Our 55 Gallon Fish Only Tank (New to the Hobby)

[rotarygeek]

Im half tempted to tell you your tank has already cycled.. by the diotom blooms and the fact that the shrimp pretty much deteriorated. But if you are testing your water and never saw a spike, you cant be sure. i would tell you to add a couple larger peices of shrimp in some pantyhose and test your water about 12 hours later and keep testing it till you actually see some kind of spike. Pull the shrimp out as soon as you see a visible spike so you dont hurt your cuc, but forcing it to spike is pretty much the only way to be sure. And as for getting rid of your diotom algea, if you have your lights on a timer, set the lights to come on a couple hours later and turn off a couple hours earlier and it will clear up pretty soon. Its a sign of a newly cycled tank. Im having the same problem with my tank, i just dont like having my lights off.... its so pretty i like to be able to see it and show it off. But it looks like your off to a great start, keep your patience though.

 

[rune]

Here are a few updated photos. We still have a horrible diatom bloom but our two little clowns are doing great. Enjoy the bad photos My camera isn't that great!

 

[rune]

It's been awhile since I updated but that was mainly because we haven't changed much. We wanted to give the tank time to mature and do as much research as we could on the fish we wanted. In addition to that it's been hard finding a good fish store in the area although the closest one recently changed management and has improved by leaps and bounds.
We currently have 2 clowns, 1 Dragon Goby, 1 Skunk Shrimp, and several snails and hermits.
We are using a wet/dry with bio-balls and live rock as well as a standard protein skimmer for filtration. All the rock and sand stats remain the same as posted above.


Any suggestions on peaceful community fish to go with ours?
Thanks!