new tank

professorbadnew

New member
heres the deal. tank was running without live rock or sand for 5 days. i went to the lfs and bought cured live rock; it never dried out. it has been running in the tank for 3 days. i have a 0 amonia, o nitrite, and 0 nitrate. my ph is only 8. do i need to raise that? if so, can i use baking soda? salt level is 1.024.
can i add inverts??? if so. how many of each for the first wave??

thank you
joe
 
I have had a 75 Gallon set up for 3 years, and my PH runs between 8.0 and 8.1, changing when the lights go on and off. I believe you are OK with that pH level, but you should monitor closely to make sure it does not go any lower.
 
As long as your calcium is high enough (350 or higher). Inverts need calcium for their shells and exoskeletons (shrimp). Other than that, I would say you're good to go! A word of advice on inverts - acclimate slowly! They are extremely intolerant of fast water changes. I spend at least 1.5 - 2hrs to acclimate mine. The first shrimp I bought (a coral banded shrimp) I acclimated for about 30 minutes, dumped him in the tank, and he was dead before he hit the bottom!
 
Just to be sure, give it another couple weeks at least before you start adding any livestock. I know it sounds like a long time to wait for cured rock, but it will give you a chance to monitor your ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels and make sure you have some stability.

Even though your rock is cured, the bacteria populations may not have had a chance to settle in to your water and sand yet. These bacteria are going to help break down the biological waste that you eventually introduce to your tank in the form of inverts, fish, and corals. They are helpful, so give them a chance.

Don't worry about the PH so much right now either - it's a brand new tank and levels will probably be jumping all over the place because it's still in the settling process, so don't start throwing stuff in just yet. Do a 10% water change every week and your basic elements should be OK.
 
Wow! one said good to go and the other said be patient for a few weeks. anyone else please chime in. thank you all for your advise. you can imagine how excited i am and want to throw something living in the tank.

joe
 
I'm going to vote for a little more patience on your part. Maybe not two or three weeks, but at least seven days or so if possible. Patience and planning is the name of the game around here, esp. if you want to keep mistakes to a minimum.

btw, I've always noticed the longer you can go with just live rock, the more time you give the life on the live rock to develop.

-avp
 
Another vote for some patience and waiting a bit longer. 4 weeks will not only let the water stablilize but it will be great for giving your pods a head start.
 
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