Few Questions

[Kurgan]

Heyas All,
My first time to reeflounge so I thought i'd toss a few questions out for your thoughts if you all dont mind :P .I have a new 55 gal fowlr Tank.I put 90 lbs of caribsea aragonite sand down and it gave me about 3.5 inchs for the DSB. I also bought 50 lbs of FULLY cured live rock ( carribian ) and 3 lbs of live sand from a reputable local dealer and waited for any signs of ammonia or nitrate spikes.I wasnt convinced that it was fully cured.After 1 week of testing daily My readings on each day were 0 ammonia , for the 1st 2 days i read .01 Nitrite but quickly went back to 0, and below 10 on Nitrates because my kit doesnt read anything under 10.The salinity has been at a constant 1.023 , PH at 8.2 and a temp of 77. Do you think the tank has cycled? I bought the fully cured LR due to the fact w/ shipping from gulfview or other LR places the cost was nearly the same and I didnt have to wait a month for the cycling process. I'm eager to put a pair of clowns in ! I also have a Aqua C remora protein skimmer.Any suggestiopns or comments are helpfull!

[gregoryalln]

if the rock was fully cured then it should be o.k. to slowlt start adding fish. if i recall the caribb sand is wet and in bags? i added 100 lbs to my tank (260) and combined with the fully cured live rock i used it never had to go through a cycle. how did they cure the rock, and do you know forsure they fully cured it, or did they just say it. a lot of LFS say it is fully cured when it isnt. but id what you say is a fact, then it should be o.k.

[Kurgan]

thanks for the answer gregory! Well she said the LR was cured in her own seperate tanks at her store for over 2 months.That why I waited for a week to see any spikers in ammonia or nitrites.I was unsure if there could be a late spike of those 2 a week or so later. This is my 1st saltwater tank so I have no idea. I tested the water again this morning and it was 0 ammonia , 0 Nitrite, and below 10 Nitrate, PH 8.1 , temp 77 , and a salinity of 1.023. I think ill try a pair of clowns and test it out , all indications are its safe ...preys......

The caribsea sand was dry in 30lb bags from the lfs.

Thanks again for the reply!

[dbulick]

More than likely when you add anything live to the tank you are gonig to experiece another cycle. Just be aware when you add a fish you might need to do some water changes to keep the levels down.

[Kurgan]

Well I added 2 lil clowns this afternoon and so far they havent seemed top mind the tank. hehe atleast they didnt kel over yet! Id post more pic but i dont know how to get them smaller than 200kb , they are all over 400.Thx all!

[Fishmonger]

That looks pretty good kurgan, i like the live rock

The clowns look good and healthy, are you planning on an anemone for them ?

[Kurgan]

Thx Fishmonger its my first attempt at a Saltwater tank and I'm all for any suggestions! And yes i certainly do want an anemone but i've read that i should wait for a year to put in any corals or others, is this true? Id love to start adding some other things in the tank but are unsure what to do as of yet. I do want a blue Tang for sure.I would also love to get some corals etc but don't have a CLUE wich ones to get , feather dusters and some polyps would be nice. Any recommendations? I'm all ears!
Thx!

[gregoryalln]

as long as the tank is cycled you can add corals, star polyps, mushroom's, and zo's are all very hardy and easy to take care of. your clowns mike like a frog spawn, cult corals are nice, xenia, all those are pretty hardy low maintnance corals which are good for beginer's,and is something that will look good in your tank as you get more advanced

[dbulick]

You do know that anemone's take some very intense lighting for them to be able to survive. Even with the ideal kind of lighting they still have a poor survival rate.