Hey folks! Let’s dive right in!
I set up a 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo SW/reef tank with Caribe sea live sand and a mix legitimate Live rock and the painted “Life” rock Bc I thought it was actual coraline algae, . Set up a decent arch way for the future residents. I have a mini Biocube Protien skimmer running in compartment 1, heater which I don’t think kicks on, lights seem to generate a fair amount of heat temp is holding around 78-80 .
Regarding live stock there is 1 Chromis Damsel. 1small Orange Zoa colony (about 6 polyps) various colored coraline algae and I’ve observed several different critters/plants. I am testing my water myself But sometimes struggle with reading colorimetric results confidently. I took a sample to my LFS and they verified most of my results, my nitrate reading was a tad off but both within tolerable limits. My LFS says the tanks is nearing the end of the cycle here are my Chems (if you are still reading )
Salinity: 1.024
Calcium: 480
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0-0.25 (my result vs theirs)
Nitrate: 5 (they said not to worry about water change until I get to 10-20ish) is this true?
Phos: O
dKh- 12
ph: 8.1
I’m feeding Prime reef flakes (also have frozen brine shrimp but the Chromis didn’t seem that interested.)
Their suggestion is that my tank should be ready to accept more live stock in about a week.
Chromis is behaving normally spending some times exploring, other times just chilling at the sand bed and other times swimming around the tank, accepting food. I feed conservatively while the bacteria Build (I did Dose with a bacteria kick starter product) I’ll include pictures. Some algae have bubbles and I’ve read about Dino, my new protien skimmer has been producing micro bubbles which have attached to not only algae but also plain rock and hardware. The bubbles are decreasing in the water flow so I’m going to monitor and not jump to it being an invader, time will tell . I don’t have a quarantine tank.
I set up a 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo SW/reef tank with Caribe sea live sand and a mix legitimate Live rock and the painted “Life” rock Bc I thought it was actual coraline algae, . Set up a decent arch way for the future residents. I have a mini Biocube Protien skimmer running in compartment 1, heater which I don’t think kicks on, lights seem to generate a fair amount of heat temp is holding around 78-80 .
Regarding live stock there is 1 Chromis Damsel. 1small Orange Zoa colony (about 6 polyps) various colored coraline algae and I’ve observed several different critters/plants. I am testing my water myself But sometimes struggle with reading colorimetric results confidently. I took a sample to my LFS and they verified most of my results, my nitrate reading was a tad off but both within tolerable limits. My LFS says the tanks is nearing the end of the cycle here are my Chems (if you are still reading )
Salinity: 1.024
Calcium: 480
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite:0-0.25 (my result vs theirs)
Nitrate: 5 (they said not to worry about water change until I get to 10-20ish) is this true?
Phos: O
dKh- 12
ph: 8.1
I’m feeding Prime reef flakes (also have frozen brine shrimp but the Chromis didn’t seem that interested.)
Their suggestion is that my tank should be ready to accept more live stock in about a week.
Chromis is behaving normally spending some times exploring, other times just chilling at the sand bed and other times swimming around the tank, accepting food. I feed conservatively while the bacteria Build (I did Dose with a bacteria kick starter product) I’ll include pictures. Some algae have bubbles and I’ve read about Dino, my new protien skimmer has been producing micro bubbles which have attached to not only algae but also plain rock and hardware. The bubbles are decreasing in the water flow so I’m going to monitor and not jump to it being an invader, time will tell . I don’t have a quarantine tank.