VAreef
Reefing newb
Ok, well after lots of work I now have for my complete set up.
System is a 65 gallon tank, 30 gal sump(half full), 2-3 inches sand and crushed coral mix in tank, 3 inches live sand in refugium, small clump of macro algae in refugium, 150w MH, 130w blue actinic flourescent, Corallife 125 protein skimmer, and it has been up right around 2 months. Protein skimmer and sump have only been going for 3 weeks to a month at most.
My water parameters are (before I do todays water change)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20ppm
pH - 8.2
salinity - 1.020
Livestock now (after some fishing and crabbing)
1 single poor lonely chromis
3 left handed zebra crabs
5 turbo snails
one hitchhiker snail I just found (no idea what kind but real small).
(Damsels and Sally lightfoots in the refugium going back to the LFS later today)
I did over feed a little hoping to keep the two sally lightfoot's full before I got them out as my nitrates have been at 5ppm the past 2 weeks.
I plan on doing a 25% water change today and add in a higher salinity of make-up water.
Here is one question. I have a base water volume of 80 gal with right around 100 lbs of rock. My base calculations show that ignoring the rock my 20 gallon water change would need to be 1.032 salinity to achieve a 1.023 final salinity. I know that this is to much though. How can I take into account how much water my rock displaces without removing it from the aquarium again? Is there a better way to adjust salinity levels than what I am doing? Is my math off maybe? It's been 15 years easy since I have done dilution calculations and the gears are a bit rusty. Also, by my calculations this will only drop my nitrates down to 15.25 ppm. Should I do another 25% tomorrow to get them down even more or wait another week? I use a powerhead to blow off all the rocks before I do water changes as well.
My second question is with these parameters how long do you think it will take with me doing proper weekly maintenance before I can add a few easy corals? I want to add 2 hermit crabs along with 3 chromis tomorrow if I can. I know my bioload is fine with that as I had 6 fish with no deaths except from crabs and powerheads(both problems fixed) and my parameters were fine with the only nitrate boost being this week(I think it was my overfeeding that did it). Could I potentually add in a few soft corals next weekend provided my nitrates stay down with water changes?
Another question is should I start testing now for all the reef stuff? I was planning on getting a reef test kit during my weekly LFS journey today as well.
Well I hope this isn't to detailed but wanted to give everyone as much info as possible. I'm getting eager to get those first few corals in the tank.
Thanks for everything everyone. I think things are going well, and all the work has been well worth it so far.
Brian :surfing:
System is a 65 gallon tank, 30 gal sump(half full), 2-3 inches sand and crushed coral mix in tank, 3 inches live sand in refugium, small clump of macro algae in refugium, 150w MH, 130w blue actinic flourescent, Corallife 125 protein skimmer, and it has been up right around 2 months. Protein skimmer and sump have only been going for 3 weeks to a month at most.
My water parameters are (before I do todays water change)
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20ppm
pH - 8.2
salinity - 1.020
Livestock now (after some fishing and crabbing)
1 single poor lonely chromis
3 left handed zebra crabs
5 turbo snails
one hitchhiker snail I just found (no idea what kind but real small).
(Damsels and Sally lightfoots in the refugium going back to the LFS later today)
I did over feed a little hoping to keep the two sally lightfoot's full before I got them out as my nitrates have been at 5ppm the past 2 weeks.
I plan on doing a 25% water change today and add in a higher salinity of make-up water.
Here is one question. I have a base water volume of 80 gal with right around 100 lbs of rock. My base calculations show that ignoring the rock my 20 gallon water change would need to be 1.032 salinity to achieve a 1.023 final salinity. I know that this is to much though. How can I take into account how much water my rock displaces without removing it from the aquarium again? Is there a better way to adjust salinity levels than what I am doing? Is my math off maybe? It's been 15 years easy since I have done dilution calculations and the gears are a bit rusty. Also, by my calculations this will only drop my nitrates down to 15.25 ppm. Should I do another 25% tomorrow to get them down even more or wait another week? I use a powerhead to blow off all the rocks before I do water changes as well.
My second question is with these parameters how long do you think it will take with me doing proper weekly maintenance before I can add a few easy corals? I want to add 2 hermit crabs along with 3 chromis tomorrow if I can. I know my bioload is fine with that as I had 6 fish with no deaths except from crabs and powerheads(both problems fixed) and my parameters were fine with the only nitrate boost being this week(I think it was my overfeeding that did it). Could I potentually add in a few soft corals next weekend provided my nitrates stay down with water changes?
Another question is should I start testing now for all the reef stuff? I was planning on getting a reef test kit during my weekly LFS journey today as well.
Well I hope this isn't to detailed but wanted to give everyone as much info as possible. I'm getting eager to get those first few corals in the tank.
Thanks for everything everyone. I think things are going well, and all the work has been well worth it so far.
Brian :surfing: