stanleo
New Member
So I started trying to make a great saltwater tank out of a not so good tank about 2 months ago. Here's what I have done so far
1. Changed 90% of the water
2. scrubbed everything in the tank including the rocks, all equipment and thoroughly vacuumed the sand. Only lost one fish through this and that one wasn't doing so good before I started.
3. waited 2 weeks and cleaned the filters.
4. waited another month and changed all the filter media. It did have ceramic and a couple bags of carbon that hadn't been changed in I don't know how long. The filters are a 304 canister fluval and a 305 canister fluval. They now have sponges and one layer is floss, the second is carbon, and the third is floss. Both filters.
5. Added more CUC just this week. there are now 20 hermits, 10 Astraea snails, 4 nassarius snails and 1 emerald crab.
water tests are
ammonia 0, nitrites 0, calcium 520, nitrates 10, phosphates. 0.1, specific gravity is 1.023.
It does have a protein skimmer but I don't know what kind. No sump. I have a pic of the skimmer
Its a 55g with 2 leather corals, a batch of star polyps, a clown fish, six line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, and a green chromis.
50 lbs of live rock and live sand
The lighting is one t5 actenic and one t5 daylight bulb and the photoperiod is 9 hrs a day.
Maintenance is 20%WC weekly, scrub glass every other day, clean filters once a month and scrub the equipment once a month. Use RO water for the changes. Empty the protein skimmer daily.
I am at the end of what I know to do based on my research. Do I have enough CUC? How long should I wait till I add more corals or fish? And anything else you might be able to tell me would be great. Thank you.
This is right after I cleaned everything 3 months ago
This is today
This is a close up of the powerhead I put in new when I started this 3 months ago. Is that too much algae growth?
1. Changed 90% of the water
2. scrubbed everything in the tank including the rocks, all equipment and thoroughly vacuumed the sand. Only lost one fish through this and that one wasn't doing so good before I started.
3. waited 2 weeks and cleaned the filters.
4. waited another month and changed all the filter media. It did have ceramic and a couple bags of carbon that hadn't been changed in I don't know how long. The filters are a 304 canister fluval and a 305 canister fluval. They now have sponges and one layer is floss, the second is carbon, and the third is floss. Both filters.
5. Added more CUC just this week. there are now 20 hermits, 10 Astraea snails, 4 nassarius snails and 1 emerald crab.
water tests are
ammonia 0, nitrites 0, calcium 520, nitrates 10, phosphates. 0.1, specific gravity is 1.023.
It does have a protein skimmer but I don't know what kind. No sump. I have a pic of the skimmer
Its a 55g with 2 leather corals, a batch of star polyps, a clown fish, six line wrasse, lawnmower blenny, and a green chromis.
50 lbs of live rock and live sand
The lighting is one t5 actenic and one t5 daylight bulb and the photoperiod is 9 hrs a day.
Maintenance is 20%WC weekly, scrub glass every other day, clean filters once a month and scrub the equipment once a month. Use RO water for the changes. Empty the protein skimmer daily.
I am at the end of what I know to do based on my research. Do I have enough CUC? How long should I wait till I add more corals or fish? And anything else you might be able to tell me would be great. Thank you.
This is right after I cleaned everything 3 months ago
This is today
This is a close up of the powerhead I put in new when I started this 3 months ago. Is that too much algae growth?
