pacificnewt
New Member
Finally decided to get an r2r account set up. Daily lurker on this website and have learned so much. May as well join the conversation!
Set up my first saltwater aquarium in 2020 during quarantine and had limited success. It was a temperate tank filled with rock, macroalgae, and inverts I collected from the mudflats of the San Francisco Bay (used to live in San Mateo). It was loads of fun and taught me the basics of salinity and lighting. Shut that tank down when I moved to Monterey in 2021 to return to finish my college degree at California State University, Monterey Bay. Summer of 2022 I went to Hawaii with my fiance's family for the first time since I was very little and fell in love with the reefs instantly. Ordered all the fixings to start a reef tank while I was still in Hawaii LOL! Started with a Fluval Evo 13.5 and had a great first year. Hit all the normal bumps but had a lot of success too. Just upgraded to a 20 gallon long a couple months ago. Current set up consists of the following:
Livestock:
Also, I am trying hard to master macroalgaes! I came from the freshwater planted tank community so I like plants. I currently have two five gallons running in addition to my main tank. One of them is a nice, rimless five gallon display with some soft corals, caulerpa mexicana, and a few other unidentified macros I got on ebay. Then I have a five gallon in my garage that has a 600 watt grow light on it and it full of rock rubble, coral skeletons, and macro algae. I dose both five gallons with brightwell aquatics NeoNitro, NeoPhos, and ChaetoGro, but dose the five gallon with the grow light heaviest. The grow light tank is producing a few handfuls of chaeto weekly.
AAAANNNND I am currently getting building a stand for a 40 gallon that I plan on setting up in my garage. I plan on making that my main display tank a year from now, but I want to have it up and running and cycling so it will be established by then. I've gotten 40 pounds of dry rock so once I get the stand completed I will start aquascaping that tank!
I think that mostly covers it!
Again, I have been lurking on r2r for YEARS so its about time I finally make an account. I am very active on the BRS facebook group, the r/reeftank reddit, and a few other online forums. However, r2r is by far the coolest so I plan on moving most of my content to this website.
Looking forward to more reefing!
Set up my first saltwater aquarium in 2020 during quarantine and had limited success. It was a temperate tank filled with rock, macroalgae, and inverts I collected from the mudflats of the San Francisco Bay (used to live in San Mateo). It was loads of fun and taught me the basics of salinity and lighting. Shut that tank down when I moved to Monterey in 2021 to return to finish my college degree at California State University, Monterey Bay. Summer of 2022 I went to Hawaii with my fiance's family for the first time since I was very little and fell in love with the reefs instantly. Ordered all the fixings to start a reef tank while I was still in Hawaii LOL! Started with a Fluval Evo 13.5 and had a great first year. Hit all the normal bumps but had a lot of success too. Just upgraded to a 20 gallon long a couple months ago. Current set up consists of the following:
Livestock:
- 2x Ocellaris clownfish
- 1x lawnmower blenny (new, just moved in today)
- 1x hermit crab
- 2x turbo snails
- 3x Nassarius snails
- Mixed soft corals with some LPS
- 2x AI Prime 16HD on gooseneck mounts
- DIY AIO Internal Sump set up
- tons of ceramic media
- filter floss intake guard I swap out every couple days
- chemipure blue that is probably burnt out now (added around 8 months ago)
- carbon
- sea chem matrix
- Auto feeder dispenses a pinch of my pellet mix (Omega One marine pellets, Hikari Seaweed Extreme, TDO chromaboost, Hikari Marine herbivore pellets) 2x daily
- Every other day I feed my DIY fish food which consists of finely diced, preservative free, wild caught California Squid, Gulf Shrimp, and Scallop meat OR SF Bay Marine Cuisine
- I try to mix and feed some Reef Roids and Reef chili when I remember
Also, I am trying hard to master macroalgaes! I came from the freshwater planted tank community so I like plants. I currently have two five gallons running in addition to my main tank. One of them is a nice, rimless five gallon display with some soft corals, caulerpa mexicana, and a few other unidentified macros I got on ebay. Then I have a five gallon in my garage that has a 600 watt grow light on it and it full of rock rubble, coral skeletons, and macro algae. I dose both five gallons with brightwell aquatics NeoNitro, NeoPhos, and ChaetoGro, but dose the five gallon with the grow light heaviest. The grow light tank is producing a few handfuls of chaeto weekly.
AAAANNNND I am currently getting building a stand for a 40 gallon that I plan on setting up in my garage. I plan on making that my main display tank a year from now, but I want to have it up and running and cycling so it will be established by then. I've gotten 40 pounds of dry rock so once I get the stand completed I will start aquascaping that tank!
I think that mostly covers it!
Again, I have been lurking on r2r for YEARS so its about time I finally make an account. I am very active on the BRS facebook group, the r/reeftank reddit, and a few other online forums. However, r2r is by far the coolest so I plan on moving most of my content to this website.
Looking forward to more reefing!
