Just a few questions ...

[OceanMist]

Hi all,

I haven't posted on the website for a while as I have been keeping freshwater tanks, but I have recently started a new SW tank and have a couple of questions, my tank is one one of those plug & play style nano's (15 gallons), the built in skimmer is useless though so i'm not using it. Instead i'm doing 10% PWC's weekly, is this enough? I have a pair of false percs. and don't plan on adding any more fish. there is currently 13lbs of LR and I will be adding another 10lbs soon.
As far as coral goes I have a toadstool coral that has been in there since day two of my cycle, bad idea I know but it was too cheap to pass up, and it seems to be thriving, it's at least doubled in size!
the whole tank has been overrun with diatoms since it finished cycling, I'm guessing this is normal since my other marine tanks did the same after cycling, any ideas on how long it will take to go?
I'm planning on adding a couple of shrimps also, does anyone know if a boxing/CB shimp would/could kill a cleaner shrimp?
finally, does anyone know if a plating montipora coral would survive in my tank with just the aforementioned water changes (lighting is 2x 18w PC's & plenty of water movement) ?, tbh it's the only SPS coral i have any interest in.
Thanks in advance for anyone who takes the time to respond, i may upload some pics if I get a chance and the camera co-operates

 

[melosu58]

Instead i'm doing 10% PWC's weekly, is this enough?

In a tank that small I would not do a skimmer. PWC`s will do what you need for it to do.
BTW your coral and fish might not make it through the cycle. Even though they look like it`s OK ammonia will destroy it unless the LR is already cured. Read this to know what they are going through.

http://www.aquariumadvice.com/articles/articles/3/1/Cycle-your-salt-tank/Page1.html

 

[OceanMist]

Thanks for the reply, i'm pretty sure the tank is cycled, I used a raw shrimp to start the cycle a couple of months ago and saw an ammonia and nitrite spike at which point I added the live rock (which was cured) which reduced these to 0 after a few days, the nitrate has been reducing for the past 3 weeks or so since I started doing water changes.

btw, the clownfish were only added a few days ago, the toadstool I got for cheap as the guy who was selling it had them dividing all over his tank (the main one was over 18" wide), so I took a chance with it and it has done fine.