PisceanIntroverts First Mixed Reef

[Piscean_Introvert]

Hey guys!!!

New to the hobby, new to the forum trying to learn as much as I can as I dive into something I’ve always wanted to do, but was afraid of the cost and the possibility of failure. But here in the middle of a pandemic, providing for a family of 3 on one income, husband recently broke his arm I decide to jump in and not have this as a regret of mine. I’ve always been afraid of how costly it can be and after reading different threads I can tell how it can be and how overwhelming it can be. Join and help me as I make this lifelong a reality, all while trying to be budget friendly. I’m sure I’ve made mistakes and probably will make more and hopefully I’ll have the support of many great and wise minds to help me along the way.

I’ll try to provide as much detail as I can, I started cycling the rock using Microbacter QuickCycle about 2 weeks ago, and feel like the Ammomia levels aren’t going down any.

It’s been a long fight with the spouse about finding the right spot and right size and we finally found both. I have a 55g tank, measuring 30x24x18. I bought reef saver rock, and using dry sand to start doing a fish less cycle.

I’m using:
MarineLand Magniflow 220 Cannister filter.
FreeSea aquarium wave maker 1600GPH
Sun sun JVP 528GPH
Instant ocean reef crystals
Aquaticlife RO buddie four stage reverse osmosis system
Vivosun 300W Aquarium Heater
API saltwater test kit, planned to upgrade to the Red Sea test kit. Don’t feel like the API is accurate as I would like.

Planned foods:
Ocean Nutrition Formula Two Flake Food
NYOS Wild Gogi Pellets

Im trying to plan far enough along to give me time to save for things needed to start growing coral, mainly the lighting. But as far as things that I want to have or eventually have is:

2 Clownfish
1 Wrasse
1 Blenny or Dottyback
1 Chromis
Most wanted fish: Madarin Dragonet

Invertebrates
1 or 2 Cleaner shrimp
1 Porcelain Crab
A couple snails
Most Wanted invert: Maxima Clam

Any feedback future advise or positive vibes are greatly appreciated and welcome.

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I see you are in Richmond. I highly recommend visiting WAMAS website. It’s the Northern Virginia Club and an amazing group of people. A little far but not too bad.

When your tank is mature and you want a clam hit up Pacific East Aquaculture. The absolute best without any question in the clam game. Great customer service also. Lots of good shops in VA.

Best of luck!

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Small updates looking at lighting next. Thinking about an AI Prime 16 HD

 

[Neuratox]

Hey! I like the curves and flows of your scape and appreciate the depth that you've given to it. One thing that I did early on was fail to understand the value of good lighting and the impact that they have on coral. I tried to stay with low cost options like the marine orbit IC pro which did fine for soft corals like green star polyp (be careful, it spreads like a disease - put it on a rock that is isolated and easily removed if desired), blue striped mushroom coral, xenia (another to put on an isolated rock if you must put it in), and the like. I'm a huge fan of Aqua Illumination and encourage you to look at their options - GREAT bang for your buck! I started using a single 16 puck and started seeing 2-3x as much growth in nearby corals within a few months. I increased that to two pucks and saw additional growth due to overlap and better coverage. With that said, on a 30 long and 18 wide, I don't think that a single AI 16 is going to be sufficient for growing coral, especially at the bottom. You'll have a hard time penetrating that depth with any meaningful amount of light while also casting a lot of shadows due to your aquascape. I'm not sure of what corals you're looking to add, but you'll likely need more. My current build is 36" long and when I'm ready to add coral I'll have 3 AI 32s above it (currently only have 2, but waiting until the 6 month mark before adding coral). I'm doing this because I want to have a tank that is mainly focused on SPS which require higher amounts of light, however, if I was just going to do a mixed reef I'd still use the 2 AI 32s. Its a solid chunk of money, but I regretted not going with something better initially. Going cheap initially often just turns out to be a waste of money in the end. I give you my example only because I don't feel like I'm qualified or experienced enough to say what absolutely will or will not work with your tank, but I can at least speak to the mistakes that I made as I entered the hobby. I hope that it was of some value to you.
Welcome to a wonderful and addictive hobby that will constantly feed your curiosity and hunger for knowledge!

 

[Tankkeepers]

Nice post above only thing I will add to the is iv had xeina and anthellia propagate itself and start poping up in spots I did not put it and was no where near the original colony so be carfull with that stuff I will also add one day I want to setup a pico thats a pulsing xeina feild I think that would look cool

 

[Tankkeepers]

Kenya trees are also bad about that

 

[Tiki Reef Joshua]

I run hybrid lighting with 3 old style AI primes. Love them. I would look at a used hydra. Maybe 2 primes. A couple used kessils maybe. Used lighting (especially LEDs) is a good way to save.

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Thank you all for your comments and advice I will definitely look into all of these. I was originally thinking about the Orbit Marine but started to do more research around the AI primes, I’ll also looked into used LEDs to see what’s available

 

[Mandarin Lovejoy]

Hey, check out RVA Reef keeping and coral swap on FB. Welcome!

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Hey, check out RVA Reef keeping and coral swap on FB. Welcome!

Request sent to join

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Update: Starting to see brown/green spots show up on the sand and rock, any thoughts?

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Update as of today also adding a six line wrasse in the near future.

 

[attiland]

Update: Starting to see brown/green spots show up on the sand and rock, any thoughts?

Get a cheap microscope guys here will I’d it for you. Could be cyano or Dino bacteria

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Well the original six line wrasse that I purchased died a day after I got it. Won’t go back to that LFS anymore, however I recently purchased a new six line and he’s been alive for a week

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Hi all,

its been a while since I’ve posted but started out with a 54g canister filter tank. Kept it running well for a year and have managed an upgrade. It was a great price but I’ve got a little bit to learn about this closed loop system I’ve acquired. Its 90 gallons and I’m trying to check all of the plumbing. This previous was getting rid of it due to them wanting new floors. Win for me. It doesn’t seem like they did a great job with maintaining the salt creep and am unable to unscrew one of the fittings (to what I assume is years of salt build up).

Any suggestions of how to break that grip to clean it properly?

The system came with

Reef Octopus Skimmer (NW-110-6520B)
Life guard aquatics quiet one 3000 Return Pump Carbon Reactor
This industrial motor which I assume is used to control the closed loop system??
Rock (sat outside for a month)

Right now I’m going through and replacing and making sure everything is right. After that I plan to do a leak test to as well as figure out how to fill it up without flooding my garage before I move it into the house as well as setting up the equipment and figure out how everything works in the sump.

Definitely excited about the next step in my journey and being able to use a sump tank vs a canister filter.

Any suggestions, advice, encouraging words would be greatly appreciated

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Hi all,

its been a while since I’ve posted but started out with a 54g canister filter tank. Kept it running well for a year and have managed an upgrade. It was a great price but I’ve got a little bit to learn about this closed loop system I’ve acquired. Its 90 gallons and I’m trying to check all of the plumbing. This previous was getting rid of it due to them wanting new floors. Win for me. It doesn’t seem like they did a great job with maintaining the salt creep and am unable to unscrew one of the fittings (to what I assume is years of salt build up).

Any suggestions of how to break that grip to clean it properly?

The system came with

Reef Octopus Skimmer (NW-110-6520B)
Life guard aquatics quiet one 3000 Return Pump Carbon Reactor

20 gallon tank for the sump

This industrial motor which I assume is used to control the closed loop system??
Rock (sat outside for a month)

Right now I’m going through and replacing and making sure everything is right. After that I plan to do a leak test to as well as figure out how to fill it up without flooding my garage before I move it into the house as well as setting up the equipment and figure out how everything works in the sump.

Definitely excited about the next step in my journey and being able to use a sump tank vs a canister filter.

Any suggestions, advice, encouraging words would be greatly appreciated

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Update:

so I had something called

Cladophoropsis, or Green Wiry Algae.​

Which caused me to have to take all of the rock and substrate out of my tank, which I took through a process of acid washing, a chlorine bath, days out in the VA weather (think of hot and cold days wrapped in one). Tap water rinse bath and then more days in RODI water. While all this was going on, the tank was thoroughly cleaned sand vacuumed and a fellow reefer sold me some live rock to keep everything going. And I’m happy to report that things are looking better.

I still am bringing down nitrates and phosphates right now I’m at 33 nitrates and .1 phosphate. Through all of this I’ve learned a lot of beginner mistakes, 1.5 years in and hopefully will be more activate on here to keep me energized and going. Any help and suggestions will always be welcome and received with open ears. I know there’s not a one tank fit all but I hope to have a beautiful little piece of the eco system in my house. Thankfully if you’ve followed me from the beginning my two clarkii clowns are around and have gotten huge. My prize wild caught yellow tang is here. Here’s weird and gives me daily heart attacks. And my butt hole of a six line wrasse. I have added three cardinal bangaiis and only one survived the crash and I got two new ones but they’re aren’t friends lol. My brother pointed out that the new two ones are more silver with black bands and the original is more black with silver bands lol. I’ll added more pics when my day time lights are one, oh yeah and I got an anemone. Lol don’t judge me. He seems happy

 

[Piscean_Introvert]

Update things are finally stabilizing, I’ve added some sps coral and they are all growing nicely. My anemone has split two times now and I finally have a wild spotted mandarin, something I’ve wanted for a while.