bennerkla
New Member
Hi all,
New to this forum, was on Reef Central back in the day. Getting back into the hobby after a 15 year break. I had a 75 gallon from 2002-2006 and a 5.5 nano for a year. Figured this would be a good step to see what direction I'd like to go in future, plus I live in a condo so I don't have a ton of space.
Tank is currently going through cycle, about 2 weeks in. Everything is stock so far besides I replaced the ATO with the Reefbuilders ATO, also added an Innovative Marine 5 gallon reservoir underneath, has been through about 3 gallons of evaporation in 11 days. Arag-Alive fine sand, about 15lbs of CaribSea life rock shapes. Also added a small powerhead to increase flow a bit.
Testing is below, looks like about what I would expect so far. However, the Hanna salinity monitor seems to be registering a different salinity than my refractometer. I'm leaning towards trusting my refractometer more as they're both recently calibrated. Shame, as it was expensive!
Looking to stock two clownfish (real original, I know, but they're my favorite), then let it rest for a few months before introducing some corals: zoas, GSPs, pulsing xenia (on an island), mushrooms to start. Anemone in 6 months or so if things are stable. I'm fulling expecting for algae blooms at some point so will wait for that to subside before more fish / delicate coral.
New to this forum, was on Reef Central back in the day. Getting back into the hobby after a 15 year break. I had a 75 gallon from 2002-2006 and a 5.5 nano for a year. Figured this would be a good step to see what direction I'd like to go in future, plus I live in a condo so I don't have a ton of space.
Tank is currently going through cycle, about 2 weeks in. Everything is stock so far besides I replaced the ATO with the Reefbuilders ATO, also added an Innovative Marine 5 gallon reservoir underneath, has been through about 3 gallons of evaporation in 11 days. Arag-Alive fine sand, about 15lbs of CaribSea life rock shapes. Also added a small powerhead to increase flow a bit.
Testing is below, looks like about what I would expect so far. However, the Hanna salinity monitor seems to be registering a different salinity than my refractometer. I'm leaning towards trusting my refractometer more as they're both recently calibrated. Shame, as it was expensive!
Looking to stock two clownfish (real original, I know, but they're my favorite), then let it rest for a few months before introducing some corals: zoas, GSPs, pulsing xenia (on an island), mushrooms to start. Anemone in 6 months or so if things are stable. I'm fulling expecting for algae blooms at some point so will wait for that to subside before more fish / delicate coral.
| Days | Ammonia | Nitrite | Nitrate | pH | Salinity (Hanna) | Refractometer | |
| 0 | 9/25 | 3.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | 35 | |
| 1 | 9/26 | 2.00 | 0.00 | 0.00 | - | 35 | |
| 4 | 9/29 | 2.00 | 0.20 | 0.00 | - | 35 | |
| 8 | 10/3 | 1.60 | 1.00 | 5.00 | 8 | 34 | |
| 11 | 10/6 | 1.20 | 2.00 | 35.00 | 34 | ||
| 13 | 10/8 | 1.40 | 2+ | 33.5 | |||
| 14 | 10/9 | 0.80 | infinite | 40.00 | 8 | 33 | 34.5 |
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