My first saltwater tank ever

[boacvh]

My tank is 15" deep, so similar to yours. Were you using two current USA light bars the whole time? Or did you use 1 like me at any point for your corals?

I had one to start, then I added a second one later.

 

[Jamo7]

 

[Auto-pilot]

Really don't know yet. I do want clownfish, but I understand they are territorial so I'll probably leave them till the last - at least in freshwater I found that more aggressive fish tend to be less problematic if all other inhabitants have settled in first. I was thinking of a pair of pyjama cardinals to start with and maybe a goby or a firefish and finally a pair of clowns. I suspect at that point I'd be maxed out in a nano like this. If anyone has suggestions, I'd welcome it

Look at a midas Blenny! They do good in smaller tanks and are great fish to watch

 

[Sordfish]

I had one to start, then I added a second one later.

thanks. I guess when time comes I’ll skip the second one and go to something stronger.

 

[Sordfish]

Look at a midas Blenny! They do good in smaller tanks and are great fish to watch

Thanks. I’ll check them out.

 

[MikeYasin]

Welcome aboard! Look forward to following along

 

[Mastiffsrule]

Good looking tank I like the current bundle you got. I would try it on my 180 but it’s a great start.

I did notice the nem in the back right. I’m not sure how long it will survive with out water

 

[vetteguy53081]

This will be a Nice system !!

 

[Sordfish]

I finally finished my RODI setup. With my daughters school starting and deciding to spend some time on my fresh water tank to save the plants, it took longer than expected.

Thanks to tips from @W1ngz I now have a nice setup. I got an DM-2 dual tds meter. It is an upgrade to the DM-1. It includes thicker wiring, better mount, a larger backlit lcd and more durable switches for moving between in and out probes. I found it for $7 more than the DM-1 on Amazon and went for it. I am glad I did. I put the probes at the output of the membrane and the resin. I also added an auto shutoff valve. I finally moved the pressure gauge to the input of the membrane. The only downside of the setup is that it looks like a plate of spaghetti. If you have any tips on pipe management I’d welcome it.

I screwed everything on a wood board an hung that on the wall using picture frame hooks.

I also bought a 20g Brut can and added a float valve.

Tested everything and it works beautifully. Interestingly, my tds out of the membrane starts high (50) but within a minute it is down to 0 or 1. My output tds from the resin is always 0.

It is such a nice setup that I used it for my shrimp tank. I may now get some crystal shrimp since I can maintain proper water parameters for them.

Now that the RODI is complete, I think I’ll start working on the plumbing. I am really excited. Thanks for following along.

 

[W1ngz]

Looks fine to me!

You can't do much with RO tubing, if you shorten them too much then it puts stress on the connectors and could over time cause leaks or kinks.

If you're worried people will wonder why it looks like a mess of spaghetti, pour sauce over it. I can almost guaranteed no one will ask about the hoses! ;Smuggrin

 

[Sordfish]

Looks fine to me!

You can't do much with RO tubing, if you shorten them too much then it puts stress on the connectors and could over time cause leaks or kinks.

If you're worried people will wonder why it looks like a mess of spaghetti, pour sauce over it. I can almost guaranteed no one will ask about the hoses! ;Smuggrin

Thanks. I’ll have to make sure it is seafood sauce

 

[Sordfish]

I took advantage of the 20% off sale for AI primes and the fact that I am in San Diego so I could save on sales tax and bought one at a local LFS - yes, California sales tax is a bargain for Canadians. I know it’ll be outdated in a couple of weeks but it should work great for my needs.

I plan to use it in combination with my orbit marine IC. It’ll take some thinking as to how to position the two lights but I am hopeful I can come up with a solution.

 

[Sordfish]

So I returned home last night from my business trip to San Diego - the weather is so amazing there. I set up my AI prime HD.

What an amazing light. It took very little effort to get it set up on my iPad. As you may have remembered, I also have a Current USA Orbit IC. The Orbit IC’s brightness simply pales (pun intended) in comparison to the Prime. Unfortunately I can’t take pictures to show the difference - my phone automatically adjusts brightness for best picture so the difference is lost.

I did however keep the Orbit IC

The reason for this is that, being a strip light, Orbit IC has a much better light spread in comparison to puck lights like the prime. So it is great for filling in the shadows. I have the Prime a little further forward and slightly angled towards the back of the tank. The Orbit IC is towards the back so as to not block the Prime. Below is a fake coral lit with the Prime only. Notice the black shadows on the rock to the left and bottom right portions of the coral

And here is the same fake coral with the Orbit IC on. Notice the extensive reduction in shadowing:

Because the Current USA Orbit IC is a strip light, adding it to the Prime HD works a bit like a hybrid LED/T5 setup in terms of eliminating shadowing. As a further advantage, Orbit ICis better at illuminating the edges of my 24” long tank, boosting the PAR values at the edges. I was originally a bit disappointed with the Orbit IC, but this new combination makes me happy. I’ll do some PAR measurements with my Seneye and post those soon. Meanwhile if any of you have any advice as to how to improve this “mixed” setup, I’d welcome your suggestions.

 

[vetteguy53081]

Youll love this light. I have multiples and they grow Everything !

 

[Sordfish]

Youll love this light. I have multiples and they grow Everything !

Thanks. That’s what I was hoping to hear. I wanted to make sure I got it right the second try with the lights and it looks like I have a keeper. Even my wife commented that it is really cute, which is important since the tank is in the living room.

When you say you have multiples, do you have them on different tanks or do you have multiple of them on a larger tank? I am curious how they would perform on larger thanks that are deeper (up to 24” deep). This is my starter tank to learn the ropes. In 3 years, I hope to upgrade to my dream tank - something like a Red Sea reefer 350. But of course that is a whole another story.

 

[vetteguy53081]

I have two on my 50g drop off and one on my 93 cube sharing with an Ai 26HD
My 660g has one on the sump

 

[Sordfish]

It is hard to believe it has been more than three years since I posted in my build thread. Lot’s have happened since then. It took me 2 years before I started a reef tank. Also the tank I was planning to use changed as I bought some different tanks along the way. In the next few posts I’ll summarize my progress, both as a way to update anyone reading this and also as a way for me to journal it. But first here is what the tank looks like currently:

 

[Sordfish]

My journal had left off in November 2019 where the tank was practically set up. Work was crazy busy in December so I decided to wait till early 2020 to continue. One day, in early January, while returning home from a trip with my family, I stopped off at my LFS for them to see it as well. While there we noticed a white Red Sea Reefer 250 on sale for US$1250 – remember pre-covid pricing. It was the LFS’s display tank (never filled) they were selling to make space. It was fully built and essentially brand new. My wife suggested that I buy it thinking that it’d look much nicer than the gray Fireaqua in the living room. I jumped at the chance. It took two trips to carry it home with our compact SUV, but I was the proud owner of an RS 250. Red Seas were my dream tanks. I had never believed I’d be able to own one, so I was ecstatic. In February, I also bought 2 more used AI Prime HDs. I transferred the rock and the fake corals from the FireAqua and I was ready to go:

I decided March break 2020 would be when I fill it up with water. But …

 

[UGASealDawg]

That's a nice little tank!

You may find though, that the Current USA lights are underpowered. They're great for the visual aspect, but even with a second one, you won't have the required light for anything more than the most basic low light corals.

For a tank that size I think and AI Prime HD would be just the thing.

Agree 100%! You can find lightly used AI lights all the time in the Market Place here. I was going to add a suggestion that if you don't have water parameter test kits then that should be high on the next purchase list. I think the Hanna's are fantastic and you can also find those used on the Market Place - just be aware that part of the price of "new" testers are the reagents, so value used ones that don't have reagents accordingly. They are easily sourced from BRS and other places.

 

[UGASealDawg]

Really don't know yet. I do want clownfish, but I understand they are territorial so I'll probably leave them till the last - at least in freshwater I found that more aggressive fish tend to be less problematic if all other inhabitants have settled in first. I was thinking of a pair of pyjama cardinals to start with and maybe a goby or a firefish and finally a pair of clowns. I suspect at that point I'd be maxed out in a nano like this. If anyone has suggestions, I'd welcome it

Clownfish are beautiful but they are complete jerks - especially within their own kind. They are damsels. Adding them all at the same time, the same size and last is the best advice I can give. If you do add newbies later try to add larger specimens. They all have their own personalities and some take the jerk factor to the extreme. I have had to take some back to LFS they were such complete jerks.