Craig.Marchand
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Hi all,
A bit of background. The wife and I purchased a 46 gallon tank off of kijiji. He was originally set up for a saltwater system with coral. The purchase included:
- 46 gallon bowes tank
- 2 bulb light (sorry, don't know the details besides that its 1 white and 1 blue)
- Rena Cal 50W heater
- 2 power heads
- Coralife 65G super skimmer
- Fluval 305 skimmer
The young man who sold us the aquarium was very knowledgeable and explained everything to us. We visited our lfs to discuss getting started and to ensure we had everything that we needed. They briefly explained that if we wanted to do saltwater (which we did) that we would have to cycle the tank. They explained that we should buy live rock. We purchased 47lbs of live rock, plus sand and instant ocean salt. We drove home set up the tank and have been waiting ever since.
We are currently on day 17 of the cycle and none of our levels seem to be changing. Our salt level has been approx 1.02, pH of about 8.3, temperature of 78. Our ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels have all stayed at 0. I have never ran the skimmer and put the light on for a few hours most days for now.
Is this normal that everything has stayed pretty well at 0? Should levels not be changing at this point? I've read that adding in a shrimp could help, should I be doing this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am still very new at this so any advise would be great.
Thanks
A bit of background. The wife and I purchased a 46 gallon tank off of kijiji. He was originally set up for a saltwater system with coral. The purchase included:
- 46 gallon bowes tank
- 2 bulb light (sorry, don't know the details besides that its 1 white and 1 blue)
- Rena Cal 50W heater
- 2 power heads
- Coralife 65G super skimmer
- Fluval 305 skimmer
The young man who sold us the aquarium was very knowledgeable and explained everything to us. We visited our lfs to discuss getting started and to ensure we had everything that we needed. They briefly explained that if we wanted to do saltwater (which we did) that we would have to cycle the tank. They explained that we should buy live rock. We purchased 47lbs of live rock, plus sand and instant ocean salt. We drove home set up the tank and have been waiting ever since.
We are currently on day 17 of the cycle and none of our levels seem to be changing. Our salt level has been approx 1.02, pH of about 8.3, temperature of 78. Our ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels have all stayed at 0. I have never ran the skimmer and put the light on for a few hours most days for now.
Is this normal that everything has stayed pretty well at 0? Should levels not be changing at this point? I've read that adding in a shrimp could help, should I be doing this?
Any help would be greatly appreciated. I am still very new at this so any advise would be great.
Thanks