when to W C

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by 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.

I have a jug of amquel plus by kordon. Reef and lr safe. I used it with my 125 FW oscar tank when i upgraded from the 60 to the 125.

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by 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

I have been pretty successful at keeping FW as i have a 125gal oscar tank with 1 large oscar and some silver dollers. And had a 60 gal fancy gold fish tank before getting the oscar and upgrading to the 125. The issue i just ran into is that in FW by adding already seeded media u can usly add a fish or 2 immediately cause nitrates dont effect the FW fish untill above the 20 ppm. I was unaware that SW was extra sensitive to nitrate and that the LR will complete the cycle to gas form nitrogen effectivly lowing the nitrate. I just read about 5 pages of mrwaterkeepers post on here in the newbie section . I hope i under stood the gist of it. He pretty much said americanamericans early on in SW keeping where trying to do the FW way of filtering and its not the best way for sw

[Shawn O]

API Ammonia kits are useless. Mine reads .25-.5 regardless of whether I test tap water, spring water or DI water. What makes me distrust the kits the most is that the .5 color is lighter than the .25 color, making it between the 0 and .25 colors.

You didn't state how much live rock you bought from the LFS. If the rock is truly alive and full of bacteria, you added it to a bare tank, it remained submerged and you bought lots of it (20+ lbs for 10 gallons) you may not get a cycle since the bacteria load is already there. It's best to err on the side of caution though.

Since you stated you have plenty of spare tanks on hand, if would be a good practice to use two of them to do the TTM method (listed in the stickies above) and then QT your fish while you test your display tank for a finished cycle. Remove the fish, add enough pure ammonia (no other chemicals in it) to reach 2ppm and then wait 24 hours. If it reads no ammonia, nitrites or nitrates you're good to go and it is fully cycled. Once your fish have been TTM'd for 12 days, keep them in QT for another sixty days to prevent ICH from entering your display tank.

While in QT it's a good idea to make frequent water changes to keep the water safe for the fish, since you won't have any bacterial filtration in it. 2 gallons every other day would probably do for the QT duration, best to test for Ammonia daily during qt.

[zapirk]

Got some RO water from work to use as top off.

My readings today with API(will get different set later)
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.2

[CStrickland]

That's good news!
Idk if there a point to fixing the quarantine mistep now. It might be easier to call these rocks and sand goners, and treat this 10g as a very temporary sitch. You can work on setting up a proper tank for them while they are so little, and in a few months ttm them into their forever home.
You can have a 10g, or you can have more than 1 or 2 tiny fish. You can't have both

Are you planning to do coral eventually? Fish only tanks are much closer to the fw stuff you're used to. Reef is another level. Ro is not the same as rodi/distilled, it can have many contaminants (tank wise, that don't hurt people).

[zapirk]

Originally Posted by CStrickland

That's good news!
Idk if there a point to fixing the quarantine mistep now. It might be easier to call these rocks and sand goners, and treat this 10g as a very temporary sitch. You can work on setting up a proper tank for them while they are so little, and in a few months ttm them into their forever home.
You can have a 10g, or you can have more than 1 or 2 tiny fish. You can't have both

Are you planning to do coral eventually? Fish only tanks are much closer to the fw stuff you're used to. Reef is another level. Ro is not the same as rodi/distilled, it can have many contaminants (tank wise, that don't hurt people).

I would like the option to go coral someday but i think that will be a few years down the road as i cant afford the lighting and all the extra gagets for them yet. I was planning on upgrading that stuff as i go over time and get soft corals and mushrooms down the road.

[CStrickland]

You might be surprised though, I spent less than $500 on my 55 and my lps and softies are doing just fine.

[zapirk]

My wife also wants a chocolate chip star fish in the 60 when i get it up and running. And they r not reef safe so i will be fowlr for the life expectancy of the starfish. (Happy wife happy life)

[zapirk]

Todays reading.
Ammonia 0.25
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0
Ph 8.2

Did 1 gal WC after reading and dosed with stability

[scootshoot]

Do 10 to 20pct water changes twice a week religiously if you want to do a fish in cycle for the next month or two.

[zapirk]

10 gal power head?

Is a power head rated at 200 gal hr to much for a 10gal tank for water circulation. I have a new 10gal fowlr tank. I have a penguin 200 filter with biowheel removed. I found a powerhead laying around ,toms dive 200, was wondering if i could put that in the 10 for more water circulation to keep the fish poo from settling in the crushed coral*

Dont want to start a new thread so asking here again

[ericarenee]

Originally Posted by zapirk

10 gal power head?

Is a power head rated at 200 gal hr to much for a 10gal tank for water circulation. I have a new 10gal fowlr tank. I have a penguin 200 filter with biowheel removed. I found a powerhead laying around ,toms dive 200, was wondering if i could put that in the 10 for more water circulation to keep the fish poo from settling in the crushed coral*

Dont want to start a new thread so asking here again

i would thank it to be about right.. Just be sure to use a defuser of some kind to spread the water out evenly as you can. Wave pumps do a better job at this. but a power head can be ok.
I have 5 1600 gph wave pumps inside my 7 foot tank as well as two 1 inch return lines from the sump return pump

[alex07]

Originally Posted by 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.

Yes, your freshwater test kit will work but you just have to get the SW color cards.