hey!
does anyone know if a scarlet hermit crab would be a good invert to cycle with, becuase all i have in my tank is 1 small damsel, and i wanted to go pick crab up, (my tank has been up for only about a week) thanks;)
hey!
does anyone know if a scarlet hermit crab would be a good invert to cycle with, becuase all i have in my tank is 1 small damsel, and i wanted to go pick crab up, (my tank has been up for only about a week) thanks;)
Good question. My 55 gallon tank has been up for a little over 2 weeks. I have 2 clown fish but wanted to get a crab too but wasn't sure
You should not add any livestock, including damsels, until after the cycle is complete. Live animals of any kind are not required to cycle a tank. If you are using live rock, the live rock will cycle the tank. If you are not using live rock, you can cycle the tank with a couple of dead shrimp -- the kind you buy at the supermarket.
Ninong
That is correct, you are adding a lot of stress to a fish by adding them to a tank that is not yet cycled. To use a quote I used before, it's like putting a none smoker in a smoked filled bar and telling them to live there for a couple of weeks.
As Ninong mentioned, the Live Rock you have in your tanks is the only thing that is needed to cycle the tank. A tank without live rock can be cycled with a couple of pieces of dead shrimp.
Regards,
Scott Z.
and how long does it take to cycle a 55 gallon?
It depends on the make-up of the tank , filtration , amounts of organic matter present.
In this hobby patience is not a virtue,,,,,its mandatory.
I have a 55 gallon, Fluval 304 filter, 7.5 lbs of live rocks and 30 pounds of live sand
Its been up for about a month
Last edited by Ballgame; 02-03-2004 at 11:01 AM.
Have you been monitoring your water conditions? If so you should have seen a spike in ammomia first , then rising nitrite and nitrate levels followed by a tapering off to 0 . If you have then your tank has cycled. Keep in mind , if you add more live rock you could experience anything from nothing to a full blown cycle again , depending on the amount and condition( fully cured from the LFS to uncured online) of the rock.
In this hobby patience is not a virtue,,,,,its mandatory.
yes you are right, the ammomia was the first to go up. Nitrite was up a little bit. So it sounds like I'm in good shape.Originally Posted by the_blue_tuna
Thanks for all the help. There is so much to know that sometimes I don't know where to start
Also I turns on the powerhead we bought yesterday for less than a minute and one of my clown fish turned white. He lost his color so I quickly turned it off and after about 15 minutes the color came back. Is that from stress?
It could have been from the introduction of something strange into the tank. I would guess it as something else though. Did you wash the powerhead before introducing it into the tank ? It is also possible that it may be leaking electricity into the tank. I only mention that possibility because the effects were so sudden ( both turning on and turning off) I would turn it on again keeping a close eye on the fish . If it happens again I would remove the powerhead for close inspection ( and if it wasnt cleaned first take it out and clean it ) The fact that there is current in the tank should be welcome by the fish , not a cause of stress.
In this hobby patience is not a virtue,,,,,its mandatory.
yeah we washed it good. The only thing I can think of is that we used a air tube from a freshwater powerhead we have because the one that came in the box didn't fit. But I wouldn't see why that would be a problem is its clean.Originally Posted by the_blue_tuna
I will take your advice and try it again and see what happens.
Thanks!! I'm learning a lot
I would delete the air tube . You dont want to introduce bubbles into the tank anyways. I agree with you , the air tube is probably not to blame.
In this hobby patience is not a virtue,,,,,its mandatory.
And there were A LOT of bubbles so thats probably what stressed her out.Originally Posted by the_blue_tuna
Thanks again for all your help!!!
Let us know if the clown still shows signs of stress. I have to apologize to Reefer 769 for hi-jacking his thread . Sorry.
In this hobby patience is not a virtue,,,,,its mandatory.
thanks for all the advice, and i just had one thing to mention, i do have 1 small damsel, it has a black stripe on its back and has a kind of moehawk, and it has 2 blue fins underneath him, im not sure what the name of him is becuase it was written horribly on the bag, and i will make sure to go out and by some live rock, and hopefully my damsel will survive, thanks again!
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