Thinking about starting a reef tank again

[Sniperhank]

If you added ammonia on Friday, meaning last Friday, you aren't dosing enough. You want to have 2 ppm ammonia able to be processed in a 24 hour period. If you get a reading of 0 ammonia after a couple of days, you need to add more.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

If you added ammonia on Friday, meaning last Friday, you aren't dosing enough. You want to have 2 ppm ammonia able to be processed in a 24 hour period. If you get a reading of 0 ammonia after a couple of days, you need to add more.

Sorry I started dosing ammonia just over two weeks ago. The first day I dosed with ammonia I also used marine colony (which you are supposedly allowed to add livestock with straight away) but I didn't want to chance adding livestock so I just dosed ammonia.

I tested every day and there was readings of ammonia and nitrites for the first few days. I have dosed ammonia 4 times altogether now and the last two times I dosed I got readings of 0 ammonia after 24hrs. I guess I never got a high ammonia spike as the marine colony worked to an extent.

I added my cuc on Monday as the ammonia was being processed in a 24hr period (last Friday - Saturday) so I am pretty confident my tank has cycled.

I was just confused about the nitrates disappearing. I was going to get my first fish today but I don't want to if there is something wrong. I wasn't sure if the diatoms dying off affected the nitrates or I'm missing something else or my test kit has gone off. It's just pretty strange how I was getting a reading of 3ppm nitrates on Thursday then 0 on Friday.

 

[Sniperhank]

If you have 0 ammonia and nitrite readings after 24 hours, then you are good for livestock.
As for the nitrates disappearing, that could be anaerobic bacteria at work. They live in areas where oxygen can't reach and can consume nitrates. Could have been included in your bottle...not much is stated about the bacteria claimed to be contained in them, which is why it is hard to swallow the claims...along with hit or miss results. I think at the end of the day they have an undocumented shelf life.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

If you have 0 ammonia and nitrite readings after 24 hours, then you are good for livestock.
As for the nitrates disappearing, that could be anaerobic bacteria at work. They live in areas where oxygen can't reach and can consume nitrates. Could have been included in your bottle...not much is stated about the bacteria claimed to be contained in them, which is why it is hard to swallow the claims...along with hit or miss results. I think at the end of the day they have an undocumented shelf life.

Thanks sniperhank. I took water samples to my lfs yesterday and they got the same readings as me although they said they saw slight traces of nitrate.

So it looks like it's a trip to my lfs today for my first fish.

I just have no idea what I want to keep! I know I want a fire fish and a sand sifting goby. Although I saw a tangerine striped goby yesterday that was pretty awesome!

 

[Chris-Nicol]

I am looking for a light for my refugium and seen this

TMC V2ILUMEN AIR NANO - NATURAL DAYLIGHT

Do you think it will be a good enough light to grow cheeto? Also I want the light to give me the benefit of photosynthesis to reduce the ph swing at night.

This is a pretty cheap light but want to make sure it will be sufficient enough. If not does anyone recommend a light for this purpose?

 

[Sniperhank]

You can grow cheato with even a cheap clip on work light and a energy saving twist bulb. The better the light, the better the algae grows. That light will do the trick.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

You can grow cheato with even a cheap clip on work light and a energy saving twist bulb. The better the light, the better the algae grows. That light will do the trick.

Yeah I ended up watching a BRS video on YouTube which helped. Thanks

What test kits do you use? The guy at my lfs said that the Red Sea test kits were basically a waste of time except for the phosphate one.

I thought the Red Sea kit were supposed to be up there with the best?

 

[Sniperhank]

I use Hanna checkers...but in reality I don't even actively test on my current system. It is managed all through water changes at this point. I do have a red sea test kit...just don't recall what it is in all reality. It's in a box under the tank with everything else.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Does anyone use the hydra HD lights or know much about them?

I want to get a lighting schedule made up for when I start keeping corals. I don't plan on getting any for a couple of months but I plan on getting some zoas or something easy to start with.

Is it just a case of playing around with the lighting to start with to see how the corals react? Also can I acclimate corals that require lower lighting to brighter lighting when I come to keeping corals that require such lighting?

 

[Sniperhank]

AI hydras are one of the top end lights.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Yeah when I was looking into lighting there seemed to be a lot of good reviews about them. I was originally going to go for 2 x 26 but ended up getting the 52s. Thought I might as well go all out now rather than upgrading further down the line.

I'm just not sure about what power to have them at. My last tank was just t5's which were simply on and off lol.

I've just got them set to round about the 30% mark right now with a 3hour ramp and they are in for a total of 10hrs a day (including ramp times) just not sure what to have them at when I start keeping corals

 

[Sniperhank]

I wouldn't have them ever turn on higher than 70%. My radions peak at 65% currently.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Little progress update.

Clowns went to town on each other when they were first introduced but calmed down after a couple of days. They still have a little domestic now and again but I one has grown slightly since being in the tank already so I guess she will be queen bee.

I don't plan on keeping one in the near future but what type of anemones would host these clowns? I just want to know so I can research and think about which anemone to get if I have a few options. Not even sure if I'm getting one at all yet

 

[Sniperhank]

A bubble tip anemone is the most common. There are others, but it is always hit or miss if either wants anything to do with one another.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

I was talking to the guy at my lfs about bubble tips and how I had read a lot of comments and seen videos about how the loose their bubbled tips. He said the problem is that most people feed them when in fact they are filter feeders and if they get fed they loose their bubble because they don't have to filter. Is this true or is he blowing me smoke?

 

[Sniperhank]

There is no proof one way or another as to why BTA's bubble while others don't. There are pictures of them in people's systems side by side, literal splits of one anemone, where one bubbles and the other doesn't. There are tons of theories out there, but no one has studied it to prove anything.
One thing I know for sure, is that my BTA crawled off somewhere into the tank and most likely died. Even my carpet anemones bleached in color. LTA doesn't care one way or another. Anemone are just weird, brainless creatures that won't make sense if you try to make sense of them.

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Haven't had an update in a while.

Got a couple of new additions (pics to follow) I got myself a firefish and 2 green chromis. I wanted to stay away from the chromis but just wanted something to bring the tank to life for the time being.

I have had a couple of issues. Although my plan was to qt all fish before they went into my display I only got the qt tank at the weekend. Anyway I have noticed that my firefish has ich. I did consider trying to catch him and the other fish and put them in the qt tank and do hyposalinity. Then I thought trying to catch the firefish would just be a joke and would probably just stress him out even more so I am just keeping an eye on him for now. All other fish seem fine and show no signs of it.

The second issue is that my clowns have started fighting again but it's a lot worse this time. The more dominant one (bigger one as well) just chases the little guy every chance she gets unless he is in one litte spot. He's not allowed to move from there and he's lost colour and looks pretty beat up. He sneaks out at night and in the mornings and he manages to get some food at feeding times. This has been about a week now. I know fighting is normal until the decide which one is the dominant one but it's pretty brutal to watch. Is it normal to happen for this long and for a second time?

I have been keeping up with tank maintenance religiously doing around 15% pwc every week, changing filter socks every 4-5 days.

Parameters are

Ph 8.2
Sg 1.023
Am 0
Nitri 0
Nitra 0
Phos 0.04ppm
Alk 7

Also is this phosphate level too high or is it acceptable?

 

[Chris-Nicol]

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Also couldn't help myself. Seen this pulsing Xenia in the lfs and couldn't stop watching it so I decided to try out a little frag. I've kept it away from the main scape though incase it spreads

 

[Chris-Nicol]

Here's a better pic