New to hobby. 29g Build Thread

[dlynch8802]

After seeing a lot of algae steadily growing, I decided to add just a few inverts to start a clean up crew. I added 4 blue hermits at 2 nassarius snails.

 

[dlynch8802]

I assume these are pods.

And a picture of one of the hermits

Still my nitrates are floating around 30 ppm.

When should I do my partial water change?

 

[jazonPartij]

I assume these are pods.

And a picture of one of the hermits

Still my nitrates are floating around 30 ppm.

When should I do my partial water change?

I suggest a 10 to 25% water change now.

 

[dlynch8802]

Thanks jazonPartij. I did a 5 gallon water change, and will be testing my water later. In the meantime, I bought an assortment of equipment off of eBay, including the redsea prizm, and current 2 bulb cfl and some other odds and ends which I have been using to mix back up water.

Here is what my tank look like now:

It took me about an hour to try and hide as many cords as I could, but now on the side my system looks like this:

Any suggestions on how to clean it up?

 

[dlynch8802]

Update:

Over the past week I kind of overloaded my tank.

All my testing are normal, nitrate is at about 10, and I started dosing with reef code a and reef code b. Also added dual compact fluorescent light fixture running a 460 bulb and a 10000k/460 bulb.

I also added a couple clowns

And some corals

 

[dlynch8802]

Also need some help on zoa identification, my lfs just sold them all at a fixed price without names here are some pics

I apologize for the iPhone pics.

Any feedback or help on identification would be great

 

[dlynch8802]

A little update:

I have been buying a lot of new frags. Over ten at this point. I'm having success with almost all of them using my new light.

I bought a current marine pro. I have it on custom settings. I'm still playing around with it and trying to see how all my corals react to different intensities. Anyways, here are some new pictures:

FTS:

Some new Zoas:

My God of war

Some acans (don't know the specific names)

A favia (again not sure the name)

My Duncan with a new head:

And my war coral: (which is browning on top)

I had a problem with cyano for a few weeks, but it has finally disappeared.

Any suggestions would be great. Thanks!

 

[Ahruk]

Awesome start! Some really cool corals you've picked out. Just a couple of quick questions to make sure that you're not missing out on anything.

Have you been dipping your coral? Also did you get more snails? Neither nassarius nor hermits really like algae, they both prefer meaty foods.

 

[dlynch8802]

Thanks! I'm not dipping my corals and I know I should. I guess I know exactly where I'm getting my corals from and trust the LFS. I did get a couple turbo snails as well as a sand sifting starfish. Should I add more?

 

[Sabellafella]

Lookin good brotha!!

 

[Ahruk]

Nah, turbos are the bomb! I'm not really sure how many snails are ideal...still trying to figure that out myself but if you notice more algae I figure it couldn't hurt to add more snails

Even if you really trust the LFS you should still dip, they're getting high volumes of stuff which leaves them very vulnerable to getting pests. All stores have pests no matter how awesome and reliable they are. Dipping is actually really easy, cheap and takes around 10 minutes. It can save you a whole lot of pain and heartache in the long run. Also be sure use a pair of bone cutters to manually remove any pest algaes like hair algae, brypsis and bubble algae, as well as aptasia. Because dipping only really removes pest inverts. (You can if you are worried about pest algaes l0ok into dipping hydrogen peroxide but I personally don't have much experience with it).

 

[dlynch8802]

Thanks for the tip. I have had a couple hitchhikers so far. I have noticed a serpent star on one and a limpit (researched both and they were harmless so I kept them) and also aptasia, which I bought some stuff and got rid of it. Over the past few days I have noticed a huge increase in my pods those. Much bigger ones than I was used to seeing

 

[Ahruk]

Those are amphipods. I have them in my tank. They're semi-controversial (they can eat zoa skirts and copepods) but for the most part are fine I personally haven't seen any of zoas losing their skirts and I don't have a mandarin so I personally don't really mind them. Sounds like you've gotten lucky so far but keep in mind there are a lot of not so harmless inverts that you can inadvertantly introduce like zoa eating spiders, nudibrinks, flatworms, asterina stars and a whole host of other devestating critters.

 

[dlynch8802]

Bought a hydra 26. I have started using that plus the current orbit to supplement. I made a hood to house it all. Here's what it looks like:

Also bought a few new corals

Any suggestions on lighting settings on the hydro would be great. I'm also dosing with reed code A and B as well as NoPox. Any suggestions on a better dosing regiment would be very helpful

 

[dlynch8802]

Well I haven't updated for a while, but a lot has changed. It's been over six months since I first got into this hobby and started this tank. I read seemingly days worth of forums and books to get a better understanding of the hobby and best prepare myself, but no matter how much I read, I still constantly find myself researching and reading. I think it's one of the most fun things about it.

Here is a current fts:

I bought a bubble tip anenome this weekend which has been doing pretty well

It's a bubble tip of some sort, but not sure as to what exact kind and the color still hasn't come completely back.

Few other picks of the tank

Found some ricordia babies which was pretty cool

Also, Im fortunate that I have a great relationship with my LFS. They gave me a couple pieces of acans that weren't doing too well as my acans have been popping out new heads. So far they are doing better and getting some color

Hopefully they will come back in full force.

By far the hardest things I have dealt with are proper testing, and based on that testing proper dosing, correct lighting schedule and intensity, and fixing my mass zoa dye off.

It has been a great experience thus far.

 

[Cristy17]

Congrats on your success thus far! Its amazing to see the build from the beginning to now. I just finished reading it all and seeing the pictures. Great tank! Keep up on educating yourself, in this hobby, it never ends!

 

[Luka]

Really nice tank looks great!!! Good to have a good LFS relationship.

 

[pondman]

Nice tank you have good luck in your hobby and never stop learning

 

[Salty1962]

Welcome to R2R! Be patient and let your tank go through its cycles. It will get there

 

[dlynch8802]

Thanks! This is definitely a great hobby and takes my mind off of law school. It's an entirely different subject than what I read about all day and is probably why I stay interested.

It's great to see some of other people's tanks. Hopefully one day I have enough money to build my dream monster tank, but for now I just try to grow what's in my budget.

Also, I greatly appreciate tips whenever and wherever. I recognize I have only been in the is hobby for a short time and love to learn from other's mistakes