Cycle is over. I have two questions.

[ProHaloSniper]

Ok guys, here the situation:

I have a 6 gallon Nano FOWLR.

My levels after 2 weeks:

Trites: 0
Trates: 5
Ammo: 0
pH: 8.4
sG: 1.023

My questions are as follows:

1) I believe I am ready for fish. Don't worry, I'm only getting 2 clowns. Am I ready?
2) If I were to add more LR, am I going to see another cyclem thus spiking my levels and killing my potential fish?

Please let me know!

--Jim C.

[KristyS96]

I'm in the same boat.. just tested my water tonight and all my levels are 0 except for nitrates which are around 0, but not quite.

I'm thinking I'll be starting out with some snails and hermits. Not quite ready for fish.

[orbit]

u might want to get some cuc first, than if its all good after a week buy the clowns

just wondering are u planning to put the fish in a qt? if so u can buy it this week as well and put in the the qt for a few weeks

it really depends on how cured the new rocks will be, if its fully cured there might be a mini cycle,

[Burbs]

add CUC crew fisrt wait 2 weeks then add fish. as far as the new LR yes it will have die off and cycle your tank. you could cycle it in a trash can with a powerhed and heater then add to your tank after it cycles.

[ProHaloSniper]

My CUC has already been in there for 2 weeks. I forgot to mention that!

(2) Pepp Shrimp
(2) Porcelain Crabs
(2) Blue Legs

What now? Let me know.

--Jim C.

[Burbs]

if they are doing fine then id go ahead with fish, but it would be wise to Qt all fish before your put them in. save you time money and fish in the future

[Mavrk]

Cure the rock fully (or buy fully cured rock). Or buy non-live rock that will become live later. Sounds like you can put in the clowns if you want to. I recommend waiting because your tank is cycled, but not matured. If you want a diversity of infauna, then wait on the fish as long as you can. You will end up with more pods and a greater variety of critters. I agree with a QT. You get the benefit of not risking disease in the tank. Also you can enjoy the fish without introducing them to the DT.

[ProHaloSniper]

Ok,

So say I add the live rock AFTER the fish have been added. Will the potential spikes kill the fish? This is one thing, as a noob, I could never figure out!

Thanks for your help.

--Jim C.

[Burbs]

if you dont catch the spike and do a quick water change then yes if left in the spike they will die. its like poison to them

[dileggi]

Originally posted by ProHaloSniper
Ok,

So say I add the live rock AFTER the fish have been added. Will the potential spikes kill the fish? This is one thing, as a noob, I could never figure out!

Thanks for your help.

--Jim C.

In all honesty, it really will depend on how high it spikes. Most likely, the clowns should probably be OK as they are considered fairly hardy, they're damsels afterall, and old school thought was to cycle the tank with damsels already in the water.

I'm thinking it may stress them more than anything, but they'll probably live.

[OranguTang]

You will only see a spike if there is DIE OFF on the new rock...IE it was once live and is now dead and dried out. If you get rock that has never been live and has no decaying matter on it there is no worries.

Alternatively you can add rock that has already been cured and see no spike.

However I recommend you get your tank where you want it with all the LR for at least two weeks before introducing a fish. With the fish your bioload is going from essentially zero to a nice sized load. There wont be enough bacteria to keep up and you could see a mini cycle.

Especially in such a small tank, you have no room for mistakes.

[ProHaloSniper]

Hey OranguTang,

You are absolutely right. I am going to worry about live rock right now, instead of my fish. Let me get the tank looking the way I want it before I go ahead and introduce fish..

Thanks for the input guys!!! I certainly appreciate it.

One last question though. Will more inverts put oo much of a load in the 6 gallon tank? I currently have:

(2) Pepp Shrimp
(2) Porcelain Crabs
(2) Blue Legs

They cleaned off my one piece of LR very, very nicely, and if I add more, I want to make sure more inverts wouldn't put too much of a bioload on the tank itself. If you don't think I need any more inverts, TELL ME!

Thanks guys,

--Jim C.

[dileggi]

Originally posted by ProHaloSniper
Hey OranguTang,

You are absolutely right. I am going to worry about live rock right now, instead of my fish. Let me get the tank looking the way I want it before I go ahead and introduce fish..

Thanks for the input guys!!! I certainly appreciate it.

One last question though. Will more inverts put oo much of a load in the 6 gallon tank? I currently have:

(2) Pepp Shrimp
(2) Porcelain Crabs
(2) Blue Legs

They cleaned off my one piece of LR very, very nicely, and if I add more, I want to make sure more inverts wouldn't put too much of a bioload on the tank itself. If you don't think I need any more inverts, TELL ME!

Thanks guys,

--Jim C.

I'm not quite sure how much bio load the inverts put on an actual tank, but with the tank being smaller, I would worry about them starving to death.

I have a 5g nano and my CUC consists of 1 blue leg, 2 nassarius & 2 astrea.

[ProHaloSniper]

"I'm not quite sure how much bio load the inverts put on an actual tank, but with the tank being smaller, I would worry about them starving to death.

I have a 5g nano and my CUC consists of 1 blue leg, 2 nassarius & 2 astrea."

I see what you mean. I guess I don't need any more inverts either.

Thanks for the suggestion.

--Jim C.

[OranguTang]

What are the dimensions of the tank? Heck I bet even one nassarius snail is enough for that tank. I would be concerned about all the inverts starving actually....are you feeding the tank?

[ProHaloSniper]

Hey OranguTang,

The tank is the Eclipse 6 System. As for the actual dimensions, I don't know them. It is a 6 gallon tank.

Yes, I feed the tank once every two days. They all seem to go pretty wild when I put food in there. Am I feeding too much, or too little?

Let me know.

--Jim C.

[OranguTang]

Nope seems fine, what are you feeding? I believe that one nassarius would be good enough for the tank, but if you are supplementing the feeding for the other you should be ok.

[Fuzzfish]

I would agree that your cuc seems fine as it is, if not too much already. You have to think small and slow, especially with a 6 gal, b/c as you add LR, you're losing volume.. The smallest addition to your cycled tank can result in dramatic parameter changes....The slower you go, the better.

[ProHaloSniper]

I am feeding them Brine Shrimp Flakes. They seriously go nuts when I put it in. I have never seen hermits move so fast in my life. I only put a tiny pinch in, to ensure my levels won't go off the map from decaying food.

I also do realize that I am losing volume, Fuzzfish, but I need the tank to look better than it does right now with one rock. The clowns will also need an adequate place to hide. I'm not going to over-do it, but I will add 1 or 2 more smaller pieces in the coming day. I can post some pics of the tank as it currently sits if you guys are interested.

Let me know.

--Jim C.