Digitalfirex
2500 Club Member
- Review score
- +1 /0 /-0
Partner Member 2023
Build Thread Contributor
hello R2R world!
New to the forum, and also my first salt water tank set up!
So on Thursday I set up a 20 gallon tank with an aquaclear 50. Set temperature to 78°f. My salinity is at 1.020. I used 10 lbs of dry rock and 20 lbs bag of Fiji pink live sand. I also added 1 raw never frozen shrimp in a mesh bag. On Friday I went window shopping to 3 different LFS for some clown fish (compare price / availability). LFS (A) told me to wait to fully cycle tank to buy fish. Fair enough I understand the concept. LFS (b) told me the bacteria in my tank probably needed more of a boost and to add DR tims one and only bottle. Unfortunately he had none on hand to sell me but highly recommended before buying any fish, and to bring him back a water sample. LFS (c) told me I could throw in 1 fish to cycle the tank, like a firefish I wanted in the first place. I didnt feel comfortable spending any money on fish unsure of my water quality etc... so they told me to just get a hermit crab. Cheap way to know if water is sustainable and a $4 investment if dead. Sounded fair and so purchased and added to tank. I also added sachem stability bacteria... 2 capfuls as per instructions. Today, saturday around noon my tank looked great, crab was walking around. Added another cap of the sachem bottle and took a water sample to bring to LFS for testing. LFS said all my levels were fine and should add 2 clown to the system to fully cycle. Also recommended some other bacteria in a bottle brand they had in stock. I had errands to run so didn't purchase anything. Got home around 7pm to a cloudy/ milky white tank. Assumed its a bacteria bloom or new tank syndrome. My hermit crab seemed dead so I assumed my ammonia spiked to dangerous levels. I did a small water change to try and lower the dangerous levels I assume I had (4 gallons) and removed the shrimp from the water (tank smelled bad)... now my questions:
How long is the shrimp supposed to stay in the tank?
Should I use sachem prime to help with the dangerous levels of ammonia? I already own a bottle and says its compatible with their stability bottle. For the record, date of stability was july so assumed bacteria was alive.
Thanks in advance to any replies. (Admin please move if in wrong section)
New to the forum, and also my first salt water tank set up!
So on Thursday I set up a 20 gallon tank with an aquaclear 50. Set temperature to 78°f. My salinity is at 1.020. I used 10 lbs of dry rock and 20 lbs bag of Fiji pink live sand. I also added 1 raw never frozen shrimp in a mesh bag. On Friday I went window shopping to 3 different LFS for some clown fish (compare price / availability). LFS (A) told me to wait to fully cycle tank to buy fish. Fair enough I understand the concept. LFS (b) told me the bacteria in my tank probably needed more of a boost and to add DR tims one and only bottle. Unfortunately he had none on hand to sell me but highly recommended before buying any fish, and to bring him back a water sample. LFS (c) told me I could throw in 1 fish to cycle the tank, like a firefish I wanted in the first place. I didnt feel comfortable spending any money on fish unsure of my water quality etc... so they told me to just get a hermit crab. Cheap way to know if water is sustainable and a $4 investment if dead. Sounded fair and so purchased and added to tank. I also added sachem stability bacteria... 2 capfuls as per instructions. Today, saturday around noon my tank looked great, crab was walking around. Added another cap of the sachem bottle and took a water sample to bring to LFS for testing. LFS said all my levels were fine and should add 2 clown to the system to fully cycle. Also recommended some other bacteria in a bottle brand they had in stock. I had errands to run so didn't purchase anything. Got home around 7pm to a cloudy/ milky white tank. Assumed its a bacteria bloom or new tank syndrome. My hermit crab seemed dead so I assumed my ammonia spiked to dangerous levels. I did a small water change to try and lower the dangerous levels I assume I had (4 gallons) and removed the shrimp from the water (tank smelled bad)... now my questions:
How long is the shrimp supposed to stay in the tank?
Should I use sachem prime to help with the dangerous levels of ammonia? I already own a bottle and says its compatible with their stability bottle. For the record, date of stability was july so assumed bacteria was alive.
Thanks in advance to any replies. (Admin please move if in wrong section)