First Time Saltwater Aquarium, Advice Needed!!

[david713]

My next mission is more LR (about another 40lb) that will give me 11/2 lbs per gallon. After that another Heater & lights.

 

[david713]

By the way, now that I've added a fish What should I be expecting from my water Perameters? Keep in mind that I had to add about 20 gallons of water after installing my sump should that prolong the perameter spikes? And also, I was told that after I adding my first fish that I needed to wait about 3 months before adding anymore Fish or Coral, is this true?

Thanks, David713

 

[tecwzrd]

What was your nh3/no2/no3/sg when you added the fish? It’s possible if your nh3/no2 is 0 that you went through a mini cycle with the lr you put in. If your nh3/no2 is higher than 0 I’d take the fish back to the lfs and cycle the tank with the shrimp. If it is 0 then you want to test your nh3/no2 levels every couple of days during the first couple of weeks to make sure you don’t have any spikes. (anything higher than 1 ppm)

As long as your tank has fully cycled you could add another fish in a week or so. I wouldn’t attempt any corals for 6+ months personally so you can get your tank fully stabilized and fully read up on the care/maintenance of corals.

I’d also highly consider getting a QT tank so you never have to medicate your main tank, to keep your sick fish from your healthy ones, & to better acclimate and observe new arrivals before adding to the main tank.

 

[david713]

Yes, my nh3=0, no2=0, no3=0 sq=1.020, It had been that way for several days

 

[tecwzrd]

From your first post on this thread you mentioned small increases in nh3/no2 but 0 for no3 each time. Did you ever see your no3 rise beyond 10 ppm? You probably had a mini cycle and have enough bacteria in the lr for the 1 fish to build up additional bacteria without a dangerous increase in nh3/no2.

I’d still take in slow during the first couple of months only adding 1 fish every other week or longer if you get a qt tank and watch your levels closely testing at least weekly for ph/nh3/no2/no3. At this point you may want to get a clean up crew as well to keep algae at bay.

With only a couple of fish and sparse feedings you should only see your no3 rise very slightly over the next couple of months. Keep trying to do pwc of 10% weekly or 20% every other week regardless on whether your no3 rises to help keep your other levels like kh/ph/mg/ca/ect. up and stabilize the tank.

 

[david713]

Here's and update on my tank, added 40lbs more LR. I,m in the process of designing a Light Hood.

 

[david713]

Question: It's hard to tell by the picture, but, the LR is starting to get a lot of Fuzzy Brown Algae, any advice on how to clear it up? Other than the algae everything is going fine.

Thanks, david713