impatient! impatient!impatient!

[shovelhead91701]

:twisted: I know i have a sickness but i can't control it! Went to the LFS to get more live rock as you'all so kindly suggested and came home with live rock, anemone,clownfish (who loved the anemone so i had to take him too! ) oh and a bonus starfish who was inside a crevice in the rock and came out later at home! I know I wasn't supposed to add any more fish for at least a month but i couldn't help it! Will these additions hurt anything if I stay on top of the water quality? Also am I the only person who has this disease? Is there a treatment program for me besides losing pets due to my haste? lol

[jerryc]

Will we all have it ...... But Learn to control it for or $$$$$ and our pets

Hopefully we all get to the point of researching before purchasing

But I'm sometimes guilty myself

[condiman]

Yep we all have done that at one time or another in the past

[Reef_Angel]

Oh yes...guilty! What stage is your tank at right now? You said you were buying more rock. Are you still cycling your tank? If so, you may have yourself a little problem with your new inhabitatants depending on how long you've been cycling, and what your parameters are reading on your test kits. It's hard to just tell you they'll be fine if you are just starting your tank or if it's established. What do you have in it so far? There's a bunch of us here that are more than willing to lend you a hand. If you are at the beginning of setup and cycling, you might need a "fishy/starfish/anemone babysitter" until your tank is ready or you may lose your new reef friends! .....Angel

[shovelhead91701]

This is my first tank ever of any type and it is a week and a half old now. i have put in about 60lbs of live rock and 50 lbs of live sand. i am running two skilter250 protein skimmers and a fluval304 canister filter. this is a 55 gallon tank. i added 3 blue damsels and 10 reef crabs and 1 horseshoe crab(who i haven't seen since day three). the water tests all come in with no buildup whatsoever on ammonia, nitrates, or nitrites. ph has been a staedy 8.3. the new additions were put in at day 10. it is now day 12 and all is still well test wise. I also have had my LFS test my water to double check my tests since i am such a newbie. they get the same results. BTW you guys have all been really great and i have learned a lot already from reading your posts. thank you!

[Reef_Angel]

#ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#8000ff#ed_cl##ed_op#STRONG#ed_cl#Oh no! I would almost think you've been told all this, but before you let anymore precious time go by, I'm going to probably make you unhappy or happy that you found out. All I can say to you is that the tank has not cycled yet and it needs to be! Let us help you with this, and you won't lose a bunch of $$$ in the long run, and a ton of work that may make you quit the hobby before you really see it's beauty!. Your new friends in your tank should really come out of that water, take them back to the store for store credit (maybe they'll hold them for you til your tank cycles), and do this beautiful tank right the first time! You do know that new aquariums have to go through a biological cycling process to make a nitrogen cycle, right? If you are keeping all your numbers perfect, then you are preventing an ammonia spike which is needed in order to reach that nitrogen cycle. Everytime you break the ammonia down with a water change, you are not letting your tank cycle. You're preventingthe tank fromhaving the right environment that you must have to maintain a reef. A true cycle is going to teach you great patience!Expect approx. a 30-45 day wait with NO FISH (with thiscycling method)in the water,until you have completed the full cycle. First you need to see your rock become live rock, andsee life develop in your tank of sand and rock where there was nothing at first. Patience and a flashlight for night viewing will really amaze you when you see life develop in that tank when you haven't put anything in the tank yet. Do your testing from the very start and watch the changes. Chart and follow the progression of a true cycle. Watch for the ammonia spike, your Nitrite's, then Nitrates...you'll see it all come together and then you'll know when you can safely add fish and coral. Then you are home free. What you are doing now will not work I'm afraid to say. Your reef will not thrive without some kind of cycle. #ed_op#/STRONG#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#8000ff#ed_cl##ed_op#STRONG#ed_cl# If you really can't wait that long, have you considered seeding your tank from someone elses healthy established tank that is at least 6 months old (more mature the better)and is disease free? This does not take the place of a cycle, it just may shorten the length of time your cycle may take. It depends on who you are getting your seeding material from. In this case, you can keep your damsel fish to help your cycle along. They are a tough fish that tend to be aggressive toward your new fish when you get your reef going, but good cycling or starter fish. You want to use a good portion of already "live rock" if you use this method of cycling. If you can use all live rock, it would be best. Other sources of the needed bacteria arein seeded materials like gravel, live sand, crushed coral, etc. Just like a regular cycle, you will have to monitorthe ammonia spikes, your Nitrite's, then Nitrates till they all even out, and then you are all set to stock this way...#ed_op#/STRONG#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#FONT color=#8000ff#ed_cl##ed_op#STRONG#ed_cl# I'm going to leave you with this amount of knowledge as it's quite a bit to digest as it is. There's no shortcuts when it comes to setting up a reef tank and having it not cause you a lot of headaches later. I hope this helps! I have some sites that you might be interested in looking at. Good luck! ......Angel #ed_op#/STRONG#ed_cl##ed_op#/FONT#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#DIV#ed_cl##ed_op#/DIV#ed_cl#

[shovelhead91701]

except for the black font (which after adjusting my monitor's contrast I was able to read! LOL) That was a LOT of info that I did not know. I have never had a tank before so I am an idiot about this stuff. I just went out bought the equipment and Salt Water Aquariums For Dummies, put it together, added water and voila! fish tank! Needs fish right? went and bought fish. LOL. Thanks for explaining the "cycle" in a way I could understand.

[Reef_Angel]

I have no idea what happened to my font color. That blew me away to! Imagine my surprise after all that typing I did, and I went and looked at it and it was blank...unless I highlighted it! Go figure.....but you know what? All that's important for you now is that you know what you have to do now! Thank goodness you didn't fill your tank with a whole bunch of great stuff only to have the tank to take a huge ammonia spike on you and lose everything. That's why we started this site. We were beginners not that long ago too, and we had the help of some of the very members that joined our site after we built our own board. We wanted a board that would be a teaching, learning, sharing, and most of all tried and true factual place where ideas and answers shared with the group have been tested to insure that it's accurate information! If not, we welcome our members to challenge the data, and we won't stop until we find out the absolute correct answers out there. This is the way everyone who joins us comes to be as a member here. ANY questions or help you need to get your tank going now, we're here to help you from start to finish! Make sure you take lots of pictures, and for your convenience to keep track of all your data about your tank, and also share it with the rest of the group in case you need help, you may create your own Blog on Captive Reefing. Welcome to your new home away from home Shovelhead! If you're like the rest of us, you'll be spending a lot of your spare time here. We look forward to seeing you! ....Angel

[ramoth41]

I think you might need to read the "Up Grade Bug" !!! What you folks think!! ???
Sounds to me that we have another one suffering from and undiagnosed case of
:rescuebug: And soooooo early in the "cycle" How long before ????

Slow down there!! .. A plus though.. you did use LR and LS in your tank so maybe your cycle won't be to stressing for your critters, I'm pretty sure your going to lose something.. But who knows...
Good luck..
sarah
president Reefaholics Anonomous

[jerryc]

The Blog angel mentioned is a good ideal for you sit one up and keep a
record of your progress.
I can look back and see whit i done or added over time its a big help