RogersCG
09-01-2007, 11:48 AM
Here's my story...
A little about me... I worked at a fish-only pet store in Irving TX for a few years in the late 80s and have had numerous freshwater tanks over the years. One saltwater at the time I worked there, pre-sump days.
Recently I purchased a 110 extra high used and the rest of the Southdown sand Steve in New Brighton had (5 1/2 bags) for setup once I built a stand, hood and such. I already had a 29 setup freshwater with nothing much in it. Then OD announced they were going out of business and the fun started! We broke down the 29 and set it up with about 4" of Southdown, IO salt and 60 lbs of live rock to save for the 110 because the price was so good. The only filtration is the live rock. There is a Penn Plax Cascade 770 (canister filter) providing circulation only. It is empty except for one course filter pad which I plan to remove. I am probably going to use it to run some carbon only.
Now, the wife and kids wanna see something other than rock in the tank, and so do I. I'd like to add just a couple of clowns. I am familiar with the cycling process but I am not certain if this tank has completed it cycle. The tank has been setup for two weeks as of tomorrow. I've never detected ammonia. I detected some trace Nitrate on the 23 but since then Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia have all been zero. There is some algae growth in the last week and there was some macro algae on the live rock that is growing also. I've also noticed a few starfish and some red branch looking things growing that must be a sponge of some sort. Do you guys think it is safe to add a fish or two at this point?
Thanks!
Chris
A little about me... I worked at a fish-only pet store in Irving TX for a few years in the late 80s and have had numerous freshwater tanks over the years. One saltwater at the time I worked there, pre-sump days.
Recently I purchased a 110 extra high used and the rest of the Southdown sand Steve in New Brighton had (5 1/2 bags) for setup once I built a stand, hood and such. I already had a 29 setup freshwater with nothing much in it. Then OD announced they were going out of business and the fun started! We broke down the 29 and set it up with about 4" of Southdown, IO salt and 60 lbs of live rock to save for the 110 because the price was so good. The only filtration is the live rock. There is a Penn Plax Cascade 770 (canister filter) providing circulation only. It is empty except for one course filter pad which I plan to remove. I am probably going to use it to run some carbon only.
Now, the wife and kids wanna see something other than rock in the tank, and so do I. I'd like to add just a couple of clowns. I am familiar with the cycling process but I am not certain if this tank has completed it cycle. The tank has been setup for two weeks as of tomorrow. I've never detected ammonia. I detected some trace Nitrate on the 23 but since then Nitrite, Nitrate and Ammonia have all been zero. There is some algae growth in the last week and there was some macro algae on the live rock that is growing also. I've also noticed a few starfish and some red branch looking things growing that must be a sponge of some sort. Do you guys think it is safe to add a fish or two at this point?
Thanks!
Chris