I think I will follow your advice! So when I do the water change I simply
Siphon out 5 gallons and gently add the 5 gallons of saltwater. After I add SHOUld I add MB 7 or fritz bacteria to help with the water change?
I have over 1000 gallons in 6 different tanks. Once they were cycled I never added more bacteria. There is no reason to add more bacteria unless you have something go really wrong which is unlikely. In my experience HOB filters don’t really get the job done, so regular water changes as others have said will be important.
An easy upgrade would be to add a canister filter like a Fluval. I run an FX6 on three of my tanks. Would be way to big for yours, but they make smaller ones.
Not something you have to jump on right now, but without a sump, it is a way to get more mechanical filtration and a way to be able to use other media like Seachem Matrix, Phosguard etc.
Saw on another thread of yours about your parameters and you quoted nitrite at 0. This is good, but you don’t need to test nitrite ever again after the tank is cycled. You also don’t need to test for ammonia as it is highly unlikely that you would ever have an ammonia spike, unless you do a drastic cleaning of your tank. I saw someone else recommended siphon cleaning your sand, and as they said, do only a small area each time. Maybe a 1/4 or so. Many different bacteria grow in the sand bed, especially anaerobic, when you disturb the sand bed it stirs them and exposes them to oxygen which can cause them problems. This is why you never vacuum your entire sand bed, or stir it up at one time.
As your tank gets established it will (not may) go through the ugly stage. Possibly starting with diatoms (brownish coloration on your rocks and sand, Cyanobacteria (red or green slime algae. This is natural and should pass with patience and water changes. With no corals and fish only you can turn off your lights for a few days and it will help as at least Cyano is photosynthetic.
What you want to focus on now is nitrates. By focus I don’t mean chasing numbers (you will see this often referred to on this site) test for nitrate weekly right before water change. Super high nitrates can be harmful to fish long term, but unlike ammonia, it won’t kill them outright. Nitrates in a fish only tank can be kept between 20-40ppm in a reef should be between 5-10. Nitrates are like fertilizer to algae and can lead to Green Hair Algae (GHA). So there is nothing wrong with keeping a fish only tank lower than 20 but you also don’t want to run at 0 as it will lead to other issues. I would suggest a Hanna HI782 High Range tester. More expensive up front, but you don’t have to decide what color your test is. It reads it and gives you a number.
More than likely you will see GHA within the next few weeks. Along with keeping your nitrates lower, a Clean Up Crew (CUC) will be beneficial for controlling it. You don’t want to get them too soon as they can starve with nothing to eat, but 2-3 snails I like turbo and astria, but there are many other choices. Turbos will die if they get upside down like a turtle, that is the only downside for them. They also get bigger, but won’t be a problem in a 30. I have emerald crabs also, without corals they are perfectly fine, some say they will harm some corals, so far I haven’t experienced that but just so you know. These crabs do a great job on GHA. I don’t have a single strand in my 210g reef, but it does grow in my refugium and Frag tank in the sump. This means that it is present, but my tank
mates keep it cleaned up. On that note, all invertebrates will die from copper exposure, so this means if you want shrimp, crabs, corals etc you cannot treat for ich or other parasites in you Display Tank DT. You need to have a small Quarantine Tank QT to treat for parasites and other ailments when you get new fish.
so much more as well. Feel free to reach out with questions.
