not ever peak very high.


As far as the clowns. I will bet any amount of money that nature will take it's course and one will be killed. Clowns pair up (not school) and kill all others in the tank. My lfs's son set up a 330 with 5. The dominant pair is all that's left after 7 months. I tried to put two black oscellaris and then added a true percula later. The percula got wasted in a week. Usually it takes time, but the pair will almost always either kill or at least try to kill the other clowns.

 

The time limits is basically a guesstimate of how long it will take you to learn a tank. After the nitrogen cycle is set, which only takes a few weeks, tanks are relatively stable. It's usually the hobbiest that screws it up. It takes time to get dosing stable, ph stable, learn all your equipment, lighting. A lot of stuff seems to get out of whack while we are learning the tank.

Anemone's can be very sensitive to the learning curve of a new tank (no matter your overall time in the hobby) And when they die, they can put off a lot of toxins.

 

I have to respectfully disagree with you on the "most people suggest a mature tank" . I would say it is more like 50% of people say that and the other half say keep it stable and you will be fine. Nems need stability, and with 200 plus gallons of water that is kinda a given. I have 180 gallons total in my system and started with very well cured live rock and the like rock from my previous tank and never saw a change in my Ammonia, Nitrates or Nitrites in 2 weeks. Diatoms came and went so I added my live stock. I have had an anemone that I bought from a chain fish store, ugly.. brown.. but healthy since I started my first tank. I put it in with my clownfish about 4 weeks after my cycle was done on my Hex.

It depends on your live rock and its quality and amount of surface area more then the amount of "pounds per gallon" you have. I have very porous rock from Fiji that is full of holes, crevices, branches etc. I only have a total of 70 pounds in my 150g/30g sump. About 20 pounds is in my sump, which is always a nice place to add it after the fact if you don't want to puttz with your scape.

+1 here. Very rarely can you have a school of clowns. It is actually a harem lol What I mean is one female to one Male, the 2 largest and the rest waiting in the wings to become male. This only works when the little guys are juvenile as far as I know. The males will fight to be the male I think and eventually you will only have 2. Unless you had such a huge system that they could keep their own territory.

+1 Very toxic when they die. Since you have a large system if they are smaller it shouldn't matter, but if they are large they can take our an entire reef tank if they decay and you don't catch it.

Congrats on your new tank!! Hope this helped a bit.

Heidi

 

I meant specifically to the time he has had the rock. There is no question good rock can support those fish at only 60lbs. But with only 6 weeks of baterial development, there is more risk than with higher amounts of quality rock.

The amount of rock and really any filtration needed has nothing to do with gallons, but really with how much you feed and overall bioload. You can have a 1000 gallon tank with 10lbs if all you have is one goby that you feed 4 pellets to a day, lol.

 

hehe for sure