HELP- Aquarium Newbie with 4 new Fish

Ok, I can get more live rock tomorrow along with some of the biological filter enhancement products you mentioned. Given this bioload how often would you say I should test the water and at what levels should I do a water change? Is the goal for the ammonia and nitrite levels to always be zero? Thanks again for taking the time to help me.

 

We wish you all the best !!! And want your children to have a beautiful aquarium to enjoy and learn from !!!

Sorry if I seemed to intense but I honestly just do not think the fish could handle an ammonia spike !!! Maybe the damsel, and MAYBE the clowns, but they will all have burnt gills for the rest of their life !!

I would start fresh and bring all the fish you have to someone who can handle them for now

 

You goal is to have no detectable ammonia and nitrites. You will most likely have nitrates which is fine if they are not allowed to climb too high.
There are many cycling products available. I would look at Dr.Tims products to assist in stabilizing the water quality until the tank has had a chance to evolve to handle the waste produced by the tank inhabitants.

Consider a skimmer down the line if you do not already have one. Skimmers provide for a larger margin for error.

 

Although I am usually %100 against anything like Dr. Tim's, it could be a life saver for you in this situation !!! Coralline is always thinking! Thank goodness for quality moderators on this site

 

Ok, I was seriously freaked out about the ammonia levels so I just went downstairs and tested the water again. The ammonia and nitrites are still 0ppm but the nitrates looks to be 5ppm to me. How high is too high for the nitrates? Also, for tomorrow, I am going to get (1) more live rock, (2) a product to help speed up the cycle and (3) a skimmer, is there anything else I need? Thanks again for all the help. I actually find this very interesting and am looking forward to learning the ropes!

 

and I honestly don't know anyone I could take these fish to. We are the only people we know with a tank...

 

5 ppm is fine and not really a risk to anything. Nitrate is the end product (well nitrogen is, but that takes a long, long time) of the ammonia breakdown; aka the Nitrogen Cycle. Generally, waterchanges help to remove the nitrates from the water column before they build to toxic levels and/or contribute to algae breakout (nitrates are used in fertilizers).

I've had fish in water with nitrates reading 50+ PPM (freshwater), but I would not advise that.

 

For a fish only tank your nitrates can go a lot higher, so at this point you have nothing to worry about. Initially try to keep nitrates below 20 but you can go higher as long as you do not have corals. Higher nitrates levels can lead to algae issues so just watch the value and use quality water, do not over feed.

I believe the only skimmer you can get at Petco is a SeaClone, which is ok for now, the Seaclone is better than nothing but if you can afford a better skimmer I would.

Window shop at MarineDepot.com to check out equipment.

Stay away from anemones for now if you get tempted or other sensitive inverts.

It may be a bumpy road initially and it may go just fine, we all start somewhere.

 

Areading of 5ppm nitrates is actually a good thing,it shows that you have a biofilter system that is working.When nitrates rise above 20ppm it would be good to do a water change to reduce them but high nitrates are not lethal to fish as ammonia and nitrites can be.Feeding very lightly will help a great deal until your biosystem matures,your fish won't starve,they can go a long time without being fed and will do just fine.It's good water quality that is more important to their health.

 

Ok, this is super helpful. I live in Atlanta and just did some homework to find a smaller local fish store I can go to. They seem to specialize in saltwater fish and will hopefully be better than Petco. Their website says they carry skimmers made by AquaC, is that good brand? This discussion is making me question everything Petco told me. The sales guy told me we needed to double the filtration for our tank so instead of having a filter for a 30 gallon tank we have a Marineland Power 350 with the bio-wheels which says its for tanks up to 70 gallons. Is it a good or a bad thing as far as cycling to have that much filter power going in our tank?