morgank689
New Member
Hey Y'all!
New to the hobby and loving it so far! Added fish to my first saltwater tank May 2 and it's been anxiety inducing ever since! Lol. Just kidding it's been great! So lets begin with some info about my tank!
I got intrigued by that amazing sale Petco runs and was like "lets start a reef tank"...so here I am. Picked up a 40 gallon breeder in the beginning of April and started getting my supplies. I got dry sand and rock so I could make sure it was only populated with the bacteria I wanted it to be for the beginning. Invested in an RO/DI system already as an avid plant mom so didn't need that! Started off the tank with IO Reef Crystals mixed with RO/DI by a couple of powerheads to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in a Brute trash can. I set two wave makers on either side in the front part of the tank about 1/3 of the way back pointed directly at each other for the flow to hit and create some nice variance. I also have two heaters in the tank. One to heat and one just in case set a degree behind the main heater. Started the nitrogen cycle (05/02) with two clowns and a bottle of Fritz bacteria. Feeding LRS Reef Frenzy Nano frozen food. I also have a Trigger 25 Sapphire sump with a refugium set up in it. The refugium has a bunch of bio cubes and a bottle of Fritz turbo start was also used to start its cycle. A week later I added a thing of clean chaeto and 5280 pods from algae barn and I try and remember every night to feed them with the ocean magik phytoplankton. I have a Innovative Marine Chaetomax light on the refugium to keep the chaeto from dying. I also have two AI prime 16 HD Reef lights attached to the tank already, however I have never turned them on (per Ryans instruction from BRStv's 5 minute guide). I've seen ALOT of hours of BRStv! Just had my first change in ammonia this past week (05/18). Ammonia spiked (using the API test kit, I know, don't drag me) but has gone back down to normal levels. Nitrite levels are still up (it's a nice royal shade of purple) and the nitrate levels are nice and low. I keep a log but honestly its just a guess as to where i'm at because the color water mine turns out to be is NEVER a color on the color chart, go figure. Will be investing in Hanna meters asap. I think that's all of the info I have atm. Please any advice welcome! All the best! ~Kayla
New to the hobby and loving it so far! Added fish to my first saltwater tank May 2 and it's been anxiety inducing ever since! Lol. Just kidding it's been great! So lets begin with some info about my tank!
I got intrigued by that amazing sale Petco runs and was like "lets start a reef tank"...so here I am. Picked up a 40 gallon breeder in the beginning of April and started getting my supplies. I got dry sand and rock so I could make sure it was only populated with the bacteria I wanted it to be for the beginning. Invested in an RO/DI system already as an avid plant mom so didn't need that! Started off the tank with IO Reef Crystals mixed with RO/DI by a couple of powerheads to 77 degrees Fahrenheit in a Brute trash can. I set two wave makers on either side in the front part of the tank about 1/3 of the way back pointed directly at each other for the flow to hit and create some nice variance. I also have two heaters in the tank. One to heat and one just in case set a degree behind the main heater. Started the nitrogen cycle (05/02) with two clowns and a bottle of Fritz bacteria. Feeding LRS Reef Frenzy Nano frozen food. I also have a Trigger 25 Sapphire sump with a refugium set up in it. The refugium has a bunch of bio cubes and a bottle of Fritz turbo start was also used to start its cycle. A week later I added a thing of clean chaeto and 5280 pods from algae barn and I try and remember every night to feed them with the ocean magik phytoplankton. I have a Innovative Marine Chaetomax light on the refugium to keep the chaeto from dying. I also have two AI prime 16 HD Reef lights attached to the tank already, however I have never turned them on (per Ryans instruction from BRStv's 5 minute guide). I've seen ALOT of hours of BRStv! Just had my first change in ammonia this past week (05/18). Ammonia spiked (using the API test kit, I know, don't drag me) but has gone back down to normal levels. Nitrite levels are still up (it's a nice royal shade of purple) and the nitrate levels are nice and low. I keep a log but honestly its just a guess as to where i'm at because the color water mine turns out to be is NEVER a color on the color chart, go figure. Will be investing in Hanna meters asap. I think that's all of the info I have atm. Please any advice welcome! All the best! ~Kayla
