Hello and thanks for reading this thread! First off, some sarcasm: I would like to thank my brother and sister in law for finding another hobby for me to throw money at and cry when I literally pour money down the drain after water changes. It hurts the soul just a bit. I have kept poison dart frogs for the past 7 years, and my wife has said no more frogs. So the obvious solution was to start a saltwater tank project 
. I watched the BRS 52 weeks of reefing, read multiple articles on this forum and -that other forum-, spoken with people I knew personally who have established saltwater tanks, and took a dive when I saw an incredible deal on Facebook marketplace. Some poor soul was getting rid of his setup due to no time at home from their job, and their BTA committed suicide by walking into his powerhead (ouch). As they say, one man's 'trash' is another man's treasure. Thats the story how I bought a 120 gal display, 75gal sump, stand, canopy, 130lbs of dry rock (was live before breakdown), two powerheads, skimmer, return pump, fragging accessories, fish food, coral food, various cleaning supplies, and two AI Hydra 26's for $600. Like I said, a steal. Fortunately for me, everything was functional with the exception of the skimmer.
After getting all of the equipment back to my house, the cleaning started. Lots of vinegar and water, some elbow grease, muriatic acid bath for the rock later, and repainting later, I went to my LFS and started my journey. Currently I am getting pre-mixed reefwater from my LFS, but I am looking into purchasing an RO/DI system to share with my brother and cousin (brother has a 75 gal, cousin does freshwater). My faucets on all of my sinks are super fancy and wont support the faucet adapter for the RO/DI buddy, so I'm going to need something in a permanent wall mount more than likely.
I cycled my tank with Dr. Tim's Ammonia Chloride and Turbostart 9000 May 14th, and within 8 days my tank went through the nitrificaiton cycle. I used live sand (Carribsea) and dry rock. Two weeks later (after ghost feeding and continuing to test NH3, NO2, NO3 for monitoring purposes) I picked up my CUC and a pair of clowns. I have two emerald crabs, 4 blue jointed hermits, 3 turbo snails, and 4 nassarius snails, an extreme Da Vinci clown (has his connecting dorsal stripe on the left side of his body) and a Black Storm Clown. The clowns are in QT and doing well, eating and no signs of external disease. They have been dewormed for internal parasites, I am doing the TTM for ich/velvet prevention, and will continue to monitor for 3 weeks after I finish the TTM (on day 7, using the protocol for ich/ velvet).
I have bought a Red Sea Reefer 300 skimmer, and will turn it on after fish are added. I also bought a GFO/Carbon reactor, as eventually I will want Lyretail Anthias and wrasses, which I've read have high energy/ food requirements, therefore will need help keeping Nitrates and Phos low. Next post will be about a potential fish list/ stocking list and what I am wanting out of this tank. Thanks for reading!
. I watched the BRS 52 weeks of reefing, read multiple articles on this forum and -that other forum-, spoken with people I knew personally who have established saltwater tanks, and took a dive when I saw an incredible deal on Facebook marketplace. Some poor soul was getting rid of his setup due to no time at home from their job, and their BTA committed suicide by walking into his powerhead (ouch). As they say, one man's 'trash' is another man's treasure. Thats the story how I bought a 120 gal display, 75gal sump, stand, canopy, 130lbs of dry rock (was live before breakdown), two powerheads, skimmer, return pump, fragging accessories, fish food, coral food, various cleaning supplies, and two AI Hydra 26's for $600. Like I said, a steal. Fortunately for me, everything was functional with the exception of the skimmer.
After getting all of the equipment back to my house, the cleaning started. Lots of vinegar and water, some elbow grease, muriatic acid bath for the rock later, and repainting later, I went to my LFS and started my journey. Currently I am getting pre-mixed reefwater from my LFS, but I am looking into purchasing an RO/DI system to share with my brother and cousin (brother has a 75 gal, cousin does freshwater). My faucets on all of my sinks are super fancy and wont support the faucet adapter for the RO/DI buddy, so I'm going to need something in a permanent wall mount more than likely.
I cycled my tank with Dr. Tim's Ammonia Chloride and Turbostart 9000 May 14th, and within 8 days my tank went through the nitrificaiton cycle. I used live sand (Carribsea) and dry rock. Two weeks later (after ghost feeding and continuing to test NH3, NO2, NO3 for monitoring purposes) I picked up my CUC and a pair of clowns. I have two emerald crabs, 4 blue jointed hermits, 3 turbo snails, and 4 nassarius snails, an extreme Da Vinci clown (has his connecting dorsal stripe on the left side of his body) and a Black Storm Clown. The clowns are in QT and doing well, eating and no signs of external disease. They have been dewormed for internal parasites, I am doing the TTM for ich/velvet prevention, and will continue to monitor for 3 weeks after I finish the TTM (on day 7, using the protocol for ich/ velvet).
I have bought a Red Sea Reefer 300 skimmer, and will turn it on after fish are added. I also bought a GFO/Carbon reactor, as eventually I will want Lyretail Anthias and wrasses, which I've read have high energy/ food requirements, therefore will need help keeping Nitrates and Phos low. Next post will be about a potential fish list/ stocking list and what I am wanting out of this tank. Thanks for reading!
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