First Reef - 30 Gallon Long

[JonoB]

New to the hobby, excited to see where it takes me. I've had my tank cycled for a little over a month now.

The gear:

- 2 150 watt metal halides - 14k Phoenix bulbs
- DIY auto top off
- Aquaclear 50 HOB filter with media basket
- another HOB filter (not sure of brand) with UV light
- temp controller and heater
- 2 koaralia nanos

I have it all hooked up to an ADJ power strip thats mounted in the stand.

The livestock:

2 black clowns
Green Clown Goby
Firefish
Cleaner Shrimp
Trochus Snail
2 nassarius snails (I havn't had any real algae problems yet)

1 Duncan
1 mushroom
1 trumpet/candy cane

I'm already ready to add more corals, but gotta wait a little bit on that. I have the water change deal down and have been able to keep all the parameters stable so far.

Also added some LED tape lights to my light fixture this past weekend to have a blue light for nighttime viewing. I don't keep them on long, but they make the fluorescents in the corals pop and they were only 25 bucks at Lowes.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R!!! Looks great!

#welcometor2r

 

[Crabs McJones]

Welcome to R2R!!

 

[Fudsey]

Welcome to R2R ! ! !

 

[NY_Caveman]

Looks like a great start! Welcome to R2R!

 

[Chrisfish]

Welcome to R2R, very nice tank

 

[vector824]

We have the same taste in corals! Tank looks great!

 

[Ruben's Reef]

!!! Welcome to R2R !!! Nice looking tank.

 

[Hazenight]

Welcome, and good luck w/ the new tank.

 

[JonoB]

Update/questions for you guys:

I have the fish in a QT because of an ich scare, but everything seems to be doing great and is healthy, eating well and everything. I'm already anxious to get them back into the Display Tank, I'm tired of water changes every day I am treating them with cupramine.

The corals are all doing great! The duncan has already had 3 more small heads form, seems to be growing really well. It's hard to not want to go buy tons of frags because I'd love to see the tank filled up, but I'm enjoying feeding these and watching them grow. The mushroom seems to be a green hairy mushroom? Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to be correct based on pictures I've seen. It also is growing fast and looks to be splitting. I bought a hammer and it seems to be doing fine, although my cleaner shrimp was kind of messing with it yesterday.

The MH lights seem to be fine for me, and I like the color of them. I added some LED tape that can change colors with a remote that I got at Lowes for $25. They do a great job on the deep blue setting, makes the colors of the corals really pop.

Now for the question:
Since I took the UV filter out to use in the QT tank (I'm not actually using the UV light), I feel like I need to get some other HOB filter or another powerhead to supplement the flow in the DT. It just seems pretty weak without it. I know I shouldn't use anything in the DT after I've used it with copper, is there anyway to clean it? What do you guys think?


I think I've asked this before but couldn't find it. I wouldn't mind adding one more fish, but I also want to be realistic. Here is my livestock right now:

2 black clowns
Green Clown Goby
Firefish
Cleaner Shrimp
Trochus Snail
Turbo Snail
2 nassarius snails


Am I already maxed out? I want to be realistic but wouldn't mind having a royal gramma or something colorful in there.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Update/questions for you guys:

I have the fish in a QT because of an ich scare, but everything seems to be doing great and is healthy, eating well and everything. I'm already anxious to get them back into the Display Tank, I'm tired of water changes every day I am treating them with cupramine.

The corals are all doing great! The duncan has already had 3 more small heads form, seems to be growing really well. It's hard to not want to go buy tons of frags because I'd love to see the tank filled up, but I'm enjoying feeding these and watching them grow. The mushroom seems to be a green hairy mushroom? Maybe I'm wrong but it seems to be correct based on pictures I've seen. It also is growing fast and looks to be splitting. I bought a hammer and it seems to be doing fine, although my cleaner shrimp was kind of messing with it yesterday.

The MH lights seem to be fine for me, and I like the color of them. I added some LED tape that can change colors with a remote that I got at Lowes for $25. They do a great job on the deep blue setting, makes the colors of the corals really pop.

Now for the question:
Since I took the UV filter out to use in the QT tank (I'm not actually using the UV light), I feel like I need to get some other HOB filter or another powerhead to supplement the flow in the DT. It just seems pretty weak without it. I know I shouldn't use anything in the DT after I've used it with copper, is there anyway to clean it? What do you guys think?


I think I've asked this before but couldn't find it. I wouldn't mind adding one more fish, but I also want to be realistic. Here is my livestock right now:

2 black clowns
Green Clown Goby
Firefish
Cleaner Shrimp
Trochus Snail
Turbo Snail
2 nassarius snails


Am I already maxed out? I want to be realistic but wouldn't mind having a royal gramma or something colorful in there.

I would say maybe 1 more fish. A 30 long has good swiming room at 3 feet. I would post your list and question here for the most experienced response:

https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/need-help-deciding-on-whether-or-not-a-fish-is-right-for-your-tank-post-here-and-well-help.200605/

 

[JonoB]

Figure it's time for another update. I have had the fish in QT and they are all healthy and doing great. I can't wait to get them back in the DT but still have two weeks before the DT has been fallow for long enough. I have some new coral and stuff seems to be growing. The green hairy mushroom has split into two mushrooms, the duncan has three new heads, I now have a hammer that is growing and looking good, and also added a xenia on a small rock island. I have 3 different "colonies" of zoas now, and they are doing great. Everything looks so cool when it's just the blue lights.

Also added a hermit, because why not.

Have a little bit of Cyano, but phosphates were normal last time i checked and i really haven't been feeding because all the fish are in the QT. I ran out of the reagent for testing so I will get more and test again.
I need to get a new picture up, I will do that when I get home.

 

[Slowlane]

Really like how clean that setup looks.

 

[JonoB]

Thanks! Here are some updated pictures. Not quite as "clean" now lol, but I still like how it's lookin.

 

[Slowlane]

Thanks! Here are some updated pictures. Not quite as "clean" now lol, but I still like how it's lookin.

Very nice! I like how shallow and wide it is!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

I really like it. It looks so much bigger than 30 gallons. Can you post a side picture of it?

 

[JonoB]

You won't be able to see much, since the sides are blacked out. But I can still get one

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Just curious what the overall dimensions of it are. Dont need to measure it, just a rough guess would be cool.

 

[JonoB]

It's roughly 48x12x12

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Very cool. Like I said before, it looks so much bigger in the pictures.