Newb Reefer Help Please

Kippers78 · Aug 21, 2020

Hi all,

I recently bought a Red Sea Reefer E170 with sump from a guy at work who has thrown in the towel. He gave me everything he had including... Seneye reef, 4 stage rodi system, Bubble Magnus Skimmer, salt mixing station, Red Sea test kits, spare pump and jecod wave maker, reactor, food, doser/coral additives, mp10 wave maker and loads more stuff for maintenance. After a little price haggling I convinced him to help me set it up. He suggested I buy 30lb of Fiji pink live sand and 35b of Liferock online, I followed his instructions about cycling the tank and on Saturday I filled it with my newly mixed salt water, I poured 2oz of fritz turbo start 900 in the tank and bought two clowns from my LFS the following day. Ok this is about the point where I found this amazing forum and realised that this wasn’t the best way to cycle my new tank

I have tested my parameters daily and everything is looking ok the clowns seem happy swimming around the tank. The Seneye is reporting I have 0.001 Ammonia the RedSea test kit shows zero Nitrite and Nitrate is somewhere between 2-5, Ph is 8.3 and alkalinity is 8.5.

Got a few questions if you guys can help please.... desperate to get this done right after jumping the gun!

1. Is it a good idea to pour the other half of my Fritz bottle in tomorrow?
2. When should I start skimming and how often should I be changing my filter sock?
3. Can I put my light on at all? Or should I wait a month? I did read BRS suggested 4 months
4. Should I wait a few weeks before I add a small clean up crew?
5. Is it a good idea to start doing a weekly 10%/15% water change this weekend?

Thanks in advance, I look forward to getting some better advice.

Ron Reefman · Aug 21, 2020

1. Is it a good idea to pour the other half of my Fritz bottle in tomorrow?
I never used the stuff. So I won't say yay or nay. But I don't think you need it.

2. When should I start skimming and how often should I be changing my filter sock?
You can start skimming anytime. I try to change my filter sock just before it stats to overflow... and 50% of the time I don't do it until it overflows. But I also run 25% with no filter sock because my tank nutrient level gets too low and I start to get low nutrient algae issues.

3. Can I put my light on at all? Or should I wait a month? I did read BRS suggested 4 months
$ months!!! That's crazy. But then I take BRS with a big grain of salt. You can start running lights whenever you want. They don't do much but light up the tank early on. But eventually you'll have photosynthetic things in the tank and light, especially blue spectrum, will be important.

4. Should I wait a few weeks before I add a small clean up crew?
I would advise it, yes. Taking your time to get things going now will be very helpful in the future.

5. Is it a good idea to start doing a weekly 10%/15% water change this weekend?
You didn't tell us how long the tank has been running or where you are in the nitrogen cycle. Water changes now are a bit less important than they will be once you have more livestock.

If any of this doesn't make sense to you, feel free to ask more questions. I've been in the hobby for 20 years and have started my share of new tanks... including a new 10g holding tank for critters I just brought back from snorkeling in the Florida Keys.

un5tab1e · Aug 21, 2020

With the Fritz it's 1oz for 25 gallon and the 170 is what 45? So yes I would add it now.
Keep the skimmer off for awhile 2 clowns isn't going to do much. Fritz directions says not to skim at least 5 days after treating.
Lights, turn on for a bit if you want to observe your fish but, no coral so they aren't needed.
Clean up crew I would wait a little because they have nothing to clean up and will starve.
Never used Fritz but, have used Dr. Tim's I think it says wait something like 2 weeks before the water change.

ReefReadyYouTube · Aug 21, 2020

I pour the other half in tomorrow and you’ll probably just want to change your filter sock when it looks dirty depending on how much you feed. Other than that I’d do a 10%. Water change when your phosphates get a little to high. But you should be fine over all. And you can turn the lights on with 8-9 hours of light. When I set up my reef tanks I turn the lights on day one.