Newbie 20 Long Build

[Schuyler]

This will be me build for my first saltwater aquarium.

I haven't quite finalized everything but so far what I'm planning on is:

Tank: a standard 20 Long with a glass lid to prevent stuff falling in. The back with have a black window film to hide all the wires.

Filter: A Seachem Tidal 35

Light: Finex Planted - It's what I have currently on the tank that will be converted to saltwater. I only plan on growing basic softies for now but maybe I'll ask for a fancier light for Christmas.

Other equipment:

Hard scape: 20lbs rock & 40 lbs Special Grade Arag-Alive! Reef Sand

Livestock:
- Goby and shrimp pair
- Clown pair
- Easy soft corals
- Bubble tip

 

[boacvh]

Look forward to some pics and mor details on the plan!
I'd Say for the bubble tip you will likely need a good light. Most Softies are ok with weaker lights but I just don't know the details of the one you have and if it will be enough. My other recommendation is to replace the glass lids with a screen instead. I tried glass at the start and the salt creep gets everywhere, had to clean them constantly. Also prevents the light from coming in.

 

[TX_REEF]

congrats on your first saltwater tank!

agreed with above, you need a reef-focused light. The white-focused spectrum of your freshwater planted light will likely fuel growth of nuissance algae than coral/anemones. There are plenty of affordable options around, such as:

hygger: https://amzn.to/3IChZMg
noopsyche: https://noopsychereeflight.com/prod...asldCBPOa-d_YylmjFlRwNDZKUSDueCZXx2dLglAl567h

Also, don't rush to add the anemone. They tend to do far better in stable tanks. If you add them too soon and aren't experienced in keeping parameters stable with well-established bio-filter, it will likely end with dead anemones (which may kill other inhabitants) and wasted money. Patience is key, nothing good happens fast in reefing.

 

[Schuyler]

Look forward to some pics and mor details on the plan!
I'd Say for the bubble tip you will likely need a good light. Most Softies are ok with weaker lights but I just don't know the details of the one you have and if it will be enough. My other recommendation is to replace the glass lids with a screen instead. I tried glass at the start and the salt creep gets everywhere, had to clean them constantly. Also prevents the light from coming in.

This is the current tank. It's in the kitchen under a cabinet. My fear with a mesh lid is that something could fall through the mesh into the tank. There's also the risk of kids being messy when cooking and getting flour or some other food into the tank on accident.

I plan on removing the hinge so that it doesn't block light then using some 3D printed mods so that the lid panels slide rather than swing open.

But that is good to know about the salt creep... Was it happening everywhere or mainly back by the filter?

 

[Schuyler]

congrats on your first saltwater tank!

agreed with above, you need a reef-focused light. The white-focused spectrum of your freshwater planted light will likely fuel growth of nuissance algae than coral/anemones. There are plenty of affordable options around, such as:

hygger: https://amzn.to/3IChZMg
noopsyche: https://noopsychereeflight.com/prod...asldCBPOa-d_YylmjFlRwNDZKUSDueCZXx2dLglAl567h

Also, don't rush to add the anemone. They tend to do far better in stable tanks. If you add them too soon and aren't experienced in keeping parameters stable with well-established bio-filter, it will likely end with dead anemones (which may kill other inhabitants) and wasted money. Patience is key, nothing good happens fast in reefing.

I'll check out those light suggestions. The light I have does have options for adjusting the spectrum some.

My plan is to at least let it cycle for a month before adding any livestock. I'm going to ask some club members I trust to see if they have any cycled media they can share and my plan is to get some live rock so hopefully that helps speed things up.

Then I'm planning on adding the clown because I'm told they're pretty bulletproof.

Then maybe after Christmas I'll have some gift cards to LFSs that I can use to get more livestock

 

[Schuyler]

This weekend I've picked up my first piece of equipment and I've reached out to the local club to find other saltwater hobbyists.

I found someone who's worked for saltwater maintenance for over 20 years who said he's willing to share some live rock and coral rubble (along with some advice).

My plan is to visit different saltwater LFS in the area to get a feel for what's available and buy a few items from each (depending on what they have).

This weekend I visited Sierra Fish & Pets in Renton WA since there a sponsor of the local club and give a club discount. https://maps.app.goo.gl/PYuTXhSYYYYcyRkd6

The equipment I picked up was the Seachem Tidal 35.

This LFS had a softy tank that was a 15 gallon tank with just two aquaclears and no other flow. It was basically all GSP with a Kenya tree and a gorgonian. (Looking back, I should have gotten a picture for reference).

 

[Gumbies R Us]

Following along!

 

[Schuyler]

I got way more rock than I need from OfferUp (over 100 lbs). The nice things is that it meant I could pick through and break up some rocks. But I'll also probably need to cure them. I'm going to pressure wash them and then use bleach to cut the pieces in actually planning on using.

I'm trying out configurations. I set out a towel to the measurements of the base and used a box to get an idea for the height. This is my first one that I like:

 

[Schuyler]

I've pressure washed all of the rock I bought and then roughly 2/3 of it is now sitting in bleach with a pump to do a bleach cure.

The previous owner said that his tank flooded after a power outage happened and overflowed to his stump. I'm not sure how long this rock has been in storage so I'm giving it all a thorough cleaning. At least everything I plan to use.

 

[Schuyler]

Well... My house smells like a cheap hotel swimming pool and I now have official dedicated aquarium towels.

They have been moved back outside to finish gassing off the chlorine.

(This was in my garage before they went back outside)

Now I'm going through some layouts:

 

[Schuyler]

I haven't posted but a lot had happened. I settled on this for the layout:

I traded some freshwater fish for some established live rock, a colony of GSP, some dragons breath algae, and a little Kenya tree.

I set the tank up a week before Thanksgiving. So that the corals wouldn't be sitting in a bucket too long.

Eventually I'll pull out some of the extra live rock but for now I'm leaving it until things get more established.

I added 4 hermit crabs now that diatoms are starting to grow on the sand.

I've thrown in some extra brine shrimp I've had from feeding fry to see how the flow looks, to hopefully give the corals some food, and just to add some nitrogen.

It's a bit crazy how far the Kenya tree is growing.

 

[Schuyler]

Quick update.

I finally have a refractometer and it turns out my salinity was up to 1.030. Looks like I'm not good at estimating top offs.

I see some Coraline algae forming

The GSP seems happy and I also have some hermits that are trucking along nicely:

 

[Tahoe61]

Absolutely love the red macro algae, nice scape as well.

 

[Schuyler]

It's been a while since I last posted. The tank is doing well. I'm finding tons of random critters that hitchhiked on the rock I got from the other hobbyist. Like this little fan worm thing:

I've added a toadstool and a cabbage leather:

(Not the best picture, that's right after I added it and it was stressed out)

I also got around calurpa:

The only livestock that I've added so far is this peppermint shrimp, some snails, and some hermits:

I plan on bringing that clump of chaeto to a club auction. It was mixed in with my calurpa when I bought it and it felt like a waste to just throw it away but I didn't have a sump.