Im new and excited I have 28gallon nano cube and

I'm at the point where I'm pretty much waiting all I have in my tank is live rock and live sand how long should I wait to add live stock? Temperature is between 74-80. Tests on water are saying good except for ammonia when I test it the test water don't even change color after it says wait 5mins but any useful tips from the point I'm at would be appreciated thank you

 

welcome!

You will want to get a heater before you add anything as the temp needs to be stable and not fluctuating that much..... 6 degree temp swing can cause a lot of stress on livestock. A good temp to shoot for is 78

As far as the water tests, you will want to wait until you have zero ammonia and zero nitrite. Cycling a tank refers to the nitrogen cycle. Ammonia converts to nitrite which will then convert to nitrates. livestock can not handle ammonia or nitrite. Once you have a zero level on those, you will then see nitrates. At that point you will want to do water changes in order to bring the nitrates down. At this point it is generally considered safe to add livestock. How long this takes has a lot of factors...can be a week to 5 to 6 weeks.

add livestock slow.....no more then 1 fish every couple weeks. Everytime you add a fish you can reenter the cycle and you need to allow time for the tank to catch up.


There are a couple things you can do to help this process along if you want. Some people add raw shrimp to their tank (I have never done this) or what I have always done is to get a handful of sand from another tank (ask your live fish store) and mix it with your sand. This will help increase the beneficial bacteria in your tank and speed things along.

It is crucial in this hobby to not rush anything. You will be more successful and happy in the long run. What I have found in the past is that there will be an algea bloom (rocks and glass will be brown and slimmy) at the end of the cycle.

Couple other things....what is the specific gravity of your tank? A good level to shoot for is 1.025 to 1.027. My best recommendation for testing this...and something that IMO everyone should have is a refractometer. They are much easier then a hydrometer and much more reliable.

When salt water evaporates, it is only the water that evaporates and not the salt. So you will need to top off with "fresh" water..... water that does not contain salt. You should avoid using tap water as this contains a lot of stuff that will be bad for your tank. You can use RO/DI water that you either buy from the LFS, some grocery stores sell it or you can buy your own RO/DI filter (though for a 28g I would just buy the water from the store at this point)

Again, good luck and welcome!!!

 

Hi and welcome to 3reef.

What type of lighting does your nano have?

We now have several members, myself included that have the same tank. Personally I really like mine.

 

New nano tank

I have gotten a heater and set it to 75 due to the fact that the nano tank I got came with everything including the lighting which makes the water warmer during the day not sure what type of lighting it is but it came with the nano tank had to buy heater separately

 

welcome to the site and welcome to nanos!! I got my first 12 gal. 5 years ago and a 6 gal 2 years ago. they are fun and adicting and expensive!!


When you do get ready to start adding fish or coral, it would be a good idea to come here FIRST and ask for any suggestions. Some people that work at the fish stores DON'T know what they are talking about. I had this problem when I first started. The LFS (local fish store) would say "you can definately have that in a 12 gal" Then I would post a pic and every one was or. so I started mentioning on a site like this one first. Way better!

Can't wait to see pics!

 

Thank you

Thanks for advice everyone I really do appreciate it

 

welcome to the forum! i also have a 28g nano and really enjoy it. as mentioned above I would focus on going slow! i left mine to cycle for well over a month before adding fish or coral. theres a ton of great advice on here so take some time to read around. it'll definitely be worth it!

 

You can add fish once your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are at 0. When this happens, your tank is done with the cycle process and you are ready to add your first fish, or two if you want a pair of clown fish. Wait about 2 weeks and make sure everything is still at 0. If it is, add your next fish. The reason you wait 2 weeks in between fish is because you want the good bacteria to be able to break down the bad bacteria. If you overload the tank with bad bacteria to quickly, you can have what's called new tank syndrome. Your whole tank will crash. I hope this helps, just be patient.