cycle question

i recently moved, sold off all livestock and rock, tank was set up about 2 weeks ago i went with live sand and dry rock so i could form it the way i wanted, my question is, the new fish joint im looking at going to is telling me to cycle my tank with a fish, when i started last yr i didnt and it was fine, he told me bc im done with my brown algae bloom (its disappearing) he is trying to get me to buy a fish but i know you guys will help me out alot like in the past, what do you think? My tank is going strictly SPS nothing else but fish, inverts!

 

If your tank is only 2 weeks old I would wait on fish. You can cycle a tank in about 4 weeks (avg) without fish. Do you have a test kit? If not get a simple API test kit for the basics and when everything hits 0 you're good for a fish.

 

I would just wait for the big 3 to hit zero then worry about adding fish. A lot of LFS will just try to sell stuff to make some money.

 

My ammonia is, .5ppm right now, the guy is really sketchy but i dont wanna drive 50mi one way to go back to my original store, the guys got nice stuff but he is pretty pricey for example a simple reef chromis is 15.99....... I have test kits but i wanna make sure im not rushing my tank bc im going sps this time he told me if it cycles the day i put a fish in ill start the cycle over.. Didnt make sense to me

 

The fish won't start the cycle over. It will actually provide the bactria with food to maintain itself and reproduce....

 

1+ don't listen to this wierdo selling chromis for $15. ask hear on 3reef.

 

Thats kind of what i was thinking like i said the guy was trying to do everything he could to sell me something he told me my lights put off to much heat.... And i need to go with leds bc its less heat and ive never heard of the brand before and they were more then a well know fixture

 

Why not just order your livestock off the internet? How close are you to Chicago? I used to live in that area, and there were some nice stores around there. I'm sure you can find something closer then driving 50 miles to your last LFS.

 

Fish cycling is unfortunately a way of doing it. It is definitely not the recommended way to do it. The fish, its poop, food, etc etc will all introduce bateria into the tank that will start is cycling. The is unfair to the fish. Think of it chemically, its like having a child born in an industrial complex full of pollutants, sure it might live but what internal damage have you done? Same thing with a fish. Go slow give it time to cycle wait for the ammonia, and nitrites to go up and some back to zero, do a partial water change then consider a clean up crew or something small.

 

Im about 6 hours from chicago, and 2 1/2 from fosters and smith up in rhinelander, so ive got a good location im just not sure how well the online ordering actually works and i work quite a bit and would hate to miss a delivery on my livestock and make the fish suffer, and my wallet what are some good places in chicago to order from?