Cary's First 40B Reef Setup

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Here is how the tank is looking today... the water has cleared up nicely with the initial filtering through a bag and processed by the skimmer for a day. Today, I dismantle the refugium for some small leak repair, and in a few days we will get things going again... this time for real.
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What lights are you using? To avoid algae growth, leave the lights off until you get some livestock in there.

Also next time, figure out all the plumbing etc before filling it up with rocks, sand, and saltwater .

Live sand isnt so alive really. You can get dry sand and dry live rocks and both will come alive in your system via bacteria.

For water, distilled water is what you want to use if you can't get rodi water.

So you have a 40g that flows into a 10g?

40g is a very popular build, there are many many 40g builds on this site.
 
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What lights are you using? To avoid algae growth, leave the lights off until you get some livestock in there.

Also next time, figure out all the plumbing etc before filling it up with rocks, sand, and saltwater .

Live sand isnt so alive really. You can get dry sand and dry live rocks and both will come alive in your system via bacteria.

For water, distilled water is what you want to use if you can't get rodi water.

So you have a 40g that flows into a 10g?

40g is a very popular build, there are many many 40g builds on this site.
Hi Count... using t5 x 24" lights, one blue and one white. Yes, the famous learning curve got in the way here and now I know to do the plumbing stuff first, sterilize a used tank and get it all cleaned up, background installed on the back glass, rocks and sand next, AND THEN WATER. I sure could have made things a lot easier with the knowledge I have already picked up so far.

Oh well.. next time. This time I have what I have. I started with a used tank being used by its previous owner to grow plankton, so of course not knowing I should sterilize that tank, I had a bloom. A week in the dark, and now a UV light, and I am getting ahead of the algae... plus the great crop of macro algae in my refugium is starving it out slowly but surely. Baby steps... I am getting a bit smarter.

Yes, it is a 40b to a 10g and through trial and error I have figured out how much water needs to be in the system so as to not overflow the refugium during feeding or power outages. I have learned how to do all my tests and interpret the results. I have learned the difference between pH and alkalinity and have each adjusted to recommended levels. I have been learning how to balance clean water with salt water in my evaporation additions, so as to keep the salinity near 1.025.

Gaining a bit more confidence, I have outfitted the tank with 12 sand cleaning snails and some glass cleaners too. Also I got about 10 hermit crabs to start doing their thing. Carefully watching my parameters I can see things coming into line quite nicely and even saw some baby snails crawling on the glass, so this weekend I got brave and put a couple of small damsels in there too. I have been learning the joys of how often to change and clean my socks and the input screen to my syphon pump so that water flow continues at a good rate and in the next few days I expect to see miracles in the clarity of the water as my UV light starts to kill the bloom as if flows through the refugium.

So now I watch to see which parameters spike with the two new ammonia sources in the tank and figure out what, if anything, that I need to do about it.
 
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ok... it has been 3 days since installing the UV light in the back corner of my refugium, and oh what a difference 3 days has made! I have changed my sock twice and tried both slow water flow and fast, not sure which would be the most effective as the water flows past the UV bulb.
Here is what I was dealing with... here is the tank the day I installed the new light:
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Here was 24 hours later, that light really works!
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And here is today. Each day is adding new clarity to the water and more relief to this new reefer. All of my parameters appear to be where they need to be and things appear to be more or less stable as long as I make sure to keep water flow at a reasonable rate and add back about 1/2 gallon a day due to evaporation.

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Here is a brand new baby snail, about a week old and now about 1/4 inch long

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And here is my refugium, with 2 types of macro algae absolutely going insane in there along with the 'pods and a couple of baby starfish and a horseshoe crab that came in with the live rock from the LFS.

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Bottom line... all the baby steps have resulted in this! I think things are working! I also know that UV light is a miracle and now that I can actually see my livestock, I am really starting to enjoy this!
 
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All has been looking very good in my tank for the last 2 weeks or so and I'm very happy with the progress. All my parameters are remaining stable and my ammonia nites and trites remain at zero even though I have added six new fish. At the moment I am a very happy reefer with a lot of life in my tank.
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What fish did you add? 6 all at once? Over the period of a month?
over a month or longer... I started with an emerald crab, a few hermit crabs and sand and glass cleaning snails. After several weeks of that, I added two damsels. They seemed to be doing ok after a week, so I added a coral beauty angel. Another week or so, I added two clowns, and just last week, a couple of weeks later, I got a bicolor blenny. A couple more weeks, I am going to be very tempted to try an anemone. Oh, and pay no attention to that crazy reading on the salinity swing arm... it is actually very close to 1.025
 
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This last weekend I went to buy an anemone and was surprised with the starting price of $150... so I came home instead with my first two corals. I have no idea if the small encapsulating coral shard is happy because it just sits there, but the polyp coral shard seems to be active and happy. Alkalinity and Calcium levels are good... more baby steps.

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So it has been about 4 months now since actually getting the tank and its refugium going, and I think that things are going remarkably well. The refugium is definitely doing its job and my ammonia, trites and trates have been mostly perfect, with a couple of snags inbetween.
At first I didn't have enough light, didn't have uv filtering, and was still acquiring equipment. I had an early green algae bloom that was taken care of with the UV light. Then I got a wild hair and changed the timing of the refugium light to only 6 hours. This caused a brown diatom explosion on the sides of the tank. Upping the hours on the refugium allowed the chaeto to out thrive the brown stuff, and with the snails, and all the other things going on, the brown stuff is now almost gone.
All of the fish and the emerald crab I have purchased, except one coral beauty angel, are still alive and doing well... the CBA never did like the tank from the very start. My snails are all reproducing, even the sand cleaners that they say are hard to breed.

Recently I started introducing some beginner soft corals and then lastly I got 2 anemones for a very good price and added them in there. I have learned now how to mix up kalkwasser and how to adjust my alkalinity, calcium, and am now much better at regulating my salinity and pH.

So far, no coral deaths, but very slow growth... probably due to the constant above 80° temps and I have been slowly finding the best spots to put the corals considering my water flow and I am still trying to work all that out. I had my first aptasia and so far so good... I think I got it out of there... at least no others have appeared yet. The anemones are still not very happy and for the most part have been hiding under rock overhangs, but once a week I have been feeding them a bit of shrimp, hoping that someday they will feel comfortable enough to find a place in the light to hang out.

So here are some pictures of the corals, a volunteer starfish and one of the anemones as it came out one day. The refugium has allowed even this young tank to be stable enough to keep all of this going, and I am sure that without it, I would have already failed at this... I am terrible about water changes. So far, things seem good. The water is clear and nothing is growing out of control. All of the fish, the 2 Damsels, 2 clowns and 1 blenny are all active and eating well 2 times a day. I have stopped adding new stuff to the tank for a while so as to let things stabilize and at the 6 month point I may try to add in some of the more expensive corals.

In the meantime, I have designed up my own homebrew pvc expansion chamber to run my overflow water through to get exposure to the UV bulb, and I have ordered floating switches and a plastic stand to hold them and a relay, and have designed an anti-overflow switch to my return pump so that if something happens to the overflow, I don't come home to a wet living room.

Have a great day everyone, and thank you for stopping by my little piece of the ocean, in Kingsville, Missouri.

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Looks like you're well on your way. What bulbs are you using in your T5 fixture? Hard to tell from your pictures but I'm guessing it's the stock ones that came with it.
 
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Looks like you're well on your way. What bulbs are you using in your T5 fixture? Hard to tell from your pictures but I'm guessing it's the stock ones that came with it.
One of the fixtures in that used T5 array went bad on me and I had to replace it. I purchased two Hygger 36w LED arrays with the 24 hour timer that approximates reef light temperatures. Finally, I think I have enough light.
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That looks like it's primarily a light for freshwater tanks. I looked it up and all of the pictures I saw online were on freshwater tanks. It might grow some coral but you're not going to be able to enjoy it that well. Would it be possible to add something like this to your setup (link below)? This is a well-build yet cheap bar that you can add to your lights and will give you the 470nm spectrum you need for your corals to thrive. The 81W is going to match the size of your tank.

Populargrow 81W Led Aquarium Light with Only 470nm Blue Spectrum Strip Light​


Also, I know you've been up and running for a few months now but it might be good for you to check out some quick guides online like this one from BRS:
 

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Wow! You have made so much progress and learned so much since you first posted! That's awesome! Great job!
 
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That looks like it's primarily a light for freshwater tanks. I looked it up and all of the pictures I saw online were on freshwater tanks. It might grow some coral but you're not going to be able to enjoy it that well. Would it be possible to add something like this to your setup (link below)? This is a well-build yet cheap bar that you can add to your lights and will give you the 470nm spectrum you need for your corals to thrive. The 81W is going to match the size of your tank.

Populargrow 81W Led Aquarium Light with Only 470nm Blue Spectrum Strip Light​


Also, I know you've been up and running for a few months now but it might be good for you to check out some quick guides online like this one from BRS:

Thank you @Tuffyyyyy and I will definitely follow up on your advice, not just to get a better light but to also review the beginner guides now that I can understand a bit more of what is being presented to me. Lesson learned... pay closer attention to details in adds and the lack of pictures of marine tanks. I like the add you presented and will look into getting one... I should have asked the community before making this last purchase.
 

Tuffyyyyy

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Thank you @Tuffyyyyy and I will definitely follow up on your advice, not just to get a better light but to also review the beginner guides now that I can understand a bit more of what is being presented to me. Lesson learned... pay closer attention to details in adds and the lack of pictures of marine tanks. I like the add you presented and will look into getting one... I should have asked the community before making this last purchase.
I'll be honest, you're ahead of the curve from where a lot of people (including myself) entered this hobby. I remember watching MASS Aquaruims on YouTube and thinking I'd only need a Zoomed light and I'd be good to go. But, even as the people that have been doing this 10+ years will tell you, there's always something new to learn.
 

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