New 20gal Nano tank

nyckeeandnate6

nyckeeandnate6

New member
Firstly, we will be taking pictures as we go. I am officially starting my first tank (hubby is sick of my zoas lol) I am aiming at a Zoa Garden, but haven't officially decided to do all zoas. I got my light fixture today for $50 bucks. Got a 20 gal tank and wrought iron stand for free. We are in the process of sanding the rust of the stand and will hopefully get it spray painted tomorrow. I also bought 25 lbs of base rock and 4-5 lb bags of sand tonight. Does anyone have any preferred methods for cycling? I do not want to wait the year we waited last time to add anything to the tank.
 
ColaAddict

ColaAddict

New member
"the year?" that's too long. if you have some live sand/dead rock/a little bit of live rock, youre good to go. if you already have a bigger tank and you use the water from that tank that you take out when you do a water change, the cycling will be pretty fast. just throw in a raw shrimp in there and wait until it melts away, cycling should happen fast.
 
nyckeeandnate6

nyckeeandnate6

New member
Awesome... Yea our first time we were to patient. Apparently my idea of patient differs greatly from most peoples. We were so afraid of rushing it that we moved very very slow. I have base rock and will have some water from our other tank, but live rock has to wait til it is safe for corals to be added.
 
trackfast

trackfast

Princess Trainer
Cycle with raw shrimp, it takes roughly three to four weeks or so for a tank that size. Live sand/rock from another tank would help but not the water. If i remember correctly, the water doesn't contain the nitrifying bacteria you need. I cut up the shrimp for more surface area and contain it in some cheese cloth for easier removal. (Pantyhose would work too.) All you would need is for the ammonia to spike to about 2ppm to start the cycle. The shrimp could be removed after that.
 
nyckeeandnate6

nyckeeandnate6

New member
Well... ran into snag one and two today. The stand for the 20 I got is extremely unstable and the tank is just not working for me. I went and bought a brand new 20 gallon tank to day ($35 new) and now need to figure out the stand situation.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top