Current State of the atank:
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Hi all! As a project and potential hobby to share with my son Nico, turning 4 soon, we started our very first marine tank. Early on in the research, we considered the biocube 32g, scrapped the idea, then came back when my wife suggested the Fluval, which had a better footprint and entry price point. We are aiming for a small starting budget, but not shy about upgrades if Nico takes an interest (I am already interested).
So now we are a week in on the Fluval and cycling seems to be going well.
Initial build -
Chamber 1: Intank media chamber (great) with filter floss on top shelf, chemi blue nano packets (will switch to bulk) in middle, generic bioballs divided into two media bags in the bottom
Chamber 2: big media bag full of bioballs
Chamber 3: stock pump and eheim e50 which touches the pump and barely stays at water line (annoying)
Display: Caribsea arag-alive 20lb sand, cheapest amazon power head (but magnetic!!), 1.024sg water from LFS, 100mL Bio-Spira, stock light
First mods -
1. Bioballs removed on advice from LFS, swapped with live rubble from LFS in bottom of chamber 1; added remaining rubble to display
2. Bioballs in chamber 2 dumped, moved eheim e50 to chamber 2, added filter floss at bottom of chamber 2
3. Tank water was running hot at 83+ during day, so rigged up bird netting open top with crossbars for stock light using door screen kit from Home Depot
4. Still worried about temp, so added an Inkbird and Zoo Med fan (still setting up... Cables!)
There was white sediment in all three chambers after initially adding sand, water and Bio-Spira. Changing and rinsing the filter floss every 2 days helped remove most of it. I wonder if all of the Bio-Spira went out with the dumped bioballs.
Not happy with the power head. It moves all of the bottom corner sand away, so trying to reposition, but also thinking of a mid-range upgrade like a hygger.
Yesterday, built the Caribsea LifeRock structure with Nico, which was fun and mostly his design. Added to tank and got a spike in nitrate and nitrite from dipstick test. Water is clear now and levels seemed to have dropped.
Will wait a bit, but planning to start with CUC once LFS gives the green light (they tested our water today and said maybe a few days to week).
Stocking plan:
1. 2x Nassussusaaserius (for turning sand, and I like the look) + 2x astrea + either 2x trochus or 2x more astrea + hermit crab(s) (electric blue desired, but maybe a few dwarfs instead) + supplemental feeding (?) [I read that ceriths have an egg-laying problem and can't right themselves if they turn over]
2. Wait
3. Nico gets to pick his clown
4. Wait
5. Royal Gramma + skunk or fire cleaner shrimp
6. (+ waiting) yellow watchman goby + pistol shrimp
7. Coral--Still learning a lot about these, but will start with soft and LPS. So much still to learn, but the world is our oyster--except we don't have a brackish tank, see the no oysters allowed sign.
*************
Hi all! As a project and potential hobby to share with my son Nico, turning 4 soon, we started our very first marine tank. Early on in the research, we considered the biocube 32g, scrapped the idea, then came back when my wife suggested the Fluval, which had a better footprint and entry price point. We are aiming for a small starting budget, but not shy about upgrades if Nico takes an interest (I am already interested).
So now we are a week in on the Fluval and cycling seems to be going well.
Initial build -
Chamber 1: Intank media chamber (great) with filter floss on top shelf, chemi blue nano packets (will switch to bulk) in middle, generic bioballs divided into two media bags in the bottom
Chamber 2: big media bag full of bioballs
Chamber 3: stock pump and eheim e50 which touches the pump and barely stays at water line (annoying)
Display: Caribsea arag-alive 20lb sand, cheapest amazon power head (but magnetic!!), 1.024sg water from LFS, 100mL Bio-Spira, stock light
First mods -
1. Bioballs removed on advice from LFS, swapped with live rubble from LFS in bottom of chamber 1; added remaining rubble to display
2. Bioballs in chamber 2 dumped, moved eheim e50 to chamber 2, added filter floss at bottom of chamber 2
3. Tank water was running hot at 83+ during day, so rigged up bird netting open top with crossbars for stock light using door screen kit from Home Depot
4. Still worried about temp, so added an Inkbird and Zoo Med fan (still setting up... Cables!)
There was white sediment in all three chambers after initially adding sand, water and Bio-Spira. Changing and rinsing the filter floss every 2 days helped remove most of it. I wonder if all of the Bio-Spira went out with the dumped bioballs.
Not happy with the power head. It moves all of the bottom corner sand away, so trying to reposition, but also thinking of a mid-range upgrade like a hygger.
Yesterday, built the Caribsea LifeRock structure with Nico, which was fun and mostly his design. Added to tank and got a spike in nitrate and nitrite from dipstick test. Water is clear now and levels seemed to have dropped.
Will wait a bit, but planning to start with CUC once LFS gives the green light (they tested our water today and said maybe a few days to week).
Stocking plan:
1. 2x Nassussusaaserius (for turning sand, and I like the look) + 2x astrea + either 2x trochus or 2x more astrea + hermit crab(s) (electric blue desired, but maybe a few dwarfs instead) + supplemental feeding (?) [I read that ceriths have an egg-laying problem and can't right themselves if they turn over]
2. Wait
3. Nico gets to pick his clown
4. Wait
5. Royal Gramma + skunk or fire cleaner shrimp
6. (+ waiting) yellow watchman goby + pistol shrimp
7. Coral--Still learning a lot about these, but will start with soft and LPS. So much still to learn, but the world is our oyster--except we don't have a brackish tank, see the no oysters allowed sign.
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