CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Well the container is more shallow but also wider so they are spread out more. So I guess some are getting less par as well theoretically. But the container is definitely about 4-6 inches shorter.
First Saltwater Tank 29 gallons
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JL15219
Valuable Member
Oh I see well at least they are doing good...
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Yeah I'm not going to complain yet. Who knows next week i might have like 10 more mushrooms and 2 more Duncan and blasto heads. Ill take it!
JL15219
Valuable Member
Oh wow that's really taking off then....thats great!
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Well I finally moved my coral and fish back into a real tank. They are all agitated and slightly unhappy but hopefully everything is good tomorrow. I bought 10 more pounds of sand to go into the tank along with a few frags while I was out. I also got some stuff to setup a quarantine tank so I can get some new fish sometime soon. The move went pretty smoothly just took a long time. Pretty much the better part of 4 to 5 hours. I made some new water and used some old water from their current holding tank that took the longest probably.
I am trying a new light setting with the AI primes to see if I like it and more importantly If the corals like it. It is the David Saxby setting.
I scaped it a little different than before.
I bought a blasto frag today, an alveopora frag, a disco mushroom, a favia brain coral, and a galaxea frag. Hopefully they all do well.
I also bought a calcium hanna checker and ordered an alkalinity hanna checker. I wanted something a little more consistent and easy to read.
Hopefully this tank will make it longer than 6 months without leaking.
I am trying a new light setting with the AI primes to see if I like it and more importantly If the corals like it. It is the David Saxby setting.
I scaped it a little different than before.
I bought a blasto frag today, an alveopora frag, a disco mushroom, a favia brain coral, and a galaxea frag. Hopefully they all do well.
I also bought a calcium hanna checker and ordered an alkalinity hanna checker. I wanted something a little more consistent and easy to read.
Hopefully this tank will make it longer than 6 months without leaking.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Oh and about two weeks ago I met a fellow reefer and picked up a neon toadstool, tyree finger leather, and a tyree pumpkin pie LPS frag. The pumpkin pie is cool not much is known about it so its kinda an oddity.
I'll try to take some pictures of them once the tank clears up from the sand storm I made earlier today moving everything.
I'll try to take some pictures of them once the tank clears up from the sand storm I made earlier today moving everything.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Well I haven't updated in 6 months. The tank went though a serious algae ugly phase about 3 months ago. I let it go a little too far before tackling it. It choked out a couple of frags before I noticed they were in a world of hurt. So I have had to work on adding some new things and trying to keep parameters the same in the tank.
I have picked of some things from local reefers in the past few months I have also seemed to have grown a forest of Kenya trees that need to be chopped down as well.
I picked up a really cool short polyped frogspawn from a local reefer and a regular frogspawn green and blue colored from another and some zoas and blastos.
Around Christmas I bought a kamoer X1 dosing pump to dose All for reef by Tropic Marin in my tank. I was doing a 3 part everyday before and sometime not remembering to or getting lazy. This is working great now.
These are the short polyp frogspawn. Really cool but really small polyps. Don't know if it is because of the previous owners tank nutrients or if they are truly just really short. I like them and they have begun to respond well to food.
One of the tallest kenya trees I've ever seen. And its just one of the forest trees that need to be cut down.
St. THOMAS mushroom i just got today
Mushrooms still growing huge and breaking off and sending babies around in the tank just like the kenya trees but not nearly as badly.
Full Tank shot. Sorry for the mess in front. Its nice to have a ledge in front of your tank to put things on.
I will try to update more now that I am not nearly as busy. Also algea is gone minis a few bubble algae hiding in places. I bought 2 Emerald Crabs and one got huge. Havent seen it in awhile. The smaller one likes to hang out on my frogspawns.
I bought a new hammer coral today but I just put it in the tank after a dip and it isn't happy right now. Hopefully I can remember to take a better picture when its opened up but here it is closed. I got a great deal on it. It has 4 or 5 heads.
I bought a peppermint shrimp to try to tackle 2 or 3 aptasia that I have in hard to reach spots and it hasn't done anything. I think I am going to have to do this on my own.
I should have some new frags coming in a couple of weeks to add to the tank as well. I also have added a lawnmower blenny to the tank so as of now we have 4 fish. The lawnmower blenny, two clowns a Darwin and fancy normal, and a royal gramma. Im going to start running out of fish space and I hardly ever seen any of these fish so I might need to get something that will actually swim in the water column.
I have picked of some things from local reefers in the past few months I have also seemed to have grown a forest of Kenya trees that need to be chopped down as well.
I picked up a really cool short polyped frogspawn from a local reefer and a regular frogspawn green and blue colored from another and some zoas and blastos.
Around Christmas I bought a kamoer X1 dosing pump to dose All for reef by Tropic Marin in my tank. I was doing a 3 part everyday before and sometime not remembering to or getting lazy. This is working great now.
These are the short polyp frogspawn. Really cool but really small polyps. Don't know if it is because of the previous owners tank nutrients or if they are truly just really short. I like them and they have begun to respond well to food.
One of the tallest kenya trees I've ever seen. And its just one of the forest trees that need to be cut down.
St. THOMAS mushroom i just got today
Mushrooms still growing huge and breaking off and sending babies around in the tank just like the kenya trees but not nearly as badly.
Full Tank shot. Sorry for the mess in front. Its nice to have a ledge in front of your tank to put things on.
I will try to update more now that I am not nearly as busy. Also algea is gone minis a few bubble algae hiding in places. I bought 2 Emerald Crabs and one got huge. Havent seen it in awhile. The smaller one likes to hang out on my frogspawns.
I bought a new hammer coral today but I just put it in the tank after a dip and it isn't happy right now. Hopefully I can remember to take a better picture when its opened up but here it is closed. I got a great deal on it. It has 4 or 5 heads.
I bought a peppermint shrimp to try to tackle 2 or 3 aptasia that I have in hard to reach spots and it hasn't done anything. I think I am going to have to do this on my own.
I should have some new frags coming in a couple of weeks to add to the tank as well. I also have added a lawnmower blenny to the tank so as of now we have 4 fish. The lawnmower blenny, two clowns a Darwin and fancy normal, and a royal gramma. Im going to start running out of fish space and I hardly ever seen any of these fish so I might need to get something that will actually swim in the water column.
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DarkReefer
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Nice mate, looks like you've been busy with it over recent times!
I wanted an emerald crab for my tank but they're not permitted here I don't believe (for memory, I could be wrong).
I love my frogspawn, I think you'll be very happy with them, they some of the hardiest corals I have in my tank. Very rarely have they even looked unhappy. Tank certainly looks a lot more populated since your last picture, it's coming along nicely
Also, should perhaps look into getting either some yellowish/orange cellophane or a lense, it'll help with bringing out your colours in photos a bit. I got the orphek lenses and they just clip onto the phone for when I need to take the blue hue out of my pics and bring some colour out.
I wanted an emerald crab for my tank but they're not permitted here I don't believe (for memory, I could be wrong).
I love my frogspawn, I think you'll be very happy with them, they some of the hardiest corals I have in my tank. Very rarely have they even looked unhappy. Tank certainly looks a lot more populated since your last picture, it's coming along nicely
Also, should perhaps look into getting either some yellowish/orange cellophane or a lense, it'll help with bringing out your colours in photos a bit. I got the orphek lenses and they just clip onto the phone for when I need to take the blue hue out of my pics and bring some colour out.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Nice mate, looks like you've been busy with it over recent times!
I wanted an emerald crab for my tank but they're not permitted here I don't believe (for memory, I could be wrong).
I love my frogspawn, I think you'll be very happy with them, they some of the hardiest corals I have in my tank. Very rarely have they even looked unhappy. Tank certainly looks a lot more populated since your last picture, it's coming along nicely
Also, should perhaps look into getting either some yellowish/orange cellophane or a lense, it'll help with bringing out your colours in photos a bit. I got the orphek lenses and they just clip onto the phone for when I need to take the blue hue out of my pics and bring some colour out.
Ohhh i definitely need to get a lense!
The hammer i bought earlier is starting to come out except on one head. That one still seems mad at me.
Its been a wild couple of months for sure. The doser is helping a lot and I got a new source sending me much better phyto for the tank so hopefully that will help as well.
DarkReefer
Well-Known Member
Glad to hear the hammer is mostly doing well. See what happens with that one head. worst case I guess it looks easy enough to cut away if you're that way inclined!
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
DarkReefer
Well-Known Member
Awesome!
What colour is it? looks kind of like a pearl hammer I have.
What colour is it? looks kind of like a pearl hammer I have.
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
Its like a light purple lavender and a really muted green color. It isn't the crazy nuclear toxic colors that people have and was kinda different. Its fairly muted but cool and it was a steal for the price.
DarkReefer
Well-Known Member
Ah nice, sounds like a nice one !
Looks like it's enjoying it's new home too, so that's the main thing
Looks like it's enjoying it's new home too, so that's the main thing
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
very nice! glad to see an update.
WirelessMike
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Looks great and welcome to the hobby!Hello I started my adventure into saltwater on January 1st this year. I was given a 29 gallon tank for Christmas from a family member who breeds fish. My lovely younger sister who has heard me talk about wanting a saltwater reef for awhile bought me a Tidal 55 HOB filter and a HOB protein skimmer (With her first big girl job money). I ordered a heater, 2 wavemakers, thermometer, refractometer, test kits a LED light for corals when ready and decided it was time for a trip to the local fish store. I bought 23lbs of carib sea life rock some shaped and some not. I grabbed 20lbs of fiji pink live sand. I decided to grab a bottle of Dr. Tim's one and only and Ammonia for a fishless cycle. On the way out I grabbed 25 gallons of saltwater and 5 gallons of RODI for top offs.
I scaped the tank with the rock then added the live sand and water. Setup the filter heater and 1 wavemaker. Then I added One and Only and Dr. Tim's Ammonia up to 4ppm as suggested and my journey began.
January 1st
Ammonia 4ppm
Nitrite 0pmm
Ph 8.2
January 2nd
Ammomia 3-4ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
January 3rd
Ammonia 2ppm+
Nitrite .5ppm
January 4th
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 2ppm
January 5th (My Birthday)
Ammonia .5ppm
Nitrite 4ppm
January 6th
Ammonia .25ppm
Nitrite 4ppm
January 7th (2gallon water change was worried about nitrite being closer to the high end wanted it to drop a little)
Ammomia .25ppm
Nitrite 4ppm
January 8th (added 20 drops of ammonia to get to 1ppm)
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 4ppm
January 9th (added some Bio-Spira bacteria bc nitrite just seemed stuck)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 4ppm+
PH 8.0-8.2
January 10th (added half dose of ammonia 40 drops)
Ammonia 2ppm
Nitrite 4ppm+ (no movement over 10days downward)
January 11th
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 4ppm+ (this is frustrating)
Beginning to see what looks like diatoms on the sand a little I turned my lights of from their cycle and went dark
January 12th went out of town needed a day break from staring at water who doesn't?
January 13th (reluctantly test again expecting the same results)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0PPM! (Its happened finally!)
Nitrate 40ppm
January 14th took the day off from the tank we both needed a break
January 15th (added 20 drops of ammonia to 1ppm)
Ammonia 1ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
January 16th
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm
Added my skimmer I had been avoiding breaking in (Soooo MANY microbubbles in the tank)
January 17th
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 40ppm
January 18th (5gallon water change to lower nitrates a little)
Ammonia 0ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
Nitrate 30ppm (tested several hours later after waterchange)
Plans in the next couple of days to do a larger at least 50% waterchange and hopefully to get my first fish into the tank! Looking at adding 2 clowns maybe a regular ocellaris clown and a black and white? We will see what the store has! They also have some designer and a couple Maroons but I definitely don't think I want maroons have heard they're mean.
I bought some screen material and frames to make a lid for my 29 gallon with extra corner pieces to make a cutout for my filter and skimmer. Hoping that maybe I can put a small wrasse as one of my tank mates in the tank one day.
So this is where I am now in my tank build and cycle. I am planning to do corals when ready. I will being doing softies and easy things. Corals fascinate me. The fish do as well but corals are so interesting.
Oh and what looked like Diatoms starting to grow did go away after about 4 days without any lights. I am sure they will come back again as I have turned the lights back on and programmed them.
Thank you to anyone who reads this. I will update as I add critters and fish. I know that was probably a long intro but with so many people posting about cycling issues and things I figured I would post everything to help someone out there understand it a little bit more. Thanks for reading and happy reefing!
Obsessed with fish
Well-Known Member
This is making me want a saltwater tank
AnotherReefHobbyist
Well-Known Member
they are tons of fun!
CrimsonTide
Valuable Member
You need one mines only 29gallon easy setup. Mine was relatively cheap to set up. Most expensive thing was a light for corals and I bought an AI Prime 16HD from someone on here with a mount for like $150 shipped. If you look for deals you can set one up relatively cheap. Bot as cheap as a freshwater but about the same as a freshwater planted tank.
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