almostthere002

Thanks for the advice. That's what I was thinking too. I figure I will add one fish per month or two. Some might take longer because they arent cheap.

I was wondering about a clean up crew too. Some packages offer quite a few crabs and snails per package. Wont this spike the ammonia too? And should I add them before the green chromis or after?

BTW...for those who are following this post I am adding 45 lbs of live rock this Saturday if that helps answer this a little better. I also posted pics in my album of the tank now. More to come after I redo it with the LR.

kloseo

sorry for your loss, i too had probs when i first set up my saltwater, i would keep the salinity around 1.023 as yours was really low for most saltwater fish more of a 1.021 to 1.025 be careful changing the salinity to quickly or it will put fish in shock, temp is ok i keep mine at 78, ammonia would be a bad idea, you could get some nutrafin to add to your tank it adds active bacteria to the tank, also a little live rock would be a good idea, you dont have to go by the 1 lb per gallon, but it deffinitly would help, a protein skimmer is a good idea... but save up and invest in a good quality one because if you buy a cheap one, you will end up replacing it soon and end up spending the money anyway, also check your filters GPH it should be minimumun 5 tanks per hour so at a 55g that means minimum GH pH is 275, I try and cycle mine at around 10 to 12 tanks per hour
it really does make a difference on water quality

MizRamzi

I'm sooo sorry you lost so many fish. It's heart breaking for sure. Your on the right path now and that's what matters most. I was scared to add my first fish but after testing everyday for 2 weeks I finally felt good enough to add 1 fish. It's a Fire Fish and he/she's beautiful. My LR is starting to get beautiful colors and my CUC are doing their jobs with gusto! I just added my first frag of zoa! This is sooooooo exciting!!!

almostthere002

It was really heartbreaking and frustrating. After the loss of Lucky (my last green chromis) I ended up cycling both my tanks with brine shrimp and it worked great. Sure wish I new that before those poor 4 fish. I now have 2 occellaris clowns and one royal gramma in my display tank and one fire fish like yours in my QT. I am leaving him in there for about 3 weeks because the shop just got him in and I want to make sure he (or she) is healthy. So far so good. I am soooo glad I didnt quit. I got so discouraged but I knew I would be fine once I cycled it without fish. I cannot wait to add some coral but the lighting is expensive and I cannot afford it right now so I will have to wait. But I already put it on my Christmas list so maybe in Dec.

cerianthus

Absolutely! Stop wasting money on unnecessary (BS) products on the shelf.

Just keep in mind that many fish are still caught using cyanide where each individual fish will react differently depending on intake. Also how receiver on this end actually detox the fish, not just cyanide but from ammonia/nitrite accumulated in the tiny bag when shipped from where it was caught reaaly have tremendous effect on lngevity of wild s/w fish.

Can you imagine how they can catch these tiny damsels in quantity on the reef where fish will dash into crevices when danger aproaches other than chemical means. Unfortunate and sad but reality. So dont feel bad. Just have a patience and do best as you canwith one chromis.

It could also be exposure to low pH of water in the bag when transhipped across PACIFIC Ocean (LONG and long trip for fish to endure) where gills can be damages due to such exposure which may have CHRONIC EFFECT (fish dies for no reasons , well w/i our ability after few days/weeks/month later and/or right after munching on foods)) rather than acute effects.

Stop adding additives. I dont care what bottles says. For all I know these additives maybe the cause when not properly administered or even when properly administered.

Dont do Unnecessary water changes while cycling either. If it goes higher than .5, stop feeding too much. Just fast fish and net out any left over food.
Best option is LR or small amt of substrate form another (trustedn but not LFS)tank.

I would not mess with with SG at this point to raise it higher. If lfs was smart enough or had enough info on commercial level, should have kept lower than should be. I find at higher SG, higher chances of Cryptocaryon irritan/Amyloodium infestation and also not too healthy for fish unless fish was out of higher SG such as Red Sea and/or its vincinity.
If your SG is correct @ 1.019, I would leave it where it is.

Causing contant UNNECESSARY changes in water condition will definitely be more stressful to fish. What is pH of the tank? or did I miss that?

I am sorry for difficult you are experiencing but keep the chin up as you will surely get there.
I dont think lfs gave you bad ideas but rather old method of cycling fish tank. Believe me, we used to do this way for many many yrs and always had to give the fishes(Damsels/Chromis) back to lfs once become too big and cause havoc to other more desirable tankmates. Perhaps not as much Cyanide was used 20-25 yrs ago.

Hope all goes well.