A couple of questions?

[Bodhi-Licious]

Ok my tank is now ten days old.

I have,

 

15gal

40lbs oolite live sand @ 3 1/2"

3lbs base rock

14lbs live rock

50w heater

powerhead 402

powersweep 212

(395 gal/hr water movment)

coralife 20" 96w quad 50/50 actinic/10,000k (6.8w/gal)

s/g 1.024

water temp 80/81 deg f

nitrite 0.03

 

lots of feather dusters that came with live rock

a bit of cynobacteria

some sargassum macro alge started growing on live rock

and a hitch hiker blue leg hermit about 3/4"big

 

I took my water to the LFS to get tested but I didn't bring enough so all he tested was the nitrite. Im assuming that since I have nitrite showing up that my amonia has spiked allready because ass I understand (search button) the nitrite is the second part of the cycle. I will take more water to the store tomorow.

 

ok my questions are:

 

1. should I take the sponge off of my powerhead?(on the intake) I belive it will grow bacteria,good or bad ?

 

2. does the air hose attachment need to be on to suply air to the water or is this acomplished by the surface water movment allready?

 

3. would adding calupera be ok?

[audi206rs4]

take sponge off imo

 

no airhose needed

 

wait till the tank is finished cycling before addig calaurpa

[blk_g20]

i dont think you should keep the sponge for long, but if you do, take it out and clean it constantly.

 

the hose attachment doesn't actually supply air to the water, it just makes bubbles that pop once it reach the surface to break up the surface. and the popping of these air bubbles will lead to a lot of salt creep everywhere

 

i'm still noob so somebody will answer the 3rd question.

[caja]

Adding caulerpa to the main tank isn't a good idea. It tends ot grow very rapidly and can become a nuisance.

[offsprg01]

if it was me i'd keep the sponge on the intake so as to keep any of your critters from getting sucked up in to the ph. just rinse it every week in hot water (to kill bacteria) and you should be fine.