when to W C

[zapirk]

My 10 gal tank has been up since saterday with LR and 1 small clownfish, reading are 0 ammonia 0 nitrite 1.021 salinity. Can i start with 10% (1gal) water changes today and how often should i do them, the water went from cloudy since sunday to clear as a bell today. also will my freshwater master test kit api work for saltwater if so i can test PH and nitrate otherwise i jave to get them test.

[Aqualoon]

Did you cycle your tank or are you saying that your tank finished the cycle last Saturday?

You have to get a SW test kit, a FW kit won't work - I guess this kinda answers my first question. I would take the clownfish back and setup/startup your tank properly first.

[zapirk]

Tank was up with lr for 24hrs then clownfish added. Since the LR has the bacteria on it doesnt that then cycle the tank. Just like with FW when i would use already cycled media to seed the tank

[tzylak]

Welcome to this group! Ask away!
Yes, now is the time for a 1 or 2 gallon change. Use RODI water to mix the salt with. For the next 3-4 weeks consider doing that every 2-3 days. After that, once every other week will do.
Please read the "Sticky"s at the top of this forum. They will tell you how to manage your tank. Regardless of the situation that you have on hand please do some research to progress with awareness.
Have Fun!

[reeftanker3295]

You really need to get a sw test kit and warch your ammonia and nitrite until they 0 out and stay 0 after some food is added. With a 10 gallon tank I'd do 1-2g a week, with smaller tanks more frequent water changes are needed.

[zapirk]

I can only do tap water ATM but i am a dialysis RN and will be filling up some buckets of RO only water. My ammonia test kit from api is saltwater and fresh but ill look for a saltwater kit. Is API good for saltwater ?

[hkgar]

No, API generally gets bad reviews. Get Salifert for Ammonia and Nitrite and Red Sea Pro for Nitrates. There now I have start a run of posts about the different brands of test kits.

Cover your head for the avalanche.

[hotelbravo]

I would take the fish back to the store. also do not add anything else to this tank you should not have added the clown to the tank since its not cycled meaning the nitrifying bacteria is not present in your tank and your system will have a hard time keeping fish in there since fish poop and what not are fouling your water. normally you wait to add anything alive such as fish or inverts because the bacteria needs to grow so it can convert waste into less harmful forms so your water will not kill the inhabitants

[zapirk]

I thought thats what the live rock was was cycled nitrifying bacteria. I am planning on doing a 60gal reef tank in the near future so i am taking all these suggestions in.


The liverock was from a LFS in a system if that makes a difference on if its cultured correct or not

[oblio]

Originally Posted by zapirk

I thought thats what the live rock was was cycled nitrifying bacteria. I am planning on doing a 60gal reef tank in the near future so i am taking all these suggestions in.


The liverock was from a LFS in a system if that makes a difference on if its cultured correct or not

Not to be rude, you are not in any way qualified to do a 60 reef anything. You added a fish to a new tank 24hrs after turning it up? Obviously you did no research and either ignored your local fish store advice or the advice given was incorrect. Please please please, return your fish, then come back and read read read about cycling a tank. This hobby is absolutely amazing, but if you continue to do things before you make any attempt to research things about saltwater tanks, I am sorry to inform you that you are in for a very bad experience in this overall. This hobby will punish you if you don't understand your actions before you act on them.

[hotelbravo]

Originally Posted by zapirk

I thought thats what the live rock was was cycled nitrifying bacteria. I am planning on doing a 60gal reef tank in the near future so i am taking all these suggestions in.


The liverock was from a LFS in a system if that makes a difference on if its cultured correct or not

no thats not correct. yes the live rock hold the bacteria in it and yes you buy live rock to add the bacteria to your tank but you need to allow it to cycle after you add the rock.
the cycling process takes around 4 weeks this process is to build the exact amount of bacteria your tank requires to house fish/inverts and remove all the ammonia and nitrites (which convert to nitrates). you test your water to see if your ready for fish you dont just throw them in and say "okay i got fish now"
to know your ready get some tests not API they are not reliable.
test for nitrates, nitrites, ammonia, salinity using a refractometer not the little plastic thing that sits in your tank and the arm swings and stops on a mark like stores sell. once your ammonia reads 0 and nitrites read 0 you are ready to add fish SLOWLY each fish you add will increase the amount of bacteria that will grow in your tank. the bacteria grows larger with more fish inorder to make up for the increased bio-load you placed in your tank

when a tank is cycling you have to introduce ammonia into the system either by feeding the empty tank, adding bottled ammonia to the correct dosage, or less preferably adding a small fish which in cases(not all cases) kills the fish as a result. when doing a cycle with a fish its going to hurt the fish whether it survives or not is another story. which is why its prefered not to use a fish to cycle it.

[CStrickland]

I dunno, it might be ok for now, depends on the rock. The issue with api ammonia tests is that they tend to give false positives. So sometimes it says there is .25 ppm when it's actually zero. There is also an ammonia badge that you can buy which will change color if any is present so you don't have to keep testing all the time. I would pick up some ammonia buffer asap, I use one called Seachem Prime but there are other brands too. As your new fish poops and pees and breathes on the water he may add ammonia faster than the bacteria that survived the trip home from the lfs can eat that ammo up and make nitrates that don't hurt fish (aka the nitrogen cycle). The buffer changes the ammonia and nitrites into something the bacteria can still eat but won't burn the fish's gills hurt in the meantime.

Going forward, this is a good website to learn about fish before you buy them: http://www.liveaquaria.com you can poke around to see what fish you like and there are filters to show you only "easy care" or "reef safe" fish. There's also a section for "nano" tanks, which is what you have. I'm thinking the clown will out grow a 10g really fast. Usually it's better to buy for the tank you have not the one you want, and a lot of stores are either dumb or greedy so you want to check the web before you buy. Also, once you see how few fish can really thrive in a ten, you'll be motivated to get that bigger tank running

A good option for a little tank is using distilled water from the supermarket at less than a buck a gallon. It's very pure and many nano reefers use it for their changes. I'd go ahead and get started if I were you.

Welcome to the hobby! We all started somewhere, you'll be a pro in no time

[zapirk]

Thanks for ur advice , i have read that people quarantine their fish while cycling the DT. Csn i do that and would that be acceptable i have tanks laying around to do that with if its safer then fish in tank when cycling

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

I dunno, it might be ok for now, depends on the rock. The issue with api ammonia tests is that they tend to give false positives. So sometimes it says there is .25 ppm when it's actually zero. There is also an ammonia badge that you can buy which will change color if any is present so you don't have to keep testing all the time. I would pick up some ammonia buffer asap, I use one called Seachem Prime but there are other brands too. As your new fish poops and pees and breathes on the water he may add ammonia faster than the bacteria that survived the trip home from the lfs can eat that ammo up and make nitrates that don't hurt fish (aka the nitrogen cycle). The buffer changes the ammonia and nitrites into something the bacteria can still eat but won't burn the fish's gills hurt in the meantime.

Going forward, this is a good website to learn about fish before you buy them: http://www.liveaquaria.com you can poke around to see what fish you like and there are filters to show you only "easy care" or "reef safe" fish. There's also a section for "nano" tanks, which is what you have. I'm thinking the clown will out grow a 10g really fast. Usually it's better to buy for the tank you have not the one you want, and a lot of stores are either dumb or greedy so you want to check the web before you buy. Also, once you see how few fish can really thrive in a ten, you'll be motivated to get that bigger tank running

A good option for a little tank is using distilled water from the supermarket at less than a buck a gallon. It's very pure and many nano reefers use it for their changes. I'd go ahead and get started if I were you.

Welcome to the hobby! We all started somewhere, you'll be a pro in no time

I am using stability by seachem i have had success with this product on FW and a local i know had success with it in SW tanks. I also have Prime that stuff is the best.


Is spring water the same as distilled? Im at store now

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by zapirk

I am using stability by seachem i have had success with this product on FW and a local i know had success with it in SW tanks. I also have Prime that stuff is the best.


Is spring water the same as distilled? Im at store now

NO Do not use spring water. Its usually full of organics and heavy metals.

[CStrickland]

What she said.
Distilled and rodi don't taste very good without the minerals and stuff.

[zapirk]

I like heavy metal!! ..... thanks guys yinz have helped alot i do try and research b4 i post. Ut dont always fined a answer or clear answer

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by zapirk

I like heavy metal!! ..... thanks guys yinz have helped alot i do try and research b4 i post. Ut dont always fined a answer or clear answer

usuns dont mind helping you.uns to keep your animals Happy and alive.

[hotelbravo]

please post and ask questions we want to help.
inform us about plans and things and we can give advice to make them better (if needed) or we can just fully support and cheer on the plans that are not needing our advice

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by hotelbravo

please post and ask questions we want to help.
inform us about plans and things and we can give advice to make them better (if needed) or we can just fully support and cheer on the plans that are not needing our advice

Like i said before my future plan is a 60 gal tank ither Fowlr or reef . Just have to build a toddler proof stand for it and to house a sump and equipment under it. I will be lurking the DIY board untill then for ideas. Will a 10gal glass tank work for sump or do i need a 20L?

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by ericarenee

usuns dont mind helping you.uns to keep your animals Happy and alive.

Are you trying to say Yinz?

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by zapirk

Are you trying to say Yinz?

Nope we banned that one in Kentucky as its hard for visitors to pronounce properly..

[hotelbravo]

Originally Posted by zapirk

Like i said before my future plan is a 60 gal tank ither Fowlr or reef . Just have to build a toddler proof stand for it and to house a sump and equipment under it. I will be lurking the DIY board untill then for ideas. Will a 10gal glass tank work for sump or do i need a 20L?

a 60 is a decent size to upgrade to. as for the sump size the bigger the better. you wouldnt want a 10 gallon as it wouldnt be as useful and it would be cramped. the sump acts as a filter which im sure you know but it also acts as a place to store your equipment like heaters, skimmers, automatic top off units, etc. along with those additions are the musts like drain pipes and return pumps which also take up room usually people use filter socks on their drain pipe to help collect solids and those need around 4-7 inches depending on size and then you need a place for your skimmer, skimmers require different measurements of space but usually around 6-10 inches of length for the foot print and then finally the return pump which can take about 4-6 inches and add all those up and you get an extremely cramped 10 gallon which is why they are not so useful in this. the longer the better generally. the extra room can always be used as a refugium which houses extra rock for more bacteria or macro algae for nutrient export. alot of things to think about

edit: all the numbers were rough estimates from past experiences

[Marchillo]

Just a little suggestion from a newbie. It's unlikely your tank is cycled and you may up killing your clownfish. I did freshwater way back without research and all my fish died . In my later life (now) I'm doing saltwater with a ton of research and reading. It hasn't been perfect but I haven't lost a fish. Consider taking the clownfish back and cycling the tank properly. Read the sticky on setting up a tank as others have suggested. Good luck

[Marchillo]

I would say at the very least take a ride to the LFS tomorrow and picking up a SeaChem ammonia badge. You'll know very quickly if you have ammonia.