My first saltwater venture

[Bigals-nano-1]

Hey all just wanted to share my first saltwater tank build with you. I purchased this tank second hand on June 15th 2021 and started it cycling that day with substrate from another tank, dry rock bought from LFS and some media that had been running in another tank. I used the Red Sea reef mature kit and everything seemed to go fine. I am running the Fluval PT2 skimmer in chamber 1 (which can be a bit fiddly to get it set properly), a diy basket in chamber two with filter floss on the top, Fluval carbon bag on the middle shelf and Fluval Biomax on the bottom shelf. I have the original return pump in chamber 3 fitted with a 1/2” random flow generator on the outlet. I also have a 50w heater in this chamber. I have fitted a Sicce Voyager Nano 1000 wave maker to give a bit extra flow around the tank and will see how it goes with the stock pump. I’m running the standard light controlled by a Nicrew single channel Led ramp timer pro. I have added the CUC over the past 10 days which now consists of 5 nassarius snails, 2 red legged hermit crabs, 2 turbo snails, 2 cleaner shrimp and 5 sexy shrimp. Added some corals a couple of days ago and they all seem to be opening and happy.( Zoas, mushrooms, green star polyp and a tiny green Kenya tree frag.) I plan to add a pair of clowns to this tank I a week or so then maybe one other fish in a month or so. I’m looking forward to seeing things grow in this tank for a while before deciding what other corals to add. (any suggestions?) I have only been very lightly feeding the tank (a couple of pellets once a day) for the last few days as the cuc have done a great job on the algae that had formed and don’t want them to starve. Thanks for looking and I will try to keep this updated as things are developing

 

[Peace River]

#WelcometoR2R!!! It looks like your are off to a good start with your adventure!

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

#WelcometoR2R!!! It looks like your are off to a good start with your adventure!

Thanks, it’s been many hour of research and researching more but very enjoyable along the way. I have kept tropical tanks for 5 years and finally got round to taking the plunge into saltwater.

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

So things have moved on a bit and there is now a pair of clowns in the tank along with a few new corals and everything seems to going good. I found that my temperature was rising a few degrees during the daytime when the lights were on so I added a custom DIY fan to the stock hood and control the temperature with a heating/cooling temp controller. I have also upgraded the stock return pump to the eheim compacton 600 and this is now giving a much better flow around the tank.

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

So the fan mod is working great and keeping my temperature at 26°c +\- 0.3°c and everything seems to be coming along great. Added a few more corals and after a wee bit of moving things around I think they are all happy now apart from the candy cane which is not opening up fully to show it’s full beauty. Hopefully this will just be sulking and open up soon. I’m waiting on my LFS to get a Spot tail blenny in stock then it will be the final inhabitant of the tank. I need to stop buying corals though as I’m beginning to run out of space to put them so my plan is to just let things grow and see how it develops. It’s been a steep learning curve but loving every minute of it. The two clowns, Bonbon and Boo are doing great and seem to have taken up residence at the right hand side of the tank so hopefully they won’t bother the tail spot once added.

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

Things a coming along and most of the corals seem happy, showing signs of growing. Still waiting on my LFS to get a tailspot blenny in for me to add to the tank but it is hard not to buy more corals when I visit weekly to collect water.

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

Not posted here for a while and things have came on a fair bit. I have got rid of the stock light, I went with a kessil A160 tuna blue with a spectral controller and what a difference. I have steadily been added corals and lost a few along the way but I put that down to learning. Everything now seems to be going good and thriving which i feel is down to the tank maturing more along with me managing to keep the parameters more stable. I am dosing 2ml of all for reef via a dosing pump over a 24hr period and installed an auto top up which has definitely made things easier and consistent. I have the bioload of this small part of the ocean in my kitchen maxed out now with a pair of clown fish, dot dash blenny, yellow watchman goby paired with a pistol shrimp, 4 sexy shrimp, 2 cleaner shrimp, small blue tuxedo urchin, 2 hermit crabs and some various snails. I find myself sitting gazing into the tank and love watching all the various going on’s as there is always something to see. Happy new year and Happy reefing to all.

 

[Bigals-nano-1]

Things are still going well apart from my two torch corals that refuse to open up fully. I have added a couple more corals and had a slight shuffle around of some others. Slowly changed to mixing my own Red Sea coral pro saltwater instead of buying pre mixed from lfs as I was finding that theirs was not always consistent. Not got much real estate left for new corals but no doubt I will be able to find space for a few more haha. Happy reefing.