Our “new” fish tank has been sitting for a very long time – a whole 4 months without having any fish or coral in it! The reason of course is that we’ve been waiting to get the Nitrate level down to a livable level. So, the amount of time is actually pretty normal for properly setting up a salt water tank. But sometimes it’s hard to explain that to our visitors who are wanting to see fish. And it’s even harder to explain that to a 6 year-old!

Well, we finally got the Nitrate level down to a decent level. Ideally 0 ppm is desired, but 20ppm is certainly liveable for many fish and coral. So, the other day we made our first fish and coral purchase! Actually, we spent so much time deliberating on which fish to get that we had to come back the next day because we ran out of time. This worked to our advantage because we had time to come home and do a bit more research.

So, our first fish inhabitant’s name is Colorful and is a Six Line Wrasse!

“Colorful”, the Fish

We also picked up our first coral. It isn’t much to look at, but we really didn’t want to spend alot of money on a coral before our nitrate level is down, since their makup is mostly water. It is a small colony of polyps.

About a month ago, we purchased the “cleaner crew” to further develop the biological filter. We bought Scarlet Reef Hermit Crabs, Blue Leg Crabs, Turbo Snails, Astrea Snails, and a Bumble Bee Snail.