My First Box of Salt Water

[mjforbes33]

Hey everyone. As mentioned in my welcome post, i am brand new to the hobby. Ive been steadily researchong dor a few months and finally have everything i plan on using for my setup minus the fish.

I bought this tanks and stand for 25 bucks on craigslist.

Didnt realize until later there was some slight chipping on the corners/deterioration along the corners, etc. I ultimately decided even if it was worth the risk of potential leaks in the future, i wouldnt be happy with it.

The stand however, fit my needs perfectly so i repainted it a white instead of the badly worn black and bought a 32 Biocube for it.

Im going to run this hoodless because i know i want to try SPS eventually.

It will be coral focused but I do want a pair of clowns as well. I cant stop looking at videos of Frostbite Clowns.

My research has led to the following:

Lighting: Kessil A160
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 1000 HOB
Wavemaker: Ice Cap 1k Gyre
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano
Reactor: Avast MR5

30 lbs CaribSea Hawaiian Black Sand
25 lbs Auqamaxx dry rock
5 lbs 2 Little Fishes Stax flat rock

Hoping to set this up ( or at least start to) on Monday night.

I would love any and all advice for the setup and early stages of what i have listed above. Ill post pictures and updates along the way.

Thanks in advance.

 

[glb]

Nice setup! I have a Tunze nano ato and it's great. Now I have it on my 40g and it's still going strong. I had to replace the pump once but they're inexpensive. What are the stock lights in the hood? What are you going to run in the reactor? Had you thought about a Refugium in the middle chamber?

 

[mjforbes33]

Nice setup! I have a Tunze nano ato and it's great. Now I have it on my 40g and it's still going strong. I had to replace the pump once but they're inexpensive. What are the stock lights in the hood? What are you going to run in the reactor? Had you thought about a Refugium in the middle chamber?

1. It was the stock Coralife Biocube 32 LED hood. I dont know much about the lights other than research told me they would only be "good enough" for softies and some LPS. I wanted to do it right the first time and not have to worry if my lights can keep a certaon coral growing so soon in the future. Plus, alot of my other equipment wouldn't fit with the hood. And finally, for some reason I perfer the look of the hoodless setups.

2. For the reactor i plan on running Carbon.will add a second reactor in the future for GFO.

3. Im hoping the bottom portion of the middle chamber will be able to act as a good bio fuge of some sort. No set plans yet. The Reef Octopus 1000 will likely need some of that real estate i think so i will see what i have for space but im sure it will be used in that capacity.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Hey everyone. As mentioned in my welcome post, i am brand new to the hobby. Ive been steadily researchong dor a few months and finally have everything i plan on using for my setup minus the fish.

I bought this tanks and stand for 25 bucks on craigslist.

Didnt realize until later there was some slight chipping on the corners/deterioration along the corners, etc. I ultimately decided even if it was worth the risk of potential leaks in the future, i wouldnt be happy with it.

The stand however, fit my needs perfectly so i repainted it a white instead of the badly worn black and bought a 32 Biocube for it.

Im going to run this hoodless because i know i want to try SPS eventually.

It will be coral focused but I do want a pair of clowns as well. I cant stop looking at videos of Frostbite Clowns.

My research has led to the following:

Lighting: Kessil A160
Skimmer: Reef Octopus 1000 HOB
Wavemaker: Ice Cap 1k Gyre
ATO: Tunze Osmolator Nano
Reactor: Avast MR5

30 lbs CaribSea Hawaiian Black Sand
25 lbs Auqamaxx dry rock
5 lbs 2 Little Fishes Stax flat rock

Hoping to set this up ( or at least start to) on Monday night.

I would love any and all advice for the setup and early stages of what i have listed above. Ill post pictures and updates along the way.

Thanks in advance.

Nice! Sounds like a really good plan.

 

[mjforbes33]

Nice! Sounds like a really good plan.

As the great Mike Tyson once said

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."

Lets see how i handle the first face punch...

 

[NY_Caveman]

As the great Mike Tyson once said

"Everybody has a plan until they get punched in the face."

Lets see how i handle the first face punch...

LOL!!!

 

[mjforbes33]

Finished painting my office (wanted to do that beofre getting the tank set up so i didnt need to move it in the future). Now i have the tank with all the components attached. I just wanted to .ake sure everything I have fit on before going further and im happy with the setup. I'm confident the window next to the tank will not be an issue. I always keep the blinds down in this room and additionally outside the window is my porch so very little direct light comes through anyways.

Sand and rock is expected to be delievered today. Hoping to add all of that once it gets in. I have a few vacation days from work coming up to add water and get this cycle started.

Thanks for all the help so far everyone!

 

[hdsoftail1065]

It's going to look great in that room!

 

[mjforbes33]

As soon as i posted this my rocks and sand came. Heres my first attwmpt at aquascaping.

I tried to build as many platforms as possible for corals.

 

[good71]

Looks good!

 

[BoBoBREWSKI]

Nice!

 

[mjforbes33]

Thanks all! I'm in no rush to stock it, but I must admit, its sitting here taunting me. Hoping my cycle goes smooth and I can add a CUC in here by Labor Day so I stop looking like a psychopath staring into an empty tank!

Again, I know fish and corals are a ways away for me, but I would love some suggestions for livestock. 2 Frostbite Clown Fish are mandatory. They are so perfect looking, they are my primary choice, and any other livestock should be based around them no matter how much that limits my other fish options.

Is:
2 Frostbite Clowns
3 Pajama Cardinals
too much of a load on a 32 gallon Biocube?

Anything else I can add to the Frostbite Clowns comfortably? I have no interest in pushing it to the max and stressing the fish.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Thanks all! I'm in no rush to stock it, but I must admit, its sitting here taunting me. Hoping my cycle goes smooth and I can add a CUC in here by Labor Day so I stop looking like a psychopath staring into an empty tank!

Again, I know fish and corals are a ways away for me, but I would love some suggestions for livestock. 2 Frostbite Clown Fish are mandatory. They are so perfect looking, they are my primary choice, and any other livestock should be based around them no matter how much that limits my other fish options.

Is:
2 Frostbite Clowns
3 Pajama Cardinals
too much of a load on a 32 gallon Biocube?

Anything else I can add to the Frostbite Clowns comfortably? I have no interest in pushing it to the max and stressing the fish.

Could probably pick a Goby or a Blenny. They usually stay in the sand or rocks. A small Wrasse like a Possum or Pink Streaked might work, but they may hide out a lot.

 

[mjforbes33]

So I just did a quick test of my water for a day 3 update. combination of me wanting to practice testing and also to see if anything was headed in the right direction yet.

Temp: 75.4 F
Salinity: 1.023
Ammonia: 0.07
Nitrite: 0.05
Nitrate: 5

Based on research this doesn't sound far off for day 3. I have been ghost feeding once a day and also had a piece of shrip from the seafood counter in the tank for half the day yesterday.

 

[mjforbes33]

So due to structural concerns and a few spots that looked empty, I slightly reworked my aquascape adding about 7 lbs of live rock straight from a very seasoned tank at my LFS. I the setup is much more secure and better looking in my opinion. Plus, it allowed me to get some live rock in the tank and hopefully help stablize things sooner. Its amazing how many organisims I can already see all over the live rock.

 

[NY_Caveman]

Getting some live rock in there early will definitely help your tank for the long run.

 

[mjforbes33]

Getting some live rock in there early will definitely help your tank for the long run.

Yeah I didn't have the budget to do all live rock but i think the 7 lbs will be sufficient since I only have a 32 gallon tank. And that 7 lbs of live is in addition to the 30 lbs of dry rock already in there. Add to that the 30 lbs of live sand. Hoping it helps keep things stable in the long run.

One issue I noticed about an hour ago is the live rock has a few small showings of Aiptasia so I guess this is my first battle with the tank however I am not super upset about it. I obviously still have no fish or corals in the tank so I should be able to combat the problem head on before adding my livestock. The rocks also had some small snails, starfish, and other beneficial organisms... so take the good with the bad I suppose.

 

[NY_Caveman]

The rocks also had some small snails, starfish, and other beneficial organisms... so take the good with the bad I suppose.

Nice! I love discovering life in live rock.

And that 7 lbs of live is in addition to the 30 lbs of dry rock already in there. Add to that the 30 lbs of live sand.

It is a lot of rock. You might want to take a couple of the dry pieces out. Would make the tank look bigger too. Just my opinion of course.

 

[mjforbes33]

Thanks for the advice. Once i get this one up and running im going to get the quarentine tank in the basement running. Maybe I will throw a few pieces down there.

Nice! I love discovering life in live rock.



It is a lot of rock. You might want to take a couple of the dry pieces out. Would make the tank look bigger too. Just my opinion of course.

 

[mjforbes33]

I have been doing constant research on stocking. The Goby, Blenny, and Wrasse types just don't appeal to me very much. This isn't much of an issue since I am prepared to just do the pair of Frostbite clown fish and no other fish. If I can find at least one other fish that I enjoy, I would perfer that assuming it would be comfortable with the clown fish in my 32.

2 Frostbite Clown Fish and 1 of either a Black Cap Basslet or Chalk Basslet do well in my set up?