Adding New Fish To Tank Upgrade And Other Questions

[Goob]

I'm SOOOO happy with my tank upgrade. After two months of searching, I found the perfect 75g tank on Craigslist. I went to the store and tallied it up, I walked away with more than $800 of stuff for only $175. Everything was less than a year old, too.

I also purchased a HOB protein skimmer rated for 125 gallon tanks. I wanted to make sure I was over doing it as much as possible. I never had any issues with my 20 gallon saltwater tank, so I purchased new sand, brought over my live rock, added a bunch more uncured rock and added the water from my old tank mixed with new salt water.

My current stock is a pair of smaller clowns, a fire fish goby, a fire shrimp and some hermit crabs. My pH, ammonia, phosphates nitrites etc. were good with only my nitrate being near 20ppm. I added a flame angel in because I've always wanted him and things have been going very well. I've also been using a nitrate reducer every other day as suggested by the person at the LFS.

My tank has been up and running for two weeks now. I have a few questions:

• Is my tank going to cycle again? I don't see any reading for ammonia at all, so I'm thinking it won't.
• As long as I'm under 30 ppm on nitrates on a FOWLR, am I good to add a fish every 1-3 weeks, am I good as long as I do water changes? I currently do two per week.
• How do bigger tanks have so many fish in them from the start. I know tanks that people have built for clients don't wait a month per fish. How is that controlled?
• Is there anything else I need to consider?

This forum is a great help. Thanks guys.

 

[Ted]

I have never used a nitrate reducer, so I dont know much about them. My thinking is how is it effecting the other levels in your tank. That being said I think you are probably doing fine. As far as the tanks you see done on T.V.....well you notice they dont come back around and show the deaths and issues that adding everything at once can cause. As a hobbyist we are in this for the long haul. Back in the 90's we didnt have as much knowledge about the hobby as we do now. Back then it was not uncommon to add a lot of fish in a short amount of time. It was also not uncommon to come home to a dead tank. The biggest reason we all say go slow with adding livestock is so your biological filter (live Rock) can keep up. The only thing that happens fast in this hobby are bad things. I really wish shows like Tanked would go into more depth on how they are filtering there systems. Also those tanks are being maintained by companies, what type of maintenance are they having to do. How large are the water changes...etc...

 

[Goob]

Thanks for the reply, Ted.

I have had such a better go-around this time by being religious with my water changes and putting in the appropriately sized fish for my tank. With that being said, having such a large tank now, I just can't wait to get it stocked but I know I need to take it slow. I think the biggest confusion is wondering if my tank is being considered "new" even though I have put in some well-established live rock and the water that was already cycled from my other tank. Essentially it was like a 75% water change.

I'm thinking that if my parameters are good, I'm going to do a fish every 2-3 weeks or so with at least two water changes per week. I'm just not sure if that'll come back to haunt me one day with a huge nitrate spike and kill everything.

Also, I can't quarantine my fish, so I'm making sure they're only coming from healthy tanks and I do whatever possible to keep my tank as peaceful as possible and reducing stress.

 

[Ted]

Honestly two water changes a week is excessive. As long as you are testing and keeping the parameters in check once a week is sufficient. As far as if you cycled I would say yes you have, however the adding of the nitrate reducer could be masking it. Like I said I have never used the stuff but it does make me wonder. Adding fish like you are talking should give you enough time in between to keep you from having a bad spike.

 

[wontonflip]

+1 ted

You might not even see a cycle because of the live rock. Just watch for die off. I would stop using nitrate reducers. There is no need for it if you are doing regular water changes. Like Ted said...it might be screwing with your readings. The once a week water changes will suffice.

Fish tolerate nitrates better than corals (let us not talk about what my nitrates are currently in my fowlr. Hehe).

 

[finestbeast]

I do a 10% water change every 8-10 days on my home tank...no protein skimmer and its doing awesome...you dont need two water changes a week.