Begginers New 30g tank

Jabru · Nov 30, 2021

Hi all, I'm new to the whole saltwater world but here I am giving it a crack.
I have been lurking through the forum's and seen other people's tank threads so I thought I'd make one too. Mainly for advice and suggestions but also like keeping a diary to look back on

I have a basic 30 gallon tank, and cheap Aqua one skimmer.
So far I've added some live rock from my LFS and bought a DC return pump and a pretty decent size wavemaker.
I've decided to go bare bottom as I'm only new and want to keep things as simple as I can. (Plus I like the look of it). I've been cycling it for almost 2 months now, I'm thinking of getting some clowns and maybe even some Begginers friendly corals. Am I moving too quickly? Hope you enjoy my progress.

I'm open too all and any advice!

Jabru · Nov 30, 2021

Also ignore that light, I have an AI Prime for the moment

Jabru · Dec 1, 2021

Got some new corals, a leather, hammer and elegance. Also got some clownfish.
Had some high phosphates so I've begun dosing with red sea NOPOX, we'll see how that goes after a week of dosing.
Here are some photos of the new corals, I have already moved them to separate the leather a bit more from the elegance.

MaxTremors · Dec 1, 2021

I think you’re tank is a little young for a hammer and especially an elegance. The elegance is not a beginner coral. A two month old tank generally doesn’t have stable alkalinity and nutrients, I would test the alkalinity daily to see how stable it is. Elegance are pretty sensitive and are prone to getting bacterial infections if they have any tissue recession, unstable/high nutrients and alk can cause tissue recession.

Be careful with the NoPox, with such a young tank that isn’t really stocked I don’t understand how you have a phosphate issue, NoPox doesn’t really do much for phosphates anyway, it’s more effective for nitrates. If you’re set on doing the NoPox, I’d start with a quarter of the recommended dose and very slowly raise the dose (again you’re not going to see a big reduction in phosphates, so don’t keep raising the dose thinking it’s not doing what it’ll do).

I would pump the breaks a little, going forward, I would stick to soft corals, once you’ve kept some alive and thriving for several months, try some LPS, then after keeping those alive for several months, maybe try some SPS.

Jabru · Dec 1, 2021

Ah ok, thanks for the advice. The NoPox was a suggestion from my LFS, wonder why they said to get onto that so early then, they were the ones that tested my water too. I do have my own phosphate tester on the way so I will just keep that all in mind. I'll definitely be careful with it! Yeah I've been testing my alkalinity daily and I've been keeping it steady around the 8.5dkh mark It will just be another thing to stay right on top of. I will put the breaks on hard now, thanks for the heads up. I will give it a while and maybe get some zoas down the road once I've mastered the nutrients.