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canadian_eh

Aquarium Advice Regular
Joined
May 9, 2004
Messages
98
Location
Ottawa,Canada
I just wanted to see what you think I should be doing next with my new tank. I have the following:

25Gal tank
2-3" aragonite seeded with grunge from lfs
12 lbs base rock
16 lbs LR (mixture of indo and fiji)
5 blue leg hermits
5 astria snails

I plan to add over the next 1/2 year:
more cleaners
2 clowns
royal gramma
watchman goby & pistol shrimp
cleaner shrimp

So now I'm wondering what is next...Do I add more cleaners or go for the fish? I have a QT tank so I guess I should get that started. Do I have to feed the rock/cleaners anything until I add fish?
TIA
 
I'm planning on getting a few more pieces of rock as I see cool ones at the lfs. As for algae, the tank has only been up and running for a week now so there is nothing yet other than what is on the rock. That's why I was thinking on holding off on more cleaners until after the first fish
 
Your cycle is done already? Wow that was quick. After the cycle do a 20% water change, and qt the pair of clowns. If the algae is under control for now, don't add to the cleanup crew. If you notice more algae, then add a few critters at a time.
 
It probably would've been a good idea to cycle with a raw shrimp before adding the hermits/snails. The LR will seed the base rock but you still need to cycle in order for this to happen effectively. On the plus side, if you buy fish now, you'll still have 4 weeks of QT to allow the main tank to stabilize.

You can feed the critters a few times a week while your fish is in QT.. the waste produced will go towards helping the beneficial bacteria colonize the base rock.. but keep an eye on the parameters, you might have to do some water changes while things progress.
 
Shoot after 8 months of reading this forum you'd think I would have gotten it right :)

Here's what I was thinking though:

Buy buying cured LR I'm starting with a pretty good seed of bacteria which should be enough to support the bioload of 1 fish since every time you increase the bioload you go through a mini cycle. I was thinking of adding that 1st fish directly to the main tank. The reason for this is that although most people are against cycling with fish, that is exactly what I would be doing if I add it to the QT tank without even any seed at all...seems like that is much worse for the fish than the chance to having a parasite. Then a few weeks before I buy my second fish, I'll add some bio-balls to the main tank and use them to seed the QT to make for a quick QT cycle. Would I become unpopular if I did that or does that sound like a decent theory?
 
Well, ideally you would have a cycled QT ready and waiting when you bought your first fish. But even if it's not fully cycled it's still slightly different, because usually in a QT setting you are the main source of filtration.. ie through frequent water changes.

I would always advise against adding even the first fish directly to the main tank, because if it ends up needing treatment you will be putting added stress on it (and yourself) trying to catch it and getting it into the QT. That doesn't apply to all fish, but most SW fish are very difficult to catch. On top of that, now that you've contaminated the main tank you'll have to leave it fallow for 6 weeks before adding another fish. It seems like an awfully large risk to take.
 
Thanks Atari. I guess I'd feel like an idiot if I contaminated the main tank with a QT sitting downstairs unused. I'll start it cycling tomorrow to help my fishy friends as much as possible.
 
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