Tell me what you think!

Snoopeeyy · Jun 25, 2015

This is a 20g long tank i built a few days ago and to me it looks great! Instead of writing a huge long description of everything ill just make a list and I would love feedback from the vets in this hobby!

Equipment:
Zoo Med Aquasun quad T5ho with 4 26w bulbs
2 PH at 240 gph
AquaClear 50 filter
20lbs LR
.5" LSB
300w Heater giving me ~80 degrees

Livestock:
2 Pajama Cardinalfish male & female
3 Chromis'
1 Engineer Goby
1 Large sponge
Tons of little skinny looking starfish
A few little tiny white starfish
Tons of little black snails
A couple larger snails
2 branches of Blue Mushroom
A colony of button polyps
3 bulbs of what i believe to be Zoa
And that thing on the wall on the right, no clue what it is.

d2mini · Jun 25, 2015

Looks very nice! Great start.

Did it cycle though? You mentioned you put it together last week.
Worried about your fish in a brand new tank.
Even if it did cycle, that's a lot to add to a new tank and a small one at that.
Nothing good comes fast in this hobby.

Snoopeeyy · Jun 25, 2015

d2mini said:
Looks very nice! Great start.

Did it cycle though? You mentioned you put it together last week.
Worried about your fish in a brand new tank.
Even if it did cycle, that's a lot to add to a new tank and a small one at that.

I got all my live stock, water, sand, rock, and corals from a tank someone was ripping down so he told me everything was good to go as far as cycling and acclimation.

d2mini · Jun 25, 2015

Snoopeeyy said:
I got all my live stock, water, sand, rock, and corals from a tank someone was ripping down so he told me everything was good to go as far as cycling and acclimation.

That definitely helps. It was more like a tank move than starting from scratch.
You still may see a small cycle because the tank walls, plumbing, etc don't have the good bacteria on them. Water doesn't carry anything beneficial. It's just dirty water.
You'll probably be ok, just keep up with water changes and make sure you are testing ammonia and nitrates. You should see no ammonia at all. If you do see ammonia, your tank is going through a cycle.
You also will probably go through the algae stages a bit too, like diatoms.
Anyway, just giving you a heads up. I wouldn't add anything to the tank until you know for sure it's stable. Welcome to the forum and best of luck!

Snoopeeyy · Jun 25, 2015

d2mini said:
That definitely helps. It was more like a tank move than starting from scratch.
You still may see a small cycle because the tank walls, plumbing, etc don't have the good bacteria on them. Water doesn't carry anything beneficial. It's just dirty water.
You'll probably be ok, just keep up with water changes and make sure you are testing ammonia and nitrates. You should see no ammonia at all. If you do see ammonia, your tank is going through a cycle.
You also will probably go through the algae stages a bit too, like diatoms.
Anyway, just giving you a heads up. I wouldn't add anything to the tank until you know for sure it's stable. Welcome to the forum and best of luck!

As far as water changes go, how much weekly/monthly? Ive been told 5% weekly or like 20% monthly. And for replacing water vapor, do i just add RODI/distilled water whenever?