My first reef 25g

[sam263]

Hey everyone this will be my first reef tank and thread. The tank is a 25g resun dms 500 with skimmer, t5 globes and blue leds, 1x600l per hour and 1x 1000l per hour power heads. Nothing to special or crazy but should be a good place to start. I started my cycle 10 days ago with 7kgs of live rock, around about 1kg of noodles and 600g of some sort of sponge rock like bio ball thing?im still not happy with the rock layout yet though and not sure if I should be doing anything different with the cycle. Ammonia reached 1.0ppm nitrite and nitrate still zero. Salinity 1.021. Im open to all advice and suggestions. Updates to come. Sam

 

[clownfitch]

Your rock scaping looks really nice! You will want to get your salinity up to around 1.025. Other than that, watch it go through the cycle and very slowly (patience is key to success!) add livestock and coral. Start off with easy to keep coral and learn how to take care of them. Be prepared to be addicted!

 

[revhtree]

Looking good! Welcome to R2R!

 

[fishroomlady]

tank looks great! I'm curious as to what 1kg of noodles is?

 

[G_Sanab922]

Scape looks nice! like clownfitch said, around 1.025 would be better. But it really depends on what you are planning to keep in there. What's your livestock list that you have planned, if you do have one?

 

[sam263]

Well I dont have a photo but they are ceramic noodles sort of like a bio ball im pritty sure

 

[sam263]

No list yet but will be something like a pair of clowns a firefish and a funky looking goby thats about as far as ive thought. Any tips?

 

[sam263]

Thanks guys. Yeah im addicted allready haha I have 3 really good lfs in about a 20 min drive from my house so im regularly lurking around getting keen and couldnt wait anylonger. Wish the cycle would hurry up there is awesome deals going on at my lfs and a guy that lives about halfhour away is tearing down his tank and practically giving away nice coral but im being patient haha it sucks

 

[clownfitch]

I know how tempting it is to buy all of the nice stuff for great deals but is really stinks if you buy it when the tank isn't ready and it perishes.

 

[jy544]

Nice rock

 

[sam263]

Thanks.. it would want to be for the ridiculous price I payed. $18.50 per kg.

 

[clownfitch]

Thanks.. it would want to be for the ridiculous price I payed. $18.50 per kg.

Dang. That should come with coral attached for that much.

 

[sam263]

Haha well it did but it was dead. It is premiem grade and the bloke reckons the price is high due to licenseing etc but come on 18.50. And all the local shops were the same dont know if thats the going rate in aus or what

 

[G_Sanab922]

Yea that's pricey lol but I heard AUS is a lot more expensive for marine livestock.
And don't worry deals will always come. There is always normally someone doing a break down or selling frags. Just have to be patient.


Gabriel

 

[sam263]

Can anyone tell me what this little critter is? It's living in a old piece of coral and hangs out its feelers/arms and draws them back when it spots me..

 

[sam263]

The picture came out sideways for some reason and is a crappy phone photo but it has white feelers to the right on that white coral

 

[G_Sanab922]

Hmm. Might have something good there.
How long are the "feelers"


Gabriel

 

[sam263]

They would be about 2cm. I can see inside his hole when they are inside and he tucks them into himself. What are you thinking it could be?

 

[sam263]

Well today is day 32 and my cycle has been done for about a week and have done a 25% water change. My first orders arrived today I got a little clean up crew 2 turbo snails 2 hermits and a cleaner shrimp will add to it soon. The snails are boring as hell but hermits and cleaner are very interesting and funny to watch. I also got 2 zoa frags and small bta.

 

[Kworker]

Well today is day 32 and my cycle has been done for about a week and have done a 25% water change. My first orders arrived today I got a little clean up crew 2 turbo snails 2 hermits and a cleaner shrimp will add to it soon. The snails are boring as hell but hermits and cleaner are very interesting and funny to watch. I also got 2 zoa frags and small bta.

Congrats on joining in on the hobby.

Its likely you will have some issues with the BTA since its a newly established tank. If you end up doing well with it I would suggest setting this up as a clownfish anemone tank. If you haven't already, I would look into how to protecting anemones from powerheads.

I would wait some time to see how everything you just got does for a while before adding anything else. Would help you get a gauge on where your system is at as well as potentially saving yourself some cash.