cycle process

allahs_camel · 07/02/2015, 07:11 PM

Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I have recently set up my saltwater aquarium about 2 and a half weeks ago. my friend who lives down the road from me got me to get back into the saltwater hobby again. He had a very nice 120 gallon reef, but unfortunately when he was moving new furniture into his house, he shattered the glass. He was fortunately able to sell a lot of his fish and coral... except a few. We have no saltwater stores around us for 2 hours minimum except for our local petco and they don't take any fish back that has already left the store. So he had to give me his pair of ocellaris clowns and a few corals. I am trying to sell them because my tank is not established yet. I have a 29 gallon biocube which has 15 pounds of dry rock and 7 pounds of live rock, 20 pounds of live sand, and bio spira was added as the nitrifying bacteria. I have also added chemipure and macro algae to help the filtration. I just started to get my diatom bloom 2 days ago, and hair algae is popping up on the rock. The clowns are doing great, but I am worried about their health while going through the cycle. I do water test daily and nitrites are 0, ammonia is 0, ph is 8.2, but nitrates are 2.5-5... which is weird because my ammonia and nitrites never had a spike. What could have happened? And should I be worried about the fish? Thanks for all the help and sorry for any mistakes, this is my first post on here.

gone fishin · 07/02/2015, 07:19 PM

Welcome to the forum. What bad luck for your friend. Look for a local club in your area. Instead of trying to sell them try giving them away. In the meantime I would keep some extra water on hand for water changes. Good luck

allahs_camel · 07/02/2015, 07:27 PM

I have tried to look for groups near me, the only one I founs had members that were 2 hours away and no one will meet up for the clowns. Do you think I should start water changes soon even though I never had a spike in nitrites or ammonia? Thanks for the help :-)

gone fishin · 07/02/2015, 07:58 PM

It comes down to how you feel about the fish. Doing WC's as needed to keep the ammonia down will be good for the fish and prolong a cycle. On the other hand just let the tank cycle and the fish will suffer some damage or worse.

allahs_camel · 07/02/2015, 08:08 PM

Okay, sounds good. Thank you.

07/02/2015, 07:11 PM	#1
allahs_camel Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 20	cycle process Hello everyone, I am new to this forum and I have recently set up my saltwater aquarium about 2 and a half weeks ago. my friend who lives down the road from me got me to get back into the saltwater hobby again. He had a very nice 120 gallon reef, but unfortunately when he was moving new furniture into his house, he shattered the glass. He was fortunately able to sell a lot of his fish and coral... except a few. We have no saltwater stores around us for 2 hours minimum except for our local petco and they don't take any fish back that has already left the store. So he had to give me his pair of ocellaris clowns and a few corals. I am trying to sell them because my tank is not established yet. I have a 29 gallon biocube which has 15 pounds of dry rock and 7 pounds of live rock, 20 pounds of live sand, and bio spira was added as the nitrifying bacteria. I have also added chemipure and macro algae to help the filtration. I just started to get my diatom bloom 2 days ago, and hair algae is popping up on the rock. The clowns are doing great, but I am worried about their health while going through the cycle. I do water test daily and nitrites are 0, ammonia is 0, ph is 8.2, but nitrates are 2.5-5... which is weird because my ammonia and nitrites never had a spike. What could have happened? And should I be worried about the fish? Thanks for all the help and sorry for any mistakes, this is my first post on here.

07/02/2015, 07:19 PM	#2
gone fishin Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Wyocena Wi Posts: 6,936	Welcome to the forum. What bad luck for your friend. Look for a local club in your area. Instead of trying to sell them try giving them away. In the meantime I would keep some extra water on hand for water changes. Good luck __________________ Tony Current Tank Info: 180gal DT, BM NAC77 skimmer,3 Maxspect razors, Maxspect Gyre 150, 30g QT

07/02/2015, 07:58 PM	#4
gone fishin Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2011 Location: Wyocena Wi Posts: 6,936	It comes down to how you feel about the fish. Doing WC's as needed to keep the ammonia down will be good for the fish and prolong a cycle. On the other hand just let the tank cycle and the fish will suffer some damage or worse. __________________ Tony Current Tank Info: 180gal DT, BM NAC77 skimmer,3 Maxspect razors, Maxspect Gyre 150, 30g QT

07/02/2015, 07:27 PM	#3
allahs_camel Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 20	I have tried to look for groups near me, the only one I founs had members that were 2 hours away and no one will meet up for the clowns. Do you think I should start water changes soon even though I never had a spike in nitrites or ammonia? Thanks for the help :-)

07/02/2015, 08:08 PM	#5
allahs_camel Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2015 Posts: 20	Okay, sounds good. Thank you.