New to reefs, nano cycling started

[matmas]

Hi,

Great site, been lurking here for a while.

Been into planted tanks for some time and still am but decided to try a nano reef as well. Need some advice on what to do after cycling and which fish to keep.

So I'm using an ADA 90F long tank. Approx 15g. I plan on doing water changes weekly (15%? or more if needed). I don't run a skimmer, but want to filter through purigen, phosguard or equivalent and de-nitrate (using an eheim canister filter). I plan on cleaning that filter weekly to avoid any nitrate buildup.

Here's a picture of it cycling:

A few questions:
# Right now running 2x6700k 24w tubes. Will switch one of them to 18k. I hope thats ok. Eventually I want to keep soft corals and upgrade lighting if needed.
# After cycling, do I just do a massive 50% water change and then its good to go? I'll check the parameters as usual
# Which fish can be kept? I'm thinking something like 2 small fish and a cleanup crew. I really like smaller puffers, but there seems to be mixed feelings on how big a tank they need. I don't really want clowns. I'm ok with having fish that I need to trade when they grow bigger.

Anything obvious I'm missing?

Thanks in advance!

 

[cody6766]

If your lighting is t5ho, which it appears to be, I would ditch both tubes and run something like an aqua blue special a d a blue plus. Both are ATI bulbs. If you have 4 bulbs in the light, I would use a pair of blue plus bulbs, a purple plus and an AB special. You can try one of your 6700k bulbs, but will probably find it too yellow for the look we normally shoot for. There is nothing wrong with using it, biologically speaking, except for the slight chance it could encourage algal growth if other tank parameters are out of whack.

You probably won't need a massive water change after the cycle. I just rolled into normal maintenance on all of my set ups, post cycle.

You really have to be careful about jumpers, especially in your shallow tank. I would build a screen for the top to help out. There are several threads that discuss how. It will save fish and isn't all that visually intrusive. For researching fish, a good start is liveaquaria.com. they have pics of a lot of species and a quick blurb about size and care.

 

[x3thelast]

off topic but where did you get your 90 F?

 

[matmas]

Thanks for the comments. Yeah I see the point being made with jumpers. Mmm I'll have to take that into account. And I only have two tubes of t5ho. I probably should move the light a bit down as well.

Since I'm from europe I got the 90F from the uk:
http://www.thegreenmachineonline.com/shop/aquatics/aquariums-stands/ada-cube-garden

Thanks again.

 

[cody6766]

You may find you need to upgrade your lighting in the future. If you stay with lower-light corals you may be fine due to the tank's depth, but you may notice coverage issues or growth issues with more demanding corals. It will definitely get you started, but I would keep it in mind for the future

 

[matmas]

Thought I'd give an update on this tank. No major issues...a small mini cycle at one point when I moved some stuff around. Corals are doing fine so far. Thanks for all the advice.

 

[Orion120]

Looks fantastic!

 

[matmas]

Thanks!

Here's a video:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=3pYxAXK26v0

 

[matmas]

Let me fix that URL: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3pYxAXK26v0