T5 lighting? Or should I saved my pennies for LED?
I personally am saving to do LED. I am looking at the Marineland Reef Capable 18" LED Light for my 16 gallon nano. This might not be the best light out there, but it is affordable.
I personally would not have added fish as fast as you have. Even though the tank is technically "cycled", it is not mature. The tank should go through a few stages prior to adding fish. If I were to start a tank from day one:
Week 1: Add water, live sand and live rock. Wait for the cloudiness to dissipate.
Week 2: Test Trates, Trites and Ammonia. Make sure everything is zero. pH ~ 8.3
Week 3: Test for NitrAtes, NiriIes and Ammonia if reading was not zero week before. If reading was zero, I continue to test Nitrates anyway. Start Calcium and Alk testing, Cal ~ 400 ppm, Alk ~ 8-12 dKH.
Week 4: Hopefully by now the Diatom Bloom has occured. If it has, I suggest adding a Clean up Crew (CUC). I will have been testing and dosing Calcium and Alkalinity over the past week to make sure my water stays within the parameters.
Week 5: If everything (Trates, Trites, Ammonia, pH, Calcium and Alkalinity) have leveled out and stayed level, then hopefully I am growing coraline algae on the glass and seeing a rise in copepod and astrea starfish populations. At this point, I feel that it is time to add a (maybe two) fish.
Week 6: If everything has stayed level after adding one or two fish, then I will consider adding another fish.
If you don't understand water quality, here is a good article written by a member:
Alkalinity and Calcium testing - important for every marine aquarium
And here is a good filtration article by the same author:
Saltwater Filtration 101, How it Differs from Freshwater
Remember, nothing good happens fast in a saltwater aquarium.
