New To The Hobby: My Plan

[Alvanck]

Hi all! After months and months of research I think I’m ready to jump in! I came up with a game plan in my head…. Wondering if anybody can correct me if I’m wrong here with any of the steps.

I purchased an innovative marine 25 Gallon Lagoon Tank.

My plan was to do a fishless cycle. I know Ammonia and Nitrite have to be at zero.

After the cycle my plan was to add 2 clowns and some cleanup crew members after a a month or 2.

I was then going wait a few months probably 6 months or so to add an anemone for the clowns and some coral.

I know that algae is a huge concern and everybody recommends tangs however with the tank being smaller I don’t think I can house one.

A couple of follow up questions…

For this take what makes a good clean up crew (animal and number if possible). Any other fish that could help with algae? I don’t want to overcrowd the tank so I’m thinking no more than 4 fish (please correct me if I’m wrong)

Thanks all! Looking forward to getting involved more with this hobby!

 

[Fish Fan]

Welcome to Reef2Reef!

#WelcometoR2R

These are some great questions for the R2R Reef Squad team: #reefsquad

I'll add a few thoughts; great choice with the IM 25, that's a great first tank

If you use dry rock and sand (even "live" bagged sands like CaribbSea), then you would want to do a fishless cycle. You would want to add your bottled bacteria and enough ammonium chloride or baking ammonia (ammonium carbonate) to raise the ammonia to about 2.0 ppm. Then, watch for the ammonia to drop to nearly zero, and you should be good to start to slowly add some livestock. You don't have to measure or worry about nitrite at all, it's not toxic in saltwater, unlike how it is toxic in freshwater tanks. If you have any questions about cycling, please let us know.

If you use real, wet live rock from a quality Local Fish Store (LFS) or from a mariculture facility such as Tampa Bay Saltwater two things will happen. One, your tank will basically be instantly cycled, and instantly ready for livestock, no 3 week cycle needed. And, by using real live rock you can avoid most to all of that "ugly algae" stage that is very common with dry rock starts, and can last a year or more.

Dry rock is cheaper, and other than the time it takes the rock to mature, there's nothing wrong with using it. You will see algae that you can manage with clean up crew critters or possibly a fish like a Lawnmower Blennie would be alright in a 25 gallon lagoon. Definitely no Tangs in a 25, there's a whole police force that watches for things like that, and you don't want to get on their bad side

If you want an anemone, I think it's a great idea to wait at last 6 months for the tank to stabilize. However, in my opinion, there's no need to wait several months before adding corals. Choose some easy, beginner corals such as Zoas, Green Star Polyps, mushrooms, even a Duncan, etc. These corals are fine to add right away, only with very delicate Acropora and such should you wait to add them to a brand new tank.

For clean up critters, check out Reef Cleaners for information on what's available, what eats what, and recommendations for numbers. However, don't go overboard, you don't want so many critters that they have nothing to eat, and then either starve or start eating each other.

I hope that helps for now, and please post back with any further questions!

Good luck with your build!

 

[Fish Fan]

Some videos on easy corals to try that may help:




If you're brand new to reefing, this guide would be helpful:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/the-supreme-guide-to-setting-up-a-saltwater-reef-aquarium.138750/
As well as this beginner video series:

 

[Rocks reef]

Welcome to R2R.

Fish Fan pretty much nailed it in his reply!

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Welcome to R2R! Follow what Fish Fan posted and you will be good!

 

[Alvanck]

Thanks All!

One question I do have is the chemistry of such. Which things should I be testing each week and what are the ideal numbers for a 25 gallon tank? I’m guessing that is what is referred to as the tank being “stable” just want to make sure all of my ducks (or fish) are in a row!

Thanks again all great information and a great group of folks!

 

[Fish Fan]

There's a chemistry sub-forum for any chem related questions, and with a lot of great info stickied at the top:
https://www.reef2reef.com/forums/reef-chemistry-by-randy-holmes-farley.295/
For testing, definite make sure to check temp and salinity. An Auto Top Off (ATO) system is highly suggested as it keeps your salinity stable, and you don't have to manually top off every day. A heater controller is also a wise idea too

Knowing your nitrate and ideally phosphate is import for managing algae growth, as well as for coral health, so I'd suggest getting test kits for those two.

Then, for coral care the "big three" that you hear people talking about are Alkalinity, Calcium, and Magnesium. But, here's the deal: if you're just getting started and likely looking to keep easy growing Zoas, softies, and easy LPS, and you do regular, partial water changes, you don't have to worry about these parameters at all. The water changes will keep these elements in line for these corals.

As you progress in the hobby, then yes, you would want to test for at least Alk, and possibly Calk. Mag is important, but there's a method to manage it that does not require testing for it. If you wanted to, it wouldn't be a bad idea to pick up an Alk test kit at this time, but if you do water changes and keep easy corals you can get away without it for now.

For test kits, I'd suggest ordering Salifert brand, they are reasonably priced and well trusted. API and others are not considered reliable by many R2R members, though they are fine for things like cycling your tank. Hanna Checkers are popular and trusted, but pricey to purchase and replace the reagents. You can often find them for sale used in the R2R marketplace though.

For levels, you'll get lots of advice and suggests, and largely they are all right. Aim for stability over trying to hit a certain range. But to answer your question, I like to follow the guide from Randy Holmes-Farley on where to keep your levels. Randy is a PhD chemist, and has been a reef tank guru for many, many years now:
https://www.reef2reef.com/threads/article-thoughts-on-nutrient-target-ranges.1095268/
I hope this helps!

 

[tbrown]

Thanks All!

One question I do have is the chemistry of such. Which things should I be testing each week and what are the ideal numbers for a 25 gallon tank? I’m guessing that is what is referred to as the tank being “stable” just want to make sure all of my ducks (or fish) are in a row!

Thanks again all great information and a great group of folks!

I'm going to jump in right here:

Ideal numbers for a 25 gallon tank are what works best for you and your plan. Some prefer to chase numbers and go crazy doing it, others automate and make things mostly stable, while others let things shift around and let the tank tell them how it looks.

pH is something you're going to want to keep stable as is Alkalinity (which will help keep pH stable). Temperature you're also going to want to keep things from swinging around a lot.

What that means for you? Pick a temperature (usually between 76-80 somewhere - I like 78° personally), pick an alkalinity (6.5 dKh to 8 or 9 dKh), and see what your pH looks like (8.0 is good, mine sits around 7.8).

Once you have your numbers, see what you need to do to stay at or near those. Some corals and algaes (plus snails and such) require alkalinity so that will deplete along with calcium and magnesium - base those numbers off of your alkalinity usage and the need to test frequently lessens.

Next - nutrients: phosphates and nitrates. If you want SPS corals (Small Polyp Stony) eventually, keeping alkalinity under 9 means you can run lower phosphates - but stay above 0.0. Nitrates can be lower as well but not 0. 5-10 is the "recommendation" (I run closer to 50 usually).

Nitrates and phosphates feed some corals but they also feed algaes so too high, you get algae, too low you get suffering coral. Figure out what works best for your tank though.