I think I'm gonna add the biro spira, a pair of convict goby's a day or two after(cause they're cool, cheap, impossible to kill, and not very agressive in my experience... had 2 of them before.) and then wait a week and test then start slowly stocking with my REAL fish.
would you say this tank has cycled?
- Thread starter kittyhazelton
- Start date
I'm with waterbaby33 on cycling. The only thing that can TRULY cycle a tank is TIME + ORGANISMS. I don't care what you add as far as bacteria starters. Get some tiny tough low waste load fish in there and then WAIT. I run into people all the time that run new salt tanks empty for like a month. No live rock. No fish. No inverts. They test their water. No ammonia No nitrite and . . . wow! . . . not even Nitrates! " My water looks greats! Good to go! Lets buy 3 yellow tangs! and a 12'' dogface puffer!" wah wah waaaaaaaaahhhhh.
A tank really needs that steady LOW waste input of small fish or inverts (macroscopic inverts like crustaceans) to fuel the ecosystem in the tank for it to become TRULY "cycled". The problem ultimately with any other means is it's far to easy to increase the waste load too rapidly. Your artificially started bio-filter will catch up to the new much higher waste load . . .but in the mean time your fish die and your back at square 1.
Besides damsels and chromis you can use mollies and hermit crabs to avoid temperament issues if you're concerned about it but I agree with waterbaby33 . . .I wouldn't worry about it in the 110 esp if you're planning on having bigger feisty fish. I have a few in my tank people have given me and my fish don't take any crap from them lol. *big blue toothy tuskfish grin
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A tank really needs that steady LOW waste input of small fish or inverts (macroscopic inverts like crustaceans) to fuel the ecosystem in the tank for it to become TRULY "cycled". The problem ultimately with any other means is it's far to easy to increase the waste load too rapidly. Your artificially started bio-filter will catch up to the new much higher waste load . . .but in the mean time your fish die and your back at square 1.
Besides damsels and chromis you can use mollies and hermit crabs to avoid temperament issues if you're concerned about it but I agree with waterbaby33 . . .I wouldn't worry about it in the 110 esp if you're planning on having bigger feisty fish. I have a few in my tank people have given me and my fish don't take any crap from them lol. *big blue toothy tuskfish grin
*I talked to the guy about the bio spira at my lfs and he recommends the bio spira to his customers and tells them that it is fine to put it in and add fish a day later. He knows what he is talking about as far as reef tanks and I have had good experiences with bio wpira so I would go with it. I would still give it three days at the least before you buy your first fish.
Amen! LOLrevkkoolaid;1041170; said:I'm with waterbaby33 on cycling. The only thing that can TRULY cycle a tank is TIME + ORGANISMS. I don't care what you add as far as bacteria starters. Get some tiny tough low waste load fish in there and then WAIT. I run into people all the time that run new salt tanks empty for like a month. No live rock. No fish. No inverts. They test their water. No ammonia No nitrite and . . . wow! . . . not even Nitrates! " My water looks greats! Good to go! Lets buy 3 yellow tangs! and a 12'' dogface puffer!" wah wah waaaaaaaaahhhhh.
A tank really needs that steady LOW waste input of small fish or inverts (macroscopic inverts like crustaceans) to fuel the ecosystem in the tank for it to become TRULY "cycled". The problem ultimately with any other means is it's far to easy to increase the waste load too rapidly. Your artificially started bio-filter will catch up to the new much higher waste load . . .but in the mean time your fish die and your back at square 1.
Besides damsels and chromis you can use mollies and hermit crabs to avoid temperament issues if you're concerned about it but I agree with waterbaby33 . . .I wouldn't worry about it in the 110 esp if you're planning on having bigger feisty fish. I have a few in my tank people have given me and my fish don't take any crap from them lol. *big blue toothy tuskfish grin
........ Oh! - And it's "83" not "33"... I'm not that old yet, sheesh!!! LOLwater_baby83;1043196; said:Amen! LOL
LOL. Sorry I'm a goober
reefkeep18;1043019; said:
I don't know if you haven't seen the posts in the other forum regarding this tank regarding the intended purpose of this tank. . . .
A reef tank is one thing but a predator tank. . . . .particularly a lion + moray tank is another. The waste loads from fish like these who eat huge meals and have slow digestive systems like this are relatively massive and at the same time are sporadic. As an example I've had customers try keeping small scorpionfish, anglers, and toadfish in nanos alone. Usually with the same results. Ammonia spikes. Fish like these don't defecate daily. So placing them in a tank without a well developed and/or huge biofilter (i.e. not a nano) there is a constant flux of waste load and the biofilter is in a way constantly trying to adjust. Not that you can't keep these fish with out other more typical fish with constant waste outputs to create an ammonia "buffer" so to speak
They are just poor choices for some of the first additions to ANY system.
Besides risking the animals lives. They are expensive fish to be tossed around lightly. That's mainly what I was getting at in regards to cycling.
