First Reef Tank "for my son"

[keppy]

Hello! This forum has been a huge help so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm keppy from the Seattle area and I put this tank together over the past few weeks and stocked it this past Friday. It took about 7 days to fully cycle. My toddler can't do much yet but he loves his 'nemos'. Everyone in the tank seems to love the spirulina frozen brine shrimp cubes from Hikari. I haven't done a water change yet, still coming off the end of the cycle. I have topped off with tap water once. I did not use a RODI unit, but have one now and will use it for the first water change and next top off.

Not too concerned about the diatoms (yet) but if anyone has tips I'll take them! Also I find it hard to get the glass clean down by the sand especially in tight spots by the rocks if anyone has a technique for that.

Initial equipment:
Fluval Evo 13.5
stock light
stock pump & heads
stock filter WITH foam
live rocks from LFS
live sand from LFS (forgot brand)
aquavitro salinity for reefs salt mix with tap water
Penn-Plax 100w heater with no external thermo

Stocking list:
5 hermits (mostly blues I think)
2 astrea snails
2 amphiprion ocellaris
1 zoanthid frag
1 ricordia frag

Light schedule:
White from roughly 9am-8pm
blue from roughly 8am-9am & 8pm-9pm
no timer currently done manually

 

[Peace River]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!!

 

[G Santana]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[Reefer Matt]

 

[Kristopher Conlin]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

That's a great looking tank! Great photography skills too! As long as you do regular water changes with clean R/O water the diatoms should fade after a week or two.

To clean the glass near the sand I use a scraper with a long handle rather then a algea magnet. It can get right up to and into the sand. Just be careful you don't drag sand across the glass as it can scratch.

If the rocks are so close to the glass you can't fit anything in between to clean it may be a good idea to adjust the rock away slightly. I usually try to keep at least am inch or two of space between rock and glass on a smaller tank.

 

[tharbin]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[dstockwell]

Welcome to the Reef

 

[Pale Morning1]

I would recommend some sort of wave maker. Keeps everything stirred up and flow is good for the corals. I went with a low profile hygger in the same tank

 

[Anemone_Fanatic]

Welcome to R2R!

 

[RichReef]

Welcome!

 

[keppy]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!!

That's a great looking tank! Great photography skills too! As long as you do regular water changes with clean R/O water the diatoms should fade after a week or two.

To clean the glass near the sand I use a scraper with a long handle rather then a algea magnet. It can get right up to and into the sand. Just be careful you don't drag sand across the glass as it can scratch.

If the rocks are so close to the glass you can't fit anything in between to clean it may be a good idea to adjust the rock away slightly. I usually try to keep at least am inch or two of space between rock and glass on a smaller tank.

TY for the tips!

 

[bnord]

Darlin little tank for what one assumes is a darlin little boy. Trust it will grow up right along side of him

got one for my boy a few years back and heres a photo of what it led to... smile

agree on the tiniest of powerhead - wonder if the white intensity and duration will keep the diatoms and then green algae going on the glass...

best of luck

 

[keppy]

I would recommend some sort of wave maker. Keeps everything stirred up and flow is good for the corals. I went with a low profile hygger in the same tank

Good idea I'm sure. I need another pump so my plan was to put a sicee silent 1.0 in this tank with random flow generators and move the stock pump to another task, and then see if I need to add a wavemaker.

 

[shakacuz]

welcome aboard the r2r board!

 

[bnord]

Darlin little tank for what one assumes is a darlin little boy. Trust it will grow up right along side of him

got one for my boy a few years back and heres a photo of what it led to... smile

agree on the tiniest of powerhead - wonder if the white intensity and duration will keep the diatoms and then green algae going on the glass...

best of luck

and I have other large tanks that get 3-4 weeks between water changes, but do 1.5 gallon changes weekly on my 15 desk tank and grows SPS like a champ,

 

[keppy]

Darlin little tank for what one assumes is a darlin little boy. Trust it will grow up right along side of him

got one for my boy a few years back and heres a photo of what it led to... smile

agree on the tiniest of powerhead - wonder if the white intensity and duration will keep the diatoms and then green algae going on the glass...

best of luck

That rock looks very alive!
I am getting a timer for the light so I will be able to make that shorter/more consistent if needed. Not sure if I can turn down the intensity without another dimming unit (if one exists). Also I just realized the button to make it blue cannot be automated so I'll probably have to do just white light if I leave for the night.

 

[keppy]

and I have other large tanks that get 3-4 weeks between water changes, but do 1.5 gallon changes weekly on my 15 desk tank and grows SPS like a champ,

very nice my plan is to start doing weekly 1 gallon water changes this Thursday

 

[Jimbhoy13]

Welcome to R2R and the salty world Keppy. Lots of knowledgeable and helpful people here who will support and advise you when needed.

 

[blaxsun]

 

[vetteguy53081]

Hello! This forum has been a huge help so I thought I'd introduce myself. I'm keppy from the Seattle area and I put this tank together over the past few weeks and stocked it this past Friday. It took about 7 days to fully cycle. My toddler can't do much yet but he loves his 'nemos'. Everyone in the tank seems to love the spirulina frozen brine shrimp cubes from Hikari. I haven't done a water change yet, still coming off the end of the cycle. I have topped off with tap water once. I did not use a RODI unit, but have one now and will use it for the first water change and next top off.

Not too concerned about the diatoms (yet) but if anyone has tips I'll take them! Also I find it hard to get the glass clean down by the sand especially in tight spots by the rocks if anyone has a technique for that.

Initial equipment:
Fluval Evo 13.5
stock light
stock pump & heads
stock filter WITH foam
live rocks from LFS
live sand from LFS (forgot brand)
aquavitro salinity for reefs salt mix with tap water
Penn-Plax 100w heater with no external thermo

Stocking list:
5 hermits (mostly blues I think)
2 astrea snails
2 amphiprion ocellaris
1 zoanthid frag
1 ricordia frag

Light schedule:
White from roughly 9am-8pm
blue from roughly 8am-9am & 8pm-9pm
no timer currently done manually

Practice good aquarium husbandry by doing regular water changes, keep the substrate clean, don’t overfeed the fish, ensure your skimmer is running at an optimal level and rinse out filter socks and sponges on a regular basis.
Some cleaner crew to help control it are : Cerith snails, Nerite snails and Trochus snails and also Astraea snails are effective at removing diatoms.