Quote:
Originally Posted by Trigs
Comments and suggestions well appreciated  |
Uh...you added corals and fish on the same day as your live rock? Or did I miss something?
If so, that was a biiiiiiiiiiiiiig mistake!!! If you can, take the fish back to the LFS. You need to wait for your tank to cycle with the live rock before adding any fish. Expect to wait AT LEAST 3-5 weeks before adding ANY livestock. The order should be like this:
1. Add live rock.
2. Test for ammonia, and nitrite every couple of days.
3. After 2 weeks add sand.
4. Once ammonia and nitrite have been at ZERO (not close, but AT zero) for a week do a 50% waterchange.
5. The next day test your nitrates. If they are below 5ppm you are ready to add your clean up crew (start small). If they are above 5ppm do another 50% waterchange, and test the nitrates again the next day.
6. Once your clean up crew has been in the tank for a week or two, you have had no losses, and your ammonia and nitrite are still at zero, and your nitrates are still below 5 ppm, then you can start adding fish. A tank your size...no more than 1 fish at a time.
7. Always monitor ammonia and nitrite when you have added more livestock. If either show up you need to do a large waterchange to keep your critters from getting burnt gills/poisioning.
If you ever have nitrates at 5ppm or more you need to do big waterchanges to get it down. If it is a battle to keep it below 5ppm then you're having issues and they need to be dealt with.
Personally, instead of adding fish in step 5, I like to add corals. I don't like to add fish to the equation until about 6-8 months down the road.