Starting my first reef tank (5.5 gallons)

Smeagle · 10/02/2016, 05:41 PM

Day 2 pictures: http://imgur.com/wW4MFSC

Equipment:
- A 5.5 gallon tank I had in my garage I de-rimmed.
- CoralCompulsion Par30 bulb in a home depot desk lamp .
- A hob tiny filter I got for 10 bucks on amazon running a bag of carbon I had lying around.
- 5lb of Caribsea Oolite live sand
- Dead Liverock that sat in my basement for years in a stagnant bucket of water (I got it for free)
- Saltwater from my lfs (1.024 ppm).
- A refractometer.
- API saltwater Testkit.
- An 80gph pump that is probably too small for me.

Current Parameters: (my first time using a testkit so it might not be exact)
Ammonia: somewhere between 0 and .5 ppm Im pretty sure the latter.
Nitrate: 40 ppm
Nitrite: .25ppm
PH: 8
Salinity: 1.025 (Im still getting used to topoff, the tanks not quite level so thats making it hard, im trying to keep it at 1.024 because thats what I get at the lfs)

Some questions I have:
-Am I going in the right direction with my cycle or is more ammonia needed?
-When and how will I know when its safe to add corals?
-Is the live rock going to be a problem, it was in stagnant water for years?
-As I cycle how often should I do water changes?
-Do you have any cheap heater suggestions? I dont trust the old ones I have.
-How important is an auto top off, im trying to save money for now but if topping off twice a day isnt good enough il look into it. If so any suggestions on a budget?
-With such a small tank what are other complications. I have a bubble magus dosing pump on hand but that seems like overkill and I would like to keep it simple, nonetheless I want to grow some lps and sps if possible.
-Any must read stickies or advice, sorry I had so many questions, this is my first time doing saltwater and I want to get it right.

10/02/2016, 05:41 PM	#1
Smeagle Registered Member Join Date: Oct 2016 Posts: 16	Starting my first reef tank (5.5 gallons) Day 2 pictures: http://imgur.com/wW4MFSC Equipment: - A 5.5 gallon tank I had in my garage I de-rimmed. - CoralCompulsion Par30 bulb in a home depot desk lamp . - A hob tiny filter I got for 10 bucks on amazon running a bag of carbon I had lying around. - 5lb of Caribsea Oolite live sand - Dead Liverock that sat in my basement for years in a stagnant bucket of water (I got it for free) - Saltwater from my lfs (1.024 ppm). - A refractometer. - API saltwater Testkit. - An 80gph pump that is probably too small for me. Current Parameters: (my first time using a testkit so it might not be exact) Ammonia: somewhere between 0 and .5 ppm Im pretty sure the latter. Nitrate: 40 ppm Nitrite: .25ppm PH: 8 Salinity: 1.025 (Im still getting used to topoff, the tanks not quite level so thats making it hard, im trying to keep it at 1.024 because thats what I get at the lfs) Some questions I have: -Am I going in the right direction with my cycle or is more ammonia needed? -When and how will I know when its safe to add corals? -Is the live rock going to be a problem, it was in stagnant water for years? -As I cycle how often should I do water changes? -Do you have any cheap heater suggestions? I dont trust the old ones I have. -How important is an auto top off, im trying to save money for now but if topping off twice a day isnt good enough il look into it. If so any suggestions on a budget? -With such a small tank what are other complications. I have a bubble magus dosing pump on hand but that seems like overkill and I would like to keep it simple, nonetheless I want to grow some lps and sps if possible. -Any must read stickies or advice, sorry I had so many questions, this is my first time doing saltwater and I want to get it right.