sim2142
Community Member
Hey guys
Put off making a build thread for a while now so this is going to be a long one detailing everything that’s happened since the start of the build.
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I was thinking about getting back into planted freshwater aquariums at the start of the year. I had had a beta tank when I was a kid but other than that I had no experience with fish keeping
When I went into my local fish store to talk to them about getting back into the freshwater hobby I saw that they had some really cool looking reef tanks.
After checking them out for quite sometime I realised that I definitely wanted to get into reef keeping. The local store offered to help guide the build and also directed me to these forums to learn more prior to purchasing a tank.
———————
I decided on a 90L cube (AquaReef), I wanted to go bigger to maybe double the capacity but this was around the start of the covid restrictions and no stores I visited had stock.
Under the recommendation of the store my build was going to be a bare bottom tank for the ease of cleaning. I would also start the tank with bleached and washed dry rock making sure everything I added to the tank was properly quarantined/ sterilised.
I assembled and filled the tank (minus the skimmer) and added quite a large amount of used ceramic filter media from the fish store in an empty compartment of the sump.
Had an outbreak of copepods, hydroid jellies and a single flatworm towards the end of the cycle which eventually went away.
Surprisingly when I was checking the sump 1 week into the cycle I found a lone brittle star which had hitchhiked in on the used filter media. I’m not sure how he survived a new dry rock tank but he is still alive and well almost a year later today.
Three weeks had passed since starting the cycle and the results surprisingly showed that the water parameters were adequate for fish.
I decided to add two clownfish and some snails to produce more bio load and encourage more bacteria. I further added another large dry rock to the back wall of the tank.
I fed them and tested the tank for around 3 more weeks until I was happy with the tank parameters (RedSea foundation & algae control etc.)
I next added coralline wafers and a single western Australian bubble tip anemone which retreated to the corner of the tank before settling on the middle of the back wall a few days later.
I started off feeding the anemone single small supplement soaked prawns weekly but it started growing very large very fast so I cut its feeding down to smaller pieces fortnightly.
The tank didn’t change for quite a few weeks after this until I decided to add some extra livestock.
I added a shrimp, Sailfin and sea star to the tank. I knew that the Sailfin would outgrow the tank eventually but at that point I would probably just pass it on to another owner or buy a bigger tank.
At first the clownfish pair was terrified of the Sailfin but after some time they eventually started to swim together and I was suprised to come home at night to them sleeping right next to each other
They have slept like this for weeks now and I don’t see any indication of the clowns wanting to move into the anemone.
3 weeks ago my anemone decided to ball itself up and then split itself into three clones. They each finished healing and developed proper mouths earlier this week.
Here’s the tank today, the anemone clones are starting to get some colour back and look a lot more normal now.
Cheers guys
Put off making a build thread for a while now so this is going to be a long one detailing everything that’s happened since the start of the build.
———————
I was thinking about getting back into planted freshwater aquariums at the start of the year. I had had a beta tank when I was a kid but other than that I had no experience with fish keeping
When I went into my local fish store to talk to them about getting back into the freshwater hobby I saw that they had some really cool looking reef tanks.
After checking them out for quite sometime I realised that I definitely wanted to get into reef keeping. The local store offered to help guide the build and also directed me to these forums to learn more prior to purchasing a tank.
———————
I decided on a 90L cube (AquaReef), I wanted to go bigger to maybe double the capacity but this was around the start of the covid restrictions and no stores I visited had stock.
Under the recommendation of the store my build was going to be a bare bottom tank for the ease of cleaning. I would also start the tank with bleached and washed dry rock making sure everything I added to the tank was properly quarantined/ sterilised.
I assembled and filled the tank (minus the skimmer) and added quite a large amount of used ceramic filter media from the fish store in an empty compartment of the sump.
Had an outbreak of copepods, hydroid jellies and a single flatworm towards the end of the cycle which eventually went away.
Surprisingly when I was checking the sump 1 week into the cycle I found a lone brittle star which had hitchhiked in on the used filter media. I’m not sure how he survived a new dry rock tank but he is still alive and well almost a year later today.
Three weeks had passed since starting the cycle and the results surprisingly showed that the water parameters were adequate for fish.
I decided to add two clownfish and some snails to produce more bio load and encourage more bacteria. I further added another large dry rock to the back wall of the tank.
I fed them and tested the tank for around 3 more weeks until I was happy with the tank parameters (RedSea foundation & algae control etc.)
I next added coralline wafers and a single western Australian bubble tip anemone which retreated to the corner of the tank before settling on the middle of the back wall a few days later.
I started off feeding the anemone single small supplement soaked prawns weekly but it started growing very large very fast so I cut its feeding down to smaller pieces fortnightly.
The tank didn’t change for quite a few weeks after this until I decided to add some extra livestock.
I added a shrimp, Sailfin and sea star to the tank. I knew that the Sailfin would outgrow the tank eventually but at that point I would probably just pass it on to another owner or buy a bigger tank.
At first the clownfish pair was terrified of the Sailfin but after some time they eventually started to swim together and I was suprised to come home at night to them sleeping right next to each other
They have slept like this for weeks now and I don’t see any indication of the clowns wanting to move into the anemone.
3 weeks ago my anemone decided to ball itself up and then split itself into three clones. They each finished healing and developed proper mouths earlier this week.
Here’s the tank today, the anemone clones are starting to get some colour back and look a lot more normal now.
Cheers guys
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