20 Gallon is Prepared and Done with Cycle

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$eaba$$

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Sep 25, 2006
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So I went to my LFS today and I got my water tested, they tested it for free too because I am there so much :) Anyways, my tank never went through a large cycle because I went slowly from freshwater to brackish water to saltwater. The tests came out as following: 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 8.2 pH, and an sg of 1.021. I added some more salt just now so right now, the tank is probably about 1.023. My setup is as following: 20 gallon high, 20 gallon iron stand, aquaclear 150 hob filter, aquaclear 50 powerhead (270gph), hagen elite powerhead (60gph), all glass/hydor 100 watt heater, magfloat algae cleaner, a perfecto glass canopy, and a just made lighting fixture with one 15 watt fluorescent strip light 10,000K, and also 2 coralife 50/50 20 watt bulbs. This puts me at 55 watts over my 20 gallon high. As for rock and coral, the tank includes: ~15 lbs of Fiji Live Rock, ~10 of some type of blue mushroom, 1 large green fluorescent mushroom, many small feather dusters including brown, blue, white and red ones. Then, for live stock, I have: 1 small mono argentus of 1 inch in length and height, one small yellow-tail damsel of about an inch, 4 Astrea snails, 4 nasarius snails, many MTS, small bristle stars, a mithrax family crab, and many other critters hiding away in the rocks. As for the mono argentus, I will trade him back once he gets too large. Right now, it is still a juvenile and has been loving it in my tank with great colors and is eating very well. The damsel that I have is fortunately not too agressive. Occasionally, it will nip the fin of the mono, but this is not rare, and both of the fish have great colors. As far as fish go, are there any other type of fish that I could put in my tank, maybe only one more as I know that in saltwater you can't populate the tank too well because of teritorial issues. I may be interested in a clownfish or others, please suggest fish. Pictures will be posted soon I hope, probably tomorrow.

Suggestions needed and thanks a lot for your help!
 

$eaba$$

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Sep 25, 2006
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Here are the pictures of my new light, but this is with normal compact fluorescent bulbs, my coralife 20 watt 50/50's are coming in on thursday. Enjoy and please tell me what you think. Thanks
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Oh and don't mind the cup in the tank, it will be out in a day. It was jut for my shroom to get lots of light right near my old light.
 

scottdwh

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Oct 10, 2002
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I hear that adding salt directly to the tank could make it crash, but I was wondering how exactly that happens. If you do put a couple tablespoons of salt in a tank that is turning over at 15x an hour, how would it really have an effect on things?
 

Sploke

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Oct 20, 2005
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You know how big that mono is going to get, right? Also, I would advise getting a hydrometer of some sort so you can skip the "well my tank should probably maybe be around 1.023 or so, in that area" business, and have a real idea of whats going on with your water params.
 

Subliminal

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Feb 21, 2007
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Say you put some salt directly in your tank with a good amount of flow. Say some of it blows onto your mushroom and it tries to eat it, or in front of your fish and they suck it in thinking they're just taking a nice breathe of proper SG water.

Not necessarily a good thing, imo. Mixing salt in a bucket before putting it in your tank is the least you can do for your livestock.

:)
 

fsn77

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Feb 22, 2006
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Nice DIY reflector -- you may want to consider doing something similar to replace the plastic one on your actinic bulb. I bet you'd notice a difference.
 
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