Hey... I'm a newb to the um...hobby <cough> - addiction - <cough> too...
I've got a 90g tank sitting there doing nothing but burnin electricty cause I wanna make sure the thing can hold it, the skimmer works, the heater works, the pumps work etc..
What I am more getting at is:
This isn't an easy endeavor... no matter how easy the 'begin your saltwater tank' reads.. it's a major undertaking with a heavy/ongoing responsibility.
The livestock totally depend on you for their survival..treat your tank as you'd treat your new born child.
(I'll never have one, but I like to think of my pets as such!)
Take it all slow, don't take
LFS advice as in stone and read/google ALOT before making any move.
From what I have read, cycling is all relative. Putting X # of damsels in a tank doesn't eqauate to X # of days until the tank has properly been established.
The reason those fish are there is for their fostering of your POTENTIAL ecosystem... They are there to build it by providing the foundation.
And, it might just kill a few of them in the process..
For the price of a handful of damsels you might be able to convince a local reef club to give you a few lbs of
LR, get some base rock, and start your cycle that way (provided the
LR is habitted enough to sustain the transition?)
and at the same time provide a future benefit to your tank..
My 2c!
<and what do I know hehe>
