ManaReef
Community Member
Hello all!
Thank you for checking out my salt water journey! I have a lot to learn am excited to see what happens!
I will be listing details in this thread of major events of the tank (dates of set up, new additions, w pictures!)
Note that all equipment was cleaned prior to any use.
Please also note, the fish currently in my tank HAD to be moved over ASAP from my husband’s 150 gallon tank, I know the situation isn’t ideal but we hope to make it work. His tank was doing great until we hooked up a used AC which unbeknownst to us had copper run through it by the previous owner. That one thing crashed all his SPS and hurt his tank bad, water changes made things worse and along with all his SPS, most of his soft corals also died. Lost over $1000 worth of frags. His tank is being taken down this week and sold after we run something to take care of the copper through the system. Thus leaving no time for a ‘proper’ cycle on my 26 gallon system.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
LOCATION: Mesa, AZ
SET UP: June 17th, 2022
EQUIPMENT:
Aqua-top 20 gallon Cube and stand (used)
10 gallon sump (used)
Protein Skimmer (used) (currently not plugged in due to fit issue in sump)
Pump (used)
Thermometer
EZ-Feeder by Eshopps
Veggie magnetic clip
Nano Flipper Float
Ammonia Alert
Cycled water from Reef Monsters
Bio Block
Carib Sea Black Hawaiian Sand
13 lb Live Rock from Reef Monsters (placed June 23)
4 lb Dry Rock from Reef Monsters (placed June 23)
2 cups reef stew (placed June 23)
LIVESTOCK:
1 Black Storm Clown (Cookie)
1 Bullet Clown (June 19th)
1 Mandarin Dragonet (Freckles) (June 24th)
To be acclimated on June 26th:
1 Wrasse
1 Goby (not sure of the name, it was sold to us as a mystery goby, will include pictures of all on Sunday and Tuesday)
ACTION PLAN:
Getting enough food for Freckles is my main concern right now, everyone else is eating TDO. I put 2 cups of reef stew in the tank and let it settle into the sand and rock with the pump off on June 23. Freckles went into the tank June 24. We will dose the tank w copepods and phytoplankton on a regular basis w doses of reef stew every week. We hope to cultivate a colony as soon as possible. Since I do not have filter socks on the system yet, this will make it a bit easier. Any thoughts?
Thanks for your time!
Photos:
#1 Front of tank
#2 Right side of tank
#3 Equipment on right side of tank
#4 Sump
#5 Left side of tank
#6 Picture of Freckles
Videos:
#1 Meet Cookie https://youtube.com/shorts/E6tqcFUXL8E?feature=share
#2 Meet Bullet https://youtube.com/shorts/Gqt4XxS8ekI?feature=share
#3 Meet Freckles https://youtube.com/shorts/-CdN8wJs2qU?feature=share
Thank you for checking out my salt water journey! I have a lot to learn am excited to see what happens!
I will be listing details in this thread of major events of the tank (dates of set up, new additions, w pictures!)
Note that all equipment was cleaned prior to any use.
Please also note, the fish currently in my tank HAD to be moved over ASAP from my husband’s 150 gallon tank, I know the situation isn’t ideal but we hope to make it work. His tank was doing great until we hooked up a used AC which unbeknownst to us had copper run through it by the previous owner. That one thing crashed all his SPS and hurt his tank bad, water changes made things worse and along with all his SPS, most of his soft corals also died. Lost over $1000 worth of frags. His tank is being taken down this week and sold after we run something to take care of the copper through the system. Thus leaving no time for a ‘proper’ cycle on my 26 gallon system.
Without further ado, let’s get started!
LOCATION: Mesa, AZ
SET UP: June 17th, 2022
EQUIPMENT:
Aqua-top 20 gallon Cube and stand (used)
10 gallon sump (used)
Protein Skimmer (used) (currently not plugged in due to fit issue in sump)
Pump (used)
Thermometer
EZ-Feeder by Eshopps
Veggie magnetic clip
Nano Flipper Float
Ammonia Alert
Cycled water from Reef Monsters
Bio Block
Carib Sea Black Hawaiian Sand
13 lb Live Rock from Reef Monsters (placed June 23)
4 lb Dry Rock from Reef Monsters (placed June 23)
2 cups reef stew (placed June 23)
LIVESTOCK:
1 Black Storm Clown (Cookie)
1 Bullet Clown (June 19th)
1 Mandarin Dragonet (Freckles) (June 24th)
To be acclimated on June 26th:
1 Wrasse
1 Goby (not sure of the name, it was sold to us as a mystery goby, will include pictures of all on Sunday and Tuesday)
ACTION PLAN:
Getting enough food for Freckles is my main concern right now, everyone else is eating TDO. I put 2 cups of reef stew in the tank and let it settle into the sand and rock with the pump off on June 23. Freckles went into the tank June 24. We will dose the tank w copepods and phytoplankton on a regular basis w doses of reef stew every week. We hope to cultivate a colony as soon as possible. Since I do not have filter socks on the system yet, this will make it a bit easier. Any thoughts?
Thanks for your time!
Photos:
#1 Front of tank
#2 Right side of tank
#3 Equipment on right side of tank
#4 Sump
#5 Left side of tank
#6 Picture of Freckles
Videos:
#1 Meet Cookie https://youtube.com/shorts/E6tqcFUXL8E?feature=share
#2 Meet Bullet https://youtube.com/shorts/Gqt4XxS8ekI?feature=share
#3 Meet Freckles https://youtube.com/shorts/-CdN8wJs2qU?feature=share
Last edited:
