tank almost cycled, safe to add fish?

[ksicard]

Okay so my tank is about to be finished cycling. the nitrites are between 0.25 and 0 so they are pretty low and almost fully converted to nitrates. Now I found this article by randy holmes farley http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2005-06/rhf/index.php and I'm wondering if I can just add my fish and coral to the tank?

Right now all my livestock are in holding tanks and my holding tank with most of my fish needs a water change pretty badly. I'm trying to avoid doing a 50% WC on a 55g so I can save the salt for the main tank. According to the article nitrites that are below 0.25ppm are so insignificant that there should be no affect on the live stock.

Do you think its safe to go ahead and swap them over? I'd like to avoid doing a large WC and the tank is kinda unstable so I'm think about just adding them over.

 

[yoki32]

Quarantine your fish for 5 weeks and don't rush throwing them in your tank right after cycle or you'll have unpleasant surprises. This hobby is all about being patient.

 

[ksicard]

you misread my post. I've had all my livestock for years and every single one has been through 4 weeks of QT. The holding tanks they are all in are unstable so im trying to get them out ASAP.

I dont need someone to teach me a lesson. I just need to know if this article holds true or not. If it doesn't then I'll do anohter 50% WC

 

[Frontier]

Are you asking if it's ok to put your livestock in a "not quite cycled" tank in order to conserve salt?

 

[ksicard]

No what I'm asking is if the article I posted is true or not.

The well being of my livestock comes first before conserving salt, however that doesn't mean I dont want to conserve salt.

I'm fully prepared to take care of my livestock. I stumbled onto the article I posted and its written by a reputable guy and it has peaked my curiosity. I just want to know whether or not its true. I've been in the hobby a long time now and when I find an article that goes against what I have always thought to be true it tends to peak my curiosity.

I'm 95% sure I'm about to do a WC on the holding tanks since no one can answer my question.

I didn't mean to sound hostile but it's just a little unnerving when someone assumes the worst and didnt give me the benefit of the doubt.

Just for everybody else's sake what I'm doing is upgrading tanks. Currently all my livestock is dispersed between 3 holding tanks. When the tank is cycled, which should be tomorrow I will add the contents of the 1st holding tank that contains 3 lyretail anthias, a wyoming white clownfish, and a shark nose goby into my new 200g system. The rest of the holding tanks will be added in 2 segments that will be staggered 3 weeks apart for each segment.

a 200g system can easily handle my plan for introducing the livestock. Based on tests the tank will be finished cycling either tomorrow or thursday. The article has however peaked my curiosity and I was maybe going to test its validity but I wanted to ask to see if anyone had thoughts or past experiences regarding what the article states.

Some of the information on the article seems absolutely absurd by stating that nitrites in excess of 100-3000ppm were tested on saltwater fish and none of them kicked the bucket.

 

[GT3000XX]

I have not read that specific article but have also heard over the years about nitrites not being as toxic to saltwater fish. It sounds to me like you have a good handle on what you are doing.

 

[snorvich]

The article is correct. Randy is very reliable.

 

[nyknicks4412]

tank almost cycled, safe to add fish?

How heavily have you been cycling your tank? Depending on the number of fish you're adding you could trigger another cycle. If you're adding a lot of fish to a tank that was cycled with ghost feeding you're asking for trouble.

Livestock should really be added to a tank slowly.

 

[ksicard]

sigh......

Thank you GT and snorvich I appreciate the hindsight and input.

 

[GT3000XX]

You are welcome and best of luck!