First Reef Tank "for my son"

Dreminon · Sep 18, 2022

Welcome to the Salty Crew

keppy · Sep 18, 2022

Dom said:
Some things to consider:

In my experience, the stock light included with AIO setups like yours will be inadequate for coral growth.

As a general rule of thumb, you try for 1 pound of live rock per gallon. Based on the picture, you may not have enough live rock in the tank. If room is an issue, you may want to remove the decorative items and use the space for live rock. Decorative items do not offer anything in terms of contributing to the tank.

Yes, definitely use RODI moving forward.

Please be faithful in your husbandry. This is particularly important with small tanks like yours. Small tanks are prone to big swings in water chemistry. It is important to do FAITHFUL, WEEKLY 20% water changes in addition to other husbandry practices such as keeping your filters clean, churning your sand and manual removal of algae.

Good luck and post any questions!

Thank you for the reply I am trying to figure out some of the things you mentioned.

I'm doing 10% water changes weekly currently, maybe should bump that up?
I think there is something not great about my light currently.
The RODI unit is going now, and most of the diatoms are also gone maybe as a result.

I know my alk is 8.3, going to test phosphate and ph tomorrow AM.

I did get a siphon vacuum hose thingie and cleaned some of the sand. Keeping the filter clean. I've removed some green bubble algae manually. I killed one vermetid, there is another on the shell of one of my astrea that I need to remove. There's a tiny white bristle worm that I couldn't catch. There is a small red 'sapling' of macro algae on my zoa's plug I need to remove.

I do remember paying for the live rock by lb and it was over 11lbs. The one big rock is heaver than it looks.

Currently doing some upgrades I'll have an update soon.

Projects with Sam · Sep 18, 2022

sizemore5000 · Sep 19, 2022

Welcome! You're setting a great example for your child! Marine husbandry isn't for everyone, but the lessons learned together in your reef will be priceless!

MaxTremors · Sep 19, 2022

keppy said:
I did get a mechanical timer plug for the lights and started a 10 and 1/2 hour photo period with full lights the whole time. I'm not sure but I think it may be a bit too much light for the zoa. Someone earlier hinted that the light might be too intense, so maybe I need a dimmer. Not sure just put it on blue light for half the day today and it seems to be less upset/shrunken and closed.

Planning to do a proper update with pictures soon.

If the zoas came from a tank that had very low light, they may need to be light acclimated, but otherwise I can assure you the stock light of the EVO isnt too much.