Did anyone else have this problem with their first tank? Tell me I'm not crazy! :arg: I've spent so much time trying to get my tank ready for fish and I'm real nervous about adding that first one!
I have been working on a 29 gallon tank. Long story short - I started this tank about 7 or 8 months ago. I put in the sand, a little rock, a power head and bought a single live rock from my LFS then fed it some various fish foods I had lying around to get the cycle process started. I let the tank sit in the basement and when things got busy in the fall I didn't do a lot with the tank. I had some little bristleworms so I put a few pieces of food in there, to keep those critters alive, a few times a week.
I got a test kit about a month ago and have been really watching the tank. My ammonia and nitrites have been at 0 the last month, my nitrates were something like 80 ppm a month ago but are now down to somewhere between 0-5 ppm. It seems all my feedings to the little worms was also feeding some amphipods and there are quite a few in there now.
I have an Orbit marine LED light (just installed the new light yesterday, had a regular T8 light before), a heater, an aqueon filter (200 gph, used it to help remove debris initially. Is this worth keeping with frequent filter changes?), a single koralina nano power head (425 gph, and I bought a second one from Amazon as I see some areas in tank are not getting much flow), I have a sand bed and a little live rock.
My tank stays between 76-77 degrees and specific gravity at 1.023 all the time. I have been using distilled water and the Instant Ocean brand of sea salt mix. PH is about 8, I'll be honest though and I can't differentiate between 8, 8.2 and 8.4 with the little test kit I have. The shades are so similar; I know it's not lower than an 8 though. I do not have a protein skimmer yet but I have been looking into one.
Is there anything I am missing? What else should I do before I start stocking that first fish? I am really wanting to get 2 ocellaris clownfish, a black and white and maybe a snowflake. I have also thought about getting a blenny or a goby. I would love to get some zoanthids or similar things too eventually. The clownfish I want cost a bit of $$$ and I would worry about adding them first. But what do you all think?
I have had a hard time thinking of what fish I could add with clownfish that would be GOOD for a 29 gallon and are also reef compatible. A lot of the fish that I think look really neat need a much bigger tank than I have, like tangs or pufferfish.
On a side note - what was your first fish? And why did you pick it? I am really curious what some members chose first!
I have been working on a 29 gallon tank. Long story short - I started this tank about 7 or 8 months ago. I put in the sand, a little rock, a power head and bought a single live rock from my LFS then fed it some various fish foods I had lying around to get the cycle process started. I let the tank sit in the basement and when things got busy in the fall I didn't do a lot with the tank. I had some little bristleworms so I put a few pieces of food in there, to keep those critters alive, a few times a week.
I got a test kit about a month ago and have been really watching the tank. My ammonia and nitrites have been at 0 the last month, my nitrates were something like 80 ppm a month ago but are now down to somewhere between 0-5 ppm. It seems all my feedings to the little worms was also feeding some amphipods and there are quite a few in there now.
I have an Orbit marine LED light (just installed the new light yesterday, had a regular T8 light before), a heater, an aqueon filter (200 gph, used it to help remove debris initially. Is this worth keeping with frequent filter changes?), a single koralina nano power head (425 gph, and I bought a second one from Amazon as I see some areas in tank are not getting much flow), I have a sand bed and a little live rock.
My tank stays between 76-77 degrees and specific gravity at 1.023 all the time. I have been using distilled water and the Instant Ocean brand of sea salt mix. PH is about 8, I'll be honest though and I can't differentiate between 8, 8.2 and 8.4 with the little test kit I have. The shades are so similar; I know it's not lower than an 8 though. I do not have a protein skimmer yet but I have been looking into one.
Is there anything I am missing? What else should I do before I start stocking that first fish? I am really wanting to get 2 ocellaris clownfish, a black and white and maybe a snowflake. I have also thought about getting a blenny or a goby. I would love to get some zoanthids or similar things too eventually. The clownfish I want cost a bit of $$$ and I would worry about adding them first. But what do you all think?
I have had a hard time thinking of what fish I could add with clownfish that would be GOOD for a 29 gallon and are also reef compatible. A lot of the fish that I think look really neat need a much bigger tank than I have, like tangs or pufferfish.
On a side note - what was your first fish? And why did you pick it? I am really curious what some members chose first!
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