Hey!
Newbie to salt water tanks but 3 weeks in, I’m loving it.
I live in the UK but my family are from the Caribbean island of St Lucia so the tank is named in honour of the reef i did my first scuba dive at. It was what made me fall in love with the ocean. What better way to appreciate the sea than to have a tiny portion of it in your home . Please welcome Anse Chastanet reef to REEF2REEF
I’ve been documenting my build on a separate thread as I didn’t realise this was the best place to do it. Once I’ve written this, I’ll link to the thread so you guys can see the problems I was having when I started. The tank has come along since that picture was taken. So far this is what I have going on in the Anse Chastanet Fluval Evo reef
Stock lights
stock pump
stock media in chamber 2 minus the coal
4kg live sand
1 emerald crab (although I haven’t seen him for days now)
2 hermit crabs
1 cowrie snail
1 turbo snail
1 Nassarius Snail
2 ‘’common snails’’. - sorry not sure what these ones are called
unfortunately one of my turbo snails didn’t make it. I had real problems cycling the tank at first. I think the die-off from the live rock spiked my ammonia.
There are no fish or corals in the tank yet. I was planning to get my first coral or fish today but I wanted to plan the aquascape of Anse Chastanet reef first.
You‘ll see from the picture there is a nice arched piece of live rock in the tank. I’m not sure which way to position it so I can get the most out of viewing the action that eventually goes on in the tank. It’s currently resting on one side so the arch faces the front of the tank. I’d like to prop it up so it makes the arch wider. I’ll give it a go and see what it looks like. But at the moment most of the CUC are getting on with life on the side of the tank where I can’t see them!! Sneaky. Apart from one very playful hermit crab that loves one top corner of the tank where the water enters chamber 1. He keeps climbing up there. I’ve taken him down twice but he keeps going back up. I’m not bothering to take him down now. It’s obviously where he needs to be in life so im not going to stand in his way.
This is where the tank is located In my house. Doesn’t get direct sunlight and not near any radiators.
Anse Chastanet looks beautiful at night with the house lights off and the tank lights on. Having said that, I’ve had the lights off on the reef as I read that’s the best thing to do for the first few months.
Today I’m going to test the waters on the reef and hopefully get a frag...perhaps a Zoas. Any recommendations as to what I should get? I’m still working out this ‘flow’ business. Not sure I’m getting it right.
The ultimate goal for the reef is to have the following:
2 clowns
1 blenny
1 pistol shrimp
loads of beautiful corals as per this pic from my LFS
Here’s a pic (below) of the reef at Anse Chastanet today. Any aquascaping suggestions welcome. Any advice welcome. Any thumbs ups or down welcome.
Thanks in advance!
Also, I’m based in London, England. If anyone knows of any people in the hobby that are nearby and eventually want to start swapping frags etc. Please hit me up.
Newbie to salt water tanks but 3 weeks in, I’m loving it.
I live in the UK but my family are from the Caribbean island of St Lucia so the tank is named in honour of the reef i did my first scuba dive at. It was what made me fall in love with the ocean. What better way to appreciate the sea than to have a tiny portion of it in your home . Please welcome Anse Chastanet reef to REEF2REEF
I’ve been documenting my build on a separate thread as I didn’t realise this was the best place to do it. Once I’ve written this, I’ll link to the thread so you guys can see the problems I was having when I started. The tank has come along since that picture was taken. So far this is what I have going on in the Anse Chastanet Fluval Evo reef
Stock lights
stock pump
stock media in chamber 2 minus the coal
Jebao Aquarium Wavemaker, Black, OW-10
6kg of live rock4kg live sand
1 emerald crab (although I haven’t seen him for days now)
2 hermit crabs
1 cowrie snail
1 turbo snail
1 Nassarius Snail
2 ‘’common snails’’. - sorry not sure what these ones are called
unfortunately one of my turbo snails didn’t make it. I had real problems cycling the tank at first. I think the die-off from the live rock spiked my ammonia.
There are no fish or corals in the tank yet. I was planning to get my first coral or fish today but I wanted to plan the aquascape of Anse Chastanet reef first.
You‘ll see from the picture there is a nice arched piece of live rock in the tank. I’m not sure which way to position it so I can get the most out of viewing the action that eventually goes on in the tank. It’s currently resting on one side so the arch faces the front of the tank. I’d like to prop it up so it makes the arch wider. I’ll give it a go and see what it looks like. But at the moment most of the CUC are getting on with life on the side of the tank where I can’t see them!! Sneaky. Apart from one very playful hermit crab that loves one top corner of the tank where the water enters chamber 1. He keeps climbing up there. I’ve taken him down twice but he keeps going back up. I’m not bothering to take him down now. It’s obviously where he needs to be in life so im not going to stand in his way.
This is where the tank is located In my house. Doesn’t get direct sunlight and not near any radiators.
Anse Chastanet looks beautiful at night with the house lights off and the tank lights on. Having said that, I’ve had the lights off on the reef as I read that’s the best thing to do for the first few months.
Today I’m going to test the waters on the reef and hopefully get a frag...perhaps a Zoas. Any recommendations as to what I should get? I’m still working out this ‘flow’ business. Not sure I’m getting it right.
The ultimate goal for the reef is to have the following:
2 clowns
1 blenny
1 pistol shrimp
loads of beautiful corals as per this pic from my LFS
Here’s a pic (below) of the reef at Anse Chastanet today. Any aquascaping suggestions welcome. Any advice welcome. Any thumbs ups or down welcome.
Thanks in advance!
Also, I’m based in London, England. If anyone knows of any people in the hobby that are nearby and eventually want to start swapping frags etc. Please hit me up.