oooops!

So, I have a 72 bowfront with the following:

No fish
Live sand base
Premade salt water
live rock
a few fake coral rocks

While my wife and I were putting it all together last night we rinsed the fake coral with chlorinated tap water before putting it in the tank...am I screwed? Did this ruin anything? I'm planning on putting a pair of tank raised clowns in tomorrow to begin cycling. I only (for now) plan on having a FOWLR tank, will a Eheim 2217 be enough filter paired with a power head for circulation? I have old style strip lights (the big kind) , time to upgrade?

thanks

 

Hello Chad, you are not in any danger as of right now, if you only rinsed those pieces I would not worry too much, maybe throw in some water conditioner to be on the safe side. I would also advise you to not get clownfish the second day after you set-up the tank. Cycling with a piece of shrimp will do the same thing. I can't imagine they would last long in a two day old tank, but it has been done. Damselfish are usually very hardy, but i would still recommend cycling with a piece of shrimp. I would reccomend you spend some time on different sites like this to get a better know-how on your knew found hobby. I do not have very much experience with canister filters, but i will say that can not be very much flow unless your powerhead is an mp40 or equivellent. Lighting is not very tricky with FOWLR tanks, you can basically use just about anything you want to as long as it is aquarium safe, as in NOT from Lows or the dollar general . Many fish have great colors that do not show up in regular flourescents, an actinic can be used along with daylights to supplement but is not need, although it can be very appealing

 

Tom is right, you will be fine but I would not use clowns either to start a cysle they will work on getting it started but probally will not make once the tank fully cycles. Good Luck and take it slow.

 

Thanks for the quick replies!

The strip lights I have now, are 50/50's I guess I worded that to make it sound like regular fluorescent light bulbs. I am actually setting up my tank again after about ten years of inactivity. I have cycled my tanks in the past with damsels and never really liked them, somewhat aggressive, last forever and not very appealing (to me). The guy at the store that I've been dealing with for many years assured me that cycling a tank with tank raised clowns was ok. I am in agreement with you, I've never heard of that before and thought it was a bit weird, but I took his word for it ... but now I'm having second thoughts. When you say a piece of shrimp, you mean "a piece of shrimp" ?? lol as in supermarket shrimp? I've never heard of that either! 10 years is a long time, a lot sure has changed!

 

Yep,just plain raw shrimp,one piece will be enuogh to start the cycle,just let it rot and then wait.If you've cycled a tank before you already know the waiting is the hard part.Best part is you can choose fish you really want afterward with a much better chance for success.Hope this helps and good luck with your new tank,Dave

 

I cycled with clownfish... they have a pretty good chance of surviving but it is not a given that they will.

several folks think it is evil to cycle with live fish... I think it is fine.

I would recommend using a piece of raw shrimp too... but I prefer using a live fish.

 

+1 on the piece of shrimp. It's easy and there's no chance you'll lose a fish that way. Just monitor your ammonia and nitrites, and when the nitrites disappear and nitrates appear I would consider adding your clownfish and your clean-up crew (crabs, snails, etc.).

 

chlorine in water evaporates within 24 hours. If you leave the glass tops open all night any chlorine in the water would evaporate overnight. If you just rinsed some small pieces I wouldn't worry about it.

As for cycling with live fish.....I did with a damsel. I wouldn't do it again. The damsel made it. I just feel bad because I know its very uncomfortable for a fish to go through. It may not kill the fish but it puts a lot of stress on it and some of the ammonia and nitrite portions of the cycle can last a long time. It kind of sounds weird but I think the less stress a fish has to go through, the better the personality.

 

Maybe I am misreading something here... but no, chlorine does not evaporate out of the water. That isn't true. Even if you use a de-chlorinator, the ions are still there, they're just bonded to become inert. It's actually one of the things left over from evaporation...

If you lay something out to dry that was rinsed in tap, the chlorine will break down as the piece dries/evaporates... maybe that's what you're talking about?

Having said that, I've rinsed several things off in tap water and put them in my tank. I wouldn't worry about it as long as the piece wasn't retaining a bunch of tap water.

 

My understanding of chlorinated water is that the chlorine evaporates to a safe level if you let it sit out with a powerhead in the bucket or aeration.

a quick search seconds what I have heard, but then seconds what you are saying. Let me do some more reading perid!

Chlorine Evaporation

Also what about bleaching rock perid? I soak my rocks in bleach for a day, then rinse in ro, then dry, then salt. No traces of chlorine. Are you saying that the chlorine breaks down from the water column but still remains at a non-toxic level?