Pascoe
New Member
- Joined
- May 15, 2020
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 4
- What state or country do you live in
- Florida
Starting a new reef tank build and would love to get some insight from more experienced reefers. Everything I plan on using and doing is below, please let me know if I should do something else or if I am setting myself up for failure or something!
Also, I’ll turn this into a build log if a few people want that, I know it’s not a huge tank or anything but I personally love following others’ builds.
I plan on making this a mixed tank with a few SPS up top (probably right underneath the lights, not many) and lots of LPS.
Aquarium
Tank: Waterbox Marine 70.3 (Display tank size is 44 gallons, sump is 22 gallons)
Pump: Nyos Viper 5.0
Powerheads: Nero 5 and a 450 gph I had from previous build (will eventually replace 450 gph with another Nero 5)
Lighting: 2 XR15 G5’s
Livestock:
2 clowns
1 Blue spotted Jawfish
2 to 3 Dragonets (my favorite fish)
1 Six line wrasse
1 yellow tang (tank might be too small?)
1 yellow watchman Goby
2 cleaner shrimp
1 pistol shrimp
9 to 18 snails (turbos, astras, nassarius)
Sump:
Auto Top Off will be running on day one.
Protein Skimmer will be added later down the line as I’ll only be adding 1-2 fish per month after the tank cycles.
I plan on having a refugium with the main purpose of hosting pods to feed the Dragonets. It will have a 250 gph powerhead, some chaeto, some live rock, and maybe some sand.
Cycle Plan:
1. Add crushed coral and set up aquascape with Dry Live Rock.
2. Fill tank
3. Add Dr. Tims ammonia up to 5ppm
4. Add some Beneficial bacteria
5. Wait it out! Every time ammonia and nitrites drop to zero, I’ll dose ammonia back up to 2 ppm until the tank can eradicate ammonia and nitrites in less than 24 hours
!!!. I’ll be doing a 50% water change when nitrates are 50ppm or above during the cycle.
Miscellaneous:
I’ll run the 4 filter socks that come with the tank and see how they do but a lot of people say they’re more of a hassle than help.
I’ll be using crushed coral as my substrate.
100% setting up a QT system for fish and 100% dipping my frags in CoralRX AND Bayers extreme (or whatever it’s called).
All dosing and feeding will be done manually until I get a good grasp on what works for my tank and what doesn’t. I’m in no rush to finish the tank as I plan on keeping it for as long as I can.
Also, I’ll turn this into a build log if a few people want that, I know it’s not a huge tank or anything but I personally love following others’ builds.
I plan on making this a mixed tank with a few SPS up top (probably right underneath the lights, not many) and lots of LPS.
Aquarium
Tank: Waterbox Marine 70.3 (Display tank size is 44 gallons, sump is 22 gallons)
Pump: Nyos Viper 5.0
Powerheads: Nero 5 and a 450 gph I had from previous build (will eventually replace 450 gph with another Nero 5)
Lighting: 2 XR15 G5’s
Livestock:
2 clowns
1 Blue spotted Jawfish
2 to 3 Dragonets (my favorite fish)
1 Six line wrasse
1 yellow tang (tank might be too small?)
1 yellow watchman Goby
2 cleaner shrimp
1 pistol shrimp
9 to 18 snails (turbos, astras, nassarius)
Sump:
Auto Top Off will be running on day one.
Protein Skimmer will be added later down the line as I’ll only be adding 1-2 fish per month after the tank cycles.
I plan on having a refugium with the main purpose of hosting pods to feed the Dragonets. It will have a 250 gph powerhead, some chaeto, some live rock, and maybe some sand.
Cycle Plan:
1. Add crushed coral and set up aquascape with Dry Live Rock.
2. Fill tank
3. Add Dr. Tims ammonia up to 5ppm
4. Add some Beneficial bacteria
5. Wait it out! Every time ammonia and nitrites drop to zero, I’ll dose ammonia back up to 2 ppm until the tank can eradicate ammonia and nitrites in less than 24 hours
!!!. I’ll be doing a 50% water change when nitrates are 50ppm or above during the cycle.
Miscellaneous:
I’ll run the 4 filter socks that come with the tank and see how they do but a lot of people say they’re more of a hassle than help.
I’ll be using crushed coral as my substrate.
100% setting up a QT system for fish and 100% dipping my frags in CoralRX AND Bayers extreme (or whatever it’s called).
All dosing and feeding will be done manually until I get a good grasp on what works for my tank and what doesn’t. I’m in no rush to finish the tank as I plan on keeping it for as long as I can.
