Can I, can I, Can I?!

I think my Cycle has completed (or is nearly there). I had a small spike of ammonia, and since then everything has been perfect. My tank is covered in the brown "snow-like" Algae, and the inside of the glass needs to be cleaned off, as it looks so dirty!

I currently have 2 naissaurus (sp?) Snails, and 2 bumblebee hermit crabs. I also have one large snail that came with my LR, and looks like the LR (blends in) and I am not sure of the ID of him. I also have a cucumber, that wad a hitchiker also.

I started the cycle with 1/2 of a petite raw shrimp, and my crushed coral substrate and LR came from a very established (5+ year) tank.

I have been running the lights for 12 hrs on, and 12 off.

can I add some livestock now? My tank is about a month old.

I have a Yellowfin Damsel and a Clown waiting for me at the LFS, and they are going out of business, and so I need my fish asap!!

ETA: I have a 45 gal tank, dimensions are 36x12.5x 24 (I believe). I have 45 lbs of LR, and about 30 lbs of Crushed coral Substrate. I am running a 24" 50/50 actnic 6500w (if I remember right)

SG is at 1.025
PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0-5.0

 

what are your other params?
ammonia?
nitrite?
nitrate?

thats the only way to tell the cycles complete.

 

Right, what are the other parameters? After ammonia spikes, nitrite should spike, and then nitrates should start to rise slowly. Has this happened?

Also, do you have a quarantine tank setup, ready to combat diseases (that you can't fight in the presence of invertebrates (ie: snails) or live rock) if necessary? Once disease (ie: ich) enters your main system, it takes 8 weeks of ZERO FISH to remove it.

Most... rather ALL (assume this!)... local fish stores have ich in all of their systems. There is too much flow of new fish to prevent it.

 

I don't have a quaruntine tank. I didn't even THINK about that!!! What equipment do I need for one?

I will check my other params, and get back to ya... brb!

 

I am also going to upload a pic of the Large Snail that I do not know the ID of, to see if you all can help me out!

 

you should look into getting one.
just a smaller tank with a heater something for the fish to hide in (pvc pipe) and maybe a small filter.

i have a 10 gallon, i have a small powerhead/filter that i keep in the sump. when i have to put a fish in there i will just transfer that to the qt tank and use tank water. that way the tank is already cycled.

 

I do have a smaller, approx 5 gal tank, that was my daughters that has a hood and a biowheel filter I could use... is it too small?

 

eh, i would do minimum of 10. thats even kinda small bigger is better

 

Ok

PH 8.2
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate between 0-5.0

 

I will pick the equip up on the first (payday lol)