24 gallon jbj nano

[fishygrrl]

I have had live rock, sand and salt water cycling two weeks. Want to start a reef eventually. Any suggestions what I could stock with once I verify the nitrates and nitrites are gone? Trying to take this slow as to not kill anything

 

[fishygrrl]

 

[fishygrrl]

 

[erichm20]

How is the cycle going? It looks like your rock is already cured which is great!

As for stock you could do a little yellow or green clown goby and a firefish along with a shrimp like fire shrimp.

As for coral It depends on the lighting. You could probably support most soft corals with the stock light.

 

[fishygrrl]

I'm not to sure about cycling. I had an aquarium a while back kind of like this but with a rough pregnancy and stuff I lost it in a week shortly after comming home with a newborn. I'm terrified of losing fish that quickly again and not knowing why. I need to buy a test kit for at home soon I guess. I thought I might trust the store to tell me if the ammonia nitrate and nitrite are gone. I have ten pounds of dry rock arriving tomorrow to add. Right now I see several tiny worms and bugs occasionally

 

[fishygrrl]

That is about 12 pounds of live rock

 

[fishygrrl]

Would you recommend waiting another month before introducing a clown or something?

 

[erichm20]

Well you may see a very little, or already completed your cycle. The only way you would know though is by testing the water. So I would def bring a sample into the store to see where you are. Once your cycle is complete you will ONLY have nitrates and the only way to lower or remove them is by doing a water change.

Seeing the worms and pods (bugs) is a great sign.

Wait on the fish until you are certain there is no ammonia or nitrites.

 

[fishygrrl]

Thank you. I love aquariums and feel this to be educational for niece and 18 month old daughter. I was not sure if we could ever house a starfish or dragonet if I buy bugs for it but I think a clown is something they really want with some kind of mushroom or corals at some point.

 

[erichm20]

You could do both! But the dragonet needs a healthy population of pods as those are all they will eat. The standard is to wait a year for the pod colony to be sustainable. As for the stars you may already have one that hitchhiked on a rock. The very colorful ones, linkia, are very difficult to keep so I would avoid those. Brittle stars are a common choice but can get quite large.

Aquariums are great for kids, teaches responsibility along with biology and chemistry. My kids love helping with the tank!

 

[bribo12]

There will never be enough pods in a 24 gallon tank for a mandarin to survive on. You can try and find one that eats frozen but even that's risky as they can revert back to just pods at any time.

 

[fishygrrl]

I'm doing my best as a single mom and animal lover. Luckily my parents are around to help me buy a few things on occasion for it. I know they would love everything off finding Nemo but I also know at this time we must stay small for my budget. A vegetarian for 20 years I don't like killing things so perhaps a clown for a while will do ? And something to help clean? I know blenny are good but if I wanted to dare get a dragonet perhaps not a blenny? Anything girls might like and not fear? Lol. They are kinda silly especially my niece so crabs I'm afraid are probably a definite not good.

 

[bribo12]

Blennies are wonderfully personable. I love my royal gramma as well.

 

[fishygrrl]

I was told live rock will not cycle this by another member and I must add ammonia or dead shrimp. Suggestions?

 

[erichm20]

Well if live rock alone did not cycle then all of my coral and fish would've died in my current upgrade bc all I did was put the rocks and water in a new tank with brand new sand....

You could add the ammonia and do a water test a day later if there is no ammonia then you are good to go.

There was most likely some die off in your rock while you transported it so that would be your ammonia source.

 

[dingusplease]

Well if live rock alone did not cycle then all of my coral and fish would've died in my current upgrade bc all I did was put the rocks and water in a new tank with brand new sand....

You could add the ammonia and do a water test a day later if there is no ammonia then you are good to go.

There was most likely some die off in your rock while you transported it so that would be your ammonia source.

Cycling just with live rock is not guaranteed to thoroughly or effectively cycle your tank, where as adding ammonia pretty much will pretty much always cycle it. Also, adding ammonia allows your biofiltration to build up to a proper level, which maximizes the stocking capacity purely in terms of bioload.

The beneficial bacteria on live rock varies depending on a lot of things, so one persons LR may give you an "instantly cycled tank", whereas someone else's LR may barely have any BB at all. Adding ammonia is a great way to either cycle your tank OR prove that it can already handle the bioload.

 

[fishygrrl]

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[fishygrrl]

That she'll seems to have closed in the center so I am curious if something is lurking in it. Also, is that green okay?

 

[fishygrrl]

I just added ten pounds of dry rock to seed with the other rock

 

[erichm20]

There will never be enough pods in a 24 gallon tank for a mandarin to survive on. You can try and find one that eats frozen but even that's risky as they can revert back to just pods at any time.

Huh... Live aquaria recommends a 30 gallon I didn't think 6 gallons less would be enough to say with certainty they could not survive. I would, however, recommend a refugium to assist in the pod colonization and still wait a good year before trying.