BayAreaBeginnerReef's First Saltwater Aquarium- RedSea Reefer 350

[bayareabeginnerreef]

Hi Everyone,

My name is Maria and this is the thread following my first saltwater aquarium, a RedSea Reefer 350. After months of research, buying all the necessary materials, setting up the tank and filling it up: this is what it looks like on Day 1. Water is still a bit cloudy but it did clear up after a few days. These rocks actually have drilled in holes to easily place frags and I really loved the design of the rocks, so big shoutout to ArtReefRocks in California. So far I started the cycle using Dr.Tim's Live Nitrifying Bacteria and the accompanying Ammonium Chloride solution. I have an Innovative Marine 20 Gallon tank cycling at the same time as this display tank so that I can properly quarantine all fish prior to moving in. I will be documenting my journey as I go, sharing everything I do. This post is actually 18 days after I started cycling these tanks, I will keep you posted fellow reefers

 

[blaxsun]

Lookin' good!

 

[rlman41299]

nice tank. is that an artreef rock?

 

[bayareabeginnerreef]

@rlman41299 Yup, ArtReefRocks! Love the look and loved how easy it was to assemble

 

[N1tew0lf1212]

Looks great. Rock structure phenomenal the kits they have now a days make scaping way easier excited to watch your journey.

 

[bayareabeginnerreef]

Let the Quarantine begin!

Hi Reefers,

This weekend I purchased my first pair of Clownfish and introduced them to my Innovative Marine 20 Gallon Quarantine Tank where they will be for the next two weeks. I'm certain you've never heard of a pair of clowns with such unique one of a kind never before seen names, Marlin and Nemo, classic . Today marks the third day that they are in quarantine and so far so good, they have no signs of disease. After a ton of research, I decided to model my quarantine procedure after Elliot from Marine Collectors. He had great detailed explanations on his website as to why he uses certain medications and what they treat. I am preventatively treating ALL my fish before they are introduced to my display tank. For those of you interested in learning what my quarantine looks like, I have listed the protocol below.

Reagents needed:
Cupramine (Ich & Velvet)
Nitrofurazone (antibiotic for open wounds/red sores)
Prazipro (flukes/internal parasites)
Formalin (uronema and brooklynella)

Additional Notes:
**do NOT use Formalin & Prazi together they’ll eliminate all oxygen in the water. Use these individually and with an air stone**
**do NOT use formalin and copper together**

14-Day Quarantine protocol:

1. Float bag for 15min in QT to temperature acclimate.
2. Empty water and livestock into container. Add 1/2 cup of QT water every 3min until the water volume doubles from what was in the fish bag originally.
3. Place fish in a freshwater dip dosed with Praziquentel for 3-5 minutes. *use airstone*
4. Place fish into an interim bath of 50/50 fresh/saltwater solution.
5. For 14 days fish should be placed in QT tank dosed with Cupramine [0.25-0.5] and Nitrofurazone.
6. Every other day, freshwater dips w Prazi *use airstone* w interim 50/50 fresh/saltwater bath
7. If necessary, on alternating days fish will be given a 30-60 minute bath in formalin (base off of the livestock supplier, or if treating a susceptible species.) *use airstone*
8. On day 7 do a 50% water change w medications (cupramine and nitrofurazone) to match QT tank
9. At the end of 14 days if fish appears healthy, catch livestock into small plastic QT container. Add 1/2 cup of DT water every 3min until the water volume doubles. Catch fish with a non-latex gloved hand and add to DT.

 

[bayareabeginnerreef]

Slow and Steady wins the race!

I finally have another build thread update! This past Sunday, May 8th I finally transferred my healthy pair of clownfish out of their quarantine tank and into their permanent home, the display tank.Dun, dun, dunnnnnn *dramatic sound effects* What a journey it has been to get to this point. These clowns ended up doing 3 weeks of medicated quarantine before reaching the display tank.

Since then, I have emptied my 20G fish quarantine tank that was holding these clowns and left it out in the backyard to dry for the next few days before I take on the task of resetting it for the next set of fish purchases. I also filled my 10G coral and invert quarantine tank and started cycling that nano-tank so that I have a cycled tank ready to fill up with corals when Reefapalooza comes to California in August. I don't know what my protocol will look like for corals and inverts yet so another build thread post with updates on that topic will be coming soon. For now, enjoy videos of my clownfish exploring their new home!