more n00b questions

[Inspector14]

I have some questions that i have been thinking over the last few days.

i have a 12 gallon acrylic bow front from marineland. one of the eclipse series tanks. i replaced the tray type filter that comes with that system with a Rena Smartfilter this weekend. it hangs off the SIDE of the tank, and its just narrow enough to fit.. it looks interesting to say the least.

The Rena flows 80 gph, and i have a Hagen aquaclear 101 powerhead that is flowing 80 gph as well. the flow is a circular pattern with the powerfilter blowing down the front of the bow, and the powerhead down the back of the tank facing toward the powerfilter.

I have been trying to solve my lighting problem. the eclipse tank comes with a 13 watt 5000 ish Kelven light. i got a little desk light and put a 26 watt 6700K light in it and cliped it on the tank hood.

what i want to know first is: can i have corals and zoos in the tank now that i have a more powerful light? or do i need to go more powerful still?

ALSO

i have 2 percula clowns in the tank, 1 blue legged hermit, 1 margarita snail, and 2 nassarius snails.

i am wondering if it would be possible to put 1 more fish in there. like a clown goby, or red stripe goby or maby mix a larger red hermit crab with my small blue.

thanks for reading and answering. :)

[papagimp]

13w to 26w IMO is not more powerful light, just more wattage.
YOu could possibly get away with some smaller not so light intensive corals like mushrooms, but not much more than that.

[Aquarist007]

How long has your tank been cycling.?
besides the lighting issue and esp for sps's you need stable water parameters
ammonia, nitrates, calcium, magnesium, alkalinity and pH--could you possible post those?

[bertoni]

Most soft corals should be fine with that lighting, although they might not grow particularly rapidly.

[Inspector14]

my tank is 9 weeks old now. i need to take that 5 week thing out of my sig.

tank is all cycled up now. and the fish are especially happy with the new filtration, flow, and lights.

ammonia is 0
nitrite is 0

i had a nitrate rise, and i am working on that this weekend (i have thurs/fri off) so nitrate climbed to 2.5/12.5 (low/high) so im watching that now. i already did the water change for this week, and am going to test in a couple of days since this new RENA started working.

the old filter was really, really bad. very high bypass ammount. this RENA is pretty sweet, with its "pressurized" flow design forcing all the water through the filter media.

the alk is arround 1.7 1.8

i dont have tests for the other stuff. i understand that i need to know all that stuff, and i am still getting the "kit" together for all the tests.

basically im gathering info at this point. i really need to get more color in the tank. and would like live things like corals and zoas, instead of using fake pieces.

i do know for sure that there will not ever be a live anemone in this tank.

[Aquarist007]

that alk is very low--that's a 5.1 dkh--where it should be 8.5 dkH or 3.09 to 10.5 dkH or 3.77.
what happens with those filters is the media become nitrate sponges. You are better off to take the media out and run charcoal only in there. The live rock will do the rest.

Really need to know your pH to advise how to bring up the alkalinity.

[Inspector14]

ah, really its low?

i just tested my pH and it read 8.2 i think thats on the good side.

[ahullsb]

I would worry about getting test kits for everything before adding color. Whatever you buy with good coloration, will most likely lose it if you don't keep everything balanced. Get a test kit for calciun, alkalinity, magnesium, ph, and the ones you probably have like ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate. Work at keeping your calcium between 400-450, and your alkalinity between 9-12 dkh. Then add coral. If you really want to get color in the tank now, try the various colored mushrooms that can be fairly forgiving. Just take it slow if you can.

[Mavrk]

oops reread the post...

8.2 pH is good.

[Inspector14]

so i guess i need to raise my Alk.

any thoughts on the second part of my question, about adding a yellow clown goby or other very small goby to my tank?

[Aquarist007]

Your tank chemistry is off--not a good sign to be adding anything else to your tank until you get it within the correct parameters.

[clockwurk]

fix your parameters and youll be able to get some softies like zoanthids, mushrooms and other polyps.

[bertoni]

While we're on the topic, this article lists the basic water parameters and their acceptable ranges:

http://www.reefkeeping.com/issues/2004-05/rhf/index.php