A lot of questions

[jemwhitman]

I would like to to this right, but finding it difficult to find the information I need. Hope someone can take the time to answer my questions :maitre

I just put up a Nano-Cube 24 (glass) with 20 lbs live rock (cured) and 12 lbs of live sand. I removed the Bio-Balls and Ceramic Rings so the only mechanical filtering taking place is through the large sponge. I left the charcoal in place for the current startup - but would welcome feedback as whether to continue it's use.

The lighting consists of two 36 Watt CF 50/50. The pump pushes 290 GPH. The actual area for livestock (outside the overflow) is 15" deep x 18" wide x 15" tall. The actual water that went into the tank after the rock and sand displacement was 17.5 Gallons.

The tank lights are set for 12 hrs a day. I have no heater nor chiller. The temperature in the room where the tank resides is 68 to 76 at the extremes. The room is typically 72-74. I have not yet measured the effect of the lights on temperature.

From the articles I have been able to find my plan for maintenance is either:
a 4 gallon water change (20%) once a month?
a 2 gallon water change (10%) twice a month?
Please advise. :maitre

I plan on running the system with no livestock for two weeks and then adding two small percula clowns (Amphiprion percula) to complete the cycling of the tank.

Should I change any of the above???

I'm not sure when to add the cleaning crew. It doesn't make sense to add them before I have algea or they will starve.

Suggestions!! :maitre

I assume that it will take two to four weeks for the tank to completely cycle and then I can add corals at the rate of one per week.

I would like to add a FireShrimp but can't find any good/bad mixes for it with the cleanup crew.

And finally what would be a good number of corals and fish in this size tank to maintain a healthy environment???


AND a final WELL DONE!! to the keeper of this Site.

 

[Iceburg98]

The only things i would change would be a larger water change - 30% once a month.

Also, make sure the tank is fully cycled before adding ANY livestock. Put some fish food or a piece of shrimp in the tank to help it cycle - once nitrates, nitrites and ammonia all equal 0, you're good to add fish.

Add the cleaning crew once you start seeing some algae growing.

I'm sure you'll get lots more opinions, but that's just my 2 cents

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

I'd skip the fish until the cycle is complete. No reason to add them before hand. The cycle will take anywhere form 2-8 weeks depending on how cured the LR is that you are going to use. If it's fully cured, you'll more than likely see a small cycle and be done within a 2 week period.

Once you see your nitrates down belowe 20 ppm, you can add a clean up crew. It's not just algae that they will be cleaning up so you will need to add them after the cycle. They will consume the dead/dying organisms on the LR. Go for some diversity in your clean up crew. 6 nassarius snails, 2 ceriths, 2 astrea or margarita and a few strombus snails. If you want to add hermits, be sure to add plenty of empty shells for them to move into as they grow. I prefer the red leg hermits or scarlett reef hermits. Much less agressive than the blue legs.

I suggest a weekly 10% water change, rather than monthly or twice a month.

Fire shrimp will be fine, but they are pretty reclusive. It'll hide most of the time. Skunk cleaners are out and about mroe often than the fire shrimp.

As far as corals go, it'll depend on the size and placement of the corals you choose as to how many you can put in there.

 

[incysor]

I'd second SM in the suggestion to do a smaller weekly water change rather than a larger monthly one. There's no reason to add fish to complete the cycle. Just test your tank after a couple weeks to see where your levels are. Once everything is reading at zero you can go ahead and start adding things. Go slowly though as the bacteria cultures that drive the nitrogen cycle will need to increase for each ammonia-creating critter you add. SM was right on when it comes to the cleaning crew. I actually have always gone with quite a lot of mini blue-leg hermits in all of my tanks and add shells periodically so that they don't try to pull the snails out of theirs. I like the red legged ones and the scarlets, but they tend to be much more expensive. As for how many fish you can keep, that really just depends on what types of fish, and how large they get. Probably 4-6 small ones. Again adding them slowly as to keep the system stable. It sounds like you're off to a great start. Be sure to take pics as you progress and post 'em so we can see.

B

 

[jemwhitman]

Thanks to everyone for the suggestions. You saved me a lot of grief and probably the lives of a fish or two. A follow on question regarding the water changes. If I do 10% weekly that puts the total at 43% a month. That sounds high. Are we sure about the 10% weekly? :roll:

 

[incysor]

For a small tank with no skimmer that has fish in it. Yep.

B

 

[jemwhitman]

Okay - 10% per week it is.

Thanks