Empti
Community Member
Hi guys so I've recently gotten into the hobby and very quickly upgraded from the near useless 13 gal a LFS sold me. My new tank is the waterbox marine 60.2 and after filling took about 150L (40g) of water with an estimated 10kg (22 pounds of sand) + 15kg (33 pounds rock). Majority of the rock came from the old system which was set up for ~3 months so didn't experience much of a cycle in terms of ammonia. This set up is now 2 weeks old and this week ive added the corals + a dragonet, longish post and my main questions are @ the end but looking for any feedback on how things are looking. LPS/Soft coral focused.
Pictures
Notable Equipment
Nero Ai 5 Wavemaker - running 1200 gal/hr
ecotech vectra return pump - running ~ 400 gal/hr
Radion xr15 g5 pro - running LPS/softies preset @ 40% intensity
Deltec 400i skimmer - tuned but doesnt produce a huge amount of skimmate, new tank with low nutrients
heater - idk but temp stable
Parameters
Alk 7.6
pH 7.9
Phos 0.0
Ca 387
MG 1183,
ammo 0
nitrite 0.1
nitrate 2
Salinity 1.026
temp 25.0c
Current stocking list
Fish -
1 Clownfish
1 Spotted Mandarin Dragonet
CUC - 3 trochus snails
Coral -
Small Hammer Frag
Duncan Coral
Elegance
Kenya tree.
Questions!
Stocking
Final stocking list is looking to be
2x ocellaris clowns
1x mandarin dragonet
1x purple firefish
1x 6 line or cleaner wrasse
Maybe one more fish. thinking a fire angelfish.
Is this reasonable? I think its pushing towards the heavier side with the wrasse + angelfish.
Keeping my dragonet alive! -
I've realised that I shouldn't have gotten one this early but inadequate research left me with this beautiful fish that I love but im now trying to keep him alive. I don't have a huge copepod population in my tank due to how immature it is, I do see him occasionally pecking at the peices of rock from my old tank & back wall of the tank. I will eventually set up a fuge with chaeto/gravel that ill try seed with copepods but for now he doesnt seem a fan of frozen pods. Given this will throwing live bottled pods in my tank maybe 2x a month suffice to keep the adorable little man from starving or will their population be decimated way too fast.
Flow
Current total flow is ~40x tank volume 30x through my wavemaker and 10x through sump/return pump. See pic attached at the top. because I'm uncertain my current setup is adequate or if I should get another powerhead and run 2/3rds of the flow through the wavemaker then 1/3rd of the flow feeding back up from a powerhead which ill place on the opposite back corner of the tank feeding upwards towards to overflow gate.
Lighting
Does anyone know how i can estimate PAR on a radion xr-15, would looking at someone elses par testing translate well to another tank assuming similar mounting height/open top/account for settings or is there a large variance between models/individual units.
Coral Placement
My duncan seems a little unhappy today (yesterday, the day i got him he was quite happy). Elegance has been nice and open and makes a great centrepiece however im worried having my hammer between it and the duncan isn't a good idea as since i've moved it the duncan hasn't been open and i saw a small little burn mark looking spot on the elegance where it is closest to the hammer. Should I just leave the hammer and hope they all get along or move it now before it stings either of them.
ID on the bottom left would be good because although I'm pretty sure its a kenya tree which is fine with low light/mid flow just want to make sure.
Dosing
I'm currently dosing to get calcium up to 420 + kh to 8.5-9. I know my mag is low (1183) but do I really need to dose this too or should my weekly 10% water change be fine. I was under the impression slightly low mag isnt a huge problem so long as im not trying to push up calc/alk into high ranges.
The ugly stage....
Getting some heavy browning of the sandbed and a small white rock sitting on substrate, nutrients are already pretty low. Do I just ride this out and keep going with my normal setup or any actions I can take to keep the new tank looking pretty? Currently just cleaning glass + stirring up the sand every day.
Pictures
Notable Equipment
Nero Ai 5 Wavemaker - running 1200 gal/hr
ecotech vectra return pump - running ~ 400 gal/hr
Radion xr15 g5 pro - running LPS/softies preset @ 40% intensity
Deltec 400i skimmer - tuned but doesnt produce a huge amount of skimmate, new tank with low nutrients
heater - idk but temp stable
Parameters
Alk 7.6
pH 7.9
Phos 0.0
Ca 387
MG 1183,
ammo 0
nitrite 0.1
nitrate 2
Salinity 1.026
temp 25.0c
Current stocking list
Fish -
1 Clownfish
1 Spotted Mandarin Dragonet
CUC - 3 trochus snails
Coral -
Small Hammer Frag
Duncan Coral
Elegance
Kenya tree.
Questions!
Stocking
Final stocking list is looking to be
2x ocellaris clowns
1x mandarin dragonet
1x purple firefish
1x 6 line or cleaner wrasse
Maybe one more fish. thinking a fire angelfish.
Is this reasonable? I think its pushing towards the heavier side with the wrasse + angelfish.
Keeping my dragonet alive! -
I've realised that I shouldn't have gotten one this early but inadequate research left me with this beautiful fish that I love but im now trying to keep him alive. I don't have a huge copepod population in my tank due to how immature it is, I do see him occasionally pecking at the peices of rock from my old tank & back wall of the tank. I will eventually set up a fuge with chaeto/gravel that ill try seed with copepods but for now he doesnt seem a fan of frozen pods. Given this will throwing live bottled pods in my tank maybe 2x a month suffice to keep the adorable little man from starving or will their population be decimated way too fast.
Flow
Current total flow is ~40x tank volume 30x through my wavemaker and 10x through sump/return pump. See pic attached at the top. because I'm uncertain my current setup is adequate or if I should get another powerhead and run 2/3rds of the flow through the wavemaker then 1/3rd of the flow feeding back up from a powerhead which ill place on the opposite back corner of the tank feeding upwards towards to overflow gate.
Lighting
Does anyone know how i can estimate PAR on a radion xr-15, would looking at someone elses par testing translate well to another tank assuming similar mounting height/open top/account for settings or is there a large variance between models/individual units.
Coral Placement
My duncan seems a little unhappy today (yesterday, the day i got him he was quite happy). Elegance has been nice and open and makes a great centrepiece however im worried having my hammer between it and the duncan isn't a good idea as since i've moved it the duncan hasn't been open and i saw a small little burn mark looking spot on the elegance where it is closest to the hammer. Should I just leave the hammer and hope they all get along or move it now before it stings either of them.
ID on the bottom left would be good because although I'm pretty sure its a kenya tree which is fine with low light/mid flow just want to make sure.
Dosing
I'm currently dosing to get calcium up to 420 + kh to 8.5-9. I know my mag is low (1183) but do I really need to dose this too or should my weekly 10% water change be fine. I was under the impression slightly low mag isnt a huge problem so long as im not trying to push up calc/alk into high ranges.
The ugly stage....
Getting some heavy browning of the sandbed and a small white rock sitting on substrate, nutrients are already pretty low. Do I just ride this out and keep going with my normal setup or any actions I can take to keep the new tank looking pretty? Currently just cleaning glass + stirring up the sand every day.
