20 gal reef build!

[apollo6626]

Hey everyone, I'm just starting this and hoping that anyone reading can give me some information, anything helps! I've been a cichlid and planted tank guy for years until now I decided to do a nano reef. As of right now I have about 3 lbs of live rock, and about 20 dry that is in the tank. I have the marineland Led reef fixture and bought 20 lbs of live sand. My only inhabitants are two false percula clowns for cycling. I plan on adding hermits and others in a few weeks. As far as other hardware, I have a 160 gph power head and a simple HOB filter with minimal padding. I plan on doing soft corals and feathers, and hopefully an anemone but I know that's a long shot. I can post pictures later, but anyone have an opinion on this? Anything is appreciated ?

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

How long has this tank been running?

 

[apollo6626]

3 weeks or so

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Ehh how did you cycle this tank? That's kind of soon to add fish

 

[apollo6626]

I straight dosed the bio spira and then added the clowns to start the cycle, that's all I've did so far. I was originally going to use green chromis' but figured the clowns would look nicer

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

You'll want more flow, around 30x tank volume per hour. I highly doubt that light would support a nem, but they shouldn't be added to a tank for about a year any way. And most importantly there is no reason to cycle with fish, it's much easier to do it fish less and much less cruel.

 

[bribo12]

I agree with bigred. More flow the better. You will definitely need at least one much stronger powerhead

 

[apollo6626]

Should I alternate the two, meaning have one on one side and the other opposite the tank?_

 

[bribo12]

Yeah definitely

 

[apollo6626]

Alright thanks, I appreciate it.

 

[Macscale]

If your are going to do fish-in like this, go look at the article "Fish In Cycling - Step over do the dark side" or something like that. It's on here, it explains the old concept of soft cycling. However it does require a lot of work to not harm the fish.

 

[apollo6626]

Alright thanks, this is how I've always cycled tanks and have never had bad luck.

 

[Macscale]

It's not bad luck, just keeping all of the inhabitants safe. Not just the fish, the bacteria and all the micro organisms too.

 

[apollo6626]

Just noticed some brown algae today, hoping that's a good sign??

 

[Frankie_Garcia]

Possibly some diatoms

 

[apollo6626]

I figured that, what does it mean though?

 

[Macscale]

Nothing, they eat silicates in sand. Once the silicates are all consumed, they are gone.

 

[apollo6626]

Ahh I see, well I used coral instead of rock chucks so I may have a lot pretty soon

 

[apollo6626]

Alright another update, my ammonia is almost 0, nitrites spiked and are now falling, around 2 ppm and nitrates are slowly rising!