Hello All!
First off - thank you everyone for all the insane amount of information you share. You've saved me a ton of cash by providing great advice which has helped me avoid numerous costly mistakes!
After working on aquarium stores throughout high school, I decided to finally get a reef tank set up again (20+ years later!). Here's my set up. It's been live for just over 2 months now.
Would love your thoughts and feedback!
A couple questions for the group:
- Can anyone recommend a good fast growing coral I can attach to the back wall of the aquarium?
- I'm looking for some small frags that are faster growing to attach to the live rock column and arches I have. Mid-tank, moderate/high flow (given powerhead placement)
Tank: Red Sea Reefer XL 200
Light: ReefLED 90
Skimmer: Reefer Skimmer 300 (still not installed - this was out of stock. Haven't set it up yet, but the tank is running really well without it)
Powerhead: Vortech MP10 on the back right wall halfway up. I removed the second Vortech b/c my corals were closing up, thinking it was too much flow.
Return Pump: Ecotech Vectra S1
Fish:
- Small Powder Blue Tang
- Flame Angel
- 2 Percula Clowns (one black and white)
- 1 Firefish
- Diamond Watchman Goby
- Yellow Watchman Goby (partnered with Pistol Shrimp)
- Spotted Mandarin Fish
Invertebrates:
- Coral Banded Shrimp
- Cleaner Shrimp
- Blood Red Fire Shrimp
- 6 Turbo Snails
- 4 - Nassarius Snails
- Pistol Shrimp (paired with Yellow Watchman Goby)
- 4-5 Hermit grabs (blue dwarf leg and others)
Corals:
- Hammer Coral
- Green star polyps
- Green Goniopora
- 2 Open Brain corals in sand bed
- Red Goniopora
- Red/Blue Brain coral (not sure what exact species)
- Green Brain coral (not sure exact species)
- A few assorted Frags
- Blue Mushroom
- Red button polyps
Casualties:
- Large Cleaner Shrimp - not sure if the coral banded got him or if he got caught in the powerhead... just found pieces of him floating around
- First fish: Coral Beauty. Was having fun chasing bubbles and flew out of the tank. Didn't have my egg crate cover yet unfortunately
- Blue Cheek Goby: Not sure what happened there - found him dead on the sand bed.
First off - thank you everyone for all the insane amount of information you share. You've saved me a ton of cash by providing great advice which has helped me avoid numerous costly mistakes!
After working on aquarium stores throughout high school, I decided to finally get a reef tank set up again (20+ years later!). Here's my set up. It's been live for just over 2 months now.
Would love your thoughts and feedback!
A couple questions for the group:
- Can anyone recommend a good fast growing coral I can attach to the back wall of the aquarium?
- I'm looking for some small frags that are faster growing to attach to the live rock column and arches I have. Mid-tank, moderate/high flow (given powerhead placement)
Tank: Red Sea Reefer XL 200
Light: ReefLED 90
Skimmer: Reefer Skimmer 300 (still not installed - this was out of stock. Haven't set it up yet, but the tank is running really well without it)
Powerhead: Vortech MP10 on the back right wall halfway up. I removed the second Vortech b/c my corals were closing up, thinking it was too much flow.
Return Pump: Ecotech Vectra S1
Fish:
- Small Powder Blue Tang
- Flame Angel
- 2 Percula Clowns (one black and white)
- 1 Firefish
- Diamond Watchman Goby
- Yellow Watchman Goby (partnered with Pistol Shrimp)
- Spotted Mandarin Fish
Invertebrates:
- Coral Banded Shrimp
- Cleaner Shrimp
- Blood Red Fire Shrimp
- 6 Turbo Snails
- 4 - Nassarius Snails
- Pistol Shrimp (paired with Yellow Watchman Goby)
- 4-5 Hermit grabs (blue dwarf leg and others)
Corals:
- Hammer Coral
- Green star polyps
- Green Goniopora
- 2 Open Brain corals in sand bed
- Red Goniopora
- Red/Blue Brain coral (not sure what exact species)
- Green Brain coral (not sure exact species)
- A few assorted Frags
- Blue Mushroom
- Red button polyps
Casualties:
- Large Cleaner Shrimp - not sure if the coral banded got him or if he got caught in the powerhead... just found pieces of him floating around
- First fish: Coral Beauty. Was having fun chasing bubbles and flew out of the tank. Didn't have my egg crate cover yet unfortunately
- Blue Cheek Goby: Not sure what happened there - found him dead on the sand bed.