Fresh into saltwater

[hillbillyjedi]

Background:
I started back into fish keeping in general about 4 years ago with a small 20Gal Freshwater tank which then transformed into me getting a 40 breeder from my wife as an Christmas present after moving into our house and after keeping a full planted CO2 freshwater tank, I was offered from my neighbor her 29gal saltwater tank, which I was definitely a little hesitant to get, but she gave me everything she had for basically free so, I mean who would say no to free stuff right?! Hah.

So currently, everything is setup in my spare 20L and using some old freshwater equipment for now just to keep things stable. (reused old filter and substrate so everything already has been seasoned and running for even longer than that. only newest additions were 1 turbo snail and 2 panamic barnacle blennys which surprisingly found at petco of all places.


Future Plans

I do have some dryrocks that I am running in a spare bucket of used saltwater and used substrate that I didnt use in the 20L. But eventually I am going to switch back to the 29Gal with Fiji Pink Sand and then do some minimal aquascaping to get ready for more fish/inverts and coral as well.
Larger tank(with approval from finance department(Wife) lol.
actual reef lights, dont know which type I'd ideally go with yet (currently using a cheapo freshwater light since the tank is only fowler at the moment
ATO setup
Inkbird temp controller with new titanium heating elements
RO/DI unit
a new wavemaker or a small Gyre for some added flow to the tank.
definitely need to find a good test kit for everything, but may have to just use the API kit to keep an eye on things until I have funds for the better test kits.



Planned Stocking:

More inverts
Kaudern Cardinal
Sandsifting Goby
Wrasse to some variety possibly
Starfish
Royal Gramma
Dotty Back

Future coral plans:
anything beginner friendly of course

but Id love to have a zoa garden and some small softies since this is still a brand new adventure for me.


Progress So Far:
Ive attached some photos of what the tank is currently, its far from perfect, but my kids love it so thats what matters.

 

[Ruben's Reef]

Welcome to R2R !!! THats a great start. Here you will get a lot of knowledge and great advice. Happy Reefing.

 

[hillbillyjedi]

Finally time has passed that I was able to get the 29 gallon started and running with life. This is the current state of it right now , going through a little bit of the uglies currently but everything is working out.

Few other upgrades as well
popbloom RL90 as well running at 40% blues with 15% white at peak time.
BRS 4 Stage RODI with booster pump
Tunze Nano ATO


ended up getting a watchman goby and tiger pistol shrimp as well, who have made the left section of rock their home, but not in the sand, but under the 2 rocks themselves.

Current corals now
Neon green Kenya tree
Some long polyp toadstool maybe?
Candy cane coral
Fire and ice zoa and corona zoa
I think I have a pulsing Xenia but not sure and it hasn’t opened up in a long time either. (bottom left corner coral)

 

[get-salty]

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Finally time has passed that I was able to get the 29 gallon started and running with life. This is the current state of it right now , going through a little bit of the uglies currently but everything is working out.

Few other upgrades as well
popbloom RL90 as well running at 40% blues with 15% white at peak time.
BRS 4 Stage RODI with booster pump
Tunze Nano ATO


ended up getting a watchman goby and tiger pistol shrimp as well, who have made the left section of rock their home, but not in the sand, but under the 2 rocks themselves.

Current corals now
Neon green Kenya tree
Some long polyp toadstool maybe?
Candy cane coral
Fire and ice zoa and corona zoa
I think I have a pulsing Xenia but not sure and it hasn’t opened up in a long time either. (bottom left corner coral)

What are your plans for the tank? Looking good so far!

 

[hillbillyjedi]

What are your plans for the tank? Looking good so far!

I think as of now, is letting it just mature and add a few more easy corals that I can handle and just let it grow out. I may have to mess with placements of corals so I can add maybe a hammer or torch somewhere in that mix. I'm not quite sure if ill stock anymore fish as of now, I'm open to suggestions though. I also do have 3 small pieces of dry rock that I can glue up and add to the left side to add another sort of arch structure to add other corals too possibly.

This tank is definitely the learning tank. I have a 60 breeder i got for free from a coworker that I now want to drill and setup for either my freshwater system and convert my 40 breeder into another reef tank or set it the 60 for a reef instead. gotta convince the accounting department(wife) that the purchases are justified lol.

 

[Reginald Reefer III]

Welcome to the dark side... or maybe the light side! Reefing is way more fun :)