Just saying hello

SaltySteve · May 26, 2017

Hey R2R,

I've been lurking these forums for ages. Anyways, I recently upgraded from my 22 gallon to a 60 gallon cube (24"X24"x24"). I bought the "Reef pro 60" tank complete with stand and sump for a great deal! (Thanks Neptune Aquatics!!)

So then... I bought 40lbs of pukani dry rock from brs, gave it an acid bath with Starsan (mostly phosphoric acid), rinsed it multiple times with tap water and a final rinse of DI water (about a 3 week process). The phosphates were at a reasonable level (>.25) before I merged my old tank's dry rock and fauna (2 ocellaris, 1 watchman goby, 5 blue-legs hermits, 1 nassuras snail, a few turbos, 4x chalices, frogspawn, 2 monti's, purple death palys, trachy, lepto, GSP, and xenia) with the new tank.

I now have the tank set up with a Kessil a360WE tuna blue led, a hob Reef Octopus BH90 (on the inflow chamber of the sump), heater, at0, new dry sand.

Now- what else do I stock the tank with?? I would like a fish with lots of personality- I was thinking a
Valentini Puffer to start...

Thanks for looking!

Salty1962 · May 26, 2017

Welcome to R2R! Very nice start!

Mike N · May 26, 2017

Welcome and that's a very nice setup you have there.
Valentini's are awesome, but you'll probably have to regularly restock snails. I've heard they nip corals too.. I don't have any corals with mine, so I can't say for sure.

KJ · May 26, 2017

Welcome to R2R!

SaltySteve · May 26, 2017

Thanks everyone!
-Yes I'm a little weary of the Valentini's regarding coral nipping. However I heard they are the most (somewhat reef safe) even when compare to the leopard toby's. Regardless, it may be a chance I'm willing to take. Sorry for the half-done pic's, I will get more when I can.

SaltySteve · May 26, 2017

Btw, the info I have gotten from all the forums and profiles here is amazing... There is probably a region of my brain that can be accounted for "reef tanks" that would show up in an MRI exam. Lol. Perhaps the knowledge on sites such as this will have an important implication on reef ecology/remediation/preservation in the natural world. You guys/gals are awesome!

Mike N · May 26, 2017

SaltySteve said:
Thanks everyone!
-Yes I'm a little weary of the Valentini's regarding coral nipping. However I heard they are the most (somewhat reef safe) even when compare to the leopard toby's. Regardless, it may be a chance I'm willing to take. Sorry for the half-done pic's, I will get more when I can.

SaltySteve said:
Btw, the info I have gotten from all the forums and profiles here is amazing... There is probably a region of my brain that can be accounted for "reef tanks" that would show up in an MRI exam. Lol. Perhaps the knowledge on sites such as this will have an important implication on reef ecology/remediation/preservation in the natural world.

You picked a great reefing website. I'm sure we'll see you more often ;)
Good luck with your Valentini, I'm sure you'll be fine. Just create a tank thread and post tons of pics.