Ended up with a new hobby

[Martini5788]

No quick start! I hate that stuff, and I'm pretty sure it's made for freshwater. And it even socks for freshwater, I have used it and it ruined the tsnk. Had to start over. For a bacterial additive I would do seachem stability or biospira or Dr Tom's. Also get some prime or amquel to detoxify the ammonia and nitrites if you won't return the fish. When you add the bacterial supplement, turn the skimmer off for a few hours. Those are going to be the only options if the fish are staying no matter what. What about nitrites

 

[Martini5788]

I always keep prime at my house, it's great stuff. You are probably going to have another mini cycle from adding things so quickly which is why it is important to have it on hand. I would check the parameter at least once a day

 

[james_007]

got it - and so far I haven't added any chemicals not even ph buffer (which is at 8.4 right now, night time reading). Aquarium lights are auto programmed. Day light, moon light and now off completely.

I've got a lot pressure from the spouse to keep them fish and her "full permission" to manage it

I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated salt water shop just just 5 mins away. I'll grab those tomorrow AM. Sleep well knowing I have jugs of water already lined up if the fish start looking stressed or non-active while I work through this. I'll update tomorrow.

 

[james_007]

got it - and so far I haven't added any chemicals not even ph buffer (which is at 8.4 right now, night time reading). Aquarium lights are auto programmed. Day light, moon light and now off completely.

I've got a lot pressure from the spouse to keep them fish and her "full permission" to manage it

I'm lucky enough to have a dedicated salt water shop just just 5 mins away. I'll grab those tomorrow AM. Sleep well knowing I have jugs of water already lined up if the fish start looking stressed or non-active while I work through this. I'll update tomorrow.

 

[james_007]

All is well. Seems like it was just a mini-cycle. Diatoms are virtuall gone, I have a small amount of brown algae in the glass. The live rocks are free from diatoms. My clowns adventure together around the whole tank and Stanley the rabbit fish is active and yellow.

This Hob-1 skimmer combined with the standard (came with the tank) carbon filter keeps the water really clean. There's a small amount of micro bubbles so I'll think about a sponge on the out water tube.

Otherwise I'm planning to do a 20% change this weekend and recheck all of my levels a few hours later.

 

[gjxhj]

Maybe I missed it completely but most of the hanging ones appear to sit inside the tank - 7"X11"x3" for example. I could manage a hang on back if the internal parts don't take a lot of space. Do you have an example I could google?

 

[Mrs. Music]

I swear by the Seachem product Stablity. I use it in every QT and every hospital tank. Luckily have only had to use a hospital tank once or twice.