Just getting into Saltwater. been lurking on the forums for a few months now, watching a lot of BRStv, Fragbox, etc. Reading every little articles i can get my fingies on. About 3, coming up on 4 weeks ago I went ahead and made the wallet punching leap and got myself what I'd need. Build is as follows:
Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion Pro 2 14 Peninsula.
Pumps: Comes stock with MightyJet 326gph DC pump. Also have a Nero3 incase i need more flow later on.
Lighting: 2x AI Blade Coral Grow mounted parallel 5" above water surface, 6 inches apart. via AI HMS arm.
Sand: 10lbs Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink.
Rock: Dry MarcoRock. Purchased around 20 lbs of various shapes, have around 10~ish in the DT. See filtrations below, as Maxspect adverts every 10 "spheres" to be equal to 20 lbs of rock, i have about 20 sphere's in the back chambers.
Filtration: InTank basket in chamber 1 with 1.5" thick floss and Maxspect bio media. InTank media basket in chamber 2 with more Maxspect Bio media for now.
Heater: IM Helio 100W Titanium heater w/controller. Currently set to 80F to propagate bacteria.
ATO: I don't remember what my ATO is, but it works great for now. will likely upgrade it for an Osmolator Nano in the first year along with buying or building a larger container for the top off RO/DI water.
Salt: I am using AquaForest Reef Salt. I'll be fish and inverts only for atleast 3 months minimum before buying my first couple soft corals. I could have saved money on a fish and invert only targeted salt but, from what I gather it seems best to set your baseline from the start and stay with it, so that's what I'm doin.
The plan: 2 Mocha Occelaris Clowns. That's it for fish. I had considered adding either a Two Spot Signal Goby(which may be pushing it on fish) or a Clown Goby, but I have concerns about the Clowns pairing, spawning, and then annihilating a third fish in a territorial tangent. (if anyone has experience that airs on the safe side please let me know, as I think clown gobies are just so friggin adorable)
For corals I would like to stay with softies and LPS. Yuma's, Hammers, Zoa's, and if I can find them, bubble corals and things of that like.
Invert CuC team will likely be standard fair. a couple each of Astrea, Trochus, and Nassarius snails. along with a small team of hermits. I have also considered a single orange or pink lip conch as the flagship invert. CuC will be added as the uglies begin, as food becomes available and not a day before. I'm also looking at adding a jar of copepods and feeding phyto before even the Fish go in. The recent experiment run that BRS did on microfauna and combatting the uglies by having something as simple as a few pod species present from the start has me looking at cycling a whole new way.
I'd also like to look at the possibility of a clam. I really like Crocea's, but i know they can require SPS levels of PAR, and I don't know if i want to struggle trying to balance that while not bleaching out the softies. I would still be fine with something like a Derasa, and simply donating it if it gets too large and I haven't upgraded tanks by that time.
Anyways, that's my build and plans. I know plans don't always go accordingly, and I'm as ready for that to be the case as I realistically can be. I will include some photo's of the setup to show the rockwork I have thus far. I'm optimistic, and I know smaller tanks are harder to maintain than larger ones because smaller problems snowball faster. This is set directly beside my desk. it's in a place where I work from home for 8 hours a day, and typically spend another couple on top of that recreationally each day. I decided to make it deskside specifically so it cannot be ignored, and changes can be noticed much sooner. I'm ready and excited for the challenge!
Any input is of course welcome.
Tank: IM Nuvo Fusion Pro 2 14 Peninsula.
Pumps: Comes stock with MightyJet 326gph DC pump. Also have a Nero3 incase i need more flow later on.
Lighting: 2x AI Blade Coral Grow mounted parallel 5" above water surface, 6 inches apart. via AI HMS arm.
Sand: 10lbs Caribsea Arag-Alive Fiji Pink.
Rock: Dry MarcoRock. Purchased around 20 lbs of various shapes, have around 10~ish in the DT. See filtrations below, as Maxspect adverts every 10 "spheres" to be equal to 20 lbs of rock, i have about 20 sphere's in the back chambers.
Filtration: InTank basket in chamber 1 with 1.5" thick floss and Maxspect bio media. InTank media basket in chamber 2 with more Maxspect Bio media for now.
Heater: IM Helio 100W Titanium heater w/controller. Currently set to 80F to propagate bacteria.
ATO: I don't remember what my ATO is, but it works great for now. will likely upgrade it for an Osmolator Nano in the first year along with buying or building a larger container for the top off RO/DI water.
Salt: I am using AquaForest Reef Salt. I'll be fish and inverts only for atleast 3 months minimum before buying my first couple soft corals. I could have saved money on a fish and invert only targeted salt but, from what I gather it seems best to set your baseline from the start and stay with it, so that's what I'm doin.
The plan: 2 Mocha Occelaris Clowns. That's it for fish. I had considered adding either a Two Spot Signal Goby(which may be pushing it on fish) or a Clown Goby, but I have concerns about the Clowns pairing, spawning, and then annihilating a third fish in a territorial tangent. (if anyone has experience that airs on the safe side please let me know, as I think clown gobies are just so friggin adorable)
For corals I would like to stay with softies and LPS. Yuma's, Hammers, Zoa's, and if I can find them, bubble corals and things of that like.
Invert CuC team will likely be standard fair. a couple each of Astrea, Trochus, and Nassarius snails. along with a small team of hermits. I have also considered a single orange or pink lip conch as the flagship invert. CuC will be added as the uglies begin, as food becomes available and not a day before. I'm also looking at adding a jar of copepods and feeding phyto before even the Fish go in. The recent experiment run that BRS did on microfauna and combatting the uglies by having something as simple as a few pod species present from the start has me looking at cycling a whole new way.
I'd also like to look at the possibility of a clam. I really like Crocea's, but i know they can require SPS levels of PAR, and I don't know if i want to struggle trying to balance that while not bleaching out the softies. I would still be fine with something like a Derasa, and simply donating it if it gets too large and I haven't upgraded tanks by that time.
Anyways, that's my build and plans. I know plans don't always go accordingly, and I'm as ready for that to be the case as I realistically can be. I will include some photo's of the setup to show the rockwork I have thus far. I'm optimistic, and I know smaller tanks are harder to maintain than larger ones because smaller problems snowball faster. This is set directly beside my desk. it's in a place where I work from home for 8 hours a day, and typically spend another couple on top of that recreationally each day. I decided to make it deskside specifically so it cannot be ignored, and changes can be noticed much sooner. I'm ready and excited for the challenge!
Any input is of course welcome.