Some general advice for a newbie

[Gibsh]

Hi everyone! Firstly I should say that I'm a newbie to this in many ways (pops kept a marine for a few years in the 90's! so had a few fundamentals ingrained in me) Been coming to this forum for various things that I have been curious about over the past few weeks and thought id see if I could get some tailored help!

So I have just started this reef malarkey and I am massively keen to keep corals in the long term. I have a few 'issues' which I will mention later but I will give a timeline/background so you can get an idea of where I'm coming from.

My set up is a fluval Roma 90l (20g) with the intention of it being a reef tank. I have replaced the standard internal fluval filter with a all pond solutions 1400l external as from the start I heard this was very important. Filled the tank with some Carib sea live sand- I know opinions are mixed on this! Then added my RO saltwater from my lfs. I've got some rock in there along with some LR to try and start the infamous cycle. not purely for this but I'm excited about the prospect of the LR seeding the dead, hopefully this is somewhere near correct!

After a nice period of watching a few hundred pounds of mist I wanted to measure some parameters. Temperature is a very stable 79, which I'm not sure is a good thing at this stage. Just unaware of best temps for future corals, inverts etc so want to get it stable now. Ph is 7.8, Ammonia .50 Nitrites 0 and Nitrates 5(not sure if nitrates are correct, using API test kit and tried it twice to make sure). Salinity is 1.019 which I guess is exactly what the lfs pumps it out at, heard this is great for inverts and fish but needs to be higher for corals? If so some tips for this over the next few weeks would be great.

Hope this isn't too much, thought more detail the better response!

So apart from anything people think is obvious that I have missed, should I just let nature take it's course now? Are my nitrates strange for a new salt set up? Any advice will be greatly appreciated as I'm new and looking to take info like a sponge

Thanks in advance! Robin, Wales, UK

[Badlands25]

You can keep SG low but you will need to dose trace elements to keep corals. Water temp is a bit high. To keep coral happy you need stable water conditions. Calcium, alkalinity and magnesium. Plus the proper light spectrum from ( either t-5 , metal halide, or led lighting ). Each has their own benefit. Plus proper flow in the tank. What are you running for power heads / return pump? And what are you using for lights?

[moe458]

I think the salinity is a bit low. You can raise it. I usually keep mine around 1.025

[Gibsh]

Hi there, I've got two t5s one marine glow and one power glow(white). I don't have a return as such just the external filter pumping a fair whack of flow back into the tank. Also got some hydor korila circulation pumps going in 2moro, for the future. Nothing else as of yet. Do you think the standard Roma light set up will be okay? Just more expensive than led atm? I get the spectrum needs to be specific for corals but will this current one do a job?

Many thanks!

[Gibsh]

Originally Posted by moe458

I think the salinity is a bit low. You can raise it. I usually keep mine around 1.025

What's the best way of doing this then? Is it high content saltwater with my water changes until I hit the desired figure?

[Reefmedic79]

To Reef Central

You are correct, the more details the better the response.

Being from the UK you've got some components I'm not 100% familiar with, by name at least, but I'll try to answer what I can. Can you post pictures of your set-up and the current equipment you have?

Caribe Sea Live sand is fine to start with, though the mixed opinions usually revolve around if it's worth the cost for the livesand.

The small amount of LR you have will "seed" the other rock in the tank.

A stable temp of 79 is near perfect for your temp, the idea is for it to be stable any where between 78-82 is best.

Is your LFS selling only RO water or is it RO/DI water. If it is RO only there may be some remaining dissolved solids in the water. I suggest getting your own RO/DI unit and mixing your own saltwater to ensure purity. This could also account for your nitrate measurements.

Many of us have issues with accuracy and/or varied results using API test kits, so there is some potential that your Nitrate is incorrect. I prefer Salifert kits for my testing purposes. Testing for Calcium and Magnesium can wait for the first couple months, once you start putting corals and dosing your tank. Regular water changes will generally replace these elements, unless you plan on keeping stony corals then supplementation will likely be needed.

Salinity is pretty low, 1.019 is fine for fish, but not for inverts or corals in the long run. You want to be closer to 1.026 or 35ppm. Getting a refractometer and mixing your own will help out in the long run as well. If there is nothing else in the tank besides LR you can easily raise the salinity by adding saltwater when you top-off the tank, until its the proper level.

What type of lighting are you planning?

[Reefmedic79]

So I looked up the tank and the filter you have.

The 2 T-5 lights you have will keep lower light requiring corals. Softies, zoanthids, leathers ect... Upgrading to 4 or 6 bulb set-up will allow keeping stonys.

The canister filter you have is fine as well, canisters are notorious for getting clogged up quickly, so proper maintenance is key for them to operate efficiently.

[Gibsh]

Legend reef medic thanks for that! Some solid info there for sure! In an ideal world I will have some sort of led set up for when I start to put corals in as advised pretty much everywhere! There's a few critters fumbling around too since the LR went in too I was hoping someone could identify- will post some pics shortly. So in regards to the cycle, the way it is set up right now, will this be okay and the cycle will follow over the next few days weeks or so? Thanks again!

[Reefmedic79]

Cycle can run anywhere from 1-8 weeks or so. It's best to just let it be.

Adding some supplemental LED to the 2 T-5s you already have would be your most cost effective method, as opposed to switching over to LEDs exclusively.

Good Luck and Keep up posted.

[Gibsh]

Yeh, sounds good to me. I've put a few pics in an album on my profile(think it's correct) in an album 'current set up' feel free to have a gander!

[Pife]

I just went and looked at your pictures. The first picture is some type of bristle worm. Other than that all I'll say is that if you would like more people to look at your pictures then you should put them in a post so that people reading this don't have to go looking for them.

[Gibsh]

[Gibsh]

Hope this works! First image is the tank, second is the critter and third is the filter. Cheers for the tip!