New reefer on the go

Alexoss · Apr 7, 2021

yeah that will be in my next upgrades for sure after the tank is started

KJ · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome to R2R!!!

jtp7004ft · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome!

maceto · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome!

MERKEY · Apr 7, 2021

Hello and welcome to R2R!

JL15219 · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome to R2R!!

PanchoG · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome to R2R!!

CMMorgan · Apr 7, 2021

Welcome to the fishy family! Sounds like you already have gills. I'm excited for your journey.
Regarding your question about one AI 16 or 2 - that is going to depend on what kind of corals that you want to get into. If you go one, you'll have decent par in the center but the sides are going to be pretty weak. If you are thinking SPS, go for two.... you will be able to carry over to a 60" tank next year anyway. If you want softies to start, that is probably fine.
Play it by ear and do what works for you.
We are here to help!

Alexoss · Apr 7, 2021

For a start i m gonna go with sturdy and easy corals (zoa, leather or other softies) so i think i ll be good for the first year(s)
For the following 150-ish gallons tank i plan in maybe two years, i might go a little bit fancy on the corals so i'll reevaluate when i'll be there.
Thank you ! @CMMorgan

Fish Think Pink · Apr 7, 2021

Alexoss said:
Hi all, my name's Alex, french-born nerd living in Canada for 10 years, i've been a tank lover for almost 6 years now, started with tropicals (gouramis, plecos, etc...), then with planted tanks, then various cichlids tanks, breeding tanks, with a lot of success so far.

Went up to 8 tanks (120g, 2 x 90g, 45g, 3 x 20g and 16g), and now lowering that to 2 (90g tropical/planted, 90g haps cichlids) to give room and time to start my first reef tank.

Ordered a brand new Waterbox Marine X 60.2 (37g with 18.5g sump, should be delivered in 4 weeks or so) as it is important for me to learn reefing the good way with a sump instead of an AIO to prepare to the bigger project (5 feet reef tank in a year or two)
The gear i've ordered might be overkill for a 40g tank but i love the "long term" approch, so it goes like this :
- Bubble Magus Curve 5 Elite
- Jebao DCA6000 DC
- 1 x AI PRIME 16HD REEF (should i go with 2?)
- Eheim Jager 250w with Inkbird ITC-308 controller
- 2 x Nero 3 powerheads
- IO Reef Crystals salt
- 2x 20lbs Caribsea Arag-alive Special Grade Reef Sable
- base rocks
- aquacultured artificial rocks from J&L Aquatics to seed the base rock

That'll be the starting point, i'll upgrade with ATO or dosers if needed later.

I'm going for a fishless cycle (of course) and will add fish once it's safe (a sturdy clown pair and a tang probably for algae control, then cleaning crew), i'll then probably wait a few more weeks for the tank to stabilise before going with coral frags (i plan on buying from Fragbox.ca, reviews are really good about them)
I might add chaeto in the sump to help with the nitrates building along the way.

So that's pretty much it, i'll surely encounter many situations, so expect questions from me if i don't find a valid answer by myself.
Can't wait to learn with you and get started !

Welcome! Look forward to hearing about your future successes! You are off to GREAT start! WAHOO!!!