my first reef aquarium (55g)

[cu455]

Awesome fuge. I used to have the same one.
[video=youtube;w7RuLF7QmNY]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w7RuLF7QmNY[/video]

 

[cu455]

Just give your tank time to settle in. You are going to get algae blooms don't stress about it. What is you lighting schedule, amount of bulbs and age of bulbs(if known)? Your corals aren't that light demanding. Lowering your photo period might help. If you have good bio media in your HOB filter you don't have to worry about adding more live rock, unless you want to. What media are you using in the filters?

The tank looks nice just give it time and don't mess with it too much. If you want a cheap temporary skimmer you can make one using a soda bottle and a air stone. It will be like the Lee's air driven skimmer. You have a light bioload so I wouldn't worry to much about the skimmer.

Another power head will be useful. It will keep the garbage suspended until the HOB's pick it up. If you want to improve you circulation you can move one of the HOB's to the side of the tank opposite of the power head. You might also get more flow if you remove the polisher from the powerhead. If you have mechanical filtration in your HOB's it will be plenty good for your tank.

 

[dan987]

Is this any good? Or am I just wasting time?

 

[dan987]

Don't know the exact type of light. Blue and white t5 (2 of each). For them from the LFS. He said the bulbs are recently replaced.
The hob filters are running the standard replacement filters. I have carbon too. What kind of media should I be running?

The filters won't fit on the sides.
And I admit, I'm very impulsive. It's all I can do not to mess with the tank.

 

[cu455]

The standard cartridges are fine. It just gets expensive replacing them. You can fill them with whatever you want. Sponges, ceramic rings or rock rubble. I use the pot scrubbers from the dollar store. They come 6 in a pack, I use them and really like them. The way they are made provides lots of surface area for bacteria and places for organism to live such as worms, snails and micro stars.

You can use filter floss or a sponge before the media for mechanical filtration. If you have carbon you can add it to the filter too.

 

[gcrawford]

Take a look at AquaC Remoras. They are a tried and true skimmer that's been around for years.

 

[dan987]

Picked up a 2nd-hand nano-skimmer that fits in my filter perfectly. Pulled out a nasty cup of skim within hours. Gonna have to keep an eye on that guy. Picked up a couple furry mushrooms to. They look so cool. And did a water change.

 

[dan987]

Update:

About 45 lb of live/base rock.
2 green hairy mushrooms
Watchman goby
6 line wrasse

And I put a nano skimmer in the hob. (Fits my budget)

 

[dan987]

Had a peppermint shrimp but he didn't survive the first night. I think the 6-line ate him.

 

[dan987]

Update (long overdue)

Filtration:
- 2x emperor 400 hob filters (same as before)
- Chemi-pure Blue
- AquaticLife Internal Mini Protein Skimmer 115
- weekly 10% water changes

Lighting:
- 4-bulb 36" HO T5 fixture (same as before)

Circulation:
- Hydor Koralia SmartWave Pump Controller
- 2x Koralia Evolution 1150 pumps
- hob filters do some work too

Water:
- 4 stage RODI from Buckeye Hydro
- instant ocean reef crystals

Livestock:
- 2 ocellaris clowns
- six line wrasse
- yellow watchman goby
- common cleaner wrasse
- Scarlet skunk cleaner shrimp
- 2x peppermint shrimp
- tiger pistol shrimp
- light footed sally crab
- green (Haddons?) carpet anemone
- 2x green hairy mushroom corals
- small zoanthid colony
- 10x Nassarius snails
- 12x red tip hermit crabs
- 2x astraea snails

Still looking for a good skimmer and good lighting that won't break the bank. I think this setup will work until I can find a good deal.

I want some benggai cardinal fish and a long-spine urchin
And a small tang or two (to be traded once they outgrow the tank). Would like some plants to absorb nutrients but don't know of any good ones. And I would like to see more pods. I want a dragonette one day.

Still have an ongoing battle with cyano, but I'm not losing anymore. Very regular filter changes and water changes helps.
All my levels (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) are constant and zero.

 

[revhtree]

Looks great so far!

 

[dan987]

My cleaner wrasse jumped.

The Lips is swimming in the big ocean in the sky now.
:cry:

 

[dan987]

Just finished my 10 gallon, overhead refugium and stand. Needs a bit of finishing up, but it works great. Drilling the hole for the 1.5" bulkhead was a pain in the butt. The LFS owner and a few other people said it was impossible to drill a cheap 10 gallon tank. They said the thin glass would shatter. Feel kinda proud I did it on the first try.

 

[dan987]

Sorry for the extra pictures. Posting things with my phone isn't working very well.

 

[Saltwaterwill]

Your tank is looking good, keep up the good work

 

[dan987]

update

OK. Another overdue update. Just took my last exam. Feels great to finally have time for this.

Moved the skimmer to the sump/fuge. Found out it wasn't working because it was clogged. Long story short, I did some fixing and this shouldn't be a problem anymore. I can see the skimmer better now too. Added some more live rock (and accidentally added about 50 bristleworms). And I put a screen over the sump overflow.

Thinking about making an algae scrubber but I'm gonna wait and set how the fuge works. Also thinking about moving the heater to the sump. Not sure if it will still heat the whole tank evenly that way. The sump only runs at 300 gph and the pickup is very near the return.

The tank is looking pretty good overall.
Haven't seen my watchman goby since I aquascaped though (about 3 weeks). I think the carpet got him. It's been looking awfully pleased with itself lately.

Got a long spine urchin. He is hiding inside the big shell right now. And I got a Scopas tang. Took him over two weeks to start socializing. But he seems happy now.

 

[dan987]

Bump