new to AA, and new to SW, evaluate my cycle levels

[mchief]

i inherited from a friend a 45g tank, ugf, 2 ph's (model unknown), fluval 303, CC substrate, no LR or LS

i'm 2 weeks into cycling, i've got one common clown, maybe 2" (i love the little guy so he's not just cycle fodder).

nh3 = 2ppm
no2 = 1ppm
no3 = 0

ph 8.2, sg about 1.023

does this sound about right? i do weekly water changes of about 10%.

 

[nyghtone]

It sounds like your on track, that NH3 is a tad bit high I think, not good for the clownfishs' gills, but they are quite hardy, and should make it throught the cycling process.

Have you discussed the UGF and CC with anyone yet??? Those are very high upkeep pieces of equipment that will require constant cleaning on your part. So long as your not planning on keeping extremely aggresive fish that would eat your cleaning crew, you might look into a Sand bottom with no UGF, they take care of themselves, and CC is a source of nitrate.

I myself am looking forward to adding the sand to my tank next month, the glass bottom is drab, and I think that it looks great, much better than CC, JMO!!

HTH, Joshua...

 

[mchief]

you know, i thought about replacing the cc w/ sand and not putting in the ugf all together but:

1. i'm on a ltd budget for this tank so i didn't want to dump the CC and shell out the cash for sand

2. since i inherited the tank from somebody w/ more knowledge than me, i thought the ugf would be a good thing

so now the question is, do i go through the hassle of removing the ugf and the cc? how do i do it while the tank is up and running and i don't want to kill my clown?

 

[darb2]

I ran a 30 gal with cc and a ugf for 15 years. It is constant upkeep. Detritus gets trapped under the ugf and is impossible to get out. I have heard talk of running a ugf with the ph in reverse, but not sure how that worked out for folks in the long run. I would still reccomend sand.
Check out the articles section off the main page. It has good info