hi guys i have a 55 gallon set up with live rock and live sand i have a oddesya light and fluval fx5. i have set up my tank for about 1 month and a half. i started with 2 fishes then i got 14 fishes. now i have 8 alive the rest died. my tank specifics is ammonia 1ppm , nitrite 0, nitrate 10ppm, spg 1.024 ,ph 8.2. my ammonia is takening to long to go up . my cycle is dragging. i dont know what to do . my friend says there is a water that has about 10million bacterias i think . its that water that if u dont want to cycle u just buy 55 gallon worth and u cycle is done. i put 5 gallon . didint do crap for what i know . maybe i need to buy 35gallons of it. pls help sorry for writin so much . thanks u all .
newbie need help bad
- Thread starter jadakiss
- Start date
Hi! What you need to do is slow down and have a LOT more patience. Your tank wasn't ready for one fish, let alone 8...or 14! You should really let the tank cycle fully BEFORE you add any livestock. At this point keep monitoring the levels and don't add any more fish or other livestock! If you can persuade the store that you bought the fish from to take them back until your tank is ready that would be even better. Lets have more details about the setup and equipment in the meantime.
jenniebutterfly
Senior Member
- Location
- Greenpoint, Brooklyn
cycles are different for everyone. take those fish back if you can, or see if someone you know has a tank ready for them to hold them. 14 fish is way too many for a 55. unless they are all going to stay 2 inches of less which is unlikely. this is an expensive hobby, and one that takes tons of patience. take it slow, do things right, read up a ton on here, and you will save some money 
- Location
- NY
It's already been said before me, you should spend some time on MR and do A LOT of reading. Please take the advice given and slow down, and take a few steps backwards.
Placing your fish with a responsible and capable aquarist is very important at this point. You are not giving your tank an opportunity to cycle properly with all that livestock in there. Once you've removed all the fish, you should begin testing your water every day. Keep your skimmer (if you have one) running. If you don't have a skimmer, you should seriously consider getting a QUALITY skimmer. Do some reading and research to determine what works and what is a waste of your money.
You say you have a 55 with LR. How much LR do you have? In a 55 gallon tank, depending upon the type of LR you purchased, you'll need somewhere between 55 and 80 lbs.
You should have a heater in the tank (preferably in a sump) maintaining your temp between 77 - 81 degrees.
Monitor your water parameters with quality test kits very closely. You will see your ammonia spike. Then it will go down as your nitrites begin to spike. Then the nitrites will diminish and your nitrates will spike. When your nitrates are under 10 you can consider your cycle complete.
How are you measuring your SG? A refractometer would be your best, most cost effective tool.
Slow down a lot and excersize patience. You'll be rewarded with a successful marine tank to be proud of.
swimmer
Placing your fish with a responsible and capable aquarist is very important at this point. You are not giving your tank an opportunity to cycle properly with all that livestock in there. Once you've removed all the fish, you should begin testing your water every day. Keep your skimmer (if you have one) running. If you don't have a skimmer, you should seriously consider getting a QUALITY skimmer. Do some reading and research to determine what works and what is a waste of your money.
You say you have a 55 with LR. How much LR do you have? In a 55 gallon tank, depending upon the type of LR you purchased, you'll need somewhere between 55 and 80 lbs.
You should have a heater in the tank (preferably in a sump) maintaining your temp between 77 - 81 degrees.
Monitor your water parameters with quality test kits very closely. You will see your ammonia spike. Then it will go down as your nitrites begin to spike. Then the nitrites will diminish and your nitrates will spike. When your nitrates are under 10 you can consider your cycle complete.
How are you measuring your SG? A refractometer would be your best, most cost effective tool.
Slow down a lot and excersize patience. You'll be rewarded with a successful marine tank to be proud of.
swimmer
id say if you can get rid of the fish(not trying to sound harsh)you might just end up losing everything and that would suck for you and the fish.what i did was buy a few shrimp from the fish maarket and threw them in the tank and just let it do its work.my tank cycled in 22 days.the key is to just relax,dont rush and take it slow.when i started i couldnt stop testing the water,after awhile i left it alone for a week and bammm! the amo was 0ppm and trites were almost 0.boy i was happy when that was done.good luck.me 29gal,40 lbs ls,25lbs lr, 2false percs,1 striped damsel,scooter blenny,coral beauty,cleaner shrimp,feather duster,turbo,blue leg hermit.:smokin:
:iamwithst *replace the word "stupid" with "master..we is expert"*
Welcome to MR jada!
Basically, you will have to cycle your tank over again. Remove as many of the fish as possible or your tank will take longer to cycle. Personally, I'll try to start over the righ way. Remember, its always best to ask questions first and take a preventive step. There is never a dumb question, that's why we have a "Beginner" section for asking "beginner" questions. If you came to us before making your purchases or decisions we might have been able to educate you and help you avoid the many newbie mistakes. So again, feel welcomed! Ask before you do whenever you are in doubt and you will have a wonderful tank in time. We're here to help you a long the way...the entire way from beginning till end...well once you get into the hobby their is no "end". lol
Welcome to MR jada!
Basically, you will have to cycle your tank over again. Remove as many of the fish as possible or your tank will take longer to cycle. Personally, I'll try to start over the righ way. Remember, its always best to ask questions first and take a preventive step. There is never a dumb question, that's why we have a "Beginner" section for asking "beginner" questions. If you came to us before making your purchases or decisions we might have been able to educate you and help you avoid the many newbie mistakes. So again, feel welcomed! Ask before you do whenever you are in doubt and you will have a wonderful tank in time. We're here to help you a long the way...the entire way from beginning till end...well once you get into the hobby their is no "end". lol
Welcome to MR!!! You're at the right place my friend. There are a lot of people on this forum that will take the time out to help you out. I can't say it enough.. Patience Patience patience!!! It really takes time to develop a nice healthy system. I know how tempting it is in the beginning believe me. Thats why I tried staying out of the LFS to curb my temptations. You can't buy what you can't see. Keep reading the board and you'll be fine. This is the place to ask questions. Good luck to your future success!
Welcome to Manhattan Reefs
The correct advice has been given already so all I'll add is that a tank cycle is no place for a fish to be. As the ammonia and nitrites are produced the fish's gills are burned. If they survive the process they will not be happy campers. To prevent further damage get the fish out into a stable tank.
You can use this site to find homes for them, maybe somebody here can hold them for you.
The correct advice has been given already so all I'll add is that a tank cycle is no place for a fish to be. As the ammonia and nitrites are produced the fish's gills are burned. If they survive the process they will not be happy campers. To prevent further damage get the fish out into a stable tank.
You can use this site to find homes for them, maybe somebody here can hold them for you.
- Location
- The Big City
First is this going to be a fish only tank with live rock? If it is then the setup is way different than a reef tank and the prinicipals shouldn't be apply to the tank.
Also you said you bought water, 5gals, what water did you buy and did it have some thing in it to cycle your tank.
From your reading you have very low ammonia, no nitrites and 10pp of nitrates. This is usually a sign that a tank has cycle and the build up of ammonia could be from the excess fish or the fish dying in the tank.
Since this tank has been running for 1 1/2 months, which depending on the live rock, sand and if you used some thing to cycle you tank could be long enough to cycle a tank. What where the initial reading and what where they over the weeks since you started the tank, if you have them. That will tell if the tank has gone through a cycle. If you did use a cycling product this may mess up some of the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates tests.
Also you said you bought water, 5gals, what water did you buy and did it have some thing in it to cycle your tank.
From your reading you have very low ammonia, no nitrites and 10pp of nitrates. This is usually a sign that a tank has cycle and the build up of ammonia could be from the excess fish or the fish dying in the tank.
Since this tank has been running for 1 1/2 months, which depending on the live rock, sand and if you used some thing to cycle you tank could be long enough to cycle a tank. What where the initial reading and what where they over the weeks since you started the tank, if you have them. That will tell if the tank has gone through a cycle. If you did use a cycling product this may mess up some of the ammonia, nitrite and nitrates tests.
What's your livestock list currently? The stuff you are talking about is nutriseawater. It's around 15 bux for 4.4 gallons. For a 55 you're gonna need about 50 gallons. To much to spend IMO. Petco has Catalina water for about 10 bux for 5 gallons. My dirty little secret is I use that for my water changes. It won't help your cycle it will help lighten your pocket. Live rock, and/or live sand will help and if you don't have any table shrimp throw a couple of pinches of fish food in there and let that decompose this will help your cycle, but this is only if you start over. right now you have to test alot and don't add anymore fish.
- Location
- NY
One other piece of equipment I neglected to mention was an RO/DI filter. This will ensure that the water you're using for your tank has zero TDS (Total Dissolved Solids).....a must for any aquarium setup IMO.
swimmer
swimmer
- Location
- The Big City
Before everyone keep telling him to buy all kinds of equipment you need to find out what type of tank he is planning on keeping. If it's a FO or FOWLR tank a lot of this stuff isn't nesscary. You don't need to spend $1,000's to have a sucessful tank.
- Location
- NY
marrone said:
Unimportant what kind of tank he's setting up with regards to RO/DI filtration. .
swimmer
- Location
- The Big City
No that's not the case, since he from NYC the water is actually pretty good and if the tank is only going to have fish the water will be fine. There isn't a need to use RO/DI or even RO water.
to some extent that's true mike. I had a FOLR set up for six years and used NYC tap water. There was never a time when I did not have an algea problem. I'm guessing it was the phosphates in the tap water. RO filters are pretty cheap these days. If you have live rock in the tank I would use an RO filter, there could be cool hitch-hikers on the rock that could benifit from it.
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