Is my LFS owner yanking my chain?

suction cups

you need to make sure there is nothing on the glass or the rubber suckers
there is sometimes an oil film on the suckers from the tooling they come out of
which intereferes with the suckers ability to adhere

I normally clean the glass inside with a algae magnet
and rinse the suckers in hot water
this can and does help (but not everytime)

Steve

 

Forgot to say: Congrats on the tank (maybe you can post a pic...) would love to see the set up!

 

dont use chemicals during the cycle

 

haha I just keep pressing them till they stick or I get mad and press them really hard till they stick

 

Wow, you all are amazing lol. Here's what the tank looks like, pretty barren. I'm going to scrub the white residue on the back wall when I get a brush, I think they left it half full for a while and that's salt that was deposited as water evaporated.

 

Welcome to 3REEF!! Those damsels you were given are pretty hardy ones,enjoy watching them while your tank cycles but afterward I hope that guy is nice enough to take them back.They probably wouldn't treat any new additions very well and the black one can grow quite large if you keep it long enough.

 

I started with yellow demsel 2 years ego in a 29g. Now I have 65 and he is still alive. He survived the cycle and 2 tank crashes where everything died but him
Best purchase ever.

 

hey fix, welcome to 3reef and the word of sw! tank looks good and perams seem normal for cycle stage. lfs sounds like they are eager to help you out so not much to worry about there. ppl have alrdy said cycling with livestock is a little questionable but your fish should be fine but i dont recommend you keep them after the cycle.
question: filtration? looks like you may be using HOB. i dont have a nano but i know the water chemistry in them is very sensitive and require very good water to prevent swings-- something to look into might be a sump but not sure what ppl with nanos usually do...

karma for pics!

 

Looks good...

Don't worry about the back of the tank too much, in 6 months it will probably be totally covered in coraline algae.

You could also add a bit more rock work IF YOU WANT TO. I like a minimal aquascape and lots of sand... we all find out own balance. If you add cured live rock from a well established tank it can go straight in no problem. If you're not sure add a pound or two of rock every other week and it will keep any added cycle to a minimum.

As for adding fish to cycle a tank... I used blue green chromis, a type of damsel, but much more peaceful than blue devils or dominos. My next tank I'm working on I will use straight 35º Baum ammonia from a chemical supplier.

I also used a starter chemical preparation to get my tank going, called Seachem Stability. 10 months later I can't say anything bad about it. My cycle took all of 2.5-3 weeks before all levels were trace/undetectable (there's no such thing as zero, not really). Some of them do as they claim, others not so much... I haven't heard of any of them that do any real harm.

Also, starting with cycled live sand and rock makes a big difference in time to cycle.

Good luck with the tank, sounds like your LFS is taking good care of you. I would also make sure they will take the damsels back if you don't want them. I know the 29g bio cube tank, they're solid systems. I want one for a mantis tank someday.

Oh, and welcome to 3reef!

 

Awesome! Thanks for the help everyone!!