Mandrews 29g build

[Mandrew]

So Ive been all over the place in this hobby the past few months/years and I just set up a 75g tank a few months ago, lost interest, tore it down and sold everything, then decided I wanted a tank again... Ive just been so indecisive lately. So Ive settled with this standard 29g tank I purchased at Meijer, and a stand to hold it I found at Walmart. The basic idea of this build was to do everything cheap and simple. No skimmer, no sump, no ATO, no reactors etc. Ive since decided that I will end up using a reactor, maybe a skimmer in the future, and in this small of a tank most likely an ATO system. (Maybe a DIY) Enough rambling here is what im working with so far and some of my future plans.

Standard 29g rectangle tank
Cheap stand
Penguin bio-wheel 200 (was going to run carbon in it, as of now just extra flow.)
Cheap tetra heater (Have an Ehiem Jager 100W coming in the mail.)
2 Koralia Nano circulation pumps 240 and one 425 (I had them laying around.)
Sunblaze 4 bulb T5HO with ATI bulbs, 2 Blue plus 2 Coral plus
I have a Phosban 150 reactor laying around that leaks I plan on using once the new gasket comes in the mail.
Currently im using HW marinereef salt mix
Live sand
Reefcleaners.org Dry rock
I added a bottle of Biospira to the tank to get things moving along as well as dosing 2ppm pure ammonia which was gone within 24hours and raised nitrites which were then gone within an additional 24 hours.
After impulse buying a pair of Buckshot Clown fish at a frag swap on the 19th I added them to the tank and have tested for ammonia and nitrite daily and they're both reading 0ppm. I will continue to monitor them until I feel comfortable they wont spike on me.

Now for the fun part, PICTURES! They're on my phone so I will have to make a reply on this thread from there with the Photos. Thanks for checking out my Tank and if you have any suggestions please chime in!

 

[Mandrew]

 

[Mandrew]

It's been a long time since I've done anything with the tank at all. To be honest it's basically been neglected other than tops off since my last update. One of the buckshot clowns died for unknown reasons but the other one is going strong. Just starting to buckle down on it again and clean up this water. Nitrates today read between 80-160ppm on my API test kit! I just got done changing about 8 gallons of water and I have another 4 gallons mixing to change tomorrow. I'm surprised there isn't much algae growth but I also never had the lights on to speak of since I didn't have any corals.

About a week ago I put in some Zoas I had in my 7g tank before I tested the water and they look amazing in this 29g so the nitrates aren't affecting them. I am still aggressively trying to reduce them back to a healthy level so I can continue adding corals and maybe another fish or two. I'm thinking a bengai cardinal for the fiancé, and possibly a flame angel for me at some point. For now here's a few pictures of the corals I swapped into this tank.

 

[Mandrew]

I'm going to try and make more regular updates on this tank so here it goes! I did another 4g water change at like 4am this morning when I got home from work. (I work third shift) after the water change I tested for nitrates again and they're at what looked like between 20ppm and 40ppm now. I will probably give it about a week and do another series of larger water changes to try and really bring them down to a healthy level.

 

[leptang]

I would use Marinepure (active carbon) If I didn't use a protein skimmer. You can also add a little bit of distilled white vinegar like 1 or 2 ml to add a carbon source for bacteria to eat up your nitrate build up, but the vinegar will lower your pH don't drop the pH fast or don't drive it down past 7.8 Did you check your source water for nitrate?

 

[leptang]

A flame angle may pick at your zoa's, and flame angles fare better in a tank of 55g and larger. pygmy angles do better in a smaller tank like 29g smaller fish, less bio-load but they may aslo pick at your zoa's. Hope this helps you out

 

[Mandrew]

My source water is a 5 stage rodi and my meter reads 0 tds and I figured the flame angel was pushing it but I've also heard of people doing it.

 

[Mandrew]

Also I tested nitrate again Tuesday night and had the Fiancé compare the colors to see what she thought and she said it looked like 20ppm which is way better than the first test.

 

[Mandrew]

Got an Acan frag at the LFS today as well as an emerald crab. Will post pictures tomorrow once they settle in and the lights come back on.

 

[Mandrew]

Took a few pics of the acan, none of which do it justice. It was receding but looks great in my tank compared to the store. Best part is it was only $10!

 

[leptang]

Nice 10 bucks you can't beat that!
Did you coral dip them?

 

[Mandrew]

I wish I would/could have but I don't have any coral dip right now. I will probably get some before I get any more corals. I did pull a bubble algae off the frag though [emoji35]

 

[saltyfilmfolks]

Is this the one with the new hob refugium?

 

[Mandrew]

Well it's going to be but unfortunately due to the Holliday it hasn't shipped out yet... so I'm still waiting. Also have a CUC on order from reefcleaners that won't ship until Wednesday.

 

[Mandrew]

Got a couple more corals from the LFS today. A large frag of zoas/plays not sure which for $11.99 and a mushroom for $10

 

[leptang]

That's what I like doing, buy small cheap frags and growing them out

 

[Mandrew]

I thought that was a lot of polyps for $12!

 

[greenhorn reefer]

Pump the brakes a bit. "Unknown reasons" may be that your nitrates were so high. Also, take your time, dip, and think things out for a week or two before you do anything. It'll be much harder to remove algae or pests later, rather than qt'ing or at least dipping now. Also, support your lfs as much as possible but also get a Amazon account. Supporting a lfs is great but paying $45 for flat worm exit is criminal and sometimes they don't carry the product you want i.e. Copper safe and will try to sell you something different.

 

[greenhorn reefer]

Pump the brakes a bit. "Unknown reasons" may be that your nitrates were so high. Also, take your time, dip, and think things out for a week or two before you do anything. It'll be much harder to remove algae or pests later, rather than qt'ing or at least dipping now. Also, support your lfs as much as possible but also get a Amazon account. Supporting a lfs is great but paying $45 for flat worm exit is criminal and sometimes they don't carry the product you want i.e. Copper safe and will try to sell you something different.

I mentioned Amazon because you could have ordered your dip already and been that much further ahead of the pests.

 

[Mandrew]

The clown died shortly after I got them, it was probably sick when I got it and after that I didn't do anything with the tank until like 3 months later. I did test when it died and none of my parameters were out of whack.