help on setting my reef tank, 3 different sources and still confused.

[hdizzle89]

eeek!!!!!!!!

Never cycle with a live creature! That is very cruel. If they are lucky enough to survive the cycle, the damage to their internal organs will shorten their life considerably.

Next time, toss in a piece of uncooked table shrimp. That will provided ammonia for the tank to cycle without cause harm to a living fish. I know this is very common advice from LFS which brings me to my next point. Never fully trust a lfs, they are there to make money. They make money when they sell you a fish that is likely to die in your tank and you go back and buy more fish, corals or inverts. Also just because they work there doesnt mean they have a tank or a tank that runs successfully. We arent going to make any money off of you here and we all have a lot of experience with the fish and the corals and know what it takes for them to thrive. Not every fish will do well in every tank and some fish and inverts have no business being in anyones tank.

would you recommend getting the fish out now that it wouldnt be so hard than later when i have more rock where they could hide and just add one uncooked shrimp?

 

[little_fish]

Yep. Good luck getting them out! Better to get it done now though

 

[hdizzle89]

Yep. Good luck getting them out! Better to get it done now though

haha thanks, they're pretty fast. :frustrat:

 

[Smitty]

sounds good! and the store i go to is called Aquatica its in tinley park, Illinois. they are really knowledgeable about everything. i went there just to look at fish and ended up going out of there with alot of information that was very vital for me to know.

That's exactly where I go also...but word of advice like lil fish said, never trust everything they tell you, because although they give great advice, they're also there to make money, and I've personally heard the more "inexperienced" guys give faulty information. But other than that, they're an awesome shop.

 

[hdizzle89]

That's exactly where I go also...but word of advice like lil fish said, never trust everything they tell you, because although they give great advice, they're also there to make money, and I've personally heard the more "inexperienced" guys give faulty information. But other than that, they're an awesome shop.

Your from Illinois? where do you live? if you've been there recently i dont know if you seen a guy that works there that has a tattoo sleeve on his right arm, he's the one that was giving us some info. he seem like he know his stuff but again they want to make money haha.

 

[Smitty]

Your from Illinois? where do you live? if you've been there recently i dont know if you seen a guy that works there that has a tattoo sleeve on his right arm, he's the one that was giving us some info. he seem like he know his stuff but again they want to make money haha.

I stay in Oak Lawn...and the guy you're talking about is Bobby. He's cool and knowledgeable, and I've been knowing him for a few years now...but at the end of the day, it's still a business. So do your research and/or ask us before making any costly purchases.

 

[hdizzle89]

Thanks again everyone, you guys have gave me alot of advice that makes sense. Ill get back to you guys on more updates on my reef tank.

 

[hdizzle89]

If you see in the picture i posted, u can see that i have 2 red pieces of rock. at the store i was told that its called volcanic rock and they said that it should be fine in my tank but now ive learned that it has iron in it. others say that the it all depend on the color the darker the better and others say that it depends on if its real or fake and i was wondering if it'll be ok to leave them in my tank or should i take it out? the volcanic rock i have was located near the decorative are, not in water, its a tinny bit heavier that dry rock and it seems pretty fragile when i was moving it around, a small piece came off of it.

 

[little_fish]

just pull it, no point in leaving it in there if it could cause an issue. Just try and remove the pieces that broke off, if not, then I wouldnt be overly concerned because they must be really small pieces.