New 60-P First Reef Tank, 16g

[burnsq]

Hello all,

this is my first post.
I came across this forum while doing my research for my first saltwater aquarium. So firstly, thank you for all the great information here.

I am coming from freshwater and still have two freshwater tanks, then my wife wanted to try saltwater, of course I did not say no :)

I wanted to (kind of) go my own way and did not want to buy an All in one kit.

The tank is an ADA 60p (60x30x36 cm) 64l/16g
Pump/Filter: Aquaclear 20
Light: Two 30 W hygger marine
Skimmer: Tunze 9001
Heater: Eheim e 75W
ATO: FZzone (not set up yet)
Wavemaker: Hygger mini (controllable)

Dry rock (Arka myreef)
Aqua Forest Bio Sand (did not add the bacteria)
RODi: Aquamedic 190
Tropic Marin Reef Salt 385g/10 L

I kept the reef rock the middle to that the water can circulate around it and I can clean the sand more easily.

The tank is now running for 2 weeks.

I was dosing Arka Nite-out daily and Special Blend once. I ghost-feed with rotten shrimp / mussels water, to get the bacteria going.

The light is on for the last 3 days 9h a day at 33-50 %, one more blue than the other. The time before a did a dark start.

My water parameter (tropic marine test kit)

KH: 5 (raised it with Arka (microbe lift) Complete - dose to 7,5 but now it still only reads 6, … I dosed again - have to test again soon.

Nitrite: 0.05 mg/l
Nitrate: 5 mg/l
Phosphate: 0,25 mg/l
PH: 8
Ammonium: 0,2 mg/l

Effective water volume is around: 53L (14g) , and I still want to raise the water level around a cm or 2 when the inhabitants are in.

My Questions:

Do you have any idea why my KH dropped to 5? I tested it twice - Does the bacteria consume alkalinity?

I probably should keep testing until Ammonium and Phosphate goes down? Or is it safe to add live stock already, when I add Nite-out daily again?

Any coral advice? I was thinking beginner corals of course: GSP, Pulsing Xenia, Leather Toadstool, maybe clavularia, Kenya Tree. An other ideas? :)

I wanted to add the cleaner shrimp and snails first, and later a pair of natural coloured Ocellaris clown fish, and then the corals
or everything together? Or corals first? I read so many different advice?
Are two cleaner shrimp ok?
Which snails? Are hermit crabs advisable?

Any advice on the salinity dosing (gram to 10 L) with the Tropic Marin reef salt? It reads 1-2 PSU to high on my Arka refractometer. (Probably just have to keep trying)

Any other comments?

I keep you updated :)

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along! Cant wait to see how the tank progresses!

 

[burnsq]

Just tested the water again today:

Ammonium is still at 0,2 mg/l, Nitrite went down to 0,00 and KH and PH rose to 7 and 8,3 (because of the Arka Complete dosing).

Phosphate stayed at 0,2 aswell (maybe went down a little from 0,25)

Any idea why Ammonium is still high, with zero Nitrite?

Is it safe to add fish/corals/shrimp?

Here some more pictures of the still empty tank.

 

[burnsq]

Update!

Today we went to the kinda local LFS and got out first beginner corals and three hermit crabs. The guy there recommended to put some zooplankton with green water in the tank as well and we did it. That made the water murky. There was some asterina starfish and stuff on the corals but I did not care. Let‘s see how it will develop.

Can you tell me what the purple coral( single photo 082) is?

 

[burnsq]

Some new pictures, still no fish. Algae starts coming in.
The Rhodactis howesii did finally stay put in a hole after wandering around and I unsuccessfully tried to glue it - did not know they behaved like „real“ anemones.

 

[burnsq]

Some new corals, still no fish. Have not decided yet, you think Kaudernis would fit? We want a somewhat „sustainable“ and hardy fish.

 

[burnsq]

Update:

Got 2 clownfish. The bigger one killed the smaller (see other thread).
And 1 cleaner shrimp / tube worm.
The SPS on the left side is also new.
So far so good. Some coralline algae is developing. I am dosing to keep KH and calcium and trace elements up. No water changes yet.

 

[Tahoe61]

It looks fantastic. How to you like the wave maker?

 

[burnsq]

Thank you!

The wave maker works fine - on 100 % it is more than enough for my simple corals. There are 5 time slots during the day and I mostly run it on 40-60 % with mostly wave simulation. For this price it is a great product imo.

 

[Tahoe61]

Thank you!

The wave maker works fine - on 100 % it is more than enough for my simple corals. There are 5 time slots during the day and I mostly run it on 40-60 % with mostly wave simulation. For this price it is a great product imo.

Good to hear, I just bought one.

What testing method are you using?
Have you thought about using a product like All For Reef? If you have hooked up the ATO you can just add the appropriate amount to the ATO and test accordingly.

Maybe consider switching saltmix to Reef Crystals when you run out of Tropic, that might boost and maintain a higher alk.

 

[burnsq]

Thanks for the advice. In fact I did just today think that All For Reef would be easier. I will probably switch to it

 

[burnsq]

Thanks for the advice. In fact I did just today think that All For Reef would be easier. I will probably switch to it

Ah and I use the Tropic Marin Test Kits with drops - I think they are not very accurate on Phosphate and Ammonium because the color is hard to distinguish, but for this tank it must be enough I think

 

[burnsq]

Another Update:

 

[burnsq]

I changed the background to a backlight screen. Will mean a lot more algae cleaning. But I like the look.
I have problems with some SPS they retract their polyps. I had 0 Nitrate and arounf. 0,03 Phosphate. I started dosing coral food / amino acids. Hopefully it works out.

 

[burnsq]

Now featuring anemones.

 

[burnsq]

 

[burnsq]

Update

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Update

The growth of your coral is great! Are you doing anything special to make your coral grow?

 

[burnsq]

Thanks for asking.
Actually I had some problems with any SPS except the Montiporas. (I changed their location due to the anemone)
I learned that Iodine was way to low and I had to do some waterchanges from time to time even though my bioload was low and I was dosing regualary.

Nothing special I guess:
I dose to keep KH and Calcium stable, Mg from time to time and dose traces weekly. I feed frozen food 2-3 times a week mixed with AB+ from RedSea.

 

[burnsq]

1 Year Update :)