Zach's First Reef Tank!

[Zachary0]

Hello, I just started my fist tank a few days ago. It is a 32 gallon Fluval all in one tank. I used live rocks, wet sand, got my water from the aquarium store, and used FritzZyme Turbo Start Saltwater 900. I am maintaing the water temp at 79F. I added my first two clown fish yesterday and so far it is going well. I am currently monitoring Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite levels to track the first cycle. I am looking forward to learning more and hopefully building a beautiful reef. I would appreciate any advise that can be offered. Thanks!

Update #1 (8/23/2023)- My tank has been going well. I believe I am starting to get some diatoms in the bottom of my tank. On the 20th I added a couple of turbo snails and a cleaner shrimp after talking to my local fish store. They tested my water and told my first cycle completed. I have been tracking the results of my tests in excel to try to better visualize what is going on.

My Numbers:

My Tank:
8/14/2023

8/23/2023

Note: I think I will do future updates as comments on this thread to simplify updating.

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Hello, I just started my fist tank a few days ago. It is a 32 gallon Fluval all in one tank. I used live rocks, wet sand, got my water from the aquarium store, and used FritzZyme Turbo Start Saltwater 900. I am maintaing the water temp at 79F. I added my first two clown fish yesterday and so far it is going well. I am currently monitoring Ammonia, Nitrate, and Nitrite levels to track the first cycle. I am looking forward to learning more and hopefully building a beautiful reef. I would appreciate any advise that can be offered. Thanks!


My Current Tank:

8/14/2023

I like the aquascape in your tank! Following along for sure!

 

[BanZI29]

Good looking tank so far. following too.

 

[XtraKargo]

Looking good! The sides remind me of a fun house mirror, I bet a peek in from one of the sides look really neat.

 

[drdripp]

Cute fish! I started a couple of months ago with clowns. My advice is not to panic too much when you get nitrite readings; nitrite is not really toxic to fish in saltwater. When your nitrite reads zero after the spike, it means your cycle has completed.

Before I learned this, I was using a lot of Seachem Prime whenever I saw nitrite readings (wasting money).

You are performing a live cycle.

In general, ensuring ammonia is low is the most important issue. When you perform ammonia tests, you're actually getting the total ammonia + ammonium concentration. Ammonium isn't toxic but ammonia is very toxic. You generally want ammonia to be 0.

However, it is certain that your ammonia test will show higher than 0 during your cycle. That is OK, as long as only your ammonium is high, and not your ammonia. Keeping your pH lower can ensure this, as the ratio of ammonia to ammonium changes with pH. I personally had mine at 7.5 until my cycle was over. Some sources say that 0.1 ppm of NH3 (ammonia) is the level to take corrective action, but it's hard to get a solid safe number because there technically is no safe number. Any amount of ammonia (NH3) is bad for fish.

Read this article: https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-02/rhf/index.php

Consider the following graph:

Make any changes to your tank gradually!

 

[Zachary0]

Cute fish! I started a couple of months ago with clowns. My advice is not to panic too much when you get nitrite readings; nitrite is not really toxic to fish in saltwater. When your nitrite reads zero after the spike, it means your cycle has completed.

Before I learned this, I was using a lot of Seachem Prime whenever I saw nitrite readings (wasting money).

You are performing a live cycle.

In general, ensuring ammonia is low is the most important issue. When you perform ammonia tests, you're actually getting the total ammonia + ammonium concentration. Ammonium isn't toxic but ammonia is very toxic. You generally want ammonia to be 0.

However, it is certain that your ammonia test will show higher than 0 during your cycle. That is OK, as long as only your ammonium is high, and not your ammonia. Keeping your pH lower can ensure this, as the ratio of ammonia to ammonium changes with pH. I personally had mine at 7.5 until my cycle was over. Some sources say that 0.1 ppm of NH3 (ammonia) is the level to take corrective action, but it's hard to get a solid safe number because there technically is no safe number. Any amount of ammonia (NH3) is bad for fish.

Read this article: https://reefkeeping.com/issues/2007-02/rhf/index.php

Consider the following graph:

Make any changes to your tank gradually!

Thanks for the advice! I will definitely keep that in mind.