Hey reef2reef, a lot has happened since I was last active 3 months, but imma take it back about 3 years. About three years ago I got into the idea of having a saltwater tank and after saving all my money for about 6 months and I purchased a tank, rock, sand, heater, and quarantine tank set up as well as a couple of powerheads. I was determined to set up my tank and purchase my fish at the end of the week. That end of the week happened, as a result I put the whole tank on hold for a while. After moving houses in February 2019 and delaying the process even longer I purchased a whole new quarantine tank set up due to concerns of the first set up viability (I never took the water out and salt creep had been growing for at least 2 years) . Finally in May 2020 I purchased two tiny clownfish. I was excited and thought it'd be easy because I had been doing research for the past three years of my life. I was wrong. Second Day in I detected ich on both clownfish and treated with copper. I was 100% successful in the treatment. I forgot to mention I also purchased an AI Nero 5 and AI Prime Hd in April 2020 for the DT. After moving the clownfish to the Nuvo 20 they began acting weird. They would lay sideways in the corner. I read that it was normal clownfish behavior (which I would later find out it was due to high flow) and thought nothing of it. My tank was coming along great as I planned to purchase coral soon and one of my clownfish even began swimming on the bottom of the rockwork and I remember watching my tank with my mother one night and talking about the future of my tank. The next day I wake up in horror. My AI Nero 5 had decapitated my favorite clown (the one that swam by the rocks) and I found him floating by the return flow pump thingys. Heart broken, I decided to reestablish my quarantine tank and purchase two new fish, a royal gramma and new larger replacement clownfish. The first day the gramma was eating very well and the clownfish was my main concern. Two days later they were both eating and everything was fine until the next day I found the royal gramma laying down with no marks or reasonable cause of death. The clownfish continued through quarantine and graduated from quarantine and was relocated Saturday. My mother fed the two clownfish Saturday night and said they were both eating. The next day I found the new clown dead with 2 gashes on the side of face being sucked into the fish guard by the tail of the AI Nero that I purchased after the death of my first clown. I went to a new fish store about an hour away from my house and spoke with an employee who said it may of been from the stress caused by the extreme flow in my tank and the gashes resulted from his corpse hitting the rocks in my tank. I had been running my Nero 5 at 14% and thought nothing of it as I thought it would run at 490 GPH, however, according to the app it said 14% was at 900+ GPH. I turned off the Nero 5 and began witnessing the unbelievable. My clownfish who had only stayed at the top left corner for 5 months, swimming downwards, in my tank! My return pump is giving about 10x turnover rate, so it should be fine for the moment. So now I am here. I am wondering what fish, inverts, and coral y'all would recommend for my tank. I have a deep sand bed and would like some utilitarian fish, but I know most require a larger tank. I was thinking maybe a goby + pistol shrimp pair and maybe 2-3 more fish after that. Perhaps another clownfish. I have no current clean up crew so maintenance is done by me weekly involving a 10%-25% water change weekly with a sand and rock cleaning . Any recommendations on powerheads for my tank as well? I was looking at the Koralia nano 240 or 425 or maybe the Sicce Voyager nano stream 250. Let me know what yall suggest and I have a used nero 5 with a fishguard on sale for $150.
Best wishes- DL0REEF
(P.S I'm a highschool student in all Ap courses (meaning no time to work ... school takes me 12+hours some day) , so budget is fairly low for new powerhead. Also, should I start a YT channel for my reef tank?)
Best wishes- DL0REEF
(P.S I'm a highschool student in all Ap courses (meaning no time to work ... school takes me 12+hours some day) , so budget is fairly low for new powerhead. Also, should I start a YT channel for my reef tank?)