Pet Store Misleading Me??

I have read all kinds of posts about cycling and the one hundred million other things I need to know when first starting a tank. I just have one question I set up my tank and watched the levels for 2 days it didnt go up or down really (it only had live sand in it). Then I added live rock on the 3rd or 4th day. then let it set for a couple more days. Level didnt change other than the ph and salt. Now I added 5 damsils and 2 days into they are alive and no moves on any of the levels... is this normal? I thought I was supposed to get spikes in levels before I added the fish but the local petstore said it was fine and sold me 25$ of rock. Then sold me 30$ of fish 2 days later because they said i was ready for them. I have a 55 gallon tank and checked the levels over the week 2 times or more a day btw. Thanks and I hope you havent been asked this a thousand times already.

 

Nostradumasss - if you have a name and its shorter than your username, Id like to be allowed to use it on future threads ? please

How big is your tank? because 5 damsels added in 1 go is going to to be a problem for you IMHO

spikes - yes - you should get Amonnia it rises and then zeros out, you then get Nitrites, that rise and again zero out - then you get nitrates and they rise and zero out or stay low, or keep rising (Nitrates are a whole new ball game and they are a problem with multiple solutions) But basically Nitrates are converted to Nitrogen gas and then leave the system or they are used by plants and algaes etc

you could use 1 x damsel to cycle the tank - many do this and also many use a dead shrimp or prawn to achieve same ends ( rotting food or fish waste creates / generates bacteria and the bacteria deal with the rotting food/ fish waste )

1 damsel fish produces X amount of waste and typically this will mean your ammonia climbs but to within safe levels for this species of fish. and then Nitrites climb and again within safe levels for this species of fish

5 damsel fish produce 5 x the amount of waste so the ammonia level mathematically will be 5 x the level at peak of what it would be with just 1 damsel fish

the above is my opinion- and I would like the next poster to tell me I have it all wrong for your sake

but if it where my tank - I would return 4 of the damsels and continue cycling until you witness those peaks and zero outs , with just the one damsel

Steve

 

Well, first of all, don't worry about if a question has been asked already. A lot of times the search engine does not pop up an answer that is suitable so don't feel shy about this. That is why you are here. To obtain knowledge. That is why I am typing right now....to impart that which I know. Now, to the question at hand.

Your tank is just starting to cycle. Cycling can take anywhere from one month to three. I have heard of tanks cycling within a few weeks, but full maturation takes a bit of time, so your first lesson here is to go slow. Very slow.

For now, you have too many fish in your tank. Five damsels is a bioload that your tank will not be able to handle. Trust me, the levels ammonia, nitrites and nitrates will soon rear their ugly heads and it will happen too quickly. So, if I were in your shoes, I would pick your favorite damsel and take the others back for store credit.

Having rock is fine. Adding rock is fine. There are two kinds of rock. Live rock (of which there is cured and uncured) and base rock. Base rock is just live rock that is, well, dead. It will become live soon enough. And colorful. It is considerably cheaper. Your 55g tank should have about 60lbs in it for a fish only situation or about 90lbs if you want a reef tank (corals and fish).

Now in terms of testing. If you are using the strip tests, throw them away and get a good test kit. API makes a good beginner test kit (ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, pH) that will get you started. Make sure the test is not expired. The lot number on the bottles has the expiration date included in it.....which threw me. I actually bought a test kit that had expired five years before.....and didn't know it until I read how to figure out the exp date. If you want to get some good quality test kits, Salifert and Elos are very high quality. You will pay more though. Be prepared.

With testing....I wouldn't test more than every other day. You really don't need to. Just mark it down on a little note pad and watch for your spikes. You will have your ammonia spike first. When that drops, your nitrite levels will spike. When that drops, you will notice an increase in nitrates. The nitrates should, by the book, take a slight dip and then start rising again. That slight dip is attributed to bacteria (anaerobic) using the nitrate as foooooooood. But the production of nitrates will soon outdo the bacteria's ability to keep up, and you will have to do other things to combat the problem. You can build a refugium with macroalgae, do water changes, get a denitrator.....there are several possiblities. All of which are on the back burner right now.

So, bottom line is, scale down to one little damsel and wait it out. Test every other day and record your results. Watch for spikes. At the end of it all, you can start adding fish at about one every other week. This will allow the bacteria population to catch up and handle the additional bioload the fish is offering.

Remember. Slow, slow, slow. The LFS will try to make money off of you. That's fine. As long as it's slow, slow, slow.

Have fun!!!!!

Peace.......John.

 

I could be wrong and i know every tank is different and theres pandoras' box sittin there with a tag saying "how to cycle your tank" but i thought your ammonia spike didnt come til the second week or so.For the rest like mention previously, so on and so forth.

 

Sounds like you used tap water.. I'm hearing this alot for others about the cycling has not started or end in 1-3 days or so..As for my tank i waited 30 days before adding coral. I set up the tank and my strip test kit said perfect for ever until i added 10lbs of live sand..i didn't rinse it,opps..

And so all test lvl's when up and back down like it would do if it was 10 years old IMO and i added the fish and snails,and crabs. and waited a bout a week..all was good so i paid for the corals.all is doing well. i'm sure if i was to add 10lbs of live sand my tank would go into a death spike...i wont try it..Please wait as long as you can for the costly things.

Thanks,
Mike

 

Yes i did use tap water. but I ran the tap water with the sand only for like 3 days before adding the live rock for 3 more days and ive had the 5 fish in there for like 4 days now maybe. I just dont understand how 5 tiny little fish could mess up a 55 gallon very simple eco system

is there any invertabrates or fish i could add to help smooth out the process. Ive heard of these janitor or cleaner guys. could they help?

 

Most CUCs (Clean up Crews) are not very tolerant of ammonia. Almost any amount of ammonia spike will kill them off. Wait at least a month for them. Don't really need them until your algae grows anyways.

 

I have recently gained confidence

and am going to ask again

How big is your tank?

Steve

 

regained confidence???

my tank is 55 gallons. i got a few pounds of live rock and two large bags full of live sand. I got a slight reading of ammonia today. almost .25 . By the way everyone is talking this sounds like the spike I was supposed to get before i added my damsels right? should i prepare the body bags or what? jk... i think I can make it through it (although I know less than nothing, if thats even possible)

 

I was hoping it was a monster tank so I could retract advice previously given ( regained confidence is because I posted my own question to check my own logic)

with a 55 gallon tank, I think the previous advice was sound

they might make it? I will be dead honest with you, I dont know, because I have only ever cycled with 2 damsels at most and that was a 70 gallon tank

might be better to be safe than sorry and take 4 back?

Steve