Star shaped moving critter

[melosu58]

Originally Posted by bumblebee1976

This is looking easier than tropical fishkeeping

Be careful what you say. LOL. Its not easier. The hard part is yet to come. Only after months and your tank has matured does it get better. Just keep testing to be sure of no mini spike of ammonia and nitrites.

[bumblebee1976]

Is it likely to spike further down the line then? When I say easier I mean that I have not had any problems with the marine biorb yet, but when I kept tropicals I constantly had problems. How often should I do the water tests? What is the hard part you describe?!!

[melosu58]

You`ll be OK. Just keep testing every three days and if everything goes OK you`ll be OK for some fish to start off with and then some more corals after that. Just take it slow and easy.

[bumblebee1976]

I have just done my water tests - the pH has risen very slightly to 8.0 (not sure what helped it to rise but I'm glad it has), there is now a slight level of ammonia (0.25mg/L) but no nitrites or nitrates of course. I am regularly dosing with bacteria supplement but I have not carried out any water changes or filter replacements yet. When do you think I should begin this? I already have 2 clown gobies, that is why there is a little ammonia, I wanted to add them as a pair from the start. Other than that, 2 snails and 3 hermits. I will wait for a few weeks now before adding anything else. I have just been advised by a fellow biorb keeper that sun corals will grow in the biorb but nothing that photosynthesizes. Maybe there are others that will be suitable.

[bumblebee1976]

Just to clarify, when I said I added the clown gobies as a pair from the start I don't mean from the day I set the tank up!! They went in in the 3rd week. The pH has only risen by 0.1.

[melosu58]

Just so you know sun corals have to be target fed every couple days. They are not the easiest of corals.

[bumblebee1976]

Yes, I have just been researching them online and I saw that feeding is quite difficult. Do you think I will have any degree of success with mushrooms in my tank? I am waiting for a reply from Reef One about the light but I don't think it will compete with proper coral lighting.
Also, when do you think I should start aquarium maintenance such as water changes and filter replacements?

[melosu58]

As soon as your cycle is done I would do a big 33% PWC and then at least every other week with weekly ones being the ultimate. Change Filters every other week. JMO

[bumblebee1976]

The ammonia has now gone back down to 0. It was either an incorrect reading or it was a slight blip - I had fed the gobies/inverts so maybe that pushed the ammonia up slightly? Why the drastic water changes? I'm not aware that the tank has really cycled or if it has it has only taken a matter of days to go through ammonia/nitrite/nitrate. I thought the live rock was there to help with the water quality? I also read somewhere that in the early days with the biorb if you change too much water etc if affects the bacteria colonies and makes the cycle take longer. Also, the filter is a non-sponge one with resins only and to change it you actually have to replace the whole thing. Changing it every fortnight is going to be very expensive and it is also not going to be that easy to move all the rock to get at the filter too often. What does JMO mean?! Also, could you give me any indication of the likelihood of my mushrooms thriving? The light does not support photosynthetic corals. Many thanks

[melosu58]

JMO = Just my opinion.

Usually after a cycle you`ll have high nitrates. That`s why the one good size at the end of the cycle. As far as the frequent PWC`s I`ve done weekly PWC`s for 11 years now. I`ve always had good water quality with few problems. I think your mushrooms will do quite good. They really dont need high lighting. Moderate lighting will do good. Also as far as your PWC`s read this.

Water Changes in Reef Aquaria by Randy Holmes-Farley - Reefkeeping.com