MCKWESTLA
Aquarium Advice Apprentice
question, when can I and what kind of clean up crew can i start implementing. I am on day 3 or 4 of cycling my first ever tank. My statistics:
tank: 48g
Sump: Amiracle 3 compartment wet/dry trickle filter with bioballs, I have since gotten rid of the bioballs and replace the middle compartment with live rock, golf-ball sized pieces. I am still using the drip plate with filter pad on top. I have a fluorescent bulb installed that I leave on all the time for the sump.
Protein skimmer: Coralife super skimmer 65 (still trying to find the sweet spot on this guy, not really getting any skinmate)
Powerhead: wavemaker 1150gph
Display tank lights: two fluorescent bulbs one of which is t5
So, I got my tank and set it up with tap water and treating with aquel water conditioner. I have about 30 lbs of live rock, and a bag of live sand, (and two bags of live sand that ended up being expired), I am going to add more live rock today. Yesterday I added Dr. Tim's all in one nitrogen bacteria in a bottle as well as I have added two clown fish to help assisting with the cycle. I have been monitoring levels religiously, I did have a spike of amonnia levels mid-afternoon yesterday, I added some amquel and tasted later in the evening and these were my stats:
Water temp: 77F
Ammonia: 1
Nitrates: 15
Nitrites (this one is always hard to tell): 3
pH: 8.3
Salinity: 1.021
I want to add some clean up crew because, the first live sand I added, which ended up not being live at all, and just caused a giant cloud mess. This sand has left a film over a lot of my live rock, I can use the powerhead and blow it off, but I would really like to employ cleaning crew.
Let me know your thoughts.
Cheers
tank: 48g
Sump: Amiracle 3 compartment wet/dry trickle filter with bioballs, I have since gotten rid of the bioballs and replace the middle compartment with live rock, golf-ball sized pieces. I am still using the drip plate with filter pad on top. I have a fluorescent bulb installed that I leave on all the time for the sump.
Protein skimmer: Coralife super skimmer 65 (still trying to find the sweet spot on this guy, not really getting any skinmate)
Powerhead: wavemaker 1150gph
Display tank lights: two fluorescent bulbs one of which is t5
So, I got my tank and set it up with tap water and treating with aquel water conditioner. I have about 30 lbs of live rock, and a bag of live sand, (and two bags of live sand that ended up being expired), I am going to add more live rock today. Yesterday I added Dr. Tim's all in one nitrogen bacteria in a bottle as well as I have added two clown fish to help assisting with the cycle. I have been monitoring levels religiously, I did have a spike of amonnia levels mid-afternoon yesterday, I added some amquel and tasted later in the evening and these were my stats:
Water temp: 77F
Ammonia: 1
Nitrates: 15
Nitrites (this one is always hard to tell): 3
pH: 8.3
Salinity: 1.021
I want to add some clean up crew because, the first live sand I added, which ended up not being live at all, and just caused a giant cloud mess. This sand has left a film over a lot of my live rock, I can use the powerhead and blow it off, but I would really like to employ cleaning crew.
Let me know your thoughts.
Cheers