MrRogers

Thanks YHSublime! I am winging it for now. I'd like to build up the biodiversity in my tank, and maybe end up with a goby/shrimp pair or something like that. I'd like to end up with some soft coral, too. My build thread (resurrected) is here:

MrRogers = modelrr I did end up building this tank, but took it down several months later to go to college. As of 1 month ago (August, 2024) I pulled the tank out of storage, plopped a heater in the back, poured in some water, and fired up the pump. Worked great! I had my old RODI unit and some filter replacements (how convenient!). I also had a few pieces of dry aquarium rock. Just had to buy some sand and salt... On 9/6/2024, the salinity was at the right level and I dropped half of a raw cocktail shrimp into the tank to kick of the cycling process. Ammonia peaked after about 3-4 days and fell to zero after a total of 1 week. Nitrite started to rise early on and persisted at high levels for about 10 days (it's just now under 0.05 ppm). Nitrate is climbing, as expected. I'll probably do a 100% water change soon. What should my next steps be? I want to get some biodiversity (live sand/rock from the fish store?). I also want to get some snails and crabs in there.

A cloudy preview

I'm getting back into the hobby (former Wamas account name: modelrr). While attemping to declutter my basement, I discovered the old 10-gallon nano, lighting, heater, and pumps. I bought some salt, sand, and test kits and it's actually up and running again. There's a forum thread posted somewhere with my first setup of this same tank but I can't find it. Anyways, glad to be back and I look forward to participating in this group again. Build thread is coming soon.