grimlock3000
Aquarium Advice Addict
Tank specs from sig:
My tank is a bit over two months old from a new setup. It is fully cycled, water paremeters are fine (ph 8.1 to 8.2, ates <10, dkh ~10). I slowly added to my clean up crew to the point where it is now. The tank is fairly clean, the clean up crew is doing it job except for a couple small patches of greenish algae I am trying to clear up by moving my powerhead a bit. Water parameters and salinity have been stable, I do water top off with distilled water and Kalk every other night, and water changes once a week with Instant Ocean, though i recently switch to Tropic Marin. I ended up with a small Long Tentacle Anemone last week and that is doing OK too, I fed it some squid once and it ate it right up. The LTA will need to find a new home at some point, but that is another issue because my wife picked out the LTA... Last night I removed the sponge from my filter and replaced it with a bag of PhosGuard. The sponge was turning into an Amphipod graveyard and waste trap.
So, with the clean up crew in place, Anemone doing OK so far, and tank fully cycled, what do I do now? Eventually, I want two tank raised Clowns, Cleaner Shrimp, and maybe a Royal Gramma (but probably not). Here are some options I am considering, in no particular order:
1) Get a protein skimmer in place. If the LTA were to die, it could nuke my whole tank 8O Protein skimmer could help prevent this by pulling the dead LTA organics out of the water. The skimmer would obviously help other things as well.
2) Get more live rock, cure it in a bucket for a few weeks, add it to the tank. This would help with bio filtering, give the clean up crew more places to hide, make the tank look better, and increase the bio diversity in the tank.
3) Turn the AC300 into a fuge. This would help with nutrient export, and I already have the AC300. I could combine this with step #1 as well, however I do not want to make too many changes at once.
4) Sit and wait for another week or two. Watch everything in the tank and make sure there are not hidden problems. This is what I have been doing for a while. Possibly this would involve some additional clean up critters if needed.
5) Get fish! There are some nice Tank Raised Ocellaris Clowns at the LFS looking nice. I am not in a hurry to rush anything though.
Thoughts? Ideas?
My tank is a bit over two months old from a new setup. It is fully cycled, water paremeters are fine (ph 8.1 to 8.2, ates <10, dkh ~10). I slowly added to my clean up crew to the point where it is now. The tank is fairly clean, the clean up crew is doing it job except for a couple small patches of greenish algae I am trying to clear up by moving my powerhead a bit. Water parameters and salinity have been stable, I do water top off with distilled water and Kalk every other night, and water changes once a week with Instant Ocean, though i recently switch to Tropic Marin. I ended up with a small Long Tentacle Anemone last week and that is doing OK too, I fed it some squid once and it ate it right up. The LTA will need to find a new home at some point, but that is another issue because my wife picked out the LTA... Last night I removed the sponge from my filter and replaced it with a bag of PhosGuard. The sponge was turning into an Amphipod graveyard and waste trap.
So, with the clean up crew in place, Anemone doing OK so far, and tank fully cycled, what do I do now? Eventually, I want two tank raised Clowns, Cleaner Shrimp, and maybe a Royal Gramma (but probably not). Here are some options I am considering, in no particular order:
1) Get a protein skimmer in place. If the LTA were to die, it could nuke my whole tank 8O Protein skimmer could help prevent this by pulling the dead LTA organics out of the water. The skimmer would obviously help other things as well.
2) Get more live rock, cure it in a bucket for a few weeks, add it to the tank. This would help with bio filtering, give the clean up crew more places to hide, make the tank look better, and increase the bio diversity in the tank.
3) Turn the AC300 into a fuge. This would help with nutrient export, and I already have the AC300. I could combine this with step #1 as well, however I do not want to make too many changes at once.
4) Sit and wait for another week or two. Watch everything in the tank and make sure there are not hidden problems. This is what I have been doing for a while. Possibly this would involve some additional clean up critters if needed.
5) Get fish! There are some nice Tank Raised Ocellaris Clowns at the LFS looking nice. I am not in a hurry to rush anything though.
Thoughts? Ideas?
