Hello everyone, me and my fiancé are from the San Antonio, Texas area and have gone kind of aquarium crazy in the last two years. We’ve been really into Betta’s and went to Dallas Aquashella the last two years to get some really cool looking ones and other random freshwater fish. The corals and saltwater fish have boggled my mind especially since the emphasis at Aquashella seemed to be on the corals. The more I researched the more I wanted a reef tank but didn’t think I’d ever have the time. Luckily, I just started working from home and had just the spot for a reef tank so decided to pull the trigger. I plan to use this thread as a way for me to stay on top of what I’m doing and when and of course to get help from y’all when I undoubtedly need it. That’s enough of the boring stuff here’s what I’m working with…
-Waterbox 50.3 AIO
Blown away by WB’s service and quality, I love this thing and it went together very easy
-Sicce Syncra 2.0
-Tunze 9004 DC Skimmer
Not sure I have this running right, I just put it in last night and was about half full this morning with what looked like pretty clean water.
-2x AI Nero 5’s
Seems a little much but I want to have the headroom for more flow if need be as I haven’t ruled out SPS yet. I’m running them pretty low now as I’m not sure I’ve quite figured out the app.
-2x AI Prime 16 HD’s
These seem nice, I’ve just been using the white light while feeding but can’t wait to get some corals under them.
-XTAqua Duetto ATO
-2x Eheim Jager 150’s
-Inkbird ITC-306A
I haven’t been able to link this to my phone so I’m pretty meh on it.
It has live sand and aragonite mixed for substrate and 2 large pieces of live rock from the lfs that I added on August 21st.
I do have 20 more pounds of dry rock I am on the second week of bleaching before it goes in.
I tested ammonia on the 25th and it was a little high for the first week so I added some Fritz 900, waited a day and tested ammonia at zero so I added a clown pair (Ozzy and Sharon) on the 27th. Nitrate now reads around 5ppm and my clowns are happy and eating well frozen, flake and pellets.
We’re playing it by ear as far as livestock but I have already dropped in a liter of Jay’s Reef Bugs pods and am dosing his phyto as well. I want to work towards getting a dragonet way down the line but want to try and establish a good pod population way before. I also hope to try and prevent crazy dinos or bad algae too.
I plan on going with softies and LPS corals before stepping to anything fancier but we’ll see what San Antonio Reef Fest has in store.
Thanks for reading all this and for your help in advance!
-Waterbox 50.3 AIO
Blown away by WB’s service and quality, I love this thing and it went together very easy
-Sicce Syncra 2.0
-Tunze 9004 DC Skimmer
Not sure I have this running right, I just put it in last night and was about half full this morning with what looked like pretty clean water.
-2x AI Nero 5’s
Seems a little much but I want to have the headroom for more flow if need be as I haven’t ruled out SPS yet. I’m running them pretty low now as I’m not sure I’ve quite figured out the app.
-2x AI Prime 16 HD’s
These seem nice, I’ve just been using the white light while feeding but can’t wait to get some corals under them.
-XTAqua Duetto ATO
-2x Eheim Jager 150’s
-Inkbird ITC-306A
I haven’t been able to link this to my phone so I’m pretty meh on it.
It has live sand and aragonite mixed for substrate and 2 large pieces of live rock from the lfs that I added on August 21st.
I do have 20 more pounds of dry rock I am on the second week of bleaching before it goes in.
I tested ammonia on the 25th and it was a little high for the first week so I added some Fritz 900, waited a day and tested ammonia at zero so I added a clown pair (Ozzy and Sharon) on the 27th. Nitrate now reads around 5ppm and my clowns are happy and eating well frozen, flake and pellets.
We’re playing it by ear as far as livestock but I have already dropped in a liter of Jay’s Reef Bugs pods and am dosing his phyto as well. I want to work towards getting a dragonet way down the line but want to try and establish a good pod population way before. I also hope to try and prevent crazy dinos or bad algae too.
I plan on going with softies and LPS corals before stepping to anything fancier but we’ll see what San Antonio Reef Fest has in store.
Thanks for reading all this and for your help in advance!