New here

[reef-keeper]

Welcome to Canreef!

[ALang]

Welcome to Canreef!
I thought about your comments to me last night, and I'm glad to see you on here today.

You mentioned that there is live rock and sand in there.
Were the live sand someone else's or purchased in a bag "live"?
Were the live rocks cured in someone else's tank or bought at a fish store?
Did you let the LR and LS go through their cycle before adding fish and corals?

As Fishytime said, give us some concrete numbers as to how long you let your tank cycle prior to adding fish?
Did you really test your water? Most newbies I know (not to be insulting) said that they did, or that they had the store do it for them, but haven't any idea as to the numbers.

We have all had fish stores who are not very reputable tell us things that are incorrect or downright false.

That's another thing... find a well-reputed fish store and stick tho these like glue. They are invaluable to all sorts of answers.

Was the tank/ lights new?? If bought used, the lights maybe off spectrum.

Try feeding your fish a little less.

Keep up with the water changes. I really think that you're still going through your cycle, or maybe never have had the time to finish cycling.
Patience is hard to have in this hobby, but you do have to practice this in order to succed.
Good luck. Lenny.

[Steve'o]

Hi Lenny,
Sand was purchased in a bag.
Live rock was from a store here in Calgary, Wai's Aquarium.
Prob not let it cycle.. diod not know about that till I got into it more and started reading a lot.
I do check my Salt levels and my Temp. I also take a sample to the store and he checks for PH.. which is low for me so have been adding for that.
Is there more I should be checking?
Lights came with the unit, built into the top.
My next one will wait a few months before i add anything to get it cycling well
Steve

[ALang]

Yup, it is the dreaded cycling.

You don't need to worry about the pH right now. Get everything else stable first:
I assume your ammonia is a non-issue or your fish would be dying or dead.
Then test your Nitrite, this is the second item you need to be at 0ppm.
Then Nitrate. This will go way up before it drops slowly down.

When you get it to near 0ppm, and keeping that figure for a few days, then you are ready to add **slowly** fish, one at a time over the next few weeks, or even months. Test in between of each addition of fish. Keep water changes steady, preferably either weekly or bi-weekly, depending on your needs.

Depending on what style of tank you want to keep, FOWLR, LPS, or SPS, you will need to test for Calcium, Alkalinity, Magnesium, at the minimum. Get these to the recommended levels, and keep them up by dosing, or Kalkwasser top-off. When all these are good, you can add your corals, if you wish.
HTH. Lenny.