# New Tank Question



## DoubleT (Dec 28, 2006)

Here's my setup:

55 Gallon Tank Fish Only
75 Seaclear Wet Dry Sump
Seaclone 100 Protien Skimmer
Jebo 13 watt UV Sterilizer
Water: 78 Degrees
Salinity: 1.022
Artificial Rock with several hiding holes


Its been up for a week. I put in Cycle by Nutrafin to help cycle to the tank faster. The petstore lady said that this would help cycle the tank in a week or so. No Fish in it yet. I plan on putting in a Black Volitan (4") for now.


I have a couple of questions: 


1) Would it be beneficial to put some copepods or mini starfish in the sump or tank ?

2) Any recommendation on tank mate for the lone lionfish?

3) Is the protien skimmer necessary with the wet dry and the uv sterilizer?

4) How long should I wait before putting in any fish?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks a bunch.


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## Nick (Aug 2, 2006)

I dont know too much but what I do know is that You should be putting in LIVE rock. This is sort of a filtration system for the tank and etc. You should have a lot of live rock in there instead of artificial


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## Melissa (Nov 28, 2006)

well your tank will take more than a week to cycle. and i wouldnt put a lion fish in your tank untill it is all cycled through. And that can take about 4 weeks. Adding some live rock in your tank will also help it cycle it faster.


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## Brandon (Dec 14, 2006)

Just a quick question how do you know when your tank is cycled cause im getting a new one soon (salt)


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## caferacermike (Oct 3, 2006)

What is your artificial rock? If it's the new cement rocks meant for salt tanks then I wouldn't worry to much about it. TR this is mainly a fish only setup, not a reef. There is a difference.

I would not recomend a lion fish for a 55g ever. Your skimmer will help keep it a touch bit cleaner but lions are notoriously dirty and will quickly foul 55g of water. There are dwarf lions and fumanchus that you could look into instead. Unless your sump is a fuge then don't worry about adding anything to it.

Brandon, you should wait at least a month, maybe 6 weeks. You might need to buy a pice of live rock or some snails and such to help speed the cycle. You could also put a piece of shrimp or something to get the cycle going. 

The true way to know when a tank is cycled is to do every other day tests. Watch for the tests to go from zeros to extremely high numbers. When the numbers fall again the tank is "cycled". This does not mean immediately stock the tank. Stock lightly as each new critter will mini cycle the tank for a few weeks until the biofilters can catch up.


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