Building my first 15G reef tank (ever).

[hid1203]

So guys it took me a while to get started and get to know R2R a little but here we are!
November 15th I started my first ever reef tank. It’s a 15gal AIO and I added an extra pump for flow and also a very quiet return pump and skimmer since it’s in the living room. I set it up with coral sand, rocks(dead) and of course saltwater. I let it run for about 4 weeks while I added seachem stability the first week and also a mitrax crab and a Sally light foot crab. I didn’t feed too much at first but enough to get a cycle going. After 2 weeks all parameters turned out to be good but I still let it sit for another 2 weeks just to be sure. Now I have finally started stocking it. I added 2 Snowflake clowns, a frag of Euphyllia, Goniopora, zoa (if anyone can ID that would be great) and favites. I feed the fish a mix of pellets and frozen food and every other day I feed the corals with Red Sea AB+. I do a weekly 10-15% water change and mix the salt right before the water change. I use RO/DI water to top off.
hope you guys like my build so far and I will try to post as many updates as I can.
Enjoy!✌

 

[Chrisv.]

Nice!

 

[hid1203]

Hi guys!
So today is week 6 for the tank. The algae are setting in now but I wasn’t too worried yet. But now it’s starting to look a little fuzzy?! I was thinking of letting it go for a while and see if the snails, hermits and other crabs get to it but I would really like anyones opinion on this. I’ve added some pictures (best I could do on an iPhone) so you guys know what I’m talking about. Feeding regime is still the same.
Tank parameters:
KH: 8,3
NO2: 0,0
NO3: <1
PO4: <0,1
Ca: 480
Mg: 1380
SG: 1.025

 

[Hooz]

What snails and hermits have you got, and how many?

 

[hid1203]

What snails and hermits have you got, and how many?

The lfs gave me a selection of tiny snails for free together with the favites and I don’t know what they are exactly. I have 2 hermits (blue legged one and a scarlet one). Also I have a Mithraculus sculptus and a Percnon gibbesi.
should I get more CUC or just leave them to it so they don’t starve when they clear it all?

 

[Hooz]

In my 10g I have 12 Dwarf Ceriths, 5 Ceriths, 3 Nassarius, 3 Asterae and 2 Hermits. They do a pretty good job keeping up, and there always seems to be stuff for them to eat. In my 30g I have the same mix, just triple everything, and I have a handful of small Nerites and a couple Turbo snails in there as well.

That mix seems to work pretty well for me as they all eat different things in different places.

 

[CrimsonTide]

You will probably need ceriths, you can get the regular size and the smaller size they eat the sane but get into different size crevices. I also like astrea snails. They stay on the glass more in my opinion. Then trochus snails are great for the rock work and glass. Theyll go about everywhere theres something to eat. If you want to keep the hermits i would just suggest a couple more of the red and blue legs to help eat any leftover food and they'll eat some algae as well. If you like snails get some Nassarius snails they're great at eat leftovers in a tank.

 

[Sweetreef21]

Looks like the beginning stages of a cycled tank. Things will probably get worse before they get better unfortunately. Dont be to alarmed by it. Keep up on routine maintenance the fuzz will be around for awhile. I try using a turkey baster and blast off what i can then use a fish net to catch whatever is floating. This is a natural process as your tank matures. Im at the 1 year mark and still fighting the uglies. Enjoy its all apart of the adventure!!

 

[Dom]

What a cool little tank!

FAITHFUL WEEKLY 3 gallon water changes right after manual cleanup is all a tank like that needs.

Rely on your water changes to keep your Nitrates and Phosphates down. Water changes will also replenish elements consumed by corals.

Great job!

 

[hid1203]

Thanks everyone for the great advice! Will definitely be using most of it!
will be getting a mix of some more snails later this week.
waterchanges are indeed 3 gal every Wednesday night or Thursday morning and not skipped.