New Reefer | Denville, NJ

FrickMasterFlex · Jan 4, 2021

Hey all! New reefer here. I had grown up with a 55-gallon freshwater aquarium that I loved but haven't had my own tank for over a decade. So, given the COVID quarantine, I dove into and did extensive research into saltwater reef tanks, and I built one out piece by piece. It's a super basic, 20-gal acrylic tank with all the fixings. I got everything in the other day, mixed the water to the perfect salinity, 3 nice pieces of dry rock w/ sand that I am helping accelerate the cycle with MicroBacter Dry Rock solution. Tanks been running about 4-5 days now, and it looks fantastic. Salinity has remained solid, and I've done RODI top offs that I read about as water has begun to evaporate. I plan on getting an ammonia and nitrite test kit in the coming days to make sure those levels get down to 0 where they need to be. And then..... help!

- Am I ready to start adding a single fish to the tank? I've ready that clown fish are great starter fish, and that fish should be introduced solo and spaced out.
- Do I do the fish first, then the CUC? Is there a time limit that I should wait before introducing the CUC?
- Corals.... going to wait a bit for these. But what would a general timeframe be to consider adding them?

Appreciate everyone's help. I did some research on threads to make sure I wasn't repeating previous one's, and even though I'm sure I am in some capacity, hoping one of you can shed some light on the above questions. Thanks!

Billdogg · Jan 4, 2021

PLEASE DO NOT add fish until the cycle is complete! Get a test kit and ghost feed a pinch of food daily. The ammonia will spike, then Nitrites. When both are at 0 and your Nitrates have begun to climb, do a 10% water change and then get a fish or two.

You will stand the best chance with corals if you wait a few months after the cycle is done. This will allow the tank to settle in a bit and maybe be most of the way through the "uglies" (you'll know them when you get them!)

What type of lighting do you have? That will, in large part, dictate the types of corals you can keep.

FrickMasterFlex · Jan 4, 2021

Billdogg said:
PLEASE DO NOT add fish until the cycle is complete! Get a test kit and ghost feed a pinch of food daily. The ammonia will spike, then Nitrites. When both are at 0 and your Nitrates have begun to climb, do a 10% water change and then get a fish or two.

You will stand the best chance with corals if you wait a few months after the cycle is done. This will allow the tank to settle in a bit and maybe be most of the way through the "uglies" (you'll know them when you get them!)

What type of lighting do you have? That will, in large part, dictate the types of corals you can keep.

Got it. Appreciate the insight! So I want the ammonia to spike via the ghost feed that I'll do daily, and then when it spikes, do I stop the ghost feeding let the tank cycle to get it to 0? Then, when it does, 10% water change? As for the lighting, the fixture I got has 445nm and 460nm blue, 10,000K white, and RGB LED's.