Reef life

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
As requested throwing up a thread on my first saltwater reef tank.

Some may scoff at my baby tank but I just don’t have the space for much larger at least for now. It’s going to sit on a countertop in the basement so I was worried about weight going any larger.

It’s a 30gal tank with a glass top hood, the pump is rear mounted. Also grabbed a 200 watt heater.

I only have 2 live rocks at the moment, they were wet from the store so I shouldn’t have to wait weeks for the rocks to cure. I broke the rocks up a bit and used reef glue to “aquascape” it a bit.

Also using live sand, the caribsea brand.

My wife’s friend hooked me up with a Fluval Sea LED light for free. He was using it for his frag tank and no longer needed it. Has less than a few hours on it and practically brand new, $160 light.

Things I still need to grab are water testing equipment, power heads and I would like to grab another live rock. Looking at either getting some pukani or if I want to drop some more coin I’m thinking of buying a speciality bonsai shaped rock.

There isn’t any livestock in the tank yet and the water is still cloudy from the live sand, took pics of the different light outputs. Once I can test the water properly and make sure there isn’t any amonia spikes I will grab a fish to start off with and slowly add the cleanup crew and more livestock and then the good stuff corals.

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FESTER665

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They’re not that much work, well unless you consider water changes work. As long as you do fairly frequent water changes to keep your parameters in line you should be fine....

I always started with MarcoRocks on my builds just because I liked aquascaping dry first, then seeding the tank with a few scoops of live sand from a known tank with no bad stuff in it. After an issues one time with aiptasia I didn’t want to go through that again...
 

dom418

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Dec 2, 2008
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Start small but I will warn you your tanks will either multiply or you will go bigger as time goes on. At one point I had a 500g, 225g and 125g saltwater tanks. I sold everything when I moved though. Great hobby just keep up with the maintenance especially on smaller tanks since the water chemistry is much more finicky
 

importcrew

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I used to have a 125g freshwater setup I started all from finding a damn baby Turtle. Got a small 10g but wanted something bigger for it and immediately bought the 125g tank and stand. Then went all out buying the filter, light, and everything else. Threw in a bunch of different specie cichlids and koi. The Turtle would always try attacking the koi but the koi were big enough to knock him around and out of the way. Eventually gave the Turtle a 30g tank (iirc) and got another Turtle to add. Everything went to hell when I was in the process of remodeling the house and getting married. Never went back to it.
 

1fastrock

Member
Mar 14, 2010
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Tank looks good!! I just got back into the hobby after taking a few years off. I currently have a 37 gallon tank set up with a few coral frags, coral beauty, and clown fish. I'm hoping to wet my feet again before jumping back into one of my bigger tanks. What types of fish are you planning on keeping
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Tank looks good!! I just got back into the hobby after taking a few years off. I currently have a 37 gallon tank set up with a few coral frags, coral beauty, and clown fish. I'm hoping to wet my feet again before jumping back into one of my bigger tanks. What types of fish are you planning on keeping



Post up some pics!

I’m more into the inverts and coral, when the tank is fully done I expect to have 2 clowns a tang, goby and 2-3 small fish (still undecided)

I’m about to add another 10pds of live rock in a few mins, just waiting on the epoxy to set before I dump it in the tank.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
I wish I had the motivation and money to do something awesome like this.



So far it’s not a lot of work just money (it will be more work later), I am about $900ish into this and I got the light for free. I could have shaved some of that cost down if I had done better price shopping and ordered some things online vs the large fish store down the street.

The current tally is also for the better test kits, a powerhead and the extra 10 pds of live rock all purchased today.

Still need to purchase a protein skimmer and livestock at the minimum.
 

IceCreamAssassin

When in doubt, throttle out
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The expensive part is the equipment and the livestock. Once those are done the “maintenance” isn’t bad. Two things you need to do every week and your water will never be “out of wack”.

First is water changes, either get a filter system to make your own or go by water from a reef store. Make sure their salinity is the same as what you want to use if you go the store route. Do a 20% change every week and you won’t ever really need to test your water.

Second is to clean your skimmer. It’s the most important part of keeping your tank clean. Skims all the fish poop and stuff out of the water. If you’re not using a skimmer then the water changes become even more important. You’re at a size that a skimmer isn’t necessary, but would help.

I’ve been in the salt water game for about 20 years and my brother has as well. He has a crazy tank and does sell frags if you are ever interested
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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New rock in, used some epoxy and a rod to hold the 2 pieces together. The epoxy is ugly but it should be hidden as algae and coralline grow later on.

Water is a little murky, first time anything has gone in the water since startup and I had to move the sand to get the rock on the glass bottom

IMG_2006.jpg
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Finally got some livestock in the tank, took a while for the ammonia and nitrite to drop to 0. I used Dr. Tim’s one and only bacteria to kick start the cycle.

I wanted something hardy and cheap so started with 2 oscellaris. Both are male at this time.

I also started the clean up crew, grabbed 5 snails, blue legged hermit and a emerald crab.

Acclimating
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After a few hours in the tank they went.

IMG_2024.jpg

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Emerald crab is a bit shy, he is hiding under the rock in the last pic. I will let these guys get used to the tank for a few weeks and add some more fish and clean up crew. After a month or so I will start adding the coral.

Any recommendations from the saltwater guys as to next choices?
 

FESTER665

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I would say grab a cleaner shrimp, and Im thinking youre going to get maybe 3 or 4 max more fish so my votes would be for the following:


Six Line Wrasse:
lg_76307_Six_Line_Wrasse.jpg



Royal Gramma:
lg_72329_Royal_Gramma_Basslet.jpg



Midas Blenny:
lg71783MidasBlenny.jpg



Flame Hawkfish:
lg_95558_FlameHawkfish.jpg



That would be more than plenty of stock for a tank that size, and give you some different movements and colors.



IMO, steer clear of damsels (they turn into assholes), and I always steer clear of gobies since they always turned my tanks into snow globes going through the sand...


Get the wrasse as one of the last additions since they can get aggressive towards new tank mates.


For the clowns I would get them some hammer coral, torch coral, or frogspawn in the tank so they can use it as their "protection" zone.


Oh, and get you some Rod's Food once you get a few corals in there, the tank will love it, just use it sparingly so you don't overload the tank.



I always go overboard on the clean up crew since I tended to overfeed to keep my guys fat and happy.
 

10thSVT_03

DRRRT PROSPECT
Feb 28, 2009
2,153
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Love the saltwater. Always been scared to try it. Had a 180 gallon freshwater with Stingrays and an arrowana. Had them going strong for 4 years. Some sick feeder fish wiped them all out. Was furious and sold the tank. Want to try saltwater in a few months when the schedule settles down. Looks great Chris
 

IceCreamAssassin

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Jan 28, 2011
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I would say grab a cleaner shrimp, and Im thinking youre going to get maybe 3 or 4 max more fish so my votes would be for the following:


Six Line Wrasse:
lg_76307_Six_Line_Wrasse.jpg



Royal Gramma:
lg_72329_Royal_Gramma_Basslet.jpg



Midas Blenny:
lg71783MidasBlenny.jpg



Flame Hawkfish:
lg_95558_FlameHawkfish.jpg



That would be more than plenty of stock for a tank that size, and give you some different movements and colors.



IMO, steer clear of damsels (they turn into assholes), and I always steer clear of gobies since they always turned my tanks into snow globes going through the sand...


Get the wrasse as one of the last additions since they can get aggressive towards new tank mates.


For the clowns I would get them some hammer coral, torch coral, or frogspawn in the tank so they can use it as their "protection" zone.


Oh, and get you some Rod's Food once you get a few corals in there, the tank will love it, just use it sparingly so you don't overload the tank.



I always go overboard on the clean up crew since I tended to overfeed to keep my guys fat and happy.



This guy has good advice. I personally would go with wrasse and blenny. I also usually go with peppermint shrimp because they clean very well. I’d also get a few crabs so they can do work. Cleaning crew overboard is a must. Also Rods is excellent for your tank, especially once you add coral.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
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Bolingbrook IL
Solid stuff! I was already thinking of a cleaner shrimp as one of the next livestock. I also like the wrasse and blenny, I was more steering towards the tail spot blenny.

Already have the rod’s food, it’s the fish only version for the clowns. The local LFS didn’t have the mixed coral/fish version in stock.

With only 7 total inverts in the tank currently, do I ramp the CuC up now or wait till the tank has established some more?

I’m seeing more and more green hair algae, getting a little worried it’s going to get out of control before I can keep it in check.
 

cap42

Restoration Hell
Mar 22, 2005
2,763
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Bolingbrook IL
Sad news, one of the clowns died. He wasn't looking too good the last day or so, I tried a freshwater dip to see if it was flukes or other parasites but got nothing. He didn't show any signs of brook, ich or velvet, which doesn't rule them out.

The other clown is hanging strong but looks lonely, keeps bumping the glass where his reflection is.

All water param's are in check.

0 Ammonia
0 Nitrite
5ppm Nitrate
1.024 Salinity
 
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