My first reef tank

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dave in nj

Aquarium Advice Apprentice
Joined
Sep 2, 2017
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I am one month in with my first SW tank. Knock on wood, no catastrophes yet.

I purchased an established RedSea Max 250 off Craigslist, 66 gal. The previous owner had it about 3 years. I drained it for transport and refilled with the same water at my house. It has 6 fish: 3 tangs (blue, yellow and purple), a clownfish, a pajama cardinal and a spotted marine betta (comet grouper.)

After a week I swapped out half the rock and sand for new stuff from Tampa Bay. It had a small cycle, about 4 days, and I did 25% wc twice a day.

Hitchhikers and extras include 2 peppermint shrimp, 3 serpent stars, 1 decorator spider crab, 2 Mithras crabs, 1 cucumber, and a purple urchin. Also included 50 blue leg hermits and 50 snails and a couple of sponges and 3 Gorgonians.

After a month everyone is alive, parameters are stable except too much nitrate. pH 8.1, salinity 1.025.

The shrimp haven't put in an appearance for the last couple of feedings, so I fear the betta ate them.

It was dirty when I got it and I'm still not happy with the water clarity. I'm running a circulator wrapped in filterwool to pull stuff out.

Does anything seem out of whack? Any suggestions or next steps? I eventually want to introduce corals and a BTA but I'm waiting for a while.

Thanks for reading!IMG_0676.jpg
 
I'm not sure how it has been kept that there has been no aggression between the tangs in such a small system. Tangs need large 6 ft long tanks to swim and be healthy along with set up territory.
 
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