Is my tank ready?

Discussion in 'New To The Hobby' started by DaveE, Sep 25, 2004.

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  1. DaveE

    DaveE Plankton

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2004
    Messages:
    6
    Location:
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    Hello everyone, I was wondering if my tank is ready to be stocked slowly. Here's the details:
    Back in the Sept 3, I set up my 55 gallon tank with 50 lbs of dead base rock, and 35 lbs of live rock , 40 lbs of aragonite crushed coral with 15 lbs of live sand on top of it, RO/DI saltwater topped off with 25 gallons of cycled water from an established reef tank (We even squeezed out the foam prefilters in the water). 3 days after that, I had brown algae bloom, followed by a green algae bloom 2-3 days after that. I tested the water a week after set-up where Ammonia=0, Nitrite=0.25ppm, and Nitrates=40ppm. I waited a couple of more days until my nitrites was 0 and did a 10 gallon water change and threw in a cleaner crew to take care of the algae. It's going on 2 weeks now since I added the cleaners and water parameters have been stable this past week, Am=0, Nitrites=0, Nitrates=10ppm, pH=8.3, did a couple of 10 gallon water changes in between also within those 2 weeks and have been dosing Kalkwasser and doind a 12 hour lighting schedule too to get it ready for corals, and I have the Calcium stabilzed at 440. And on top of that, the algae is already gone thanks to the cleaner crew (Boy, they went to work on it quick as soon as I got them in the tank) and I believe Coraline is starting to appear on the base rock since there is a lot of purple spots on them now. This is my Equipment so far"

    260w aqualight lunar
    aqua c remora w/ prefilter box
    3 aquaclear 402 powerheads (1 back down blowing behind the rocks, 1 in top-right angled towards back left corner, and 1 on top-back-left angled at top-right corner, all hooked up to a wavemaker)
    magnum 350 with carbon only
    UV sterilzer ( I forgot name ) in conjunction with Magnum.
    cpr refugium, with chaetomorpha 1/2 lb live rock and 1 inch sand bed.

    Is it time? or should I still wait? thanks for hearing me out! :)
     
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  3. Matt Rogers

    Matt Rogers Kingfish

    Joined:
    Dec 31, 2000
    Messages:
    13,466
    Location:
    Berkeley, CA
    Sounds like a nice setup.
    What did you have in mind?

    I bet you could add something. But a wish list would help determine order, compatibility, etc..

    Welcome to 3reef! :)
     
  4. DaveE

    DaveE Plankton

    Joined:
    Sep 25, 2004
    Messages:
    6
    Location:
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    Cool! And thanks :) this is my wish list by the way, Im not sure if all of them are compatible with my set up:

    1.Different color Zoanthids
    2.Open Brain
    3.Finger leathers
    4.Staghorn
    5.Acropora
    6.some mushrooms
    7.star polyps
    8.Lobo's

    Any other suggestions would be helpful, with attached pic would be even better! ;D
     
  5. reiple

    reiple Fire Shrimp

    Joined:
    Nov 4, 2003
    Messages:
    324
    Location:
    Quezon City,
    Do things slowly. Try the hardiest animals at a time. Stock every four days to a week so you will have time to observe and take care of the animals well. Have fun!