Reefer Deez
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Hello and top of the morning to you 
your tank looks great keep up the good work!
your tank looks great keep up the good work!
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Welcome to R2R Jess!Hi all, just wanted to introduce myself.
I am new to the saltwater hobby. I have a 65 gallon tank. It's been up and running for almost 2 weeks now.
I added reeflowers pearl white sand and some dead rock which I had in a bucket for approx 2 weeks along with a powehead and heater before adding to the tank.
Also have 2 powerheads and a canister filter, no sump here, it's basically a freshwater tank been used for saltwater. Don't ask why, it just happened
So far I have 2 x Clownfish and what I believe is a Bicolor Angelfish.
The Clownfish have been in there since day one (added them along with ATM Marine) and the Anglefish was added a week later.
Everything is looking good right now but I am seeing a lot of brown spots on my white sand and rock?
Any ideas what the brown spots are, maybe diatoms??
Lovemyreef2015
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Welcome to R2R
Well there's a few schools of thought on water changes...
When first starting up a tank, you probably don't have a "need" for them from a nutrient-reduction perspective.
But...where are you on the nitrogen cycle?
When first starting up a tank, you probably don't have a "need" for them from a nutrient-reduction perspective.
But...where are you on the nitrogen cycle?
Well, I started the tank on 11/05, left it for 24 hrs, added atm marine colony along with 2 clownfish, the fish seem to be doing great, I tested the water with an api test kit, very small amount of ammonia (almost zero) no nitrite and nitrate kinda somewhere between 0ppm and 5.0ppm ( I think, the color on the vial is difficult to match to the one on the chart so I say somewhere in between).
Like I said, the fish seem to be doing great but not sure.
Just looking for some guidance here as this is my first saltwater tank.
Like I said, the fish seem to be doing great but not sure.
Just looking for some guidance here as this is my first saltwater tank.
I would do minimum 10% PWCs weekly for at least a few months, only because you are cycling with fish and you want to minimize the stress. There are many things you cannot test for that can be stressors.
If you test any ammonia at all, that's not good. That's a major stressor for fish.
Nitrite below 100ppm (that's correct, 100) is not toxic in saltwater so don't worry about that level, but you still want to test for it because it tells you where you are in your cycle, or more specifically, if there is a cycle still occurring. If you read an nitrite, that means ammonia is getting converted to nitrite but nitrite is not getting converted to nitrate.
Since you're reading nitrate, it's likely you have enough bacteria to handle the bioload. But you need to be cautious on feeding (very light) because regardless of how you "seeded" the bacterial colony, it's going to be unstable until it naturally takes hold.
If you test any ammonia at all, that's not good. That's a major stressor for fish.
Nitrite below 100ppm (that's correct, 100) is not toxic in saltwater so don't worry about that level, but you still want to test for it because it tells you where you are in your cycle, or more specifically, if there is a cycle still occurring. If you read an nitrite, that means ammonia is getting converted to nitrite but nitrite is not getting converted to nitrate.
Since you're reading nitrate, it's likely you have enough bacteria to handle the bioload. But you need to be cautious on feeding (very light) because regardless of how you "seeded" the bacterial colony, it's going to be unstable until it naturally takes hold.
Yes, that's what I thought with regards feeding, I am feeding just a really small amount of food once a day.
With regards the PWCs, that seems like sound advice and I will get right on it.
Thanks for taking the time to post, much appreciated!
With regards the PWCs, that seems like sound advice and I will get right on it.
Thanks for taking the time to post, much appreciated!
You're welcome!
So the RO water will be ready to use in a few hrs as I prepared it last night, just wondering should I also siphon the sand, as it's gone a little brown?
also, the LFS said it would be a good idea to add some Reef Flowers Bacteria Feeder to my tank a couple weeks back but I haven't used it as can't seem to fine and info /reviews online, anyone used it before and would it be beneficial to my tank?
also, the LFS said it would be a good idea to add some Reef Flowers Bacteria Feeder to my tank a couple weeks back but I haven't used it as can't seem to fine and info /reviews online, anyone used it before and would it be beneficial to my tank?
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