Just to wrap up the ol' 55 gallon build thread, here is where things were before tear down!
Some lessons learned and things I would tell myself if I was a beginner reefer again:
Link to old build:
www.reef2reef.com
Some lessons learned and things I would tell myself if I was a beginner reefer again:
- PATIENCE!!!!!!! All things patience!!!!!!!
- Patience with nutrient issues!
- High or Low you just got to give your first tank time to change. What you are seeing now is a result of things you have been doing in the past couple of weeks/months. Unless you are just adding nitrate and phosphate to the system, you are
- Patience when you have a solution!
- Try solving the issue but give it time to work. Everyone including myself always wants a quick solution but when you are trying to change a variable in an "ecosystem", you have got to give it time to respond. So many times I made a change, got impatient, made another change, then something went wrong or went right and I couldn't trace it back to which change it was.
- Patience with building your tank and your ongoing projects!
- You are NEVER going to order or buy everything you need the first time. Don't rush the project and settle for cheaper alternatives because one item is out of stock or won't get here when you want it to, because YOU WILL REGRET IT LATER!
- Patience with buying the luxury/convenience gear.
- Don't go for the cheap one because you think you need it now, save up and get the nicer model! It will save you money in the long run because the cheap one will break and you will have to get another shortly after! (I'm thinking of YOU cheap amazon pumps!!)
- Patience with nutrient issues!
- SAND!
- The Hawaiian Black sand sounds cool, looks cool at first, but not for beginners! One thing I didn't appreciate as much having black sand is not having the visual indicator that your nutrients are high. Algae, diatoms, and detritus are just so much more difficult to see on the black sand unless of course they are white. I feel like I would have benefited as a beginner in the hobby from being able to see the "dirtiness" of my water reflected in the surface of the sand.
- Stand/Sump
- A sump is the way to go! But don't forget you have to put it somewhere! Buy a stand with enough space for the sump you want to fit underneath and some for storage!
- Skimmer
- Don't be stubborn! Get a skimmer! Nothing ensures good gas exchange like a skimmer....not even your little airstones in the sump..... Even if you don't need the nutrient export, the benefit you will get with the pH increase is well worth it!
- Corals
- Don't buy the expensive ones until you can prove to yourself you can make the cheap ones thrive!
- Don't freak out about the hitchhikers! They live in the same ocean you are trying to emulate! They aren't all going to ruin your tank.
- Listen to the forums when they talk about soft corals! XENIA!!!! They are literal weeds! They will grow all over everything and don't think they won't drop polyps and float to the opposite side of the tank and grow there too. They are cool but listen to the warnings!
- Clean up Crew
- Mexican turbo snails......they are the lawnmowers you never knew you needed!
- Lawnmower blennies.......they are not lawnmowers, but they will leave kiss prints all over your glass
- Nassarius snails are the coolest little zombie snails
- Don't get the tiny crabs because you think they are cute...after the first 2 days you will think they are dead and then you will think you found their dead body but really it's just their molt. You will never get used to seeing your invertebrate molts and thinking you have a dead shrimp/crab. The next time you will your little emerald or pompom crab will be 2am one night when the moonlight LEDs are on and you're half asleep....and he will gaslight you pretending like he has been in the tank whole time.
Link to old build:
Build Thread - Beginner Tank to the Reef Life!
1 Month Progress! CaribSea LifeRock Arches makes a huge difference! Current residents include: -1 peppermint shrimp -2 emerald crabs -2 turbo snails -2 tongan nassarius snails -1 trochus snail -2 clownfish -1 yellow watchman goby -1 Tiger Pistol Shrimp -1 Lawnmower Blenny -1 Montipora Frag -1...
www.reef2reef.com
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