Hi all! First time poster, I'm very excited to be here and learn.
I'm very new to reefing - I put together my first tank based on the advice of my LFS on this last Sunday (2/Oct)!
The tank is a completely stock 24g AOI from Aquatop - the Recife ECO 24.
Based on the advice of the LFS I added 20lbs of Live Rock and a bag of live sand as the base, then added a bacteria kickstart (I do not remember the brand, honestly. It was a black bottle).
Then on Tuesday I added my first clown, followed by another on Thursday - I now realize that this is against common advice, that I should have let the tank "cycle" and added ammonia to kickstart that process and measure over time. I am being extremely diligent about checks every day now, a fish-in cycle is scary, but so far my Ammonia and Nitrites are both at 0, nitrates are at around 30. I'm hoping the live rock and sand helps kickstart the cycle rapidly and I don't see any ammonia/Nitrite spikes.
If anyone has advice on some immediate (or long-term) upgrades, or wisdom in general, I'm all ears!
Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and show everyone a picture of the two cute clowns who are now a part of the family.
I'm very new to reefing - I put together my first tank based on the advice of my LFS on this last Sunday (2/Oct)!
The tank is a completely stock 24g AOI from Aquatop - the Recife ECO 24.
Based on the advice of the LFS I added 20lbs of Live Rock and a bag of live sand as the base, then added a bacteria kickstart (I do not remember the brand, honestly. It was a black bottle).
Then on Tuesday I added my first clown, followed by another on Thursday - I now realize that this is against common advice, that I should have let the tank "cycle" and added ammonia to kickstart that process and measure over time. I am being extremely diligent about checks every day now, a fish-in cycle is scary, but so far my Ammonia and Nitrites are both at 0, nitrates are at around 30. I'm hoping the live rock and sand helps kickstart the cycle rapidly and I don't see any ammonia/Nitrite spikes.
If anyone has advice on some immediate (or long-term) upgrades, or wisdom in general, I'm all ears!
Anyway, I just wanted to introduce myself and show everyone a picture of the two cute clowns who are now a part of the family.