Cycle new tank & mislead by LFS

[Ben's Pico Reefing]

i recomend finding a different LFS. They are going to really hurt your tank. Or if no reputable around, feel free to ask people here as you are doing or even call and talk with some recomended online venders.

My understanding is they gave you "live rock" which was just rock that was just put in the system. They also gave you water to help "cycle" faster. Very little bacteria is in the water column. You can use it but you will know nothing of those parameters and what was depleted. Also if they are doing these things who knows what diseases your adding to tank. If the rock was in a running system for a day or 2, you will be alright.

I also see you have bacteria but nitrates should not already be that high. You can absolutly do 100 percent water change if you are using same salt mix and the temp is within a couple degrees.

they are also selling you fish that will outgrow or shouldnt be in that size tank. If they stated they would outgrow and to bring back is one thing. But if they didnt give you that warning at least, thats a no go.

Lots of good advice in thread and some different from mine but take what ever that LFS with a grain of salt..if even that.

 

[Tavero]

Hey thanks for the lady reply
I was doing it under other lfs that I went to , after the first one was untrustable.
I did attached the kenia with glue as the lfs told me.
How do you recommend to go on from here?
Every other coral seem to be happy
1 Clown fish had starting to eat , the other one still a bit stress
I'm using the lights of the tank, was a bit dark cause I read that could help the clown fish to calm down a bit

Kenia trees should attach on their own. Sometimes super glue works but often they will detach after a while so its not recommended. But since it is already glued to the rock leave it.

Since you added corals already you need to switch on the light schedule or your corals will starve. Not in one day of course but after a week they could take damage. And as soon as you switch on the light the uglies will start to grow, which means hair algae and diatoms. Don't add any new things to the tank except maybe CUC when the uglies start.

Since you have corals now you will need to check, Alkalinity, calcium, phosphate and nitrate regularly.

 

[Reefjnky]

Be careful with that zoa. I bought one a few years ago that turned out to be a paly and took over the tank. I'm not sure i trust it because of the color and how far its reaching. I agree that you should slow down. Its easy to get caught up with the beauty of the tank but you dont know your bioload yet and your system is new

Edit: was the sand you got dry or has it cycled somewhere?

 

[Royl14]

OK so certainly will not trust the first LFS that's for sure.
The tank finished the first cycle , took 2 Polyps and a skunk shrimp, 2 days later after I switched to another LFS gave me the zoa and the clowns claims that they will help stabilize the system and told me to not add anything else for a good period of time .
Idk if the first batch was too big , probably it is.
Are you suggesting to take back the kenia to them it does not look so good(first 12 hours was good ) ? Return clowns?
And what do you ment with paly zoa? How do I know ?
The sand was dry, the water the gave me was from a working aquarium and the rocks also , and they said earlier it is not necessarily a live rock as I do know now

 

[Tavero]

OK so certainly will trust the first LFS that's for sure.
The tank finished the first cycle , took 2 Polyps and a skunk shrimp, 2 days later after I switched to another LFS gave me the zoa and the clowns claims that they will help stabilize the system and told me to not add anything else for a good period of time .
Idk if the first batch was big , probably it is.
Are you suggesting to take back the kenia to them? The clowns?
And what do you ment with paly zoa? How do I know ?
The sand was dry, the water the gave me was from a working aquarium and the rocks also , and they said earlier it is not necessarily a live rock as I do know now

The Kenia is fine but when it detaches from the glue, stick it into a rock crevice instead of gluing it. The clowns are a big bioload for such a new tank. There are products like dr tims bacteria that can help but I have no experience with them since I used live rock.

Leave the zoa on the sand bed. That way you can control the spread.

 

[Royl14]

The Kenia is fine but when it detaches from the glue, stick it into a rock crevice instead of gluing it. The clowns are big bioload for such a new tank. There are products like dr tims bacteria that can help but I have no experience with them since I used live rock.

Leave the zoa on the sand bed. That way you can control the spread.

So do you think the kenia looking fine ? I was worried about that 1 branch that is black .
I have dr.tim one and only nitrifying bacteria on the fridge , and waste away dr.tim to.

 

[Tavero]

So do you think the kenia looking fine ? I was worried about that 1 branch that is black .
I have dr.tim one and only nitrifying bacteria on the fridge , and waste away dr.tim to.

The Kenia certainly looks unhappy but a lot of corals do after being put into a new tank. Especially during the first day(s), without light, and after getting superglue on the foot.
As mentioned, you need to slow down and let the tank mature.
Dose your bacteria. Do the water tests. Maybe a water change. Switch on the light. And then wait. You can't force success in this hobby. Time will tell if the corals make it or not.

 

[Royl14]

The Kenia certainly looks unhappy but a lot of corals do after being put into a new tank. Especially during the first day(s), without light, and after getting superglue on the foot.
As mentioned, you need to slow down and let the tank mature.
Dose your bacteria. Do the water tests. Maybe a water change. Switch on the light. And then wait. You can't force success in this hobby. Time will tell if the corals make it or not.

It only yesterday that I lower the light for the clowns, today I opened it regularly.
I'm going to buy today a new light cause I'm not happy with this one, can't customize anything , more white light then blue and etc.
So I hope it will help the corals

 

[brandon429]

I like when specific ready dates are posted for cycles vs open-ended waits, the new way of cycling can get anyone's reef tank ready on time to be an entrant in any reef convention.

so that means in any cycling thread, I'm watching the open-ended waits proceed and tracking how long it takes a given test kit to allow the start date, and I'm also wondering if the tank was already cycled before the testing even began


in this particular case, when's the last time someone set up an all dry rock start, and got brittle stars, diatoms soon on, benthic attachments on the rock, and some life forms in the form of mass copepods reported

and, when during any dry rock cycle we've seen did the keeper buy a bag of just brittle stars, pods, and benthic creatures and add them to the tank

since this is a tank that early on showed brittle stars, pods and benthic life forms I would like to ask the umpires: where did they come from

lastly
if they came in on the rock, as stated from the pet store at the time of setup, what does that tell us about the cycle status on day 1 here

there was no factor of bottle bacteria yet, imo knowing the answer to the above question determines whether or not bottle bac was even needed.

 

[brandon429]

I'm looking for reasons this wasn't a skip cycle setup like what 99% of tank entrants in a reef convention used to skip cycle $150K in animals into the large and small display tanks that fill the convention hall and all start on the exact same start date, no lags no stalls.

when comparing cycles to what happens at a reef convention, new rules on timing develop for cycle options imo

bottle bac wasn't needed here.

technically that was the ripoff of the lfs, everything else was good for a skip cycle go quite easily.

it's not like this is a popular perspective/nobody here mentioned a skip cycle option/ so in all fairness the LFS owner probably didn't know how reef conventions align 200 tanks to start on time without delay and the lfs owner may have truly thought bottle bac is required in 100% of live rock tank transfers.

in this case, the tank pics, reported animal inclusion and the reported history of the rock confirm it was skip cycled on day one, and anything the test kits read here won't apply. in this case, all testing is in spec as well per pics. there is no biological reason this isn't a skip cycle thread, with full cycling ability the instant the rocks were set into the new tank.

 

[Tavero]

I like when specific ready dates are posted for cycles vs open-ended waits, the new way of cycling can get anyone's reef tank ready on time to be an entrant in any reef convention.

so that means in any cycling thread, I'm watching the open-ended waits proceed and tracking how long it takes a given test kit to allow the start date, and I'm also wondering if the tank was already cycled before the testing even began


in this particular case, when's the last time someone set up an all dry rock start, and got brittle stars, diatoms soon on, benthic attachments on the rock, and some life forms in the form of mass copepods reported

and, when during any dry rock cycle we've seen did the keeper buy a bag of just brittle stars, pods, and benthic creatures and add them to the tank

since this is a tank that early on showed brittle stars, pods and benthic life forms I would like to ask the umpires: where did they come from

lastly
if they came in on the rock, as stated from the pet store at the time of setup, what does that tell us about the cycle status on day 1 here

there was no factor of bottle bacteria yet, imo knowing the answer to the above question determines whether or not bottle bac was even needed.

As OP mentioned, the the rock was stored in an aquarium at the lfs. That's where the brittle stars came from. But we don't know how long it was there. I can put dry rock in my tank and it will host bristle worms after one night. Is it cured by then? Definitely not.

 

[Royl14]

So yeah i know mistakes have been made as a beginner and untrusted LFS owner.
I should have asked the right question but at the time i did not know all of that.
He said Live Rock, came from his working aquariums. Based on their color they seem pretty new to me.
so definitely not an old one but it still was there for a nice period.
I only added Nitro-Bac at day 10 once, thats all. but the cycle was close to ending without it as the parameters showed.
So i had definitely good bacteria before the addition of nitro-bac of red sea.
And the kenia went back to normal so maybe he will take some time to climate the new aquarium
As for the clown I'm giving a really small amount of Mysis and they seem to love it, I have pellets to I will give it in the evening when the lights are dimming I think is that ok?

 

[Tavero]

So yeah i know mistakes have been made as a beginner and untrusted LFS owner.
I should have asked the right question but at the time i did not know all of that.
He said Live Rock, came from his working aquariums. Based on their color they seem pretty new to me.
so definitely not an old one but it still was there for a nice period.
I only added Nitro-Bac at day 10 once, thats all. but the cycle was close to ending without it as the parameters showed.
So i had definitely good bacteria before the addition of nitro-bac of red sea.
And the kenia went back to normal so maybe he will take some time to climate the new aquarium
As for the clown I'm giving a really small amount of Mysis and they seem to love it, I have pellets to I will give it in the evening when the lights are dimming I think is that ok?

Live rock is transported wet from the ocean. Usually comes with coralline algae, clamps, feather duster worms, and other small critters. If it is dried out even once, then it's dry rock or cycled/cured dry rock when wet again.

 

[Royl14]

Basically he gave them to me in a bucket of water, so even on the move to me they was still underwater

 

[Tavero]

Basically he gave them to me in a bucket of water, so even on the move to me they was still underwater

Live rock is never white though.

Here is a part of my rock exposed to light.

There are different kind of coraline algae, film algae ect. See the white spot? That's where a frag was attached a until a few days ago.

Here is a part of my rock hidden from light.

Bad pic but as you can see there are sponges, feather dusters and sea squirts.

Edit:
Your tank will be fine but I wanted to explain the differences and definitions.