First Saltwater Tank 29 gallons

[CrimsonTide]

If you do get hermits I would go with the blue legged. Also if the hermits are small get them some shells, otherwise they might kill larger snails for their shell.

Thanks! I've been doing some reading and if my LFS has the snails they say they do I might get 2 nass and 2 trochus. Then just wait on the hermits. They seem like they might just fight for competition and shells. If I do get them I'm definitely going to ask the store for some empty shells for them to try to mitigate the slaughter.

 

[DarkReefer]

Lookin good mate, added to my watch list keen to see how it develops

 

[CrimsonTide]

Lookin good mate, added to my watch list keen to see how it develops

Well not much to update on these guys. Hopefully I'll add some snails next week after waterchange. The clowns are eating like pigs eventhough they are tiny. Theyre mad when I'm not home to feed them on time.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Waterchange day! Changed out water, cleaned filter, skimmer, wiped down the glass, sucked up some uneaten food and sand with the python vac (about 30% of the sand sifted).

Went to the LFS and bought 3 Tong Nassarius Snails to eat any of the food the clowns miss. Also bought one Trochus Snail to chill on my glass.

The clowns will come to the top and eat for about 30 seconds then they go to their part of the tank and wait for whatever drifts to their side and scoop it out of the water column. I figured a couple of Nassarius could help eat whatever they decide is too far of a swim away.

Mister snorkel

Clowns photo bombing.

Yesterday I put a 150w heater in the tank and spent a good 4 hours trying to dial it in. Finally got it to about 77.6F. When I tried to get right at 78F it seemed to want to go to 79F+. So there is now a 100w preset in there and a 150w. The 150w made the waterchange go really quick today. The preset is sort of a backup right now and will be used to hold temperatures when I waterchange and clean.

Next step is to make a lid for the tank. Everything is bought and I have taken measurements to make it so hopefully i can start it this evening or in the next couple of days.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Ok well Tank lid is complete. I will eventually change the screen out to a clear screen instead of a black color. It is going to do the job for now though.

I used a saw to cut everything down to size and bought 4 extra corner pieces to make my cut out. The screen isn't as tight as I would like but like I said it will eventually be changed out for a different color and thickness.

This is it on top of the tank for now. I think it should work for what I want.

 

[Trey]

Welcome to the addiction! My first tank was also a 29 gallon.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Welcome to the addiction! My first tank was also a 29 gallon.

Thanks! I like the size of the 29gal it looks like a big tank but in reality isn't. Very pleased with it so far!

 

[CrimsonTide]

Well went to the LFS today knowing they got a couple new corals. Tank is still too new for a lot of corals but I couldn't resist a Duncan and they had super tiny kenya tree frags so I figured I would just put one in as well.

Kenya tree is in the back of the tank. Neither of them were happy with me after they got their coral dip bath. The Duncan is opening up after being in the tank for only like 10mins so hopefully he will do well. I could have gotten a much larger kenya tree but whats the point? If it lives it will eventually grow like a weed. At least how it is I can watch it grow before it just explodes my tank with smaller trees.

I almost bought a really nice looking ricordia mushroom but it was green and they said they were going to order some orange ones and I know I will eventually have way too many things that are green in the tank so I passed for now.

Fish are doing well. I turned the powerhead back on in the tank now that they have had a couple weeks to acclimate.

 

[CrimsonTide]

The Duncan and kenya tree opened up today a lot. So I am very happy with that. They looked good. The kenya is so small yesterday I was worried. It looked very shriveled up. Today all its polyps were out much better. The Duncan was waving and having a good time as well. He was nice and extended.

The kenya tree looked like a completely different piece of coral today. So far so good for the new pieces in the tank. They aren't in the clowns area of the tank so they really didn't bother them from what I could tell while I was home today. We shall see tomorrow everything is sleeping right now.

 

[DarkReefer]

That 2nd pic of the duncan has some awesome colours!
Yours looks much bigger than the one I got, I can see this becoming an expensive past time going to the LFS every week to get the newest corals coming through haha.

 

[CrimsonTide]

That 2nd pic of the duncan has some awesome colours!
Yours looks much bigger than the one I got, I can see this becoming an expensive past time going to the LFS every week to get the newest corals coming through haha.

The colors under the blue led are nuts. The pictures actually don't do it justice but I tried.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Did a 10% waterchange and blew the diatoms off the rocks and some of the sand bottom and sucked what I could out. Cleaned them off the glass as well.

Fed the Duncan some pellet food yesterday with a pipette and he ate them just fine. They are really small hatchery pellets that sustainable aquatics use for all of their captive bred fish. Ive tried feeding the clowns above him hoping they would drop food down to him but that is a no go so far.

I looked under the Duncan today and found we have another Duncan forming! So I guess he likes his new home

The kenya tree is also growing rapidly.

So far so good. The clowns are the same stubborn clowns as always.

 

[DarkReefer]

Great to hear the corals are going well and you're seeing some growth!

My Duncans have been playing hide and seek with me. Last night a few of them closed up, then when I turned light off in the room (tank light still on), they started to slowly come out. Over night they came out completely, and then this morning a couple of them hid after a while when the light was on.
Not sure if the clowns brushed past them to cause them to retract, but quite fascinating to watch them do their thing lol.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Yeah after I posted this the clowns decided to start swimming really close to the Duncan and making it move. Not close up but just trying to make it move more.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Moved the powerhead today. Had it on for about 6 hrs in the new spot and it was blowing to the other side of the tank. The Duncan looked like it was enjoying it but after about 6hrs the Duncan decided to close up. So I turned off the powerhead and the Duncan opened back up. I guess he might just need to get used to being blown. Kenya tree frag was enjoying the powerhead. So I guess I'll try again tomorrow with the powerhead. Don't want to stress the Duncan too much. The Duncan is growing a new head rather quickly.

Side note pretty large diatom bloom going right now. Its not terrible but isn't pretty. I've added some more bacteria to tank past couple of days. Will probably get some more snails soon. The LFS really doesn't have the ones I want.

 

[JL15219]

What size Dr. Tim's ammonia did you use the 2oz or 4oz?

 

[CrimsonTide]

What size Dr. Tim's ammonia did you use the 2oz or 4oz?

2oz. You don't need much ammonia.

 

[DarkReefer]

Moved the powerhead today. Had it on for about 6 hrs in the new spot and it was blowing to the other side of the tank. The Duncan looked like it was enjoying it but after about 6hrs the Duncan decided to close up. So I turned off the powerhead and the Duncan opened back up. I guess he might just need to get used to being blown. Kenya tree frag was enjoying the powerhead. So I guess I'll try again tomorrow with the powerhead. Don't want to stress the Duncan too much. The Duncan is growing a new head rather quickly.

Side note pretty large diatom bloom going right now. Its not terrible but isn't pretty. I've added some more bacteria to tank past couple of days. Will probably get some more snails soon. The LFS really doesn't have the ones I want.

Kind of been watching mine and wondering the same tbh.
Been considering the possibility of getting another powerhead, I think it might be overkill for my tank though. Probably just need to move it somewhere else potentially. Seems to be okay flow in the tank though. I think where my duncan is it's a little sheltered from the flow, not too badly, there's still movement.
Will likely leave it a while and continue to monitor, it's only early days.

Do you have the option for pulsing for yours? maybe worth trying it if you dont want a constantly flow against it?

 

[CrimsonTide]

Kind of been watching mine and wondering the same tbh.
Been considering the possibility of getting another powerhead, I think it might be overkill for my tank though. Probably just need to move it somewhere else potentially. Seems to be okay flow in the tank though. I think where my duncan is it's a little sheltered from the flow, not too badly, there's still movement.
Will likely leave it a while and continue to monitor, it's only early days.

Do you have the option for pulsing for yours? maybe worth trying it if you dont want a constantly flow against it?

No my only have a 1 setting. I'm gonna look into a small powerhead thats adjustable. My return from my filter and return from my skimmer push a good bit of flow into the tank already and I think I need something that I can turn down to maybe the 240gph range and then ramp up when needed. Plus watching the clowns fight the current hurts my soul for some reason. The Duncans didn't seem to like high flow yesterday but the spot that puts them in medium flow puts the clowns side of the tank in a whirlwind lol ive glued the Duncan down so I will probably keep trying to move the powerhead around for a little longer and see if I cant find something that works. If not ill look for a smaller adjustable one. Like a jebao 2 or something.

 

[CrimsonTide]

Cleaned the tank and did a waterchange yesterday. Been dealing with some aggressive diatom issues. I am going to assume some reasons are new tank and silicate. The other may be heavy handed or over feeding by me. I usually feed the fish in the morning and evening. I am trying to feed them less often but they always look so pitiful.

I cut back my white light a little bit, I added chemi-pure just for giggles to see if it would help any. I tried to turkey baste and suck up everything I could yesterday and attacked the sand. The diatoms so far today are still there but not nearly as aggressive SO FAR.

Been looking into more clean up crew for the tank. There isn't a LFS within 150 miles that has any of the snails I want to add. Been looking at ordering from reefcleaners. Essentially all the reefcleaner packages with just snails would work but it is entirely too many snails. With free shipping on the packages it doesn't make since not to do the package. For 30 less snails it would cost the same with shipping. So I dont know what I am going to do. All the LFS cannot say when they will have any snails besides Nassarius. My 1 Trochus snail is essentially at an all he can eat buffet and the restaurant owners keep bringing out more food. He's not going to eat everything. The Nassarius are doing an okay job though eating leftover food.

Pic Duncan eating and then one of him begging 10 minutes later