tkreefer
08/14/2013, 12:09 AM
Hi everyone,
Just wanted to introduce myself. I've kept aquatic critters of one form or another for more than 2 decades, studied biology in college, and recently set up a 75 gallon saltwater tank about 3 weeks ago.
I don't have a sump and keep about 60-80 lbs of cured craigslist live rock in the tank. I run a reef-octopus BH2000 hob skimmer 24/7 with 1 unit of Chemi-Pure elite along with a small bag of Purigen in the extra skimmer compartment. Water circulation by 2 Hydor 850 GPH pumps. 1 Aquaclear 50 with carbon media only.
The tank is up and running for 3 weeks. Saltwater mixed with unfiltered tap water. I was impatient and added 5 green chromis on day 2. By day 11, I had a total of 10 fish with 1 loss. A green chromis was abused to death by his own kind. Otherwise, ammonia has been undetectable. Nitrite undetectable. Nitrates at 5 ppm. All of the fish are active and eating. The skimmer is producing dark skim-mate and the water is crystal clear. My only problem now is how much brown gunk (apparently diatoms) is covering every lit surface in the tank.
The clean-up crew consists of 9 Nassarius snails, 2 gigantic turbo snails, 6 margarita snails, and 6 hermits. I'm just cutting down the photo-period from 12 hrs to 8 hrs as well as decreasing the feeding. I hope it goes away soon because it looks awful.
Just wanted to introduce myself. I've kept aquatic critters of one form or another for more than 2 decades, studied biology in college, and recently set up a 75 gallon saltwater tank about 3 weeks ago.
I don't have a sump and keep about 60-80 lbs of cured craigslist live rock in the tank. I run a reef-octopus BH2000 hob skimmer 24/7 with 1 unit of Chemi-Pure elite along with a small bag of Purigen in the extra skimmer compartment. Water circulation by 2 Hydor 850 GPH pumps. 1 Aquaclear 50 with carbon media only.
The tank is up and running for 3 weeks. Saltwater mixed with unfiltered tap water. I was impatient and added 5 green chromis on day 2. By day 11, I had a total of 10 fish with 1 loss. A green chromis was abused to death by his own kind. Otherwise, ammonia has been undetectable. Nitrite undetectable. Nitrates at 5 ppm. All of the fish are active and eating. The skimmer is producing dark skim-mate and the water is crystal clear. My only problem now is how much brown gunk (apparently diatoms) is covering every lit surface in the tank.
The clean-up crew consists of 9 Nassarius snails, 2 gigantic turbo snails, 6 margarita snails, and 6 hermits. I'm just cutting down the photo-period from 12 hrs to 8 hrs as well as decreasing the feeding. I hope it goes away soon because it looks awful.