A few basic questions

vdhillon2 · 12/19/2011, 09:13 AM

Hi,
I have been setting up my 120 gallon tank and wanted to make sure i did it good and slow. I put in RO/DI water, fresh sand, and about 100lb of live rock for another reefer's system. I used some sand to seed the sand. The tank has been running for about 4 weeks. I put in an clown fish about 3 weeks ago. Feeding it once a day.
My skimmer is a GSM3, and is barley making any skimate. My levels are all 0. No nitrate, no nitrite, no ammonia, no phosphates. dKh of 8.

1. Am i good to start adding more live stock? i was going to do a mail order which would be about 7 fish total. Is that too much for one go?
2. How often are you feeding your fish? once day/twice day?
3. There are no lights on the display system yet. I anticipate them here this week. Does that make a difference in the cycling process? My fuge has a CFL running.
4. Can the tank cycle without ever having a nitrate spike?

I want to do this right, but with the holidays here, the deals are too good to pass up on stocking the tank. Not to mention I'll actually be home to receive the shipment.

Thanks for any help.

Danzig · 12/19/2011, 09:24 AM

I would be looking for an ammonia spike and then when it goes away or turn into nitrate you know your cycles. Thats just a brief idea theres so much info on here about it. Its sounds like your rushing into it a bit. What you need to do is setup a quarantine tank. Theres plenty of info on qt tanks on here as well and 7 fish at once is alot. How are you going to qt 7 fish at once... If they are sick they will infect eachother. Someone else please chime in here. I personally think u may have jumped the gun on adding livestock. As many reefers say " nothing good comes fast in this bobby" Good luck to you

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harthag12 · 12/19/2011, 09:41 AM

1. While the deals are good there will always be other good deals on the net, I'd hold off and let the tank mature more if it were me, losing a bunch of fish in a go would be tough. Also everyone will chime in w/ quarantine. If you have good live rock just enjoy the strange little critters you'll find popping up daily, add a Clean up crew and watch them, etc. 4 weeks feels like forever but really it's not long.
2. Really going to depend on the fish / whats in the tank.
3. Should be ok.
4. With good live rock yes, though it's really Ammonia your looking for Nitrates are the end result

vdhillon2 · 12/19/2011, 09:49 AM

Thanks. I'm not in a rush to populate the tank. I just thought I could if it was ready. I'm okay with waiting. I do need to look into a QT tank then. I don't really know much about that. Maybe I'll buy a nano and use that for the time being as a QT tank.
Okay. I'll hold off on making the purchase, instead I'll get a QT up and running.
thanks for the input.

12/19/2011, 09:13 AM	#1
vdhillon2 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 372	A few basic questions Hi, I have been setting up my 120 gallon tank and wanted to make sure i did it good and slow. I put in RO/DI water, fresh sand, and about 100lb of live rock for another reefer's system. I used some sand to seed the sand. The tank has been running for about 4 weeks. I put in an clown fish about 3 weeks ago. Feeding it once a day. My skimmer is a GSM3, and is barley making any skimate. My levels are all 0. No nitrate, no nitrite, no ammonia, no phosphates. dKh of 8. 1. Am i good to start adding more live stock? i was going to do a mail order which would be about 7 fish total. Is that too much for one go? 2. How often are you feeding your fish? once day/twice day? 3. There are no lights on the display system yet. I anticipate them here this week. Does that make a difference in the cycling process? My fuge has a CFL running. 4. Can the tank cycle without ever having a nitrate spike? I want to do this right, but with the holidays here, the deals are too good to pass up on stocking the tank. Not to mention I'll actually be home to receive the shipment. Thanks for any help.

12/19/2011, 09:24 AM	#2
Danzig Registered Member Join Date: Nov 2011 Posts: 694	I would be looking for an ammonia spike and then when it goes away or turn into nitrate you know your cycles. Thats just a brief idea theres so much info on here about it. Its sounds like your rushing into it a bit. What you need to do is setup a quarantine tank. Theres plenty of info on qt tanks on here as well and 7 fish at once is alot. How are you going to qt 7 fish at once... If they are sick they will infect eachother. Someone else please chime in here. I personally think u may have jumped the gun on adding livestock. As many reefers say " nothing good comes fast in this bobby" Good luck to you Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk __________________ Keep our planet clean "PH s/b 7.9-8.3, salinity 1.024-6; alkalinity 8.3-9.3; calcium 420; magnesium 1300, temp abt 80. Alk and cal will not rise if mg is low."

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12/19/2011, 09:41 AM	#3
harthag12 Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2005 Location: Hamilton, NJ Posts: 118	1. While the deals are good there will always be other good deals on the net, I'd hold off and let the tank mature more if it were me, losing a bunch of fish in a go would be tough. Also everyone will chime in w/ quarantine. If you have good live rock just enjoy the strange little critters you'll find popping up daily, add a Clean up crew and watch them, etc. 4 weeks feels like forever but really it's not long. 2. Really going to depend on the fish / whats in the tank. 3. Should be ok. 4. With good live rock yes, though it's really Ammonia your looking for Nitrates are the end result

12/19/2011, 09:49 AM	#4
vdhillon2 Registered Member Join Date: Sep 2005 Location: Phoenix, AZ Posts: 372	Thanks. I'm not in a rush to populate the tank. I just thought I could if it was ready. I'm okay with waiting. I do need to look into a QT tank then. I don't really know much about that. Maybe I'll buy a nano and use that for the time being as a QT tank. Okay. I'll hold off on making the purchase, instead I'll get a QT up and running. thanks for the input.