I just started my reef tank at the beginning of Feb.
I let my tank cycle and I have preformed the water change.
Before I did the water change my parameters were:
ammonia: 0ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 10ppm
ph: 8.2
After the water change:
ammonia: .25ppm
nitrite: 0ppm
nitrate: 5ppm
ph: 8.2

I am planning to go to the LFS tomorrow and purchase a couple of fish,
something hardy that will (hopefully soon) go along with soft corals, and
mushrooms and things of that nature.
Oh yeah, and I'm getting more live rock and some lace rock, I know that I
do not have nearly as much rock as I will need altogether.
I only have 16lbs. so far.

I am just wondering if I am on the right path so far, and am I right in
getting a couple of hardy fish to make sure my tank is stable enough
to keep on proceding.

Thank you so much
I have read here for quite awhile and I know this place is great!

Hi jilliboo,

How many lbs of sand do you have in your tank, or how deep is it? Is it live sand or silicate? If I were you, first I's introduce some cleaners to your tank, but not too many. A feew hardy hermit crabs, and some snails.. You could add a damsel to see hows your water going. Later on you can take him out, and get a store credit for it. Did you ever put any food, nutrients into your tank? If you haven't done so, start to doin it, slowly. If the ammonia level stays at 0, and your nitrate start raising, that means your water more than likely done with the nitrogen cycle, but it's still not fully estabilished. Have you noticed any algaes on the glass or on the substrate?

I suppose you have enough filtration, but it 'd nice to know exactly what oyu have.

Also, probablu you know that, wait with corals. Go get one fish, and some inverts, and start feeding, than let us know what's goin' on.. Be lucky, DH

You good to go with your filtration, I belive you have enough bio filtration cuz your rocks and sand. I figured you have about 50-60 lbs of sand in there. You still can add some powerheads ( Maxijets the most commons,900 or1200 to your size) or/and some extra filtration, just for water movement and aeritation.

Brown algaes are normal, not to panic. One of the best sign ( and the nastiest at the time:-) that your tank fully cycled and getting estabilished. It'll go away with correct and timely maintance. But it's time to put some cleaner group into your tank. You can look about 6-8 hermit crabs( specially blue legged when they're small), bout the same amount of nails ( margarittas, turbo, torchus or astraea, all of them are great algae "killers") for the start. A few nassarius snails to your sandbad.. I wouldn't buy or introduce a sand shifting starfish yet. I think he would starve to death in your system. They need at least a couple of month old sandbad.. Im not going into the microfauna stuffs, but if I break it down they have to have nutrients just like other inverts.. When you start feed you livestock, detritus will settle down on the bottom, and if your crabs not fast or/and hungry enough this detritus more than likely will ends up in your sandbad. That detritus is very important for those sand shifting creatures, besides the microfauna provided by the live sand... But as I mentioned, wait with those stars a bit. Nassarius snails are also great sand shifters, but they'll leave the sandbad if they can't find nutrients there. They will survivr with algaes though..

I'll tell you about those white and black worms ( which aren't really worms though, but the pizza guy just got here, so it's PIZZATIME!!!! Be back shortly

It was good..
So those "worms" I think are calcium deposits on your live rock. You probably can't see them anywhere else but on your live rocks. They 're look a lot like worms, but they aren't. They're also fine, don't worry about it. If you could send me a pics, I could tell you exactly what they are, but i'm pretty sure it's Ca deposit.

Hair algae not a good thing to have, you have to get rid of it before it's too late. Check your calcium and alkalinity levels, and add more filtration if you can. Or at least powerheads. Low alkalinity, calcium and too much of light are the best friends of hair algaes.. Cut back on light, raise your alkalinity above or at least 7 dkh , and the Calcium between 380-450 ppm.

I think your tank is fully cycled, so how about add a small lawnmower blennie? They little "clowns" loved those brown nuisance algaes, in my experiences. Good luck when you visit your LFS tomorrow.
Do you have any coralline growth alraedy?
Who introduced you the AquaC Remora skimmer?

the feathery stuff can be aiptasia.. do some research on aiptasia, check the pictures if it's matches with yours..

You're welcome.Great pictures! Not to worry, those are calcium deposits caused by tube worms. Basically it's a calcium based tube,cave for protection. Whenever you buy those rocks, your chance to find any survivors in those tubes are close to 0.. Usually a stronger wave enough to wash them out of their tubes...

I bought my first Remora skimmer about 3 years ago.I went like WOW!! What a foam, nothing but pure polution gunk junk in the wast cup..Great skimmers, you made a great decision. A bit noisey, but I can live with that. Very short break in period, amazing results.
You are on the good track, just keep us posted.