I need a little advice,please.

THIS IS ALL VERY NEW TO ME, AND I KEEP GETTING DIFFERENT ANSWERS TO THIS QUESTION FROM MY LFS.
I SET UP MY 72 G. TANK 3 WEEKS AGO, W/JUST SAND & 110 LBS OF LIVE ROCK & SUMP. I HAVE LEFT THE LIGHT ON APP. 3-4 HOURS A DAY.I INSTALLED A SKIMMER ALSO. MY WATER IS TESTING PERFECT ON AMMONIA,PH, NITRATE & NITRITE. ALL THAT IS IN THE TANK 1 HERMIT CRAB & 3 SNAILS. MY QUESTION IS CAN I ADD 2 CLOWN FISH AND 1 ANEMONE?

 

Certainly not. When your tank is fully cycled you can add one or two clowns then see how that goes. If it does goo you can add some more fish. Try not to add more than one or two fish/month & stock at about 1" per 2 gallons for SW.

An anemone should be an an established tank, that being 6months to one year of good water parameters & no major problems.

Have you seen a spike in your nitrates & ammonia yet? If not then you have not cycled yet. This will normally take about 6-8 weeks. You should see a spike then it will slowly go back down. Once at 0, I would recommend about a week later, you can add stuff. Try starting with a shrimp or something small then do a fish.

 

You tank may have cycled, but it may not have. Have you seen a spike in any of the parameters?

 

What were your readings when you tested your water parameters?

 

my ammonia was 0 ppm. PH 8.2 NITRITE 0 ppm & nitrate 0 ppm
I also forgot to mention that I purchased my salt water by the gallons, I didn't want to take any chances when starting up my tank. The store where I bought the water the guy is fanatical about everything almost OCD about it all, I know his equipment is perfect.
One more thing how often should I been testing the H2O at this stage,& should I be testing for all 4 of the things right now?

 

You gotta take things slow or you won't be very successful. Take the time to learn & search for answers. Type in your question as a search on this site. You'll be surprised at what you find.

Good Luck

 

if you added 110 pounds of CURED live rock in the beginning, you might not see the huge ammonia spike they are talking about. However, you definitely want to add the fish slowly and i wouldn't add an anemone to the tank until the tank is at least 8 months old. This is coming from someone who added his anemone too quickly. your tank will probably go through several ups and downs before it truely is "matured". i have heard some people say that they don't consider a tank fully mature until after a year. anemones are not the hardiest of animals. What type of lighting do you have?

 

OK guys...read the original post again. The answer is yes, you need to add a fish or 2. The reason being is that you need their waste in the tank to initiate the cycle and build the bacteria (Unless you added a dead shrimp or something in the beginning) Your tank is 72g. A snail or 2 is not enough bio-load for that much water. Also, turn off that skimmer until after the cycle is complete. You need the organics in there to help cycle. I would add a Clown ( 2 mated if you want) Then wait another couple of weeks and test. You could also add a Damsel..But they are hard to remove later if you decide to get rid of them. Remember..The good bacteria will grow to match the bio-load in your tank. Just dont add too fast.

 

if you have 110 pounds of live rock, you have more bio-load than just a snail or two. i would let the tank cycle before you add any fish. the tank will cycle with the living creatures that came on your rock. there is no reason to force the fish to live through the cycle.

 

in the beginning, i tested daily until i felt like the tank had finished its cycle. then i cut back to once a week. except for the ph, i test it every couple of days.