All my questions

[savetheocean]

Hello! I have a 75 gallon aquarium with a sump and a skimmer (and a heater, obviously). I keep the temperature at a solid rate of 78 degrees. I have live sand but the rock I have is man made that had dormant bacteria that awakens when introduced to water. I have been away for the summer with friends tending to the tank so the tank is not at its best, but I plan to do some water changes and clean everything when I get back. I currently have no corals but I will be getting some when I get back. I have 1 white sandshifter goby and 2 clownfish, funny story actually. Before I left we thought one of them died because we havent seen it in weeks but as I was cleaning out the sump and I found him, somehow he went through the filter sock and all the grates and was ALIVE.. ?(Thank god he didnt get sucked up in the return pump) I have the usual cleanup crew.
1. All I am testing for now is ammonia, nitrate, nitrite, and pH. What else do I need? 2. I have a strong flow in my tank. I know thats good but the bad thing is that no food can land on the ground for my cleanup crew. I usually turn everything off to feed them and thats just annoying. Sometimes it looks like my fish are just being pushed around the tank. How do I know if its too strong?
3. Any good brands for coral dips?

IF you guys have any tips it would really help me, thanks!

 

[alyee5]

The first thing I would do is to make sure your tank is cycled since you already have fish in your tank. What are your ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels? I have never heard of the type of rock that has "dormant bacteria" can you explain what this is?

Typically you wouldn't need to worry about purposely feeding a clean up crew unless you added them too early and there is no algae or detritus or leftover food for them to feed/scavenge on. Once your tank matures you shouldn't have to worry about directly feeding your cuc- what do you have by the way.

As far as flow, what are you using for powerheads...if your sand is moving all over the place then maybe it's too high, but it really depends on the type of corals you are planning on getting and how your aquascape interacts with your flow patterns.

I use Coral Rx and it seems to work fine. I have a bottle of Bayer that I might try in the future, but so far Coral Rx has worked.

 

[savetheocean]

As of now, I am away but in 2 weeks I will update this. It has been 4 months since setup, my LFS told me to get 2 clownfish to start the cycle. Last time I checked ammonia was 0.0-0.25 nitrite and nitrate were 0.25-0.50, what are signs that my tank is finished the cycle?

This rock that I have is CaribSea Life Rock

As of my cleanup crew, I have 2 peppermint shrimp, blue legged hermits, super tongan nassarius snails, tuxedo urchin, two more times of crabs that I will find the name for in a second. I have a list somewhere (they are friendly with everyone and I have had no issues with them)

I use an XStream powerhead