New to the hobby

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

Hi guys.
New to the hobby. Looking for some information on water testing.
What exactly should i be testing weekly?

dreamcatcherr9 · Mar 7, 2020

Depends what’s in your tank or what stage you are at...

Hemmdog · Mar 7, 2020

What kind of coral do you have?

Billldg · Mar 7, 2020

Welcome to R2R!!!

It depends on what you are, or plan on keeping. If its just fish them salinity and temp mainly. If it's corals then Alk, Cal, Mag, Nitrates and Phosphates, Temp, and Salinity.

KTownReefer · Mar 7, 2020

Jimmybrennan99 said:
Hi guys.
New to the hobby. Looking for some information on water testing.
What exactly should i be testing weekly?

Is your tank cycled?

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

I have a 255 litre tank. just installed 2 weeks now.
At the moment i just have invertebrates in tank with live rock.
I will eventually start to add corals but i would like to get more experience before i add them into my tank.
My salinity level is at 1.024.
My tempature is 25.2
When would be a good idea to start to fish to my tank?

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

KTownReefer said:
Is your tank cycled?

My tank has cycled yes

Billldg · Mar 7, 2020

If your tank is in fact cycled, then you can start to add fish now. What fish do you plan on having. The reason I ask is adding fish will have an impact on your bacteria in the tank, so you don't want to add to many fish, or to big a fish to quickly as you can overwhelm the bacteria in the tank and cause a ammonia spike.

If you plan on keeping corals then I would suggest you start to raise your salinity to 1.026. It doesn't have to be overnight, you can do it slowly.

KTownReefer · Mar 7, 2020

Jimmybrennan99 said:
My tank has cycled yes

at this point I would test salinity and temperature. As you start adding fish you would want to test for Phosphate and nitrate and as you start to add coral you would want to be testing Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Happy Reffing!

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

Billldg said:
If your tank is in fact cycled, then you can start to add fish now. What fish do you plan on having. The reason I ask is adding fish will have an impact on your bacteria in the tank, so you don't want to add to many fish, or to big a fish to quickly as you can overwhelm the bacteria in the tank and cause a ammonia spike.

If you plan on keeping corals then I would suggest you start to raise your salinity to 1.026. It doesn't have to be overnight, you can do it slowly.

What type of fish would you recommend to start with?

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

KTownReefer said:
at this point I would test salinity and temperature. As you start adding fish you would want to test for Phosphate and nitrate and as you start to add coral you would want to be testing Alkalinity, calcium and magnesium. Happy Reffing!

Thanks for the information it will really help. much appreciated

vetteguy53081 · Mar 7, 2020

When you say your tank IS cycled, how long has it been running and by what method did you cycle it?

Billldg · Mar 7, 2020

Jimmybrennan99 said:
What type of fish would you recommend to start with?

LOL, it all depends of what you are looking at. I love tangs and wrasses. Fact is I currently have 2 Diamond Tail Flasher wrasses in QT. What is your fish list. or what type of fish are you looking at. I would start with smaller fish, or less aggressive fish first.

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

Billldg said:
LOL, it all depends of what you are looking at. I love tangs and wrasses. Fact is I currently have 2 Diamond Tail Flasher wrasses in QT. What is your fish list. or what type of fish are you looking at. I would start with smaller fish, or less aggressive fish first.

I've been in weekly discussions with glen from seahorse aquariums my local shop, hes been telling meself to lean toward clowns & Purple Tang & Yellow tang & wrasse to start as i am a complete novice

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

vetteguy53081 said:
When you say your tank IS cycled, how long has it been running and by what method did you cycle it?

Been getting my water testing in seahorse aquariums ive added biogro in every week. Been told my tank has cycled as I've had a experienced reefer in to inspect my tank.

Billldg · Mar 7, 2020

Tangs are the last fish you add as they can be aggressive and are dominate over most fish in the tank. It depends on what you want as far as a fish list. Maybe clowns 1st, wrasses 2nd, and tangs 3rd.

In my tank I added the clown 1st, then the Blue/Green Chromis, then the wrasse, then the tangs. You just need the bacteria population to adapt. If you add fish to quickly it can't adapt and you get an ammonia spike.

Jimmybrennan99 · Mar 7, 2020

Billldg said:
Tangs are the last fish you add as they can be aggressive and are dominate over most fish in the tank. It depends on what you want as far as a fish list. Maybe clowns 1st, wrasses 2nd, and tangs 3rd.

In my tank I added the clown 1st, then the Blue/Green Chromis, then the wrasse, then the tangs. You just need the bacteria population to adapt. If you add fish to quickly it can't adapt and you get an ammonia spike.

I'll do some more indepth research on my list of fish.
Thanks for the replies. There really appreciated.