Geckoman's first reef

[geckoman2003]

I started my JBJ 28 gal HQI at the end of Febuary 2011. So far there are no mods.
Filter..I have 9 lbs of totonka coral head rock and 1.5 lbs of tonga plate rock. I also have 17 lbs of Florida rock curing. There is 40 lbs of Carribian Sea live sand. I will be adding a circulation pump this weekend. I'm currently running fitler floss in the media chamber that will be upgraded tomorrow with chemipure. The pumps are the ome originals with the JBJ wavemaker. I have future plans of upgrading the media chamber, adding a skimmer and a chiller.
LIFE.... 2 small algea hermit crabs and one yellow tail damsel. Future plans pair of clowns, a bta, and lots of coral. I'm currently doing my research on types of coral. I like acans, zoes, brains, frogspawn, & acapora.

Water... Started with RODI water.
I am buying my test kits tomorrow. I'll update later.
SG is 1.025
Temp runs 75F at night and 78F during day. Up to 80.1F at lights out.

Lighting.... OME HQI. I'm thinking of doing the nano-custom cf upgrade down the road to get some atinic in the tank.

 

[geckoman2003]

I would love any recommendations.

Here is the link to my blog. Check it out. https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/blogs/geckoman2003/71-geckomans-jbj-hqi-nano-cube.html

 

[butts182]

looks like you got a good start...i have 3 main recommendations...do it right the first time, be patient, and keep parameters stable

 

[geckoman2003]

butts....Sounds like sound advice. Thanks! I'm taking it real slow partly due to budget reasons.

 

[geckoman2003]

Update

Here is an update to my tank. Today I went pet shop hopping. I got a new Hydor Koralia nano 425 gph circulation pump. I also got my first 3 corals frags. I got a Green slim, a orange birds nest, and a zoanthid.
Here are some pictures. Sorry the zoa one is a crapy photo.

 

[geckoman2003]

Update

Over the weekend I got two new frags. They are a neon green mushroom and a green star polup.
Yesterday I ordered my clean up crew from Liveaquaria.com. It should be here today. Just in time to clean up the hair algea that has started.

 

[MarvinsReef]

do it right the first time, be patient, and keep parameters stable

+1

awesome advice! although, I'm sure most have broken these more than one time.

 

[geckoman2003]

Tank updates

I haven't done any updates in a little while. So here you go.

Two weeks ago I got a pair of ocellaris clowns. One is a picasso and the larger one is a two bar. Yesterday I gave them a green BTA. It is very large. The disc is about 8-9 inches. As of this morning, they have not hosted it.

I ran into a small amount of cyana bacteria. So I did water changes, cut back my feeding of the clowns and coral, moved the korilla pump to reduce the dead spot, and added phosban.

Here are some added photos.

 

[geckoman2003]

Here is an update on my set up.

Issues...Cyana bacteria is gone. Thanks to phosban and my return pump fix.

Live stock...I added a royal gramma and a deep water Acro. frag.

Neet events... My clowns are both hosting my gbta, and the gbta moved to the back of the tank.
Lastnight two of my hermit crabs spawned and produced hundreds of fry.
I also have a peice of what I can only decribe as a gorgonian looking branch on my florida live rock that I thought was dead. However, It now has new growth. We will wait and see what It is. More then likely some type of macro algea.

 

[Tabasco1]

Nice progression. The hermit crab spawning was great! And great little snack for everyone in the tank!

 

[fsu1dolfan]

Here is an update on my set up.

Issues...Cyana bacteria is gone. Thanks to phosban and my return pump fix.

Live stock...I added a royal gramma and a deep water Acro. frag.

Neet events... My clowns are both hosting my gbta, and the gbta moved to the back of the tank.
Lastnight two of my hermit crabs spawned and produced hundreds of fry.
I also have a peice of what I can only decribe as a gorgonian looking branch on my florida live rock that I thought was dead. However, It now has new growth. We will wait and see what It is. More then likely some type of macro algea.

Nice update and thanks for the pics!! How are your frags doing?? Sweet clowns btw!!

 

[geckoman2003]

Nice update and thanks for the pics!! How are your frags doing?? Sweet clowns btw!!

The green slimer has 9 fingers growing and has started to encrust the frag disk. The birds nest has trippled in size and number of branches. The zoe has finally started to show signs that it has settled in. The star polup has started to encrust over it's frag disk onto it's rock. The shrum has expanded to the size of a fifty cent piece.
So what do you think. Is it going ok?

I love my clowns and so do my kids.

 

[fsu1dolfan]

The green slimer has 9 fingers growing and has started to encrust the frag disk. The birds nest has trippled in size and number of branches. The zoe has finally started to show signs that it has settled in. The star polup has started to encrust over it's frag disk onto it's rock. The shrum has expanded to the size of a fifty cent piece.
So what do you think. Is it going ok?

I love my clowns and so do my kids.

Sounds like things are growing well. SPS growth is always a good sign things are well. Also good idea to keep GSP isolated...mine grows like weeds and it is hard to manicure, just and FYI.

 

[Paul_N]

The tank is looking great! Glad to hear the frags are taking off. Looking forward to some updated pics. Down the road you can always look into led lights for the nano instead of the actinic mod.

 

[TOMMYSREEF]

nice