Salt Water HELP!

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Ice001520

Feeder Fish
MFK Member
Mar 5, 2008
146
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Shelby Township, MI
I've recently started up a 14 gallon bio-cube. Yes i know that it is pretty small for a beginner tank but it was a gift. I've been keeping planted tanks since I was young and I wanted the challenge of a reef tank (Yes, I know they are totally different things).

My tank has been set-up for around 2 months. I have a Orange FireFish and an Alleni Damsel. Also I have a ghost shrimp (Who should be food soon), 6 hermits, 1 Mexican turbo, 1 astrea and another smaller snail. Is this stocking fine? Should I consider adding/taking away anything?

I also have 6 corals. The 14 gallon bio-cube comes standard with a 24 watt 10,000k white light and a blue 24 watt acintic. How much of each light should I be running per day for the corals. I know that I have 2 Orange Zoo frags, 2 mushrooms and a Keyna tree. I am concerned with my Keyna because from time to time it "wilts" and bends over. I feed my corals 1/16 TSP of 'Coral Frenzy' 3-4 times a week. Is this sufficent?

I also have a Oceanic protein skimmer on the tank. How do I know when to clean it out? When it smells?:screwy:

I apologize for all of my newbie questions! As I said, every tank I've kept has been heavily planted, so this is a new adventure for me...which I'm taking quite a liking too:D

I will add a picture when I have time, baseball takes up most of my life at the moment!

Thanks!
Nick
 
Ohh I forgot to add...
PH-8.3
Salinity-.1022
Calcium-420
Nitrate-0
Ammonia-0

Not sure what else I should include...are these pramaters sufficent for a 'reef' tank?

And I am also looking to add some kind of Goby (Citron? Maybe) and a Cleaner/Skunk Shrimp.
Do I need to dose Iodine or Calcium or any kind of addatives?
 
Uggh I noticed that I am posting in the wrong spot...If someone can move this to "General Salt" I think it would be a lot more helpful.
Sorry...i'm new!
:)
 
lol seems ok to me.........how do u keep your nitrate at 0?!?! lol i can't get mine lower than 5 for more than a couple days.
 
I've tested it three times in the past week and it was at zero. Would it matter that when I started I started with live sand and a ton of live rock? I'm not really sure. I do weekly 2 gallon water changes and I've added Prime once. But I guess I just have good luck...Knock on wood:)
 
What you have your tank sounds good. If your water parameters are staying stable then I wouldn't add anything else to the tank. I'm not familiar with the oceanic protein skimmer but I would suggest a cleaning twice a week. The cleaner the neck is the easier it is for the foam to form. I would slowly bump the salinity up to 1.025-1.027. Also how are you checking salinty? the key to no nitrates is a low bio load with a ton of live rock, but you still have to worry about phosphates. I would buy a phosphate test kit. You water change schedule sounds good. Oh and pictures are a must.
 
Thanks Welsher:) I am trying to bump the salinty up. I have a glass refractometer that I check it with. I have a hydrometer that I used to get calibrate but I like the refractometer much better. Phosphates are the only thing I need to check. The Oceanic protein skimmers are little ones that go in the back of the bio-cube. Thanks a lot for your help! Picutres will be here soon...I haven't quite mastered the technique.

Any other help is greatly appreciated:)
 
BTW my friend kind of gave me a fire scallop...and I was feeling too nice to refuse. He's a neat little guy. Does anyone know if I can feed him Coral Frenzy for now until I can get some marine snow?
 
i didn't know beginners could keep fire scallops! hmmmm thats what the guy at my LFS told me .....
 
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