First Saltwater Reef Tank 24 Gallon Jbj

CommanderInReef

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I finally decided to jump into the saltwater world. People told me not too because it was expensive and I had family members tell me horror stories but I decided to spend weeks researching and also take time to build some patience. And voila! I started up my first tank. Bought this jbj 24 off of someone on craigslist. Gave her an ro bath and filled her up. Put some ls and dry lr with fritz bacteria. I have been ghost feeding but I started feeding more today and yesterday cause my nitrite hadn't shown up at all even with the tank cycling for a week. I am hoping to keep mainly softies, and probably some torch and hammer lps. If I can get my light right with flow I will possibly add sps but I am going to add corals very slow because my goal is to never dose the tank. I just want to replenish nutrients from water changes and i want to feed mainly pellets a couple times a week, with a once a week micro food that will dirty the tank before a water change. (Lots of thought) I want to keep 2 clowns, a goby, and possibly a firefish and or a royal gramma. I was hoping someone could let me know if that sounds like over stocking I want to keep the bioload very manageable. Of course cuc and shrimp will be added but I am curious if i can mix clownfish breeeds and if they'll still pair. i'd love a black ocellaris and a gladiator but i want them to pair together and if they have no chance i'll stick to one species. I built a homemade gravity ato but I know I will add a 10g sump in the future with a proper ato. I will use this as my starter and tester tank and hopefully it will become my qt for a larger display down the line! I am so excited and I would love any input on good beginner corals. I will continue to update the tank as time goes on.

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Ludders

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I personally would stick to the same species of clown and maybe stick with 3 fish, it will make things more manageable from a bio load perspective.

Looks like you have given this some thought and doing your research.

Good luck.
 

40g Nano

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As long as the clowns of are the same family ( ocellaris or percula, don’t mix) you should be fine
I have a gladiator and black snowflake clownfish.
They are both ocellaris if that makes sense.
I wouldn’t add the royal gramma, but as long as you have the lid, the fire fish is a good option. Royal gramma scan get very territorial in such a small tank. Mine killed one of my old clowns.

Zoas, mushrooms, Xenia, Kenya trees, etc. are great beginner corals. I wouldn’t get any Euphyllia right now as they are very expensive, continue to do your research, and don’t give up when you possibly fail. Dosing will likely be required if you have many corals. I’ll be following along. Good Luck.
 
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CommanderInReef

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decided to add some living rock to the tank from my local lfs. I think it looks great. I will stick to ocellaris and will most likely mix a gladiator ocellaris with a black ocellaris. Finally getting my nitrite to spike and ammonia to fall and even nitrates beginning to show. After some thought I decided the unofficial/official stock list will be 2 clowns, a firefish, and goby. i will add a nice scarlet cleaner shrimp with a hermit crab and snail mix cuc. but i'm only sticking with snails that can right themselves so my crabs don't go for some snail snacks when the poor guys are flipped. I'm gonna start with a frag of zoas and green star polyp for the sandbed so it doesn't grow all over my other corals. hopefully if things stabilize i can branch out into a pom pom xenia or hammer coral. i've been doing some dosing research and i think i may begin monitoring reef levels once i add corals to see if i need to supplement anything. however i've seen people dosing products including omega fatty acids and such and i would love to get some to add to my corals. i'm just curious about the feeding. i'd like to feed my corals and add supplement to make them grow fat and be happy. but i'm wondering if feeding small particle food such as phyto and such would make my water incredibly dirty. i'd like to stick to once a week to two week water changes. i'm wondering if it'll make my tank a lot more dirty and if i should feed pellets to the bigger corals such as zoas, hammer etc. and feed smaller polyp corals the micro food. or is that too much work without much difference. i'd like to keep water parameters stable as much as possible without needing a water change every 3-4 days if i feed.

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cngh

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i have a soft spot for the jbj24... it was my second tank. like you, i got mine off craigslist, probably in 2009 or 2010. i've moved on to 4 or 5 bigger/different tanks since then (down to one 42gallon now), but the jbj24 is still up and running to this day (it's set up in my in-laws house).

One thing I will suggest is getting more flow. I see you have one powerhead, but there will not be a lot of flow behind your rocks. A lot of crud will end up just settling back there. I'd suggest either adding another powerhead and directing it behind the rock work, or get a wave maker (mp10 or nero, or one of the jebao clones) that can pulse and move the entire water column and not just shoot a stream.

the other thing I'd suggest is getting an InTank or similar media basket for the first chamber. It's got three compartments. On the bottom I'd add siporax or similar biomedia to increase the good filtering bacteria. second stage can be empty, but eventually you can put carbon (like chemipure, or just buy a reusable sock and your own carbon from BRS or live aquaria), and the first stage is filter floss. You don't need it now, but you can put a skimmer in the second chamber, but make sure it'll fit first b/c the chamber is very narrow.

Also, you need the pre-filter surface skimmer/overflow grate to attach in front of your overflow. Otherwise, your wataer surface will get "cloudy" or "filmy." It attaches by water pressure, so as long as water is flowing over/through it, it will stay in place. but when you turn off the return pump, the water pressure goes away and the grate will sink. Super annoying. So, to address that, just dab a tiny bit of super glue on a few spots on the attachment, and it'll stay in place even when the return pump is off.

Anyways, if you're anything like the rest of us, in about 8 months you'll want to upgrade to a bigger set up. Just remember: have patience, nothing good happens fast. Also remember, throwing money at your tank will not guarantee success/fast results. Good luck!
 
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CommanderInReef

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i have a soft spot for the jbj24... it was my second tank. like you, i got mine off craigslist, probably in 2009 or 2010. i've moved on to 4 or 5 bigger/different tanks since then (down to one 42gallon now), but the jbj24 is still up and running to this day (it's set up in my in-laws house).

One thing I will suggest is getting more flow. I see you have one powerhead, but there will not be a lot of flow behind your rocks. A lot of crud will end up just settling back there. I'd suggest either adding another powerhead and directing it behind the rock work, or get a wave maker (mp10 or nero, or one of the jebao clones) that can pulse and move the entire water column and not just shoot a stream.

the other thing I'd suggest is getting an InTank or similar media basket for the first chamber. It's got three compartments. On the bottom I'd add siporax or similar biomedia to increase the good filtering bacteria. second stage can be empty, but eventually you can put carbon (like chemipure, or just buy a reusable sock and your own carbon from BRS or live aquaria), and the first stage is filter floss. You don't need it now, but you can put a skimmer in the second chamber, but make sure it'll fit first b/c the chamber is very narrow.

Also, you need the pre-filter surface skimmer/overflow grate to attach in front of your overflow. Otherwise, your wataer surface will get "cloudy" or "filmy." It attaches by water pressure, so as long as water is flowing over/through it, it will stay in place. but when you turn off the return pump, the water pressure goes away and the grate will sink. Super annoying. So, to address that, just dab a tiny bit of super glue on a few spots on the attachment, and it'll stay in place even when the return pump is off.

Anyways, if you're anything like the rest of us, in about 8 months you'll want to upgrade to a bigger set up. Just remember: have patience, nothing good happens fast. Also remember, throwing money at your tank will not guarantee success/fast results. Good luck!
Glad to hear there are some jbj veterans around here! Makes me even more confident in the longevity of the tank. I'm definitely gonna add some chemipure blue and a wavemaker for additional rock flow. I definitely noticed the skimmer falling and i took it off originally to try and get more flow but i'll definitely try gluing it. Thanks for all the help!
 
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CommanderInReef

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well day 12 and the cycle is complete. I decided to do a water change this morning to ensure ammonia levels were 0 as well as dropping the nitrate levels slightly. I went out and got a Premium Black Ice Clown and a Gladiator Clown. I am obsessed with this find and the color patterns were exactly the way I hoped! I added them in along with a single frag of zoanthid. I will update photos tomorrow when polyps hopefully fully open. However, one of the most bizarre and frustrating/hilarious moments happend to me. It only makes sense the first obstacle is the craziest right!? or maybe that just means i've got a long future of wild experiences ahead of me. It started with adding the clowns. Immediately after I noticed these menacing tentacles emerge from my live rock. I immediately began searching worms and found what seemed to be a Bobbit worm!!! Freaked out and began to call any immediate store with long tweezers( should've bought them before but definitely was buying now lol) and after 2 hours of rushing from stores to find one i got home and got to business. Only after two minutes of scaring the guy he emerged as a brittle starfish!!! I immediately facepalmed and my blood pressure dropped like a rollercoaster. I just felt bad i messed with the guy so much when he was just a little starfish. If only he didn't have to look like an aliens pet. Well lesson learned. I did research on a brittle stars before my tank and almost wanted one before i saw the scary photos. Now i'm just too afraid to tank him out and he's not harming anyone so i'll leave the little monster alone. Long story short. Make sure you id your creature absolutely 100% without any doubts before going total red alert lol . anyways the tank is continuing to do well and i'll add photos in just a second! Next will be hammer coral and green star polyp. and if i'm feeling cheeky i'll add a pom pom xenia soon. Anyways... Until I see you next time!
 
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So this past couple of weeks have been a real head scratcher. I ended up purchasing a gsp frag and a cheap zoa frag to see how they do. not very well apparently lol. i originally attributed it to water quality as i had realized that while the tank was seemingly cycled. the clowns added a bio load to the tank that was a little too much for it to handle causing ammonia and nitrite levels to rise to .5 for a while. i counteracted this by daily water changes and less feeding. However, as someone who has big hands and fingers, it took me time to get my reef legs. i was dropping the frags constantly. i constantly facepalmed and sulked as i saw my zoa get my angry as it got faceplanted into the sand bed. That, with the combination of a ****** water chemistry made the poor guy melt away. However the water levels got stable after a week. and i left the zoa untouched for 5-7 days while still accidentally bumping it in the sand bed with a stirring stick sometimes. after 2 and a half weeks it was melted away and only one polyp was alive and started to die itself. and the gsp stayed closed just as well. i started to question if the light wasn't good enough. just some ****** 30w reef light from online. so i got an ai prime. and decided to get a hammer coral to see if it would do better. stable water, better light, no more dropping on sand bed, hopefully this will work. i dipped the hammer and glued it in and it seems to look pretty good for a moving day. I'll add photos. However the gsp is stubborn and closed still. i tried blowing off the algae with a baster, and after a week i dipped it again. except because i was overwhelmed with balancing schoolwork with rodi making and temp balancing and salt mixing i completely forgot to mix the salt in the rinse off tank for the dip process. and it was still freezing cold cause i separated it like a **** before mixing and it sat a while and got cold. i even did a little toothbrush scrub. now it's been about 3-4 days since then and still closed. i've heard people say they are indistrucable practically. and hopefully the new light will help. but I got the hammer coral because if the gsp will stay mad for weeks on end i won't know if the tank lighting and chemistry is right because there's a long butt time for results to show if they stay closed for weeks on end when angry. the hammer looks pretty good and hopefully it'll be fully open tomorrow. and maybe a watchman goby will be on it's way soon.

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CommanderInReef

CommanderInReef

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so I ended up getting some bad information from an lfs and some forums and skipped out on the calibration fluid for the refractometer and used rodi water instead. i really wish i hadn't tried to cheap out on this because I killed some coral and wasted money on other dumb products not needed. But after calibrating, the sg was 1.034 :0.... the clowns, snails, hermits all survived somehow. I'm guessing the gradual change with water changes weekly made it slightly easier. but i did a 4 day acclimation to lower the salinity to 1.025. now about two weeks after the acclimation. I added my first corals. then, a week later I added a gorgeous gonipora and richordea. I'll post a video for the update. I am very excited to have gotten this figured out and begin my reef. It looks absolutely stunning so far and i'm looking to add a torch and more zoas soon. I want a full zoa garden on the left rock and i'm looking to add favia on the middle rock sooner than later.
 

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