Planning my first tank! How does my plan sound?

[OREGONIC]

Interesting.. my LFS is Aquarium Care Center in NJ and they say on their website they buy from breeders and continue the same quarantine process as the breeder, so I wouldn't think I would get a sick fish.

Now for the light, I mentioned previously a Prime HD. The 50g tank is 24x24 with a height of 10 inches...you mentioned two of those would be sufficient, right? I was looking at a Hydra 26 HD, but would only have the budget for one of them. What do you think would be better coverage?

I only have experience with the hydra 26, its what came with my e170, similar dimensions to the tank your getting. It seems to be a great light, and has worked well with every coral I have put under it with exception to acros over the last 3ish years. I just dont think my experience level was ready for acros 2 years ago when I tried adding some, but I am just trying some acros again and seem to be having success. Now that a lot of my corals colonies I do feel like I would benefit from some additional light, so I will probably add 2 t5 bulbs in just for better coverage. The new red sea reefled 90 looks interesting and BRS is supposed to put out a video Friday. BRS has some great videos on lights and spectrums.

 

[Riyita]

I only have experience with the hydra 26, its what came with my e170, similar dimensions to the tank your getting. It seems to be a great light, and has worked well with every coral I have put under it with exception to acros over the last 3ish years. I just dont think my experience level was ready for acros 2 years ago when I tried adding some, but I am just trying some acros again and seem to be having success. Now that a lot of my corals colonies I do feel like I would benefit from some additional light, so I will probably add 2 t5 bulbs in just for better coverage. The new red sea reefled 90 looks interesting and BRS is supposed to put out a video Friday. BRS has some great videos on lights and spectrums.

I see, I see. Yeah, I've been doing my fair share of BRS binging lol. The thing that discourages me the most probably has to be all the numbers and nutrient statistics you should be going for...I've never done this before, so if something is out of whack, I wouldn't have a clue what to do. Also outbreaks of all sorts of algae and nasties...wouldn't have any idea really how to handle it..

 

[OREGONIC]

I see, I see. Yeah, I've been doing my fair share of BRS binging lol. The thing that discourages me the most probably has to be all the numbers and nutrient statistics you should be going for...I've never done this before, so if something is out of whack, I wouldn't have a clue what to do. Also outbreaks of all sorts of algae and nasties...wouldn't have any idea really how to handle it..

It took me about 2 years to really get down how to keep things stable. You will have problems guaranteed, but if you enjoy challenges you will have fun. I still am constantly learning stuff and if I were to start all over with the knowledge I have now I would do so many things different then I did. Patience is so important, its easy to make a mistake that will take time to correct. Bad things happen really fast and good things take a long time. Stability = small, slow, gradual fluctuations in parameters, stability does not mean quick adjustments to any parameter. ALK is by far the most important number to keep stable. I personally have had the best luck with lower ALK, its just easier for me to keep things stable with low ALK. Every tank seems to be different so dont chase numbers just shoot for some middle ground and let your tank do its thing you will find out what works best for you and your tank. Then find a salt that closely matches the parameters you keep your tank, that way you can do a large water change if something bad happens and parameters will stay stable. Salts with elevated parameters did nothing but screw me the first year. I would make a mistake and do a large water change and parameters would swing.

 

[Riyita]

It took me about 2 years to really get down how to keep things stable. You will have problems guaranteed, but if you enjoy challenges you will have fun. I still am constantly learning stuff and if I were to start all over with the knowledge I have now I would do so many things different then I did. Patience is so important, its easy to make a mistake that will take time to correct. Bad things happen really fast and good things take a long time. Stability = small, slow, gradual fluctuations in parameters, stability does not mean quick adjustments to any parameter. ALK is by far the most important number to keep stable. I personally have had the best luck with lower ALK, its just easier for me to keep things stable with low ALK. Every tank seems to be different so dont chase numbers just shoot for some middle ground and let your tank do its thing you will find out what works best for you and your tank. Then find a salt that closely matches the parameters you keep your tank, that way you can do a large water change if something bad happens and parameters will stay stable. Salts with elevated parameters did nothing but screw me the first year. I would make a mistake and do a large water change and parameters would swing.

Been watching some videos on types of algae and DINO is one of the big killers...seen comments where people say it took them months upon months to abolish it. Do you keep your nitrates and phosphate at a decent level? Would this be something I have to worry about starting off, or does this only come into play when you start introducing corals?

 

[OREGONIC]

Been watching some videos on types of algae and DINO is one of the big killers...seen comments where people say it took them months upon months to abolish it. Do you keep your nitrates and phosphate at a decent level? Would this be something I have to worry about starting off, or does this only come into play when you start introducing corals?

Never had to deal with it. I have had to deal with cyano a few times but it was no big deal. I had high nitrates and undetectable phosphates for a long time. No matter what I did I could not get nitrates down. I actually started dosing phosphates and my nitrates dropped super fast. I now have to dose both nitrates and phosphates to keep both detectable. I keep nitrates between 1-5ppm and phosphates .05 -.1 by dosing to my auto top off water. It’s easier for me to manage then feeding heavier.

 

[Riyita]

Never had to deal with it. I have had to deal with cyano a few times but it was no big deal. I had high nitrates and undetectable phosphates for a long time. No matter what I did I could not get nitrates down. I actually started dosing phosphates and my nitrates dropped super fast. I now have to dose both nitrates and phosphates to keep both detectable. I keep nitrates between 1-5ppm and phosphates .05 -.1 by dosing to my auto top off water. It’s easier for me to manage then feeding heavier.

When you setup your tank, did you glue the base rock to the floor of the tank, or just the pieces to attach them to the main rock?

 

[OREGONIC]

When you setup your tank, did you glue the base rock to the floor of the tank, or just the pieces to attach them to the main rock?

There are only 2 pieces of my rock work glued together. The rest of it fits well together just by stacking. I did chip a groove in one of the pieces of rock to get it to fit well. Nothing glued to the bottom of the tank. I personally feel being able to remove a piece of rock to preform maintenance is important so I kept it in as many pieces as possible.