I’m a little late posting but I thought I’d share as I started this tank very differently than other tanks I’ve started.
April 10 2018 I added water to a tank with mix of Caribsea life rock, Reel Reef Rock and dry sand. This was my first time not using live rock.
This tank sat without lights and just a circulating return pump for a couple weeks.
April 25 I added fish. I’ve never cycled my tank with fish but it’s been done before so I was game for a different way of doing things. I also added a temporary hydra LED to get some algae growing as I also put a ton of hermits and snails in the tank with the fish. I added a large cleanup with a variety of snail types because I’ve dealt with algae in the past and my theory was algae is going to grow so keep in manageable from the beginning.
Cycling the tank with fish was pretty stressful. Testing water multiple times a day and watching how the fish were behaving. I dosed Sechem prime and stability religiously per instructions on the bottle. I bought all my fish at once and had plenty of water available to do massive water changes and plans to remove invertebrates etc if the tank needed to be treated for disease. I’ve dealt with ick in the past and did not want it in this tank. My theory for buying all the fish at once was to be able to treat if needed before adding coral. Thankfully I have not had to deal with fish disease in my tank.
By May 16th the tank was fully cycled.
May 25th I added a few corals to the tank to see how they’d do. I added a few chalice frags and some zoas which I still have today. Sorry I don’t have any pics when they were first added.
The first of July we took our yearly trip to Utah to visit family and I brought back a load of frags from my brother in-law.
July 16 I traded out my single hydra for a set of radion gen 4s and added two MP40s. Shortly after I started added some SPS.
In the beginning I was planning on a low nutrient system but soon learned about the benefits of phosphates and nitrates in a reef tank. I started feeding more frequently via auto feeder to get my nutrient levels up. I’m currently feeding pellets via auto feeder 5 times a day and frozen at night. I also feed benepets a couple times a week. That has kept phosphate at .01-.02 and nitrates at 10.
I’ve been really pleased with how my tank is doing. Things have been growing like crazy and coloring up nicely.
My tank is now 7 months old. Here’s how things look today
April 10 2018 I added water to a tank with mix of Caribsea life rock, Reel Reef Rock and dry sand. This was my first time not using live rock.
This tank sat without lights and just a circulating return pump for a couple weeks.
April 25 I added fish. I’ve never cycled my tank with fish but it’s been done before so I was game for a different way of doing things. I also added a temporary hydra LED to get some algae growing as I also put a ton of hermits and snails in the tank with the fish. I added a large cleanup with a variety of snail types because I’ve dealt with algae in the past and my theory was algae is going to grow so keep in manageable from the beginning.
Cycling the tank with fish was pretty stressful. Testing water multiple times a day and watching how the fish were behaving. I dosed Sechem prime and stability religiously per instructions on the bottle. I bought all my fish at once and had plenty of water available to do massive water changes and plans to remove invertebrates etc if the tank needed to be treated for disease. I’ve dealt with ick in the past and did not want it in this tank. My theory for buying all the fish at once was to be able to treat if needed before adding coral. Thankfully I have not had to deal with fish disease in my tank.
By May 16th the tank was fully cycled.
May 25th I added a few corals to the tank to see how they’d do. I added a few chalice frags and some zoas which I still have today. Sorry I don’t have any pics when they were first added.
The first of July we took our yearly trip to Utah to visit family and I brought back a load of frags from my brother in-law.
July 16 I traded out my single hydra for a set of radion gen 4s and added two MP40s. Shortly after I started added some SPS.
In the beginning I was planning on a low nutrient system but soon learned about the benefits of phosphates and nitrates in a reef tank. I started feeding more frequently via auto feeder to get my nutrient levels up. I’m currently feeding pellets via auto feeder 5 times a day and frozen at night. I also feed benepets a couple times a week. That has kept phosphate at .01-.02 and nitrates at 10.
I’ve been really pleased with how my tank is doing. Things have been growing like crazy and coloring up nicely.
My tank is now 7 months old. Here’s how things look today
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