Hi everyone!
I'm new to reef keeping, but kept tropicals for years. I understand it's a completely different ball game, but I needed a new challenge.
When I started looking for a new setup, I was after a 900mm (3ft) tank to fit in the space I have available, but I could only afford the tank based on the budget that I had at the time. Instead, I found a 600x450x450mm AquaOne 120 tank that came with all the kit for the same price. It was a steal of a bargain, but once I set it up, I realised why... The skimmer, return pump and power head were all really noisy and the tank was really dark due to the black background.
I quickly realised that I would have to buy all new kit, so I sold the tank on for the same price I paid for it and bought this TMC 900 instead - boy I'm glad I did, because it looks ace compared to the other one.
In terms of kit, I have the following:
Radion XR15pro
MP10 wireless power head
Reef link
Jebao waver maker
Bubble magus 3.5 skimmer
Standard heater (can't remember the make)
Eheim Compact 2000 return pump
H20 Ocean FMR75 Phosphate reactor
TMC Auto top up
6500k LED lamp
Bubble magus mesh sock
3 chamber sump with refugium including mangrove trees, cheato, shrimp, sand and live rock
All the kit has cost me a fortune, but it makes a heck of a setup!! I cycled the tank for two weeks adding BAC high level reefing bacteria once a day to kick start the real reef rock and caribsea aragamax sand.
Once the ammonia and nitrites faded off to 0.0, I added the clean up crew initially and a pair of baby clowns a week later, which seem to be doing great!
Clean up crew consists of 6x hermit crab and 6x turbo snails.
My intention is for the tank to be focused more on LPS and SPS coral than fish, but I plan to eventually get the following fish as the tank matures:
Yellow Tang
Flame or Potters Angel
Dragon Manderin
I love the Foxface and Regal Tang, but my tank is too small.
Let me know what you all think - advice about what to do next etc.. I'm not really fussed about blennies, wrasses or cardinals etc - I'd rather the focus was on the limited number of fish and hopefully stunning coral.
As I start to stock with coral, my next planned purchase is going to be the Marine Color Dosing pump. I'll be revisiting my LFS to get some LPS in about 2weeks, once the tank has had time to settle after adding the clowns
My water conditions today are:
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 465
Phosphate 0.00
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.1 (suddenly appeared again - guessing this is due to the new additions)
Nitrate 2
Ph 8.2
Alkalinity 9
I also have an RO unit and used Red Sea Coral Pro Salt - been doing a 10% water change weekly.
I have a Red Sea test kit to measure the above and Profi Tests for Calcium and Phosphate. I'be also ordered the Mag test too.
I'm new to reef keeping, but kept tropicals for years. I understand it's a completely different ball game, but I needed a new challenge.
When I started looking for a new setup, I was after a 900mm (3ft) tank to fit in the space I have available, but I could only afford the tank based on the budget that I had at the time. Instead, I found a 600x450x450mm AquaOne 120 tank that came with all the kit for the same price. It was a steal of a bargain, but once I set it up, I realised why... The skimmer, return pump and power head were all really noisy and the tank was really dark due to the black background.
I quickly realised that I would have to buy all new kit, so I sold the tank on for the same price I paid for it and bought this TMC 900 instead - boy I'm glad I did, because it looks ace compared to the other one.
In terms of kit, I have the following:
Radion XR15pro
MP10 wireless power head
Reef link
Jebao waver maker
Bubble magus 3.5 skimmer
Standard heater (can't remember the make)
Eheim Compact 2000 return pump
H20 Ocean FMR75 Phosphate reactor
TMC Auto top up
6500k LED lamp
Bubble magus mesh sock
3 chamber sump with refugium including mangrove trees, cheato, shrimp, sand and live rock
All the kit has cost me a fortune, but it makes a heck of a setup!! I cycled the tank for two weeks adding BAC high level reefing bacteria once a day to kick start the real reef rock and caribsea aragamax sand.
Once the ammonia and nitrites faded off to 0.0, I added the clean up crew initially and a pair of baby clowns a week later, which seem to be doing great!
Clean up crew consists of 6x hermit crab and 6x turbo snails.
My intention is for the tank to be focused more on LPS and SPS coral than fish, but I plan to eventually get the following fish as the tank matures:
Yellow Tang
Flame or Potters Angel
Dragon Manderin
I love the Foxface and Regal Tang, but my tank is too small.
Let me know what you all think - advice about what to do next etc.. I'm not really fussed about blennies, wrasses or cardinals etc - I'd rather the focus was on the limited number of fish and hopefully stunning coral.
As I start to stock with coral, my next planned purchase is going to be the Marine Color Dosing pump. I'll be revisiting my LFS to get some LPS in about 2weeks, once the tank has had time to settle after adding the clowns
My water conditions today are:
Salinity 1.025
Calcium 465
Phosphate 0.00
Ammonia 0.0
Nitrite 0.1 (suddenly appeared again - guessing this is due to the new additions)
Nitrate 2
Ph 8.2
Alkalinity 9
I also have an RO unit and used Red Sea Coral Pro Salt - been doing a 10% water change weekly.
I have a Red Sea test kit to measure the above and Profi Tests for Calcium and Phosphate. I'be also ordered the Mag test too.
