Cycling Tank with LR

Agreed. If you see nitrate increasing without an ammonia spike, then your bio-filter is already established.

 

@Corailline @mrbill so if I've added an entire bottle of Bio Spira as well as LR when do you suggest starting to stock the tank? I know patience is key, I'm just curious as to when you all think the tanks parameters will be stable as they currently are. Another important question, not to bombard you all with questions but what is the first plan of action when stocking a tank... Fish first? Coral first? Thanks in advance I'm leaps and bounds ahead of where I started already since joining 3Reef

 

There is no set time when you should start adding things. If you see no cycle, you can add them, your mileage may vary. The best bet is to test daily to make sure your ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are all desirable then add fish.

As far as fish or coral first, most usually do fish, just because fish are easier to keep than corals. My first inhabitant, besides hitchhikers, was a cleaner shrimp lol

 

You can only add one fish at a time in that tank because of it's size. Feed lightly and continue to monitor for a mini cycle. Once the tank is fully cycled (the biological filter is established and able to handle the bio-load) you can add a pair of fish, such as clowns.
Your typical soft corals such as Mushrooms (yes I know they are not a soft coral for you nerds) or hardy Zoanthids or Palys, Xenia, Kenya tree..... will all do fine in a newer set up. You can try the leathers such as Finger Leathers (Sinularia) Toad Stool ( Sarcophyton) or the Cabbage as well.

HTH

 

@Corailline @mrbill well, I decided to add two chromis and a pep shrimp yesterday only to wake up to 2 dead chromis.. They ate yesterday, but seemed to be a little stressed out by breathing heavy etc. so as i went to bed I clicked off the lights as there is no moonlight setting because the lights burnt out so my only assumption is that the pep shrimp went after them as they are mostly night dwellers?

Could it have been red sore disease from the store that I bought them from? All in one day though? The pep shrimp is still doing fine. Is this a sign that my tank has yet to finish cycling?

Here are my parameters:

 

Hello BB, and welcome. Your test results look spot on, though api can be misleading. In the long run, if you want to be successful at keeping corals, I'd suggest getting a better set of test kits. Something is wrong. It could be the acclimation or the water pentameters. Not to necessarily say that your parameters are at fault, it could be that the parameters at the LFS were bad, or just very different from yours.

 

Peppermint shrimp simply aren't capable of killing healthy fish, or even sickly fish. They will make short work of a dead fish however. As billme said, API are good for what you're doing now, but if you plan on keeping corals, a testing kit upgrade should be in your future. How old are your kits, expired tests can produce all sorts of misleading results.

I've never heard of red sore disease, though if your fish have a disease you should be able to tell.

Have you added anything to the tank that may cause reduced oxygen levels? How much surface disturbance do you have? (A lot, some, little, none)

 

This is not uncommon with Chromis, in fact there is a disease process that is common to Chromis and other Damsel like fish, it is called Uronema.

The Chromis were probably stressed from shipping and succumb to the disease easily. My advice is to not to buy any Chromis until the tank is completely cycled, and the Chromis have been at the local fish store (LFS) for some time.

Remember one fish at a time in a newly cycled nano, keep testing, smaller water changes are never a bad thing, and feed sparingly.