New to this - Can anyone help...

[chris_uk]

OK - so ive bought my tank ~50 gallons, put salted RO water in and coral sand. Left it for 2 weeks and then went and bought 10kgs (22lb) of live rock. Apparently the rock was checked beforehand but I found a crab hidden away which seems to be doing fine - although a bit wary and doesnt come out much in the daytime. The rock has been in for about a week maybe 2 now and i'm starting to see things growing. I've been checking Salinity/Ph/Kh/NO3/NO2 daily and everything seems to be perfect, although my kit probably isnt the most accurate. I've got a couple of pictures just wondered if anyone knew what this is growing on the rock (theres some white mould looking stuff and also bottom right an orange thing covered with white mould :



Also every morning when I check the tank I seem to be seeing more of what looks like animal waste of some description -anyone got any idea? (its the long brown thing theres quite a few of them now but all I have is one crab over the other side of the tank) :



Any help would be appreciated, on the pics mainly but also on how long to leave it before adding livestock - if my readings from my test kits are to be beleived the tank is ready now?? (Its been about a month).

Cheers in advance guys

Chris.

 

[Victor1046]

I am no expert but you are probably having an initial algea outbreak which is normal...
When I started reading this forum that one thing everyone says is have patience...it's hard to watch the tank with nothing in it but I waited 6 weeks to add any kind of livestock and I started with some snails and 4 cleaner shrimp then waited another 2 weeks for the tank to adjust to the clean up crew.
Also, you waited to put your live rock in so the tank must cycle with the rock for another few weeks in my opinion.
Good luck , have patience and have fun.

 

[sabbath]

The top pic looks like it has a sponge on it to me. That is a good thing.

 

[chris_uk]

Thanks for the info guys - i'll wait a bit longer before adding anything. The person at the store I got the rock from told me all the live stuff had died on the rock but I have noticed lots of stuff alive. Heres a couple of pics of some sort of feather duster and tubeworms? (guess), as you can see i'm still learning - but ive got my marine book to hand and this forum looks very good for info :

more of that orange stuff on here.





Seems i'm finding new stuff everyday, i'll try and get a photo up of the crab - I think it's just a rock crab but it's very shy so will be hard to get on my camera.

 

[zebrafish]

So far it seems you are doing the right thing; patience is the key. Do you have a skimmer running on your tank? With the addition of the live rock, even if it was cured, you will still have die off that will cause problems.

 

[chris_uk]

No skimmer at the moment becuase the guy at the shop said one wasnt really needed? Like I said i've been checking levels daily and havent noticed any change in any levels whatsoever really, even though the rock has been in a week or 2, from all i've read that seems strange in itself unless i've just got lucky

 

[rbtwo4]

dont want to rain on your parade but....22lbs of live rock isnt that an insufficient amount of LR for a 50gal? shouldnt it be more? i have a 30gal and have 40lbs in mine and the ammonia was sky high but now its at 0 but the nitrates and mnitrites are high but slowly coming down and i am experiencing a diatom bloom as i type. this after only a week.

 

[chris_uk]

Didnt have enough money for all the live rock at the mo so i'm gonna add more next payday

 

[rbtwo4]

im still new to this but by adding more rock to an existing tank i think u will go thru another cycle and have spikes in everything dont know if its wise to have livestock in there when doing so. not sure but hopefully someone will answer this better for u

 

[chris_uk]

As I wrote my last post my wife arrived home from a trip out with her friend. I made her a coffee and as I walked in the front room I noticed 3 fish in the tank!! Turned out she got talked into buying 3 Four stripe damselfish for only £10 by her friend. I was/am - needless to say rather cross, but she wont hear a word of it. They look happy enough but would it be wise to take them back? Just done my daily test and the levels are :

Ph 8.0
Alk 240
Nitrite < 0.5
Nitrate 20
Salinity 1.023
Temp ~25º

 

[kkyyllee]

yeah, take them back ur tank is still cycleing, besides you wont be able to add anyother fish to the tank with them in there

 

[rbtwo4]

whats ur ammonia? i know damsels are hardy fish but i wouldnt want to subject them to a tank still cycling. your #'s look good but whats your ammonia count?

 

[kkyyllee]

any nitrite is not good, and if nitrite is present amonia usually is

 

[chris_uk]

I dont have an ammonia test kit - just KH/PH/NO2/NO3 and Salinity. The Nitrite level is very very low - im saying <0.5 because its lighter than the pinkish bar showing 0.5 but not totally white (although it almost is).

kkyyllee - I did read that Damsels were territorial, but they are only ~ 1" and the tank is 40" x 16" x 16" so theres plenty of room. At least im hoping that's the case but i'm only going by my previous experience of keeping tropical fish.

 

[Wett Hands]

I agree, the best thing to do would be to take them back. I know how hard to sit an look at a tank with little/no live stock for so long. But if they are added too soon (before your levels stabilized, and ammonia is zero) you'll only be looking at an empty tank again as the fish will very possibly perish. :eek1:

 

[kkyyllee]

you need to get an amonia test

 

[zebrafish]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10271751#post10271751 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by chris_uk
kkyyllee - I did read that Damsels were territorial, but they are only ~ 1" and the tank is 40" x 16" x 16" so theres plenty of room. At least im hoping that's the case but i'm only going by my previous experience of keeping tropical fish. [/B]

No matter how big you think the tank is Damsels seem to think the entire thing is theirs. I had a 3 stripe I had to get out after is was beating up another new tank mate taht was 3x its size.