Saltwaternoob89
New Member
Hello all!
Saltwater fish / coral have always fascinated me since I was a child. Growing up and moving around a few times I kept several 55g long/tall freshwater tanks and it was pretty fun. I am in the military and move around every so often, so I always thought saltwater was an un-obtainable goal. Long story short I am going to start my journey and for now build a 28 gallon bow front mini reef tank until I retire and can upgrade to the dream of ~200G. Over the last month or so I have slowly researched everything I will need and sorted it all out in a list with "wants" and "needs". Watched a lot of different youtube guides and the BRS intro videos. Visited a few LFS and I am at the point where hopefully I will have the water and liverock in the tank by the end of the week.. just need to mix the salt and get the live rock from LFS... that should put me ready for fish after cycling around Christmas. About now I have acquired pretty much all of the needs to get a tank up and cycling. My goal is to have a few fish, and some beautiful corals down the road, although I know the latter will just take some time.
First off how I envision my tank down the road: A pair of clowns, torch coral look really cool, bubble, star polyps, coral like that, the arrowhead crabs look super cool as well but I don't think they will go well in the tank with the corals (have heard mixed reviews), and maybe a wrasse or something. Anemones are cool as well I just don't think my tank size can support it plus from what i have seen they need a mature tank so, that is probably out for now. I have a son who is just over two and another son on the way so it will be a cool thing for them to look at (eventually , ha) and teach them about along the way.
From what I have researched smaller tanks are harder for newcomers to start up due to situations can evolve quickly. I contemplated a 10g sump (would add around 25% water volume assuming the sump actually might hold 6-8g?) for volume/hiding equipment in the small tank but for now I'm just sticking with hang on the back filter/skimmer/heater in the tank. Thoughts on this?
I guess this is supposed to be kind of a tank blog, so ill start off with a few pictures and a list of the things I have so far so please give some input if you see something that doesn't make sense. The only "need" I don't have ordered yet is lighting but ill get to that in a few.
Tank: 28 Gallon Bow Front 16 inches at bow by 24 wide. I scrubbed it clean pretty well with white vinegar and hose water. Filled it and let it sit so I know it doesn't leak and looks to be no issues.
Salt: Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
Protien Skimmer: Aquamax Bullet Series Bullet-1 hang on back skimmer
5 Gallon Bucket x2: for mixing salt/other wet activities
Black egg crate: to cut and make a top over my tank
Substrate: Carib Sea Arag-alive live reef sand
Aquarium safe glue: to glue the live rock togehter to prevent from shifitng
Inkbird/200w heater from BRS: I went a little larger on the heater since the tank will be in my basement office. We are in the process of moving my office downstairs since we need the room for a new kid, and at this moment the basement is a little cooler (62 to 68 degrees F) than the rest of the house... plus.. winter is coming.. so making sure it can keep up. We will see though as I have a lot of computer equipment that creates heat.
Filter system: Tidal 55
Bacteria: Dr Tims 30 gallon cycle kit
Powerhead: Hydor Koralia 565
Salt refractometer w/ calibration fluid: Aichose Brix Refractometer
Other: Extra heater/powerhead for mixing salt for water changes.
Syphon for water changes/cleaning etc.
Homemade stand: I know some might dig me on this, it is completely level and over engineered I think... I would trust my 200lb butt jumping up and down on it all day and it wouldn't fail. Ill be adding some paneling to it eventually to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
Paint: I need to pain the exterior glass black, ill pick up some rustoleum and do that shortly.
Saltwater test kit: Don't have one, will be picking one up from the LFS I get my live rock at.
Live Rock: Lots of guides say 1-1.5 Lbs per gallon. The LFS store I have found that I like the most, has well kept tanks/livestock and seems very knowledgeable says that's old calculations, 15lbs should be plently for my 28g. Some guides say dont over buy, you can always add more. Thoughts?
RODI: I want to get a RODI, and will be doing more research. I don't need anything large as it is a small tank but I am currently going to use distilled water. I have read many articles and these days it will be fine, lots of people do this and have no issues but I will get a RODI after my light purchase as the next addition to my tools.
Lighting: Like I said before, the one thing I need and haven't gotten yet is lighting. I would like something that I can keep coral with, has settings so it can automatically go from dark to light slowly and in between. My footprint is about 16inches at the bow and 24 inches across so not a huge footprint. Lighting is important and I can see stuff gets quite pricey, you can spend a lot of money on it but I'm hoping to keep it at or under $300. I would prefer a light I can mount with a bracket opposed to hang from the ceiling and has wifi/app capabilities for adjustment.
I am looking for suggestions. One member recommended NooPsyche K7 PRO III V3 Full Set APP wifi Control today. It appears to be what I want, and appears to be on sale for under $200 with the discount code. I have tried to do a lot of research so far and don't want to impulse buy. What do you all think?
I have attached pictures and hope to add to this post as I build out my tank and it matures.
Hoping to have the live rock rock/water in in the next week, it should then be ready for fish by Christmas. I hope to learn a lot more here as I progress. I know there will be hurdles and setbacks but how does that cliché go? "The journey is the reward"
- Jay
Saltwater fish / coral have always fascinated me since I was a child. Growing up and moving around a few times I kept several 55g long/tall freshwater tanks and it was pretty fun. I am in the military and move around every so often, so I always thought saltwater was an un-obtainable goal. Long story short I am going to start my journey and for now build a 28 gallon bow front mini reef tank until I retire and can upgrade to the dream of ~200G. Over the last month or so I have slowly researched everything I will need and sorted it all out in a list with "wants" and "needs". Watched a lot of different youtube guides and the BRS intro videos. Visited a few LFS and I am at the point where hopefully I will have the water and liverock in the tank by the end of the week.. just need to mix the salt and get the live rock from LFS... that should put me ready for fish after cycling around Christmas. About now I have acquired pretty much all of the needs to get a tank up and cycling. My goal is to have a few fish, and some beautiful corals down the road, although I know the latter will just take some time.
First off how I envision my tank down the road: A pair of clowns, torch coral look really cool, bubble, star polyps, coral like that, the arrowhead crabs look super cool as well but I don't think they will go well in the tank with the corals (have heard mixed reviews), and maybe a wrasse or something. Anemones are cool as well I just don't think my tank size can support it plus from what i have seen they need a mature tank so, that is probably out for now. I have a son who is just over two and another son on the way so it will be a cool thing for them to look at (eventually , ha) and teach them about along the way.
From what I have researched smaller tanks are harder for newcomers to start up due to situations can evolve quickly. I contemplated a 10g sump (would add around 25% water volume assuming the sump actually might hold 6-8g?) for volume/hiding equipment in the small tank but for now I'm just sticking with hang on the back filter/skimmer/heater in the tank. Thoughts on this?
I guess this is supposed to be kind of a tank blog, so ill start off with a few pictures and a list of the things I have so far so please give some input if you see something that doesn't make sense. The only "need" I don't have ordered yet is lighting but ill get to that in a few.
Tank: 28 Gallon Bow Front 16 inches at bow by 24 wide. I scrubbed it clean pretty well with white vinegar and hose water. Filled it and let it sit so I know it doesn't leak and looks to be no issues.
Salt: Instant Ocean Reef Crystals
Protien Skimmer: Aquamax Bullet Series Bullet-1 hang on back skimmer
5 Gallon Bucket x2: for mixing salt/other wet activities
Black egg crate: to cut and make a top over my tank
Substrate: Carib Sea Arag-alive live reef sand
Aquarium safe glue: to glue the live rock togehter to prevent from shifitng
Inkbird/200w heater from BRS: I went a little larger on the heater since the tank will be in my basement office. We are in the process of moving my office downstairs since we need the room for a new kid, and at this moment the basement is a little cooler (62 to 68 degrees F) than the rest of the house... plus.. winter is coming.. so making sure it can keep up. We will see though as I have a lot of computer equipment that creates heat.
Filter system: Tidal 55
Bacteria: Dr Tims 30 gallon cycle kit
Powerhead: Hydor Koralia 565
Salt refractometer w/ calibration fluid: Aichose Brix Refractometer
Other: Extra heater/powerhead for mixing salt for water changes.
Syphon for water changes/cleaning etc.
Homemade stand: I know some might dig me on this, it is completely level and over engineered I think... I would trust my 200lb butt jumping up and down on it all day and it wouldn't fail. Ill be adding some paneling to it eventually to make it more aesthetically pleasing.
Paint: I need to pain the exterior glass black, ill pick up some rustoleum and do that shortly.
Saltwater test kit: Don't have one, will be picking one up from the LFS I get my live rock at.
Live Rock: Lots of guides say 1-1.5 Lbs per gallon. The LFS store I have found that I like the most, has well kept tanks/livestock and seems very knowledgeable says that's old calculations, 15lbs should be plently for my 28g. Some guides say dont over buy, you can always add more. Thoughts?
RODI: I want to get a RODI, and will be doing more research. I don't need anything large as it is a small tank but I am currently going to use distilled water. I have read many articles and these days it will be fine, lots of people do this and have no issues but I will get a RODI after my light purchase as the next addition to my tools.
Lighting: Like I said before, the one thing I need and haven't gotten yet is lighting. I would like something that I can keep coral with, has settings so it can automatically go from dark to light slowly and in between. My footprint is about 16inches at the bow and 24 inches across so not a huge footprint. Lighting is important and I can see stuff gets quite pricey, you can spend a lot of money on it but I'm hoping to keep it at or under $300. I would prefer a light I can mount with a bracket opposed to hang from the ceiling and has wifi/app capabilities for adjustment.
I am looking for suggestions. One member recommended NooPsyche K7 PRO III V3 Full Set APP wifi Control today. It appears to be what I want, and appears to be on sale for under $200 with the discount code. I have tried to do a lot of research so far and don't want to impulse buy. What do you all think?
I have attached pictures and hope to add to this post as I build out my tank and it matures.
Hoping to have the live rock rock/water in in the next week, it should then be ready for fish by Christmas. I hope to learn a lot more here as I progress. I know there will be hurdles and setbacks but how does that cliché go? "The journey is the reward"
- Jay
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