Tank doing TOO well?

[mwilson.rcdd]

Hey all, my 13 year old son saved up and got a used BioCube 29 and a 55g and stand to move past his smaller freshwater... and he did a LOT of research and all he does is watch some DIY Aquarium YouTube channel.

So the tank is about 3 months new now (BioCube that is). Standard flourescent lighting, had to put in new fans w/ an external power supply. Protein skimmer, he put in BioBalls (not sure if they do anything) and as you can see, a small amount of live rock. 2 yellow-tails and 2 bullet clowns. 1 small zoa that needs to be moved, and then 5 snails and a fair amount of crabs. Small issue of the red hairy algae that a dose of chems killed 3 weeks ago. Since that (and the snails were added at the same time), the tank is friggin' spotless for the most part. And the water tests about as perfect as can be across the board (use a RODI filter for all the water).

PS, cannot get an image to upload... 800px wide, but won't accept it.

So the question:
1. If the water is great and everything is looking good, does he need to do a water change? he's got a 5 gallon bucket prepped, heated, and flowing w/ the right salinity.

2. What next? it's not a big tank, so he doesnt want to overload it. But he thinks that more live rock and re-arranging it more to the back wall would be good, and then going for more anemone and other fun stuff to build an environment.

Ultimate goal, get the 55g going in our main family room as well, but the 29 is perfect for his room and learning and it's just fun to watch them all interacting.

 

[mwilson.rcdd]

 

[jjwillia]

1: Yes, I would say water changes are important. By the time it looks bad it may be too late. Do you change your oil when the rods start knocking?

2: I may add a coral or two but let the tank mature. An anenome is probably not the best idea this early. Patience is key.

 

[tjm9331]

I agree with jj, start a regular bi-weekly water change regiment, if nothing else it will help the few corals you have in the tank by replenishing trace elements, calcium and alk. He could probably get away with only doing 21/2 gallons every 2 weeks so long as the tank stays spotless, this will help save money on salt and water.

Let the tank get established with whats in it, if you can upload photos that would be good but I'm assuming you're probably good with live rock as well. Just sit back and enjoy the tank for now, if you wanted to add maybe one or two more "easy" to keep corals such as more zoas or acans or perhaps a torch or frogspawn to get some motion in the tank that would probably be ok.

Take it slow and enjoy it!

 

[Jekerry]

If you need to reduce the size of a photo, email it to your self and pick a smaller size. It should let you do that. Then just save the smaller photo to your computer or iPad or phone you are using. Discovered that trick recently!

Jane