I'm completely new to salt water. Last weekend I purchased a used 32G biocube for my 15yo daughter. When I went to pick it up, the guy had recently upgraded to a larger tank. Right before meeting me, he drained 90% of the water leaving enough for two six lined wrasses, some live rock/sand a few snails, and some copapods. I had to drive the aquarium for 300 miles. One of the wrasses didn't make it but the other one did. Upon arriving back home last sunday, we immediately mixed enough salt water (checked with a hydrometer) and filled the tank. The rear compartment contained one bag of purigen (very brown) and two well used sponges. I figured, this would allow us to get a jump start on the cycling process. So we filled the tank and it's been cycling since last Sunday night. My question is with the obvious bio load in the live sand, rocks and filters, how long should we allow the tank to cycle before adding inverts and coral? The one wrasse seems to be doing fine other than burying himself in the sand every time he sees us. I THINK I see signs of live coral on one rock but not sure yet. Any help or advice would be appreciated.
Cycling Question
- Thread starter jcentavo
- Start date
mcgyvr
New member
I would expect that the tank was already cycled and you shouldn't need to cycle again..
Of course you should be testing for ammonia/nitrites to be sure and should have a nitrate test kit on hand for after that..
Cycling is the process of building up a sufficient bacterial colony to quickly convert toxic ammonia to its lesser toxic forms..
That live rock/sand should have already been fully colonized with healthy bacteria..
Of course you should be testing for ammonia/nitrites to be sure and should have a nitrate test kit on hand for after that..
Cycling is the process of building up a sufficient bacterial colony to quickly convert toxic ammonia to its lesser toxic forms..
That live rock/sand should have already been fully colonized with healthy bacteria..
That's what I was thinking but my LFS advised that I still needed a 4 week cycle.
We'll be testing later today to see what's happening. We are getting some brown algae on the sand during this cycling. Nothing to clean it up I guess.
dkeller_nc
New member
Agreed with McGyver with a couple of caveats. There's a definite that you killed off some of the tiny inverts and other critters in the live rock/live sand in the tank from exposure to air, temperature fluctuations and potentially not-quite-matched salinity and temperature of the new saltwater.
So your LFS is doing the right thing and being conservative by telling you to wait a while to let the tank's chemistry settle down before adding more creatures. That's commendable on the part of the LFS - many LFS will sell you critters even though they know your chance of success will be small.
What I'd suggest is adding a few snails, hermit crabs or ornamental shrimp (like fire shrimp) after testing the tank's water to ensure there's no ammonia. These creatures are quite sensitive to water chemistry, so you'll quickly find out how things are in a day or two.
In the meantime, I'd strongly suggest reading up on proper quarantine for fish. Unlike freshwater where the display tank can be treated for various parasitic and/or bacterial diseases, there's little that can be done to a reef tank if you add a fish with saltwater ich (cryptocaryon irritans) or marine velvet (amyloodinium ocellatum). And if it's ich that is introduced, it will wipe out the fish, and you will have to wait 72 days with no fish in the tank to be sure that there's no remaining parasite.
In other words, it's well worth the expense of a cheap 10 gallon glass tank, heater and airstone to quarantine your fish purchases before you introduce them to the tank.
So your LFS is doing the right thing and being conservative by telling you to wait a while to let the tank's chemistry settle down before adding more creatures. That's commendable on the part of the LFS - many LFS will sell you critters even though they know your chance of success will be small.
What I'd suggest is adding a few snails, hermit crabs or ornamental shrimp (like fire shrimp) after testing the tank's water to ensure there's no ammonia. These creatures are quite sensitive to water chemistry, so you'll quickly find out how things are in a day or two.
In the meantime, I'd strongly suggest reading up on proper quarantine for fish. Unlike freshwater where the display tank can be treated for various parasitic and/or bacterial diseases, there's little that can be done to a reef tank if you add a fish with saltwater ich (cryptocaryon irritans) or marine velvet (amyloodinium ocellatum). And if it's ich that is introduced, it will wipe out the fish, and you will have to wait 72 days with no fish in the tank to be sure that there's no remaining parasite.
In other words, it's well worth the expense of a cheap 10 gallon glass tank, heater and airstone to quarantine your fish purchases before you introduce them to the tank.
Points taken. I find it funny however that in freshwater tanks, ich treatment consists of adding salt (and maybe some copper) and yet it's still found in Salt water tanks.. :hmm3:
dkeller_nc
New member
It's a different organism. Saltwater ich and freshwater ich have similar names because the macroscopic appearance of a fish is similar - white spots on the fish's flanks. Saltwater ich is Cryptocaryon irritans. Freshwater ich is Ichthyophthirius multifiliis. Both will kill fish in the enclosed environment of an aquarium, and both go through a cyst in the substrate as part of their lifecycle.
In a fish-only aquarium, copper (typically as cupramine) can be used to kill the parasite if done carefully. However, even a tiny amount of copper is deadly to invertebrates, including the tiny invertebrates that colonize live rock. So even if you weren't concerned about the corals in a tank, the death of thousands of these tiny invertebrates would cause a massive spike in ammonia that would then kill the fish.
So the only way practical way to treat fish in a saltwater reef tank is to remove them to a quarantine tank, and use either medication (copper) or (much better) tank transfer or hyposalinity. Then the reef tank has to be left fishless for 72 days to allow all of the parasites to die off from lack of fish hosts.
As you might imagine, it's far preferable to quarantine the fish when purchased to avoid introducing it to the tank in the first place.
In a fish-only aquarium, copper (typically as cupramine) can be used to kill the parasite if done carefully. However, even a tiny amount of copper is deadly to invertebrates, including the tiny invertebrates that colonize live rock. So even if you weren't concerned about the corals in a tank, the death of thousands of these tiny invertebrates would cause a massive spike in ammonia that would then kill the fish.
So the only way practical way to treat fish in a saltwater reef tank is to remove them to a quarantine tank, and use either medication (copper) or (much better) tank transfer or hyposalinity. Then the reef tank has to be left fishless for 72 days to allow all of the parasites to die off from lack of fish hosts.
As you might imagine, it's far preferable to quarantine the fish when purchased to avoid introducing it to the tank in the first place.
