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[trizthegreat]

Impulse take. A friend was giving away two percula clowns, a pink tip anemome and a cleaning crew. I couldn't say no even tho my cycle wasn't complete.

They have been in tank for two day now all looks well. I don't plan to stock tank for another two months this was just too good to be true.

Have I royally screwed up my cycle?

Also some of the live rock I received from off line, Cured live rock had mushrooms on them. Will they die off during the cycle? Tank is only two weeks old.

[Yash]

Well ... the addition of livestock won't screw up the cycle ... more than likely the reverse will happen. The ammonia and nitrITE/ATE spikes during the cycle affect fish quite adversely. It is for this reason that I am a strong proponent of fishless cycling.

As far as the anemone goes, almost all anemones need quite pristine water conditions and are quite hard to keep, especially in a newly established aquarium.

The mushroom once again, may or may not pull through, depending on what kind of species it is and how it handles the changes in the water quality.

Whats done is done though now, unless there is some way you can move the livestock temporarily until your cycle completes.

Sorry if I sound really negative but I'd rather give you the truth without sugarcoating it.

Let us know if you have any more questions.

Regards,
Yash

[Reefscape]

ok, as an honest answer to you, and i dont want this to be taken the wrong way..if you do, then i appolgise in advance....

take the nem to your nearest local fish shop as soon as you can mate...let them have it for a show tank or something. Anemone's need a prestine and mature tank which yours cannot be as the cycle has not been completed..Subjecting fish, let alone an anemone is not really fair....i know you may be attached to it and really want it, but it is for the best....

I know this may seem a little blunt, but i prefer it to be an honest post and not beat around the bush....Its best for you and the nem this way..

Niko

[Yash]

LOL!! Looks like we were typing the same thoughts at the same time there Niko!

[Reefscape]

ha ha ha ha....i thought that when the post was submitted mate...!!!

[trizthegreat]

Thanks All...
Atnixon, you don't have to apologize. Im so new at SW this is the type of advise I need. I knew I should have took him but it was free. I called around and found a local reef club that want him. Im not attached. Now the clowns, i think my wife is attached to them, and im keeping a close eye on them.

I will take pictures of the mushrooms so maybe I could get an ID...

Again I welcome the tough responses. This site has help me save the life of many fish as with fresh water cichlids i followed no rules and have a tank breeding left and right

[Yash]

Not a problem mate. All of us have made mistakes like yours at some point in the hobby and have learnt from them. So, anything we can do to help others avoid those same mistakes, I'm all for it. At least you decided to ask the questions early enough that your tanks inhabitants can still find a healthy environment.

With the setup that you included in your sig. you can have a REALLY spectacular aquarium going with a healthy dose of patience. Hang in there and keep us updated on how your tank and its cycle goes off. Do check in again when you're ready to stock up and I'm sure we can give you some good ideas/suggestions/warnings.

Cheers!
Yash

[trizthegreat]

I do have a concern, the largest spike I've seen thus far has been 1.00 amm. Am I doing something wrong?

Also I purchase some live rock off ebay. From "Company X" I have to go in email to find name. Of 40 lb only one rock was had many cracks and caves. The othere were smooth as a baby bottom. How can bacteria grow on this? Did I just pay some company for normal rock..hahahaha

[Yash]

Well ... the ammonia spike will depend largely on the rock and sand you used to get the cycle going. How much LR is currently in your tank besides the 40 lbs that you got off of Ebay?

If you have a fair amount of LR in your tank, it is very possible that a 1ppm ammonia spike is all you'll ever see. Same applies to sand ... if you got sand that was already seeded with beneficial bacteria, it will also hasten the cycle process.

Do give the following sticky a read through to get a good idea of the cycle process and find out ways to test the cycle completion in your tank. PLEASE THOUGH - DO NOT try to test the tank until you have moved all the inhabitants out.

http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=91273

You should quite easily be able to tell if a rock is "live" of "dead/base" LR will have all kinds of stuff growing on it whereas base rock will look like any rock you might see on the side of the road. Now, the stuff you bought off of Ebay ... I'm assuming it was sold to you as LR? If so, how was it sent to you? Was it packaged with wet papers or something to keep them moist when you received them? What do the rock look like? Not all LR have holes and caves in them. Any chance you can post some pictures of them?

As long as the rock is somewhat porous, it will, over time turn into LR. This process will, though take a considerable amount of time. I've had base rock in my tank for about 7 months now, and some pieces of it are just now starting to get bits of coralline growing on them.

Yash

[trizthegreat]

Pic 1....I like this live rock very porsporus...
Pic 2....not bad just not many nuks and crannies?
pic 3.....all red rock from ebay 40lbs Hawaii LR
pic 4....giving back as good advice to finish my cycle.
pic 5.... pic not clear but red dot area is that corilne algae?
pic 6,,,,ID help this came with live rock I had in tank
pic 7.,,,ID help

Water level when took pictures were
pH 8.4
Nitrite .50
Ammon .50
Nitrates 40

Note sand came from established tank.

[Germanman]

make sure u do water changes now to keep the ammonia as close to zero as possible the fish wont do good with the stress and one spike can do em in.
would also replace the bio balls with live rock...bio balls unless constantly kept clean become nitrate factories...but if u take em all out at once the bacteria will go with...so do the switch slowly now that u have fish. good luck!

[Yash]

Well ... those look like some pretty good pieces of rock you got there. Just from the looks of it, you should have no problem seeding the rock if any of it is not "live"

As far as the coralline algae goes, its hard to tell from that one picture, but most of your rock seem to be doing really well. Here is a picture of a sample rock that's starting to get coralline on it ... see if it looks like yours from up close.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~cap/pictures/myreef/coralline/8.jpg

On the whole, I think you should be just fine ... just give it some time and you'll be well on your way.

BTW ... the reason you did not and more than likely will not see huge spikes in your levels during the cycle is because of both the LR and the "live sand" that you have in the tank. Both should contain a fair amount of the beneficial bacterial colonies already that will help break down the harmful nutrients.

Yash