new biocube 29

^^+1 - this was my thought as well. Nitrate is the final stage so you'll have to remove nitrates manually (water changes). I might suggest trying a couple of clean up crew members before fish. Once you believe your cycle has finished - I'd add a couple of inverts and make sure they do ok before fish.

 

tks for help i will do water change although both nitrites and nitrates appear to have went down a little today i have 15 blue hermits i added on 2nd day . so any suggestion for invertibrates to add before fish . the local hobby shop suggested a clown instead of damsel as damsel are mean and clown are just as hardy as damsel for starting new tank what yall think

 

I might hold off on adding any additional CUC unless you want to add a snail. You probably don't have a lot of food for them to eat at this point. I think a clown is a good suggestion for a first fish. A word of caution though, some clowns are more aggressive than others. If you go with an occy, or type of occy, they tend to be less aggressive. If you are thinking about a maroon or clarkii, they should be added last as they can become very territorial and aggressive making it difficult to add any additional fish if added first.

 

A clown is a damsel and can be just as mean. I wouldn't add anything more to the tank for a bit. You'll probably have to feed the cuc you have now.

 

yeah i drop a piece of shrimp and amazing how they all just ran to it imediately left in there for day to see if i would get a amonia spike and did so remove it kinda confused water was clear and now little clowdy oh well wait and see what happend.
question the lr i added is now all white with a few spots best i can tell is red coraline but should the coral lr have all died and turned white it has been a while since i had saltwarter but wow all coral is now white except the few red coraline best i can tell it coraline it not a slime more like a hair in place red substance

 

If you started with coralline covered rock it's not unusual for some of that coralline to die off during a cycle, either to water chemistry changes or lighting changes. When the coralline dies off it leaves white areas. Maybe that is what your seeing. Put up an image if you can.

 

here is picture i tried to scratch it with finger nail it is hard like coral and starting to show up on all the coral little small spots this is largest also did a water change . while was doing water change the local shop suggested i remove the bio balls and add coral in the middle section so i added 3lbs of porus coral small stuff changed the filter pad with carbon in it for poly filter which removes phospates and amonia added bio spira and a clown occy he warmed right up to tank and me

 

here is the clown no name yet and pic of three of blue leg hermits thanks for imput all now to monitor and watch for month the adding frags eventualy a coral beauty i have one i been eyeing hope it doesnt sell it is small and 3/4 blueish purple with very little yellow in middle with the bars havent seen many this much blueish might talk and see if i can pay for it let them hold till im rdy

 

sry about the pic of the coraline it in middle of pic on phone i can zoom in on it. also anyone know of a diy reactor with diagrams as i would like to build one

 

it's really hard to tell in the picture. The rock does look like it has coralline on it. Perhaps the white areas are just where nothing is there? the clown is beautiful - very pretty coloration. I'm sorry I can't help on the reactor. I'm sure if you do a search in the forums, you'll find information.

I'm very excited for you! uh oh, Debbie downer just made an entrance anyway, you'll want to go slow - I know it's so tempting to add things once your tank is ready but you don't want to add too much too soon. Fish additions should be spaced about 1-2 weeks apart so that the biological filter can build up. I'd suggest not adding any more CUC considering how many you currently have.