Hey all, I figured now was the time to start a build thread, since the tank is cycled, so y'all won't have to stare at an empty tank with white base rock, ha ha. Any help/input would be greatly appreciated.
To the details!
This tank is a standard 30 gallon rectangle (although total water volume is closer to 26 gallons) measuring 30" long by 12" wide by 18" tall, and it will hopefully be a sort of mixed reef. I am putting this together with my brother to test the waters so to speak, as the last saltwater aquarium I had flopped badly. Neither of us are endowed with particularly large cash reserves
, so this tank is a sort of bare-bone's setup with just the necessary equipment.
Rock and sand wise, there is about 40 pounds of dry base rock, 4-5 pounds of live rock, and 20 pounds of pink live sand.
For lighting, I have an AquaMaxx NemoLight (LED), which should grow softies, zoas, LPS, and maybe some SPS down the road (all though by that time I hope to upgrade the light).
For water flow, there is 2 Hydor Koralia 425 pumps, mounted on opposite sides of the tank.
Filter wise, there is a large (I forget the model) power filter stocked with live rock and some algae, which is serving as a sort of mini-refugium. There is also an AquaClear CycleGuard power filter (size 50=200 GPH, which I know is a little small) providing mechanical and chemical filtration.
Insofar we have 1 100w heater which keeps the water about 75-78F depending on whether the room fan is on/what season it is. Hopefully we will add a second to protect against the failure of one or another soon.
And that is pretty much it equipment wise! 2-3 times monthly water changes of about 2.5-3 gallons will help keep the water quality up and provide the necessary minerals, as we don't plan on having lots of stony corals for a while. We just did our first water change yesterday. Nitrates were at 20 PPM, Phosphates at 0.25 PPM before the water change. We had and still have some live and/or dead GHA algae floating around, so we are working on cleaning that up.
Current tank inhabitants include 10+ Red Claw hermit crabs and a largish hermit crab that was sold as an empty shell, a single snail that was also sold as a shell, and the various microfauna that comes with live rock. We plan on adding brittle stars/serpent stars and maybe a few soft corals over the next few weeks if the Nitrates come down, and maybe a fish or two, which leads us into our stocking plans.
What we have so far, fish wise:
2 Ocellaris clowns, hopefully of two different morphs. My brother REALLY wants a trio of clowns, but from what I hear that doesn't work.
1 White-Spotted Filefish. I was hoping to get an Aiptasia-Eating Filefish, but from my research its a toss up whether they'll eat Aiptasia or your softies.
1 Yellow-Tailed Damsel. This would be one of the last additions to prevent problems with its aggressiveness.
1 Lawnmower Blenny.
2 Neon Gobies.
What we're thinking about:
2 Cardinal fish of some sort. Not Banggai's because I don't want to starve a male, as there is no other place he could go.
1 wrasse of some sort. We wanted a Canary Wrasse, but they get a little too large and rambunctious, and I hear 6-Line Wrasse's can become bullies.
2 Zebra Firefish. I hear they can become territorial though.
Yes, I know, that is a lot of fish. Not all of these will make it through to the final draft
!
Coral wise, we want to get some zoas/mushrooms/other softies here soon. I'm looking for suggestions on easy-to-keep-and-grow species. So far I know that Blue Tubbs and Eagle Eyes are easy zoas.
If you think anything in here is seriously messed up, please let me know. A lot of my knowledge stems from 5+ year old books (since that was the last time I had an aquarium). I have been to 4-5 different saltwater aquarium stores, all of which are generally pretty good, and all have given me different advice if they aren't trying to sell me something. I appreciate any feedback you may have.
(Yes, there is a mirror behind the aquarium.)
Thanks,
Arthroverts
To the details!
This tank is a standard 30 gallon rectangle (although total water volume is closer to 26 gallons) measuring 30" long by 12" wide by 18" tall, and it will hopefully be a sort of mixed reef. I am putting this together with my brother to test the waters so to speak, as the last saltwater aquarium I had flopped badly. Neither of us are endowed with particularly large cash reserves
, so this tank is a sort of bare-bone's setup with just the necessary equipment.Rock and sand wise, there is about 40 pounds of dry base rock, 4-5 pounds of live rock, and 20 pounds of pink live sand.
For lighting, I have an AquaMaxx NemoLight (LED), which should grow softies, zoas, LPS, and maybe some SPS down the road (all though by that time I hope to upgrade the light).
For water flow, there is 2 Hydor Koralia 425 pumps, mounted on opposite sides of the tank.
Filter wise, there is a large (I forget the model) power filter stocked with live rock and some algae, which is serving as a sort of mini-refugium. There is also an AquaClear CycleGuard power filter (size 50=200 GPH, which I know is a little small) providing mechanical and chemical filtration.
Insofar we have 1 100w heater which keeps the water about 75-78F depending on whether the room fan is on/what season it is. Hopefully we will add a second to protect against the failure of one or another soon.
And that is pretty much it equipment wise! 2-3 times monthly water changes of about 2.5-3 gallons will help keep the water quality up and provide the necessary minerals, as we don't plan on having lots of stony corals for a while. We just did our first water change yesterday. Nitrates were at 20 PPM, Phosphates at 0.25 PPM before the water change. We had and still have some live and/or dead GHA algae floating around, so we are working on cleaning that up.
Current tank inhabitants include 10+ Red Claw hermit crabs and a largish hermit crab that was sold as an empty shell, a single snail that was also sold as a shell, and the various microfauna that comes with live rock. We plan on adding brittle stars/serpent stars and maybe a few soft corals over the next few weeks if the Nitrates come down, and maybe a fish or two, which leads us into our stocking plans.
What we have so far, fish wise:
2 Ocellaris clowns, hopefully of two different morphs. My brother REALLY wants a trio of clowns, but from what I hear that doesn't work.
1 White-Spotted Filefish. I was hoping to get an Aiptasia-Eating Filefish, but from my research its a toss up whether they'll eat Aiptasia or your softies.
1 Yellow-Tailed Damsel. This would be one of the last additions to prevent problems with its aggressiveness.
1 Lawnmower Blenny.
2 Neon Gobies.
What we're thinking about:
2 Cardinal fish of some sort. Not Banggai's because I don't want to starve a male, as there is no other place he could go.
1 wrasse of some sort. We wanted a Canary Wrasse, but they get a little too large and rambunctious, and I hear 6-Line Wrasse's can become bullies.
2 Zebra Firefish. I hear they can become territorial though.
Yes, I know, that is a lot of fish. Not all of these will make it through to the final draft
!Coral wise, we want to get some zoas/mushrooms/other softies here soon. I'm looking for suggestions on easy-to-keep-and-grow species. So far I know that Blue Tubbs and Eagle Eyes are easy zoas.
If you think anything in here is seriously messed up, please let me know. A lot of my knowledge stems from 5+ year old books (since that was the last time I had an aquarium). I have been to 4-5 different saltwater aquarium stores, all of which are generally pretty good, and all have given me different advice if they aren't trying to sell me something. I appreciate any feedback you may have.
(Yes, there is a mirror behind the aquarium.)
Thanks,
Arthroverts
