My First Saltwater Nano

[NasB]

Around day 19

Nitrate and nitrite are like stuck off the charts and not moving for like a week now..any ideas? Should I just keep waiting?

[dingusplease]

That's pretty weird, are you sure they haven't changed at all? I would take sample to the LFS and have them check it, just to confirm your tests.

Even if it hasn't changed much I would definitely leave it cycling, may just be going slowly. Just remember that the cycle can take more than month in some cases.

[NasB]

Ok so nitrite finally 0 and nitrate is 40 ppm can I water change and add a fish or does nitrate have to go to 0 also?

[BigRedsReefs10]

Do a couple big changes (50-75%) and drop it down to the 5-10 ppm range and your good.

[NasB]

Ok I'll let ya know how it goes..

[NanoNewb]

Man just skimmed the last 10 pages and looks like you had an interesting cycle! Can't wait to see what you start adding?!

[dingusplease]

Sounds good! Any thoughts on fish?

[cgthebeast]

Starting a 10g nano too. So following along

[NasB]

Yes I just let it sit and randomly tested and it was looking good. And one of those gobies which ever looks the best.

Any website suggestions for ordering corals?

[dingusplease]

It can be useful to look for places that are closest to where you live, as many on lines stores offer much lower shipping for closer destinations. Shipping can be anywhere from $15 to $50. For example, if you live in Illinois, and are ordering coral from coralcompulsion.com, shipping is only $15.

Some sites I've used and heard good things about:
- Happycoral.com, stock is constantly changing but they often have a good selection of zoas for 5-7$ a frag.
- Reefs2go.com has a lot of good selection and has some nice free shipping packs
- Liveaquaria.com usually has very healthy livestock and ships fast, also they often provide valuable info on corals on their site pages.

I'm sure others will chime in with personal experience and other good vendors.

[NasB]

Yea I'l look for some, I'm down here in jersey shore area and as weird as it sounds there is barely any lfs around me at all lol

[NasB]

If I break up some of the rocks, can I take some peices out? it is 15 pounds so I have extra anyway.

Just no room for corals or anything..

[BigRedsReefs10]

Yeah but if you take the rock out of the water the bb population will die off, if you have the rocks out for to long you'll have to re-cycle the tank. That being said re scaping once you get fish is very stressful on them, so you'll have to decide if you can live with it or not. Got a pic of the scape?

[NasB]

Kinda hard to see but there is about 6 giant peices and can only sit against the glass because of the weird shapes

[BigRedsReefs10]

I think if you play with it a little bit you'd be able to come up with something you like. Just looking I see a few flat pieces that you could kinda make steps with a few levels on one side and make a taller island on the other. Some aquarium putty and super glue gel may help as you can secure the rocks into more difficult positions. Let me know if you have any questions on how to do that

[NasB]

Ok I'll pick some up

[NanoNewb]

You can always take some out and smash them to smaller pieces too

[NasB]

Ok did 2 50% water changes..

Got a Clown and Goby



I'll take goby pic when it comes out.

[BigRedsReefs10]

That tomatoes going to get to big, and be way to mean for a 10

[NasB]

Ok I'll trade it back and get another goby if possible