- Location
- Staten Island
Good or Bad?Need Opinions
- Thread starter adam582
- Start date
- Location
- Union Square, NY
You put a piece of flounder in the tank?
How big is it?
How much rock is in the tank? Was the rock live or cured?
Tell us more about the tank setup.
How big is it?
How much rock is in the tank? Was the rock live or cured?
Tell us more about the tank setup.
- Location
- Staten Island
The live rock was cured and in the tank running so far for 5 weeks with dump and overflow working. The tank is 55 gallons and the sumo is 27 gallons. Have 100 pounds of live rock. The. Price of flounder was the size of a small shrimp.
- Location
- Staten Island
Sorry spelling all messed up. Using cell phone
- Location
- Staten Island
There is a thin film developing over the flounder. As seen in pic. Its getting bigger and bigger evertday.
- Location
- staten island,ny
i would have breaded and deep fried the flounder and made a sammich, and found something else to help cycle the tank!!!
- Location
- The Big City
It doesn't matter if it's a piece of clam, shrimp, Octopus, Squid, fish or even a piece of flounder, they all do the same thing, and that is supply a source of ammonia. In the end the more ammonia you can supply to your tank the larger amount of bacteria you can build up, which will let you handle a larger load.
- Location
- UES, Manhattan
Adam, if you've had the tank set up for 5 weeks, can you share your parameters over the course of that time? You should have had a cycle when you added LR.
Also, why is everyone up in arms about a flounder vs. a shrimp? I thought that any decomposing organic matter would feed the bacterial colonies and kick off the cycle (assuming that was your goal).
Also, why is everyone up in arms about a flounder vs. a shrimp? I thought that any decomposing organic matter would feed the bacterial colonies and kick off the cycle (assuming that was your goal).
- Location
- Staten Island
Well i didnt know that adding the LR starts a cycle... but during those 5 weeks I didnt take any measurements of any amonia or nitrates. Just started testing my water after i added the peice of flounder. Which is small... but the amonia seems to be going up slowly it seems... I just got the test kits this week =( im a new in the saltwater world. And im getting my advice from people like you on this site...
- Location
- UES, Manhattan
Try to post some ammonia, nitrate and nitrite results so that we can see where your tank is at.
- Location
- Staten Island
Ok i just checked everything just now... amonia nitrite and nitrate are all ZERO! flounder has been in tank and growing for a week today. If you look at the picture closely the inner part, the little bright white in the middle, is the flounder, the clear coat around it is whats growing.
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IM the one giving him advise, hes a long time buddy of mine. Difficult to answer all of his questions all the time, he will have plenty of time to read in the next 6-8 weeks.
Anyways, He didn't have any shrimp and I told him the Sm. piece of flounder in his fridge is just fine.
I'm really not sure why any of you have anything negative to say about it. Maybe some of you should understand how things work rather then just know people use shrimp and think shrimp only and make comments like this is one for the books....
enough with that...
For starters, he bought a non reef ready tank without me knowing and has been piecing everything together as money has become available. I told him once everything is setup and you acquire all your test kits that we would start a cycle by decaying something in the tank. I didn't care that the rock and tank been running 5 weeks and still dont care. I wanted to do a full cycle to avoid any problems and the longer the better in my eyes.
The live rock was supposedly cured.. but when i spoke to the person he was buying it from he mentioned that he had it out of the tank for a few hours so im sure during the past weeks it had a mini cycle. nothing i would put fish or a clean up crew in but may be contributing to the fact that it isnt registering ammonia yet.
The answer to your question is dont worry how the flounder looks. It looks just like a dead fish looks like in a tank or left at the dock after a little decomposing.. filmy,slimy, and puffed up....dont worry about it....
It's been 4 days since you put in the flounder not a week... Give it a few more days to register the ammonia and then we will let it cycle. If it doesn't register by then, then we will need to try another test kit because their may be something wrong with the test kit...Dont stress yourself out over testing your water..... give it a few days..
Anyways, He didn't have any shrimp and I told him the Sm. piece of flounder in his fridge is just fine.
I'm really not sure why any of you have anything negative to say about it. Maybe some of you should understand how things work rather then just know people use shrimp and think shrimp only and make comments like this is one for the books....
enough with that...
For starters, he bought a non reef ready tank without me knowing and has been piecing everything together as money has become available. I told him once everything is setup and you acquire all your test kits that we would start a cycle by decaying something in the tank. I didn't care that the rock and tank been running 5 weeks and still dont care. I wanted to do a full cycle to avoid any problems and the longer the better in my eyes.
The live rock was supposedly cured.. but when i spoke to the person he was buying it from he mentioned that he had it out of the tank for a few hours so im sure during the past weeks it had a mini cycle. nothing i would put fish or a clean up crew in but may be contributing to the fact that it isnt registering ammonia yet.
The answer to your question is dont worry how the flounder looks. It looks just like a dead fish looks like in a tank or left at the dock after a little decomposing.. filmy,slimy, and puffed up....dont worry about it....
It's been 4 days since you put in the flounder not a week... Give it a few more days to register the ammonia and then we will let it cycle. If it doesn't register by then, then we will need to try another test kit because their may be something wrong with the test kit...Dont stress yourself out over testing your water..... give it a few days..
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- Location
- UES, Manhattan
Sounds like you're in good hands 
- Location
- Staten Island
How long does it take for the amonia to spike?
It is possible that the live rock you original purchased might have enough bacteria in it to be 'processing' the ammonia that the flounder is producing, and that is why your levels are at zero.
BUT, the film that is growing around the flounder (IMO) should be removed as it is basically a fungus (from rotting food) and you don't really want that in your tank. I think the ammonia level might rise somewhat if you remove the film.
Slow & steady wins the race
Good for you!
- Location
- Staten Island
It is possible that the live rock you original purchased might have enough bacteria in it to be 'processing' the ammonia that the flounder is producing, and that is why your levels are at zero.
BUT, the film that is growing around the flounder (IMO) should be removed as it is basically a fungus (from rotting food) and you don't really want that in your tank. I think the ammonia level might rise somewhat if you remove the film.
Slow & steady wins the race
I took the flounder out to try to remove the film... and oh man did it smell horrible ... as i tried to take off the film the flounder crumbled into a million peices... so now i have nothing in my tank... what should i do? You think ill be ready for fish in 2 - 3 weeks or longer?
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You could put another piece of flounder or a shrimp or a little flake food (that you would have to add every couple of days) to feed the bacteria.
Do you have circulation going in there, might help the film from developing too quickly.
..and yes, dead rotting fish smells awful! :Yikes: I should have warned you
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