NEW 120 build NEED HELP ON CYCLE ???

[C120]

Hi,

I am learning I may have had some bad advise. Trying to cycle my new 120 with fish. 5 chromis to be exact. one chromis down already but i think it was to fighting not water quality, one died days ago the other 4 are still fine. I was told to put fish and "DR tim's one and only" in and go with it. I don't think that worked. From the API test kit, best i can tell there is barely any, if any ammonia in the tank I am on day 11 with the fish in, the tank has been circulating for about 20 days or better. Knowing what i know now from this RC forum ammonia drops would have been what I would do if i could do it over. My Question is what now? I have 4 chromis in a 120 gallon tank with seemingly 0 ammonia after 11 days, (API test kit is hard to read or i am trying to trick myself into thinking i see ammonia other test are easily read (0 nitrite 0 nitrate). to make matters worse i am seeing reddish brown algae spots developing overnight on everything. (base rock and Life Rock) I think these Chromis are going to kill each other off anyway the way the fight.

Tank Make-up:
120 gallon dual overflow Aqueon - 40Gallon Custom Sump/refugium (40#Base Rock, #40 "Life Rock" {#15-18 of sun bleached fully dried (stuff i have gathered from the ocean/keys/Bahamas - Shells, worm rock, coral skeletons, Etc.), Big jar of Sea chem MATRIX media rocks in 40 gallon sump) Live sand (caribsea) salinity 1.023. instant ocean (Reef Crystals) 4 chromis (currently)

HELP HELP!!

 

[Shawn O]

Pull out the fish., they'll likely kill each other off, anyway. Throw in a raw shrimp. Add Dr. Tim's to speed up cycle if you want. Add ammonia to 2ppm and see if it goes to 0ppm in 24 hours. If it does, you're done. Don't worry about the spots, you're going to get lots of uglies in the tank for a while.

 

[C120]

attached is a PIC for the heck of it,

Are you saying it is possible that it is already cycled? Or just take out fish and start over until it does? And what about the algae, is this bad or does not matter at this point in the game?

thanks

 

[Shawn O]

You shouldn't cycle with fish. Possible, yes. Is it? Don't know. Pull the fish and test it by adding ammonia to 2ppm and see if it goes down to 0ppm in 24 hours. If it does, you're cycled and can start adding fish, one or two per week. Btw, tank looks good.

 

[C120]

i'll start there.

Thanks

 

[Giants13]

how old is the tank?

 

[Dundermifflin]

You're tank isn't cycled and wasn't ready for fish. I use Dr. Tim's one and only and have great success with it. My suggestion is to get a 20g QT and filter ASAP and put the 2oz bottle of Dr. Tim's one and only in the QT. It will be ready for fish within a couple hours. Then put the remaining Chromis in the QT and cycle your DT properly. To Cycle your DT start the cycle with Dr. Tim's One and Only but let it cycle through for a month before you add fish.

 

[C120]

Everything is Brand NEW. I put water in the tank about three weeks ago, Put fish in the tank with the DR tims one and only bacteria stuff 11 days ago. since that time i have checked the ammonia and nitrite every day and checked nitrate maybe twice. Everything seems to be showing 0. ammonia is tough to read, if there is any in the water it must be trace amounts because it is border line 0 to .25. the colors are so close (ammonia). nitrates seem to be 0 as of last night. ALSO, I have been feeding twice a day.

 

[Sk8r]

Oh, my.
Remove all fish to qt or return to the fish store.
Put in a flake of fishfood per ten gallons daily, in your case 12. put in about 20 mixed snails/hermits. Let them live there 4 weeks, and meanwhile quarantine your fish. If you had a fish die in the tank, of unknown causes, extend that 4 weeks fishless to 12 weeks, because you may have had ich parasites get into the tank, and it takes 12 weeks to wait it out and let it starve.
And whoever gave you the advice on setup is not giving you good advice. This is not a guppy tank. It relies heavily on a fully biologically active sandbed and a thoroughly active live rock component, at least 120 lbs of it.

 

[C120]

Would buying 25 Lbs of fully cured live rock from the display tank at the LFS and puting it in the tank to kick start the bio-filter resurrect this cycle. I think the chromis died because is was beat up, I don't think the others are far behind, one of them runs rough-shot over all the others, aggressive and runs the others all over the tank.

 

[C120]

Water test

Water test

Anyone care to decipher this subjective test? the obvious is the Nitrite at 0 but the ammonia looked this way at the start. nitrate ??? i have no clue, the colors are subjective. its liquid vs. printed media. Any one have experience in API tests first hand ? HELP PLEASE