New tank as gift

[feliz47]

I have been given a 55 gallon tank with 50 lbs of live rock pj fish groupers and coral. I have had it about a week and have now given all my fish away and my coral so that they wouldn't die. my [acronym:e93dc433c4="power head or Measure of the concentration of hydrogen ions, depending on context"]ph[/acronym:e93dc433c4] is all wrong and I just need some honest help. From what I understand this was a very expensive gift and I am Lucky that the fish were still alive when I decided to give them away. I want to get live sand but does everything need to be in balance so that it doesn't die either? and I know I need to wait a month if not longer to ensure that my chemisty is right but when do I bring in my house cleaners?

[BillyZ]

Welcome to AquariumAdvice.com

You are correct in that it was a great gift and that a tank can take up to a month to stabalize.

I'm not sure how much you already know, but kudos for at least knowing you need to learn more!

Here's a couple articles from our Articles Section.

Cycle Without Fish
Acclimation
Quarantines
and a great list of Recomended Books from our reccomended reading section.

basically, your tank is a little ecosystem all on its own. In order for that ecosystem to work it needs a certain amount of bacteria. That bacteria needs a place to live. it lives in your sand and rock. when you set up your tank there's very little of that bacteria so you add the sand and rock to the tank and add a piece of uncooked fresh shrimp and let it rot in the tank. sounds nasty, but it's better than using a live fish as the conditions in the tank are horrendus. Test the water as described in the "Cycling without fish" article and once your ammonia and nitrites are zero, do a heavy water change and you can add your cleaning crew to the tank and get your first fish to put into quarentine. Be perpared for an algae bloom as 90% of new tanks get a bloom of algae shortly after the cycle finishes.

[malkore]

welcome Sandra. I'm glad you took my advice to move to a forum with more quality (and honestly more quantity too).
I suggest you read the New Marine Aquarium first, as it's a very easy read that has correct information. I read up thru the stocking section, then switched to the Conscientious Marine Aquarist which gets more in depth about things.

[darb2]

The best way to fix most problems that occur is by doing water changes. One of the most important peices of equipment in an aquarium is a good book. could you post your water parameters and list of equipment and we'll try to help. As far as the live sand goes, what is your substrate now? if it is [acronym:a9eba43872="Crushed Coral (if substrate) or Counter Current (if referring to a Protien skimmer) or cubic centimeter (if referring to a measure of volume)."]cc[/acronym:a9eba43872] than it would be easier to change now rather that later. If you have sand, than wait till the cycle is done then add [acronym:a9eba43872="Live sand"]ls[/acronym:a9eba43872]. the critters in the sand have a better chance of survival