usuvball11
New Member
I am brand new here on R2R and brand new to the Reefing world and I might say I am already getting addicted. This is bad! I am not normally a person to post like this but I decided I would because I am new and would love any comments and suggestions from those that have been in the hobby longer than me. I like to learn from others mistakes so I thought I should put myself out there. I also thought it could be fun to create a journey of my first tank. So here we go.
I have always loved aquarium and the water/ocean. When I was young I had a fresh water tank but have always dreamed of having a saltwater tank. Honestly mostly for for fish. Had not paid lots of attention to corals. Over the years I have researched tanks and had kind of decided that I would like to do and AOI tank but the timing was just never right for me to be able to start one. So I would have to just keep looking. I moved to a new area and one day I decided to check out all of the LFS in the area and there were a few actually, which had not been the case previously. The last store I went into I was very impressed with the shop and the owner and just for fun asked him what the largest AOI tank that he sold. He said the largest system he had was a 62 gallon tank that was 48" long and open top made by Tideline International. The tanks I had been looking at in the past were not this large and I really like the idea of the 48" long because I have always loved tangs so this would give me more swimming room. I also felt like this owner really could help me along my journey so within a couple of days I went back and said I wanted purchase a tank. This was on a Friday and he said great I can have the tank here on Tuesday.
Thankfully he sent me home with some rock to start my aquascape. To any newbie I would very much recommend working your aquascape. I had not planned this but so glad I did. I had 3 pieces of Liferock and then one large chunk of dry rock that I took a hammer to and started breaking and then creating my scape using superglue to put it back together. I had my scape ready when my tank came in. I brought the tank home along with 40lbs of live sand and 60 gallons of saltwater that I purchased from my LFS. Also some RODI water for top off. It was fun bringing it all home and getting it set up. Here is a picture of it set up and cycling. What do you think of the scape?
Next was to cycle my tank. I did it without fish. I dosed with Seachem Stability and Aquavitro Seed for the first week or so and added a chunk of frozen food once about every 7 days. My tank had cycled within just over 3 weeks. Once my tank cycled I was so happy to bring my first livestock home. I brought home a pair of clownfish and a skunk cleaner shrimp. After a few days i added some snails as well. 2 Conch snails and 6 nassarius snails. The conch have done good but I have lost a couple of the nassarius snails. I had also added a bottle of copepods by this time as well. The fish were looking great so about a week after I added the fish we decided I could go ahead and add some corals.
Adding corals meant I also had to add some lights and flow to the tank. I really liked not adding light until I was ready just because it helped keep the algae and all of that from growing as much. For lighting I went with 2 AI Prime 16 and for flow I added 2 of the AI Nero 3. I have pictured where I have placed one of the Nero 3. I have added the second more recently when I could purchase it. I also added 3 small corals at this time. I did a Green Star Polyp, A leather and some zoanthids. Here is my tank with the light and the one Nero 3. If you look close you can see the 3 corals that I added.
After about another week everything seemed to be happy and so I decided it was time for another fish and we decided it would be an ok time to add a Yellow tang. I might should add I have created a stocking list maybe I will attached that afterwards to get opinions. I also brought a few more corals home. I did some more zoas, a couple of encrusting corals and a branching hammer. I might add that I have been changing placements of my corals. I am learning to put them in the tank and give it a little time to think where I want them. To do a little less adjustments. Here is a picture with all of my fish now in the tank. You can see I have adjusted the corals and added a couple. I love the gorgonian that I added to the top of the rocks. Updated pictures I have moved some of the zoas from below.
I have been told that it really gets addicting when you start getting into corals and I am totally victim of that. I have also purchased some more zoas from WWC and another branching hammer. And I had lots of fun with the Easter sale this past Friday. I was able to pick up some corals I am really excited about. I think I better stop for awhile.
Here are some pictures that show my progress up to date. I would love for any help and suggestions. Any great ideas for corals and where to place them on the rocks and how to do it. I am really just new at this and am learning as I go.
I have always loved aquarium and the water/ocean. When I was young I had a fresh water tank but have always dreamed of having a saltwater tank. Honestly mostly for for fish. Had not paid lots of attention to corals. Over the years I have researched tanks and had kind of decided that I would like to do and AOI tank but the timing was just never right for me to be able to start one. So I would have to just keep looking. I moved to a new area and one day I decided to check out all of the LFS in the area and there were a few actually, which had not been the case previously. The last store I went into I was very impressed with the shop and the owner and just for fun asked him what the largest AOI tank that he sold. He said the largest system he had was a 62 gallon tank that was 48" long and open top made by Tideline International. The tanks I had been looking at in the past were not this large and I really like the idea of the 48" long because I have always loved tangs so this would give me more swimming room. I also felt like this owner really could help me along my journey so within a couple of days I went back and said I wanted purchase a tank. This was on a Friday and he said great I can have the tank here on Tuesday.
Thankfully he sent me home with some rock to start my aquascape. To any newbie I would very much recommend working your aquascape. I had not planned this but so glad I did. I had 3 pieces of Liferock and then one large chunk of dry rock that I took a hammer to and started breaking and then creating my scape using superglue to put it back together. I had my scape ready when my tank came in. I brought the tank home along with 40lbs of live sand and 60 gallons of saltwater that I purchased from my LFS. Also some RODI water for top off. It was fun bringing it all home and getting it set up. Here is a picture of it set up and cycling. What do you think of the scape?
Next was to cycle my tank. I did it without fish. I dosed with Seachem Stability and Aquavitro Seed for the first week or so and added a chunk of frozen food once about every 7 days. My tank had cycled within just over 3 weeks. Once my tank cycled I was so happy to bring my first livestock home. I brought home a pair of clownfish and a skunk cleaner shrimp. After a few days i added some snails as well. 2 Conch snails and 6 nassarius snails. The conch have done good but I have lost a couple of the nassarius snails. I had also added a bottle of copepods by this time as well. The fish were looking great so about a week after I added the fish we decided I could go ahead and add some corals.
Adding corals meant I also had to add some lights and flow to the tank. I really liked not adding light until I was ready just because it helped keep the algae and all of that from growing as much. For lighting I went with 2 AI Prime 16 and for flow I added 2 of the AI Nero 3. I have pictured where I have placed one of the Nero 3. I have added the second more recently when I could purchase it. I also added 3 small corals at this time. I did a Green Star Polyp, A leather and some zoanthids. Here is my tank with the light and the one Nero 3. If you look close you can see the 3 corals that I added.
After about another week everything seemed to be happy and so I decided it was time for another fish and we decided it would be an ok time to add a Yellow tang. I might should add I have created a stocking list maybe I will attached that afterwards to get opinions. I also brought a few more corals home. I did some more zoas, a couple of encrusting corals and a branching hammer. I might add that I have been changing placements of my corals. I am learning to put them in the tank and give it a little time to think where I want them. To do a little less adjustments. Here is a picture with all of my fish now in the tank. You can see I have adjusted the corals and added a couple. I love the gorgonian that I added to the top of the rocks. Updated pictures I have moved some of the zoas from below.
I have been told that it really gets addicting when you start getting into corals and I am totally victim of that. I have also purchased some more zoas from WWC and another branching hammer. And I had lots of fun with the Easter sale this past Friday. I was able to pick up some corals I am really excited about. I think I better stop for awhile.
Here are some pictures that show my progress up to date. I would love for any help and suggestions. Any great ideas for corals and where to place them on the rocks and how to do it. I am really just new at this and am learning as I go.
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