Two weeks to cycle a new tank??

Thank you all very much - I appreciate your advice. I planned on taking it slow anyway.

Another question - the temp has been registering around 79 degrees with the MH on. We have a great vennilation system, so I know that it's not too hot in the canopy, thus causing the temp to be high.

Is 79 - 80 degrees too warm? We usually keep the temp in the house at 74.

Please give me your thought on this.

Thanks so much!!

 

The answer to this would be relative to what you are keeping. But in most cases with tropical specimens you should be OK up to 82 F. There are some species like the Catalina Goby which will perish if water temps are beyond 78 F. Also, a few cooler temp anemones are being passed off in the tropical reef hobby to unsuspecting hobbyst.

Then there there are those that can thrive on temps above 82 F. such as certain tidal pool specimens subject to extreme heat in very shallow waters. I've seen my water rise up to 84 F. with no losses but do make certain your water is well aerated with oxygen. The hotter the water the less saturated with oxygen making it harder for living things to breathe.

 

79 is a good temp, i keep my tank around 78-79. i try not to go above 80 because i can definately see a difference in all of the inhabitants in my tank, especially the snails and other inverts.

 

Install a computer fan into your hood. Here is what mine looks like.

 

Our tank runs really warm too...80-82. We keep the ambient temp in the room 74, but we have fans on all of our light fixtures and a 6" box fan blowing on top of our sump. Because we don't want to spend the $$ on a chiller. Pumps add a lot of heat to the water temp along with lighting, which a lot of people forget to consider. Fans work, but it requires more than one, and you kind of need an auto-top off if you're going with fans, because they increase evaporation.

Oh and from what I've learned, stability is the most important factor. You can run a warm tank, just as long as the temperature doesn't fluctuate beyond 2-3 degrees at any time during a 24 hour period, so make sure you have a good heater that works properly and is adequate for your tank size.

 

lol does that little fan actually make a difference in temp. ive heard of it before but only on small tanks.

 

My LFS said you can put a small amount of pure ammonia (non-detergent type) in your tank before you stock it to help speed up the ammonia cycle. It will help prevent fish loss, well actually sacrificing starter fish to start the natural ammonia cycle anyway. Sure you will have a huge ammonia spike, but once the beneficial bacteria cultivates and multiplies, it will break it down. This will just speed up the amount of the bacteria in your system, and not an alternative to slowly adding fish. I did this method when I added my ray, puffer and lion. The tank could handle the bioload they put in the tank. I let my tank run for almost 3 months before I added them (one bi-weekly btw).

 

I changed my Rio circulation pumps to Korallia's and doing so dropped the temperature of my tank from 84 to 80. I just plumbed my chiller to keep it at 77-78. But energy efficient pumps do help in lowering the temp as well.

 

that makes since to add pure ammonia because you don't have to wait as long for whatever is dying to deteriorate and give off ammonia.

 

I'm not experience enough to try something like that, but I'm curious to how much ammonia would you add per gallon of water?