Starting A Tank

[Aquai]

Okok, i've been planing my 8 gallon tank for about 3 weeks now and finally got around to converting the substrate and contents from tropical to marine ready. At the moment there is just sand, powerhead, trickle filter, heater and salt water in there with 8W of lighting. I have 48W worth of lighting coming in about a week, basically what i was wondering is whether i should put some live rock in there now (bare in mind it's only about 1W/gal of lighting) or wait a week until i've got my heavy lighting? The other idea was to put a prawn/shrimp (dead edible one) in there in order to start the cycle until my lights come...What do you reckon? Also, when is a good time to add hardy inverts, like hermits?

BTW, another question regarding stock; The one fish i definetly want is the ever popular pecula clownfish now i'm certain i can get another fish in there as well, now i was looking at getting a firefish or a goby, would both of these be compatible with a clown? Also would i only be able to get one of these or could i get both do you think?

 

[NemoNano]

:welcome to NanoTank

You need to add the live rock about first to start the cycle. you don't need to add any shrimp to start the cycle. You should wait until the cycle is finished before you add any inverts, like hermits. It will take between 2 and 8 weeks depending on how cured your rock is. You do not need lights during the cycle.

I had goby's and pecula clownfish in the same tank with no problems.

Eric

 

[Aquai]

Surely i need lights in order to keep the live rock alive though? You see i read this on another site

If you use "Live Rock" (FOWLR) in your tank, then you should not have less than 2.5-3.0 W/gal (Watts per gallon) (more is better).

I can get live rock tomorrow if this is the case? Just i didn't want to kill any organisms while i'm waiting for my additional lighting (as there's only 1W/gal atm, and i will be getting up to 7W/gal as a max, or 4W/gal continuously)...

What size tank did you have the goby's and percula in though?

 

[NemoNano]

You don't need a light to keep LR alive but you need a heater and water flow(powerhead) You need lights for coral. I have built a few tanks and setup lights after the cycle was done.

It is recommed to have at least a 10G for a percula but people have had then in smaller tanks. 2 fish in a 8 gallon tank might be a bit too much, are you planing to have any coral as well?

Eric

 

[Aquai]

Goby and percula i've been told will be fine (seen someone with a smaller tank (20L) with these in) so i'm not concerened about 2 fish...

Ok, i have a heater (set) at 80F and sa strong current (turning tank over approx. 25 times), so i'll get live rock tomorrow, and let it cycle, is it better to get all the live rock now? Or get 50% tomorrow and 50% more next week?
What if there's any coral present in the live rock? Will this just die off with only 8W of lighting?

Yes i was planning to have some soft corals and inverts as a cleaner crew (banded cleaner shrimp(s), turbo snails and hermits) as this is going to keep my waste levels down... correct?

 

[sadielynn]

I would just get the ammount of LR that you need adding later will prolong your cycle . Just remember that when it is time for corals they will usually come attached to plugs and pieces of live rock ..........If the live rock has any corals on it they may be fine but you dont want to run the lights during the cycle much more than to peek as this can fuel some cyno and diatom bloom algaes HTH :mrgreen:

 

[Aquai]

So what, say get 75% of the actual rock total i want, and then leave the rest for corals later on you reckon... Well, lights won't be at peak (it'll be just 8W) at all, until next week, and even then i only plan to do a 24W for like 12hrs (6hrs Blue light/6hrs white light) a day and 56W for 6Hrs (White light, Red light, Blue light)...

What about my stock options?
1 Percula Clown
1 Goby
2 Cleaner Shrimp
2 Hermit Crabs
3 Turbo Snails
Reckon that'll be ok?

 

[NemoNano]

Hi Aquai,

You might want to get a few more Hermit Crabs.

IMO I would start with 6 crabs and maybe 4 snails.

Eric

 

[Aquai]

Hmm, my only concern with more crabs is that they can get quite big, no? So maybe 3 or 4 of each, see if i can get a cheaper price for multi-buys

 

[sadielynn]

I would still leave the lights off during the cycle other than to peek JMHO :mrgreen:

 

[Aquai]

Hmm, ok, i was just under the impression that alot of organisms within the live rock are going to need abit of light... I'll see, if it looks good with the light on i'll have it on 6hrs a day, if not then i'll just "peek"

 

[sadielynn]

Yes if you get any corals they need light to survive . However this will quickly fuel any bad algea that you get through the cycle such as green hair , cyno and diatoms .....JMHO :mrgreen:

 

[aromano]

I agree with Sadie,

It's a good idea to keep your lights off during the cycling period to avoid undesirable nuisance algae growth. You can leave it on while you are home looking at the tank, but other than that there is no need to keep them on for now.

 

[Aquai]

Fair enough, algae could be a real pain in the bum, although with only 8W i don't think it should be too much of a problem... We shall see...

How hardy are turbo snails and hermits? I.e. should i wait for the cycle to fully complete before adding either of these?

 

[aromano]

I would definitely wait until your cycling period is over, as any type of inverts are very sensitive to ammonia and nitrites.

 

[sadielynn]

Live rock will start your cycle . Because of the sensitive nature of these creatures you should wait to add snails and hermits or anything for that matter it is painful for them to go through a cycle JMHO

 

[Aquai]

Ok, fair enough i was just wondering if maybe they were quite hardy, i.e. could add snails to keep down algae IF necessary. That's good news though...

What's the rough recommended amount of LR per gallon if i'm using it as a filtering method...

 

[aromano]

I would say anywhere from 1 to 2lbs. p/ gallon, just make sure to choose very small pieces as you have a limited space for real estate, and large pieces will limit your possibilities for aquascaping.

 

[NemoNano]

Hi Aquai,

What kind of Hermit Crabs are you thinking of getting?

Eric

 

[Aquai]

I think they were red-legged hermits, he had quite a few small ones in...