My first tank

[j.register3]

Hello everyone in the Bay Area!
I just started my first saltwater tank & am looking for people to connect with while I enter this journey. While I’ve done a lot of research, I’m starting small & letting the tank cycle while I make friends, but my setup is as follows:

Fluval EVO 13.5 gallon nano reef tank
Fluval PS2 protein skimmer
Aquaillumination Prime 16HD light
Eheim Jager 50w Thermostat
Hygger magnetic mini wavemaker

Looking for recommendations on first corals, parameters, & any tips you may have for beginners! Thanks

 

[Ranjib]

welcome to reef2reef. Get Green star polyp , xenia etc they are easy to grow, but invasive, since you are beginner and the tank is small, just keep them in separate rock/island and you should be fine. This will give you some headstart and stuff to look at while the tank matures in first year.
You can add various easy to keep zoas, palys after a couple of month. Then add montipora capricornis after one more month.
Get an ATO if possible. I would recommend smart ato micro, but anything reputable will do. Make sure you run lights under 2.4/3 watts per gallon range. Whats your water changing schedule?

I recently moved into pleasant hill, from palo alto

 

[4tanks]

Welcome +1 on xenia on an island and I also like Duncans for a first coral seem to do well no matter where I put them. Make sure to update with photos we love a photo

 

[j.register3]

welcome to reef2reef. Get Green star polyp , xenia etc they are easy to grow, but invasive, since you are beginner and the tank is small, just keep them in separate rock/island and you should be fine. This will give you some headstart and stuff to look at while the tank matures in first year.
You can add various easy to keep zoas, palys after a couple of month. Then add montipora capricornis after one more month.
Get an ATO if possible. I would recommend smart ato micro, but anything reputable will do. Make sure you run lights under 2.4/3 watts per gallon range. Whats your water changing schedule?

I recently moved into pleasant hill, from palo alto

Thank you very much! I recently got the tunze 3155 for ato. Water changing schedule will be weekly. Although I’m letting the tank cycle right now in week number 2 so I haven’t changed water yet.

As far as running 2.4-3 watts per gallon, I seem to be running a bit higher, close to 5-6 watts per gallon. (Roughly 56 watts) yet my tank is using roughly 11 gallons. Do you recommend lowering wattage for optimal par?

 

[j.register3]

Welcome +1 on xenia on an island and I also like Duncans for a first coral seem to do well no matter where I put them. Make sure to update with photos we love a photo

Thank you very much! I’ll be sure to update with pics when livestock is added

 

[Ranjib]

Thank you very much! I recently got the tunze 3155 for ato. Water changing schedule will be weekly. Although I’m letting the tank cycle right now in week number 2 so I haven’t changed water yet.

As far as running 2.4-3 watts per gallon, I seem to be running a bit higher, close to 5-6 watts per gallon. (Roughly 56 watts) yet my tank is using roughly 11 gallons. Do you recommend lowering wattage for optimal par?

Yes. In fact its ok if you don't run light during cycling. Most beginner coral will be low to mid light. You will never kill coral suddenly by low light.. but definitely by high light ( bleaching). Even if you end up running them at high intensity .. do a very slow rampup .. and take note of how corals are responding. But again , I thin its better to run it low . and instead focus on stabilizing the ecosystem, i.e add microbial supplement, corals and other live stock etc.. go through the initial phase of ugly..

 

[PTXReef]

Welcome to R2R !

I started because of my euphyllia addiction! Personally would recommend looking at all the coral types (softies, LPS, SPS, NPS, etc) from Tidal gardens or any educational videos so you can tailor your tank to what you want to keep!

I started with some xenias, kenya tree, and goniopora. But before you know it, here comes the acans, hammers, frogspawn, mushrooms, toadstools, finger leathers.... the list just goes on . As long as you are patient and do your research, you'll be able to keep anything thriving!

Happy Reefing!!

 

[j.register3]

Thank you very much! I’ll be sure to update with pics when livestock is added

One month in, got my first pair of fish yesterday! In the back is a green tipped torch coral
Parameters are:
Temp:78
Salinity:1.025
Ph:8
Phos: .01
Nitrate: 10
Alk: 8.7
Calcium: 452
Magnesium: 1360

No nitrites or ammonia
the fish are a pair of frostbite clownfish!

love my tank & thank you everyone for the support

 

[susan ingram]

One month in, got my first pair of fish yesterday! In the back is a green tipped torch coral
Parameters are:
Temp:78
Salinity:1.025
Ph:8
Phos: .01
Nitrate: 10
Alk: 8.7
Calcium: 452
Magnesium: 1360

No nitrites or ammonia
the fish are a pair of frostbite clownfish!

love my tank & thank you everyone for the support

SO COOL!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!

 

[PTXReef]

They look great! I spy a euphyllia Pics pls

 

[j.register3]

They look great! I spy a euphyllia Pics pls

It was just a small frag when I got it, now it’s splitting into 2 heads!

 

[PTXReef]

I have a baby sprouting out of the base of my larger splitting toxic hammer Didn’t realize it until I shined a blue flashlight at it!

 

[susan ingram]

Looking Good!!!