starting my tank again and need some help!

[shel]

Hi guys

I have been out of the saltwater world for a couple of years and decided to give it a go again but I am running into problems and was wondering if I can get some advice.

My tank is 100 Gallons and I want it to be FO. When I stopped maintaining the tank I left the rocks in with no water flow but the rocks were submerged in water and when that would evaporate I would fill to have the rocks covered.

2 weeks ago I decided to try this crazy hobby again and took all the rocks and water out and started my tank from scratch. In my haste... I used tap water..and made the salt level was 1.22. I then when to a local store to check all my levels and they told me its ok for a FO tank but not reef. Thats ok as I dont want to do a reef tank, etc.

After another week I decided to get a fish, a small trigger that I was eying from the start. I purchased him, and aclimated the small guy to my tank by dripping water into the bag as I used to in the past. After 1 hour of this I put him in the tank. He seemed nervous and hid in rocks which I guess is normal. After about an hour I came back to view him and to my astonishment he was stuck to one of my air pumps and looking dead. I closed the pump and he was alive but shaken up. Soon after he was dead.....

I would suspect it was a water issue but the guy who checked it for me assured my tank was ok for the fish as did the other store where I bought the fish.

I have an RO /DI unit but i didnt use it for filling the tank.

Maybe someone can give me some tips on what I did wrong.

Thanks

Fil

 

[melosu58]

What you did wrong was that you skipped this step and it`s a very important one.

Cycle your salt tank

 

[shel]

So go to the local store and throw some raw shrimp in??? Cool, never knew that.

The dude at the store said since I have tons of LR already that it would be ready. I guess you live and learn.

 

[melosu58]

Follow that link and you can not go wrong. Good luck. Also moving this to the getting started forum.

 

[shel]

Thank u very much. Will go buy some shrimp now.

I guess they dissolve after some time

 

[mr_X]

I decided to try this crazy hobby again and took all the rocks and water out and started my tank from scratch.

then you didn't have any live rock in the tank? besides not cycling the tank, the LFS employee (i'm giving the benefit of the doubt here and assuming he's honest) was under the impression you had a tank full of cured live rock.
is the rock back in the tank now? if you are going to add an ammonia source (the shrimp) i would suggest adding the rock first so that the bacteria colony will have more surface area.
the more surface area you have the better off you are going to be long term.

 

[shel]

I put all my LR back when I started back the tank. Its been that way for 2 weeks. So its still good for adding the recommended shrimp??

 

[mr_X]

yep. do you have any test kits? you are going to want ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate test kits for starters.

 

[shel]

I will need to buy that tomorrow.

So after the shrimps dissolve ( 2 weeks ) u think the tank will be good to go??

 

[Magma]

I will need to buy that tomorrow.

So after the shrimps dissolve ( 2 weeks ) u think the tank will be good to go??

no way, check for nitrates once the shrimp is gone, and once your ammonia and nitirite are 0 then you can add fish but even then dont over load your tank with fish right away, add the clean up crew, then fish slowly...

 

[shel]

Ok, will check in 2 weeks. What if the levels arent zero after the shrimps dissolve?

 

[abdhalim2]

the important thing is your ammonia and nitrite reading shud be 0...since your planning is FO tank, nitrate shud be okay as long as it is not to high...try to get as low as possible....if the readings arent 0, then all u have to do is wait.....

 

[mr_X]

i don't think you'll be through the cycle in 2 weeks, but just keep an eye on the ammonia and nitrite. when there is no detectable ammonia and nitrite, you are through the toxic period of your cycle.