ScubaFish802
Just keep swimming
Excited to track and see my own progress as well as share it on this build thread!
After a few months of reading these and other forums online I was split between a few tank setups and ideas. Ultimately I decided to go with an 'all in one' tank as this seemed a bit more beginner friendly than plumbing a sump under the tank etc.. The tank I ended up choosing was the Fluval Flex 32.5 Marine Kit. The more powerful stock lights, and the slightly irregular horizontal curved face were the two deciding factors for me.
I also ordered the matching white stand even though it was a bit pricey as far as stands seemed to go. This is where things got a little interesting in my initial build. With Covid -19 taking over the world I learned that Fluval, understandably, was closed for two weeks and had halted all production, causing all stand styles to go out of stock for the 32.5 in the USA. I had placed my order with Saltwateraquarium.com and the tank arrived a few days later (with great shipping packing I should add).
Now me being the still young slightly impatient 26 year old that I am, couldn't wait to start cycling the tank and setting the aquascape up. So, my tank spent the next month or two on a wooden rolling cart being moved around my home office intermittently. The whole while thinking to myself that moving the 350ish pound set up would be no big deal when the stand arrived (lol).
Along with the initial kit set up for the tank I also included
- 2 inTank Media Baskets with included Flow Directors and grabbed some of the inTank floss while I was there. So far I am very fond of inTanks products and company as a whole.
- Dr Tims One & Only + ammonia to start the cycle off.
- Eheim CompactOn return pump (it offered slightly more flow and I use the included fluval pump to mix saltwater in buckets)
- Around 40lbs of Caribsea Life Rock (ordered a little more than I thought I would need for more aquascape options)
- Around 40lbs of Caribsea Fiji Pink Live Sand (filled until sand bed was ~2" then saved the rest)
- Two Fishes Reef Putty + basic super glue gel
- Aquamai Wi-fi Powerhead
- Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
- Enough 5gal buckets for an emergency
- a 150w heater + a digital thermometer
- I also grabbed both the API Saltwater Master test kit (I have a lot of experience with API from freshwater) + the same tests from Salifert (both to compare the actual accuracy of the API tests, and to have a separate testing solution if anything ever came into question later.)
Current Filtration Media in tank:
-Chemipure elite
-inTank Filter floss
-Marine pure balls. ( I also threw some of the balls in the free space at the bottom of the "sump" area. )
After cycling, once water parameters were correct and all initial spikes had stopped I also added,
- Algae Barns 5280 Pods to try and start a colony while few fish were present
- Nero 5 BT Powerhead. I was not getting adequate flow on the far side of the tank it appeared
- Around 8 assorted snails to help with some diatoms I was seeing
and my first fish a young Ocellaris Clownfish. Woo!
A while later as water quality continued to check out I added a second Ocellaris Clownfish.
I tried to pick two fresh / small clowns in hopes at least one would not be a female yet. Luckily there has been almost no aggression towards each other and they continue to do their submissive / dominate dances to this day. They have grown to be quite inseparable so far. In the beginning I noticed they would hangout near the surface of the tank next to the Nero powerhead. After researching a bit I ended up adding a 3" ceramic pot to the tank which they now stay in at night and defend during the day + I don't see them looking stressed in the top corner of the tank any longer.
In addition to the clowns I then later added a very small Purple Firefish. It is definitely a shy fish (with a huge appetite!). When anyone gets too close to the tank it will hide in a little 'cave' near the sand bed. Otherwise I can usually find it near the center of the tank opposite the clowns pot.
Around this time my stand arrived. Around this time I also realized how silly it was to add so much stuff pre-stand. I ended up draining just about the entire tank into 5gal buckets and netting fish into the buckets. Moved all rock and sand into buckets. -> moved tank to stand -> re-added all but the fish and let sand and water settle for a bit. -> re-added fish. Luckily the next day everything was still alive and the water was just about back to normal.
My last and latest addition to the tank is a small green hammer coral. My local LFS (which I have made all my live purchases from) fragged two heads off of one of their specimens that I have seen in the store growing for months. One of the heads is in the process of splitting for a total of 3 heads. I spot feed with Algae Barns OceanMagik. Currently it sits in the center of the tank healing. It will eventually be moved lower in the tank where there is less flow and light to make way for more demanding corals.
I think that just about sums up my build to this point. I will continue to post back here as I continue this journey
(and will try and post back with a closer photo of my fish at their current size to see growth later on)
Below is the current state of the tank as of last night, (coral center, fire fish blending with rock just right of hammer, and clowns far-right) - 09/05/2020
Looking forward to adding more to this tread and seeing where my first saltwater set up goes.
Thanks for reading!
and as always I appreciate any feedback / questions / or constructive criticism I would not be able to even say half of what I wrote in this post without this forums resources.
Best,
Christian
After a few months of reading these and other forums online I was split between a few tank setups and ideas. Ultimately I decided to go with an 'all in one' tank as this seemed a bit more beginner friendly than plumbing a sump under the tank etc.. The tank I ended up choosing was the Fluval Flex 32.5 Marine Kit. The more powerful stock lights, and the slightly irregular horizontal curved face were the two deciding factors for me.
I also ordered the matching white stand even though it was a bit pricey as far as stands seemed to go. This is where things got a little interesting in my initial build. With Covid -19 taking over the world I learned that Fluval, understandably, was closed for two weeks and had halted all production, causing all stand styles to go out of stock for the 32.5 in the USA. I had placed my order with Saltwateraquarium.com and the tank arrived a few days later (with great shipping packing I should add).
Now me being the still young slightly impatient 26 year old that I am, couldn't wait to start cycling the tank and setting the aquascape up. So, my tank spent the next month or two on a wooden rolling cart being moved around my home office intermittently. The whole while thinking to myself that moving the 350ish pound set up would be no big deal when the stand arrived (lol).
Along with the initial kit set up for the tank I also included
- 2 inTank Media Baskets with included Flow Directors and grabbed some of the inTank floss while I was there. So far I am very fond of inTanks products and company as a whole.
- Dr Tims One & Only + ammonia to start the cycle off.
- Eheim CompactOn return pump (it offered slightly more flow and I use the included fluval pump to mix saltwater in buckets)
- Around 40lbs of Caribsea Life Rock (ordered a little more than I thought I would need for more aquascape options)
- Around 40lbs of Caribsea Fiji Pink Live Sand (filled until sand bed was ~2" then saved the rest)
- Two Fishes Reef Putty + basic super glue gel
- Aquamai Wi-fi Powerhead
- Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
- Enough 5gal buckets for an emergency
- a 150w heater + a digital thermometer
- I also grabbed both the API Saltwater Master test kit (I have a lot of experience with API from freshwater) + the same tests from Salifert (both to compare the actual accuracy of the API tests, and to have a separate testing solution if anything ever came into question later.)
Current Filtration Media in tank:
-Chemipure elite
-inTank Filter floss
-Marine pure balls. ( I also threw some of the balls in the free space at the bottom of the "sump" area. )
After cycling, once water parameters were correct and all initial spikes had stopped I also added,
- Algae Barns 5280 Pods to try and start a colony while few fish were present
- Nero 5 BT Powerhead. I was not getting adequate flow on the far side of the tank it appeared
- Around 8 assorted snails to help with some diatoms I was seeing
and my first fish a young Ocellaris Clownfish. Woo!
A while later as water quality continued to check out I added a second Ocellaris Clownfish.
I tried to pick two fresh / small clowns in hopes at least one would not be a female yet. Luckily there has been almost no aggression towards each other and they continue to do their submissive / dominate dances to this day. They have grown to be quite inseparable so far. In the beginning I noticed they would hangout near the surface of the tank next to the Nero powerhead. After researching a bit I ended up adding a 3" ceramic pot to the tank which they now stay in at night and defend during the day + I don't see them looking stressed in the top corner of the tank any longer.
In addition to the clowns I then later added a very small Purple Firefish. It is definitely a shy fish (with a huge appetite!). When anyone gets too close to the tank it will hide in a little 'cave' near the sand bed. Otherwise I can usually find it near the center of the tank opposite the clowns pot.
Around this time my stand arrived. Around this time I also realized how silly it was to add so much stuff pre-stand. I ended up draining just about the entire tank into 5gal buckets and netting fish into the buckets. Moved all rock and sand into buckets. -> moved tank to stand -> re-added all but the fish and let sand and water settle for a bit. -> re-added fish. Luckily the next day everything was still alive and the water was just about back to normal.
My last and latest addition to the tank is a small green hammer coral. My local LFS (which I have made all my live purchases from) fragged two heads off of one of their specimens that I have seen in the store growing for months. One of the heads is in the process of splitting for a total of 3 heads. I spot feed with Algae Barns OceanMagik. Currently it sits in the center of the tank healing. It will eventually be moved lower in the tank where there is less flow and light to make way for more demanding corals.
I think that just about sums up my build to this point. I will continue to post back here as I continue this journey
(and will try and post back with a closer photo of my fish at their current size to see growth later on)
Below is the current state of the tank as of last night, (coral center, fire fish blending with rock just right of hammer, and clowns far-right) - 09/05/2020
Looking forward to adding more to this tread and seeing where my first saltwater set up goes.
Thanks for reading!
and as always I appreciate any feedback / questions / or constructive criticism
I would not be able to even say half of what I wrote in this post without this forums resources.Best,
Christian
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