- Joined
- Mar 18, 2020
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Setup during this time: (not my current equipment setup)
- Aqueon 29g kit tank with led lid. The heater is in my QT tank.
- 10g QT tank with a sponge filter and 100w heater from the starter kit.
- 100w Eheim jager heater
- HOB filter from the kit.
- ceramic bio ring filter media in a media bag in the HOB and some filter floss.
- 303 GPH imagitarium powerhead.
- about 20lbs of dry rock from the LFS
- 5lb live rock from PetCo (the source of the red turf algae plague) BIG MISTAKE purchased to speed up the cycle.
So I started this version of the tank a year ago today. It was a freshwater tank at first, but I got some pretty nasty pests that I could not get rid of (camellanus worms). I broke it down, saved the three uninfected fish, and put them in a 10g. I sanitized this tank with 50/50 bleach for 48 hours. Then filled and emptied using up a whole bottle of de-chlorinator. Once I no longer registered chlorine, I let it dry out in the sun and filled it with sand, rock, and some cheap saltwater mixed from tap and reef salt from Petco.
I slowly cycled this thing over two months. I accidentally sacrificed a beautiful pair of clownfish when I thought it was fully cycled, but it turns out it was not ready for fish yet. So I got two snails and three hermits. There was already algae, of course, since I had lights on and cycled using fish food, not to mention my poor source water. They managed to bridge the gap for me, and a few weeks later, I added another pair of clownfish. This time all was well, and my black and white pair are happily swimming about to this day.
I knew I needed better source water but was on a budget and had to wait for the rodi. I finally bought one and performed a substantial about 80 percent water change now, also having upgraded my salt to tropic Marin pro I knew coral was in the future and decided to just get in the habit of using this salt.
Over the next two or three months, I added a yellow watchman goby and firefish to the tank. They did well in QT and showed no signs of pests or illness, so I introduced them to the tank after three weeks.
During this time, I had been working against a small amount of red algae that slowly spread through my tank. I would later identify this as red turf algae.
I will add some pictures to this post later, as well as continue catching it to where everything stands soon.
- Aqueon 29g kit tank with led lid. The heater is in my QT tank.
- 10g QT tank with a sponge filter and 100w heater from the starter kit.
- 100w Eheim jager heater
- HOB filter from the kit.
- ceramic bio ring filter media in a media bag in the HOB and some filter floss.
- 303 GPH imagitarium powerhead.
- about 20lbs of dry rock from the LFS
- 5lb live rock from PetCo (the source of the red turf algae plague) BIG MISTAKE purchased to speed up the cycle.
So I started this version of the tank a year ago today. It was a freshwater tank at first, but I got some pretty nasty pests that I could not get rid of (camellanus worms). I broke it down, saved the three uninfected fish, and put them in a 10g. I sanitized this tank with 50/50 bleach for 48 hours. Then filled and emptied using up a whole bottle of de-chlorinator. Once I no longer registered chlorine, I let it dry out in the sun and filled it with sand, rock, and some cheap saltwater mixed from tap and reef salt from Petco.
I slowly cycled this thing over two months. I accidentally sacrificed a beautiful pair of clownfish when I thought it was fully cycled, but it turns out it was not ready for fish yet. So I got two snails and three hermits. There was already algae, of course, since I had lights on and cycled using fish food, not to mention my poor source water. They managed to bridge the gap for me, and a few weeks later, I added another pair of clownfish. This time all was well, and my black and white pair are happily swimming about to this day.
I knew I needed better source water but was on a budget and had to wait for the rodi. I finally bought one and performed a substantial about 80 percent water change now, also having upgraded my salt to tropic Marin pro I knew coral was in the future and decided to just get in the habit of using this salt.
Over the next two or three months, I added a yellow watchman goby and firefish to the tank. They did well in QT and showed no signs of pests or illness, so I introduced them to the tank after three weeks.
During this time, I had been working against a small amount of red algae that slowly spread through my tank. I would later identify this as red turf algae.
I will add some pictures to this post later, as well as continue catching it to where everything stands soon.
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