So I finally took the plunge into this new hobby and thought I would post my journey for anyone who is interested and hopefully pick up some solid advise on the way.
Equipment List:
Fluval Evo 13.5
Jecod SW2 Wavemaker
EHEIM Jager 50w Heater (middle chamber)
Removed stock filter and just added a filter pad into chamber 1.
Process:
9th June: 5kg (11lbs) of live rock and a bag of CaribSea live sand of about the same weight (10lbs) added and then filled it up with salt water from my LFS to start my cycling process.
Observations:
PH was around 8.3 on day 1.
Ammonia and Nitrite tests have so far been 0.
I've spotted a tiny snail walking around the rock, a tiny dead shrimp looking thing floating around and another unknown critter on the rock (see below pics). Along with tiny transulent fingers starting to wave on the rock.
26th June Update: A seriou update since my first post. I had a baby girl a week ago so that has really helped with the impatience on the tank. Now I stand and stare at her instead of my empty tank!
Tank wise, I've added 2 hermits and 2 turbo snails to eat away at the diatoms and algae growing on the rock. Looking to add a small clown next week and hopefully 1 or 2 coral. Want to go with GSP but don't want it to take over my tank, any suggestions where on my scape would be a good spot?
And what other coral should I start off with?
I'm also really intruiged on having dragonsbreath macro algae in the display tank if I can get my hands on some in Northern Ireland.. thoughts?
So far I've only been testing temp, PH, Nitrite, salinity and Ammonia. Now that I'm adding corals and fish what do I need to add to the list. Presumably nitrate, but what else?
Equipment List:
Fluval Evo 13.5
Jecod SW2 Wavemaker
EHEIM Jager 50w Heater (middle chamber)
Removed stock filter and just added a filter pad into chamber 1.
Process:
9th June: 5kg (11lbs) of live rock and a bag of CaribSea live sand of about the same weight (10lbs) added and then filled it up with salt water from my LFS to start my cycling process.
Observations:
PH was around 8.3 on day 1.
Ammonia and Nitrite tests have so far been 0.
I've spotted a tiny snail walking around the rock, a tiny dead shrimp looking thing floating around and another unknown critter on the rock (see below pics). Along with tiny transulent fingers starting to wave on the rock.
26th June Update: A seriou update since my first post. I had a baby girl a week ago so that has really helped with the impatience on the tank. Now I stand and stare at her instead of my empty tank!
Tank wise, I've added 2 hermits and 2 turbo snails to eat away at the diatoms and algae growing on the rock. Looking to add a small clown next week and hopefully 1 or 2 coral. Want to go with GSP but don't want it to take over my tank, any suggestions where on my scape would be a good spot?
And what other coral should I start off with?
I'm also really intruiged on having dragonsbreath macro algae in the display tank if I can get my hands on some in Northern Ireland.. thoughts?
So far I've only been testing temp, PH, Nitrite, salinity and Ammonia. Now that I'm adding corals and fish what do I need to add to the list. Presumably nitrate, but what else?
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