Reef help???

[djessem]

Ok I am just going to give a brief history of my somewhat new reef tank and see where some of the more experienced reefers can advise. I am more just wanting to see if im ok up to now.
I have a 55 and there is about 50 Lbs of rock in it with about 50% of that LR and the other 50% being base that came from a 9 year established fish tank. It cycled about 4 weeks like that. I am about finished with a custom canopy in which there will be a 2 - 65 watt pc's and 2- 40 Watt flourescents ( 10000K actic and actinic blue 03). I added a few "critters" - clown fish, a condy, a red banded coral shrimp, and a housekeeping team of hermits ( blue and red legs) and turbo snails. I also have a brittle star that is quite large and stays hidden till dark. I have currently began treating the water with kent marine C-Basic part 1 and 2 in an attempt to stimulate a lil coraline algae . I have 1 350 gph head moving water within the tank and a DIY wet dry made from a rubbermaid container and a self made bioball container. Within the sump is a newly installed skimmer ( venturi type 4 inch diameter) the return pump from the sump can create a huge water storm if desired but it is governed back alot right now. My question is this................am i on the right track. I have added two sets of polyps ( green and orangish yellow) and one mushroom leather. They have yet to acclimate to show great color but are getting there. What do i need to monitor within the tank and how often. Also is the lighting adequate as is?

 

[krishj39]

Sounds pretty good! I'm sure I won't hit on a lot of stuff but I'll ramble on for a while. Your light sounds good for most softies--leathers, mushrooms, polyps and the like. After that, make sure you a lot of research on the coral to be sure you have the light requirement. You could easily change those 2 40w bulbs to 2 110w VHO bulbs later if you needed to, which would give you enough light for essentially all softies and some LPS (frogspawn, torch, plate, candycane, just to name a few). Things to monitor are pH (around 8.3), salinity (1.024-1.026), water temp (78-82F, with very little fluctuation in temp--less than .5 degrees), uh, once your tank is cycled you don't have to test ammonia and nitrite as often, but keep checking nitrates (under 20ppm). If nitrates get off, then make sure you check the trites and ammo. You don't have any calcium needing corals yet, but you do want coraline, so check calcium too (400-475ppm), Alk is another important one (4-4.5meq/L). Periodically you'll want to check phosphates, especially if (when) you struggle with algae. They should be close to zero, less than .3ppm. They are certainly other things to test for, such as silicate and copper (and other heavy metals), but IMO you only need to test for them when you have a suspicion that they are a problem. Lastly, you don't mention what kind of water you are adding. I MOST HIGHLY recommend that you add at least RO water, if not RO/DI water. These filters are expensive, but invaluable.

 

[djessem]

I have not yet invested in a r/o d/o but i have been using store purchased bottled water in 5 gallon containers. Im not sure what the content of the water is but its typical bottled ( and theoretically free from contaminants) water. Will this do for a while or do i need to speed up the timeline for the r/o unit

 

[djessem]

I currently have just one on the side faced longways down the tank that seems to split both sides of the rock formation. It is a 350 gph i think. Do you suggest more than that ?