Nearing semi-final plan for my first reef! Need feedback on my plan.

[hfernelius]

Hello R2R. I've posted a couple of times about planning my first reef tank. After a ton of research and advice from some very wonderful community members (@mcarroll in particular), I think I have a viable framework of a plan in place for my first tank. I'm looking to take it very slow though to optimize my chances for success. What I'm looking for in this thread is for some knowledgeable people to give my plan a second opinion, and give me some suggestions for revisions or just some generally useful advice for starting a first tank. So here it goes:

Equipment:

Tank:

40b tank
DIY stand (I think I'll use the king of diy stand)
turbelle nanostream 6020 x2
comline reefpack 250 (skimmer and filter)
Tunze nano osmolator
current usa IC x2
Jebao dosing pump (w/ two-part)
Marineland precision heater

Water Management:
TAMCO mixing paddle
Refractometer (haven't decided on brand)
20 gallon longs for water storage x2
Assorted Red Sea test kits
SALT (I have no idea what brand to use)
Refurbished 90-GPD RODI System - RODI-90-REFURB
Python Water change system

Misc. items:
Live Pukani Rock (LFS)
Caribsea Agrimax 30lb x2
Algae scraper

Livestock (the fun part):

Fish:
2 ocellaris clownfish (they just have so much personality)
1 Midas Blenny ( I LOVE this fish!)
Later: possibly one Sleeper gold head goby later down the road if space allows.

Inverts/CUC (I need advice on how many snails/hermits to add)
nassarius snail x?
blood red fire shrimp x1
blue leg hermit crab x?

Coral: (I'm a big sucker for those alien looking lps corals. I need the most advice on if these corals would work in my setup)

Duncan
Elegance
Candy cane
Various euphylia corals
Brain coral
Long tentacle plate
Bubble coral
Blastomussa
Favites
Fox coral

Sorry for the wall of text, but I just needed to get all my ideas out there.

But if you guys have any suggestions and I mean any please let me know!

Thanks in advance

 

[Ludders]

Hi, I have a question about the dosing pump. Why 2 channels? If I understood that correctly.

 

[hfernelius]

It has four pumps I believe. But I will Be dosing two part solution with it.

 

[Ludders]

Ah okay that's good. I was going to say go for at least 3, as you'll want to dose magnesium, Alkalinity and calcium.
In terms of cuc, I would usually build on this as the tank matures, rather than dump a load the maximum you will require in once matured straight away.

Have a veriety of stuff, turbo snails, cerith snails, hermits crabs, emerald crabs etc, all good.

You're definitely taking the right approach, taking your time and seeking advice and wish you the best of luck.

 

[sithrico]

For salt I would use whatever is in stock at a LFS then buy online it’s cheaper. In a pinch you can run and pick up some if you run out.
Get your refractometer from Amazon. I think I paid $20 for mine and it works great easy to read too. I would try to get the bigger ATO from tunze. I went with the Nano and it works good and all but having the extra sensors would be helpful. Good luck.

 

[hfernelius]

Thanks for the tips. I went with the nano because it fits inside the reef pack 250, but I was also wondering about the lack of switches. Idk I’ll have to look into that some more.

 

[Ludders]

What's the capacity of that ATO?

 

[hfernelius]

Designed for 50 gallon and under tanks.

 

[Ludders]

To give you an idea of consumption, I have a red sea reefer 170 and the ATO that comes with is about 1 gallon. This lasts about 2 days, so I just always keep a large bottle of RO water to hand. When I go away, I need someone to feed and maintain my systems anyway, so having only a 2 day auto supply doesn't bother me. The display tank on the reefer is about 34 gallons, which is fairly close to what you're looking at.

 

[hfernelius]

I was thinking of just using a spare 5 gallon bucket for my ato, or maybe a ten gallon tank, I could hide it in the stand since I don’t have a sump.

 

[jsker]

Great plan!!

 

[Ludders]

were you thinking of adding a sump at some stage? I do like having a sump

 

[hfernelius]

It got to be a little to expensive for what I’m trying to do. On my second build I’ll definitely add one.

 

[hfernelius]

And thanks jsker!

 

[Ludders]

Yeah I understand, I started out very basic, but arguably with a difficult system to maintain, with a small AIO 24g. Learned a lot in the first 6 months, which helped me out immensely for my other stuff. Definitely learned from my mistakes

 

[hfernelius]

I’m not too bothered by some extra maintenance, anyways I get to spend more time with the tank!

 

[Ludders]

Are you going to post some pics once you get started?

 

[hfernelius]

Most definitely! I'll start a build thread once I get the equipment together. I'm a pretty busy right now though so it might be a couple of weeks before I have time to get it all set up.

 

[Ludders]

Nice one, I'll keep an eye out