first timer

One Time

Reefing newb
heys guys whats up my name is Joel. i figured what better time to start a saltwater tank then now. I'm new to this and was a bit hesitant coming in i delt with freshwater but not salt. i had a 35 gallon hexagon so i figured it was a decent size to start. im wasnt sure of starting in a forum being that everyone tells you to google everything. Believe me i have done countless hours of searching online and i still have a ton of question so im taking all the help and feed back i can get. ok now to the story plain and simple.....
Igot a 35 gallon hexagon tank
did 50/50 live coral/dry coral bottom
put about 20 lbs of live rock
have a 200 watt heater
digital thermometer
fluval C3 20-50 gallons
hydor 750 powerhead
marineland led light
put some water conditioner
let the water filter out for about a week with a second fiter i had from my old fish tank
I have the water at about 79
checked my water levels and it seemes my pH went down and my ammonia, nitrate and nitrite seemed to have spiked.
and for some reason now the specific gravity went up a little abover 1.026
I ended up listening to my LFS and putting 2 ocellaris clowns to get the cycle moving which i shouldnt have. now the fish have been in for day 3 and ive been checking my water daily everything still seems to be high except my pH.
I already messed up by putting the fish into the tank but i wanna make sure they survive.
Now my questions are this levels spike
will the levels get normal before it harms my fish?
Is there anything i can do to help the water?
obviously i cant do a water change being that its on week 2 but what can i do to bring my specific gravity down a bit with out affecting the fish?
 
Well your fish (may/will) end up with a short life span if that's what your asking if they don't die on you in a few days. You could have done the same thing with a piece of table shrimp. and I'm not going to be the one to flame you for the knowing better than to and still added the fish to cycle the tank. No I'm not going to do that. But umm yeah its not cool :( I feel bad for those clowns.

But hay welcome to the sight I truly hope those clowns make it and are not damages from this but thats asking a lot.
 
Welcome to the site. Unlike some other sites, we don't simply tell people to google everything - though I'm pretty sure I know the site you're talking about.

Now, lets talk about your issues. You are correct in that you should not have added fish to your tank. The levels you are seeing spike are part of what is called the nitrogen cycle, and every tank needs to go through it in order to get established. Fish waste is primarily ammonina, which is very toxic to just about everything we keep. It is broken down by bacteria into nitrite, which is still toxic to fish, but not nearly as toxic as ammonia. Finally, a second group of bacteria break down nitrite into nitrate, which is generally not harmful to fish, but in levels over ~20 ppm it is harmful to corals and invertibrates such as crabs. If you are seeing ANY ammonia or nitrite it is too much if you have living things in the tank and it is time to start doing water changes

Now onto your setup specifically:
Ditch the canister filter - its a freshwater technology. Your filtration will be 1-2 pounds of live rock and a protein skimmer, as well as regular weekly water changes of 10-20%

Next - I dont know what you mean by a bottom of live and dead coral, but i am assuming you are talking about crushed coral. I would advise you to get rid of as much of this as possible and replace it with aragonite sand. Crushed coral just collects crap and leads to nitrate issues

Also, I would add more rock, you want 1-2 pounds per gallon as this is your primary source of filtration

To lower specific gravity, you can pull out saltwater a little at a time and replace it with fresh water. You could also do water changes at a slightly lower salinity. Since you have fish in your tank and you're reading ammonia / nitrite - you really, really need to start doing changes even if it prolongs your cycle. Ammonia poisoning is not fair to the fish.

There is an articles section here on the site, in your spare time I would recommend reading it

Last bit of advice - never, ever trust ANYTHING your LFS tells you. They exist to sell you things and make money. The folks here want to keep you in this hobby, and keep your pets happy, healthy and fat. We do not make a profit off of you, we want to help you succeed

This hobby is not a race, ignore anyone that tells you otherwise. The motto of this hobby is 'Nothing good ever happens quickly in a reef tank' and its true
 
Welcome to the site. Unlike some other sites, we don't simply tell people to google everything - though I'm pretty sure I know the site you're talking about.

Now, lets talk about your issues. You are correct in that you should not have added fish to your tank. The levels you are seeing spike are part of what is called the nitrogen cycle, and every tank needs to go through it in order to get established. Fish waste is primarily ammonina, which is very toxic to just about everything we keep. It is broken down by bacteria into nitrite, which is still toxic to fish, but not nearly as toxic as ammonia. Finally, a second group of bacteria break down nitrite into nitrate, which is generally not harmful to fish, but in levels over ~20 ppm it is harmful to corals and invertibrates such as crabs. If you are seeing ANY ammonia or nitrite it is too much if you have living things in the tank and it is time to start doing water changes

Now onto your setup specifically:
Ditch the canister filter - its a freshwater technology. Your filtration will be 1-2 pounds of live rock and a protein skimmer, as well as regular weekly water changes of 10-20%

Next - I dont know what you mean by a bottom of live and dead coral, but i am assuming you are talking about crushed coral. I would advise you to get rid of as much of this as possible and replace it with aragonite sand. Crushed coral just collects crap and leads to nitrate issues

Also, I would add more rock, you want 1-2 pounds per gallon as this is your primary source of filtration

To lower specific gravity, you can pull out saltwater a little at a time and replace it with fresh water. You could also do water changes at a slightly lower salinity. Since you have fish in your tank and you're reading ammonia / nitrite - you really, really need to start doing changes even if it prolongs your cycle. Ammonia poisoning is not fair to the fish.

There is an articles section here on the site, in your spare time I would recommend reading it

Last bit of advice - never, ever trust ANYTHING your LFS tells you. They exist to sell you things and make money. The folks here want to keep you in this hobby, and keep your pets happy, healthy and fat. We do not make a profit off of you, we want to help you succeed

This hobby is not a race, ignore anyone that tells you otherwise. The motto of this hobby is 'Nothing good ever happens quickly in a reef tank' and its true

+1 north vary well put :Cheers:
 
Hello and Welcome!!

+1 North

Also make sure you are toping off with freshwater. Toping off with saltwater will cause the salinity to raise. However, 1.026 is actually a perfect salinity, especially if you want to keep a reef
 
North,
well right now the ammonia level as of this morning was less then .25
i have CRUSHED coral sorry i do plan on adding more live rock but it does run expensive so im not adding large amounts at one time.
so since i OBVIOUSLY messed up by adding the poor fish "/ now all i can do is try and keep them safe. so im def planning on doing a water change asap and i haven't had any issues with evaporation but when the time comes I plan on putting freshwater. So for now the only suggestion is do a decent water change?
 
yep!!

Also just get rid of the crushed coral now, it will save you from major headaches down the road.

And you can add dry rock to the tank and after the cycle it will be live, it will also be much cheaper than trying to add all live rock. My favorite place to buy dry rock is marcorocks.com
 
If you already have some live rock, call up Marco rocks or bulk reef supply and order dry rock. It is far cheaper and when added to a system with live rock it will become live over time
 
I'm gonna have to check it out. But I checked them when I got home from work. There's 0 ammonia but still high levels of nitrate and nitrite. I plan on doing a water change tonight just to be on the safe side.
 
You should do a small one every day or two to keep those levels down for the clowns. There isn't really a safe side at this point. Just try to keep those guys alive :)

Also, make sure your fresh saltwater has been mixing for a day or so before you introduce it to your tank.
 
That's great advice I'll do like 2 or 3 gallon water changes till when? How will I no when I can start with regular 2 weeks being that I'll do so many water changes?
 
That's great advice I'll do like 2 or 3 gallon water changes till when? How will I no when I can start with regular 2 weeks being that I'll do so many water changes?

You need to be reading 0 Ammonia and 0 nitrite before you are out of the safe zone. And while some people here will say that bi weekly changes are okay - when your tank is young (read the first year) I would do 10-20% per week. Once your tank settles in you may be able to get away with bi-weekly changes but on a young tank I don't think that is wise
 
Ok well I did a 20% water change and added about 13 lbs of live rock from an existing tank. It's almost like they are completely diff fish. Swimming every inch of the tank. I'm doing another water change some time in the end of next week and I'm giving the tank some time to move the fresh water before I test it again. I appreciate all the help guys.
 
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