vixio
New Member
Hi everyone, here is my reefing journey. (I just learned about reef2reef, and I love the community.)
I started reefing 6 months ago with a cheap 20-gallon reefing kit. There was an Ac30 for filtration and a Fluval 25w nanoreef for 300$(I'm cheap, but I want my fish to thrive
), I know this setup is not optimal, but I had only 2 clownfish and a torch coral that I killed 
.
Here is a photo of how it looked at the start.
I then put my 2 clownfish inside. I loved them( you'll see why I use the past tense).
When I put them in the tank, I saw a small nimble on the mouth of the smaller ocelaris. I didn't pay too much attention, thinking it would heal, but I was wrong.
It ended in a disaster; the nimble grew bigger day by day. When I finally found out it was a mere mouth fungus, I bought the medicine on Amazon. They said it would take 2 days, but it took 2 weeks. Once I started the treatment, it was too late; the fish were already at the bottom of the tank. I spent 75 dollars on medicine that could have bought me two brand new fish for nothing. I learned that I should always put my fish in a hospital tank. Luckily, there weren't any other fish in the tank. I still feel bad that I couldn't save them; they are living beings, and they deserved a better ending.
Here is the fungus progression:
When they died, I took a break for like 1 month. Then a friend of mine put me back on track. I started over from scratch. I recycled the tank for a month and added my new pair of clownfish; they were thriving. I waited for the tank to mature a bit before adding more fish. Once the wait was over, I added a chromis and a bunch of corals, a torch, a hammer, frogspawn, a Kenya tree, green and pink star polyps, and that's most of it. For the inverts, I added a couple of netherite snails, a cleaner shrimp, which I love, because it interacts a lot with me, and I also added a couple of blue-legged crabs, which I hate. Those little demons have some extra shells that I scattered across the reef tank, but guess what they do? They roll and try killing each other nonstop. I added a bit more hiding spot, and it appears that the aggression stopped.
Now the fun parts begin,
Three weeks ago, I decided to buy a 55-gallon 4-foot-wide aquarium on Marketplace for 150 dollars, which wasn't my best idea, because once the tank got home, I realised that I didn't like it, it was too long and not deep enough. My dad wasn't too happy with my recent purchase. To make him angrier, I bought another used tank off Facebook Marketplace for 120$(Canadian) the next day.
The tank is a 72-gallon Fluval Sienna. This tank is meant for fresh water, meaning that it has the overflow and the output at the bottom for a canister filter. I know this is a bad idea, but I'm sure it'll work just fine. To rig this tank from freshwater to saltwater, I had to cut a hole in the cabinet to put a 25-gallon sump. Don't worry, I reinforced the cabinet with 2x4. The next thing that I did was lengthen the overflow and add another input so that if one clogs, there will be another one. To do this, I went to 6 different fish and plumbing stores to find the perfect PVC. Fluval makes it hard to find. I came back home with a 12-foot white PVC pipe that I had to plastic dip black. The store wouldn't let me take only 3-4feet. I am now the lucky owner of 9 feet of PVC that I won't ever use. Here is a photo of the overflow(sorry for the bad quality, it's the only picture that I have of it; the tank is full of debris right now). (The first photo is the overflow, and the second is the modified cabinet.) I really like doing a diy reef tank because it helps me learn some basics that I wouldn't have learned if I had a premade tank, like plumbing and carpentry. Yes, premade tanks are safer, better, but they are more expensive. Also, I'm not going to keep this tank for a long time, maybe 2 years max, just to learn the basics, and then I might upgrade to a premade tank like Waterbox or Redsea.
For the sump, I went for a traditional design; the skimmer and the filter socks are in the same chamber, followed by 3 baffles that imprison the bubbles of the skimmer.
Then there is the refugium full of rocks, followed by 2 baffles and the return pump with a one-way valve.
I then tested the tank in my garage for 3 days to see if there weren't any leaks and to adjust the sump pump. I made a big mess trying to set up the tank; there was water everywhere
. Once finished adjusting the tank and seeing if there weren't any leaks, I put it in my bedroom. ( I hope I don't regret it.)
Next, I did the aquascape. It took me a lot of time. My goal was to make a bonsai-type of aquascape to put loads of hammer on each branch, and another part to put some Acropora. I did some research, and the thing that looks the most like a bonsai tree is an Nsa. The NSA cost me about 100$ for 50 lbs of dryrock on Facebook Marketplace and about 150$ of glue!!!!!!!!! If I could redo, I would only take Gorilla Glue gel and reef cement. This would have cost me 200$ for the whole aquascape. My dog kept trying to make it fall over, and he succeeded. When I added the cement, he couldn't make it fall over.
Here is a picture of my workbench:
Here is a photo of the little delinquent:
I then put it in my cycling tank. Here is how it looks:
So this is my reefing journey so far. I hope it wasn't too boring!
Now for the future, I bought a radion xr30 g6 blue for 700$(Canadian) and I'm also «stuck» with an orphek atlantik icon that can't be returned, and if I sell it, I'm going to lose 400$. I'm thinking of using the 2, but at 30%.If I upgrade later on, I won't have to spend a lot on a new light.
Thanks everyone!!!!
Also, I'm open to criticism, don't be an a...hole tho
.
I started reefing 6 months ago with a cheap 20-gallon reefing kit. There was an Ac30 for filtration and a Fluval 25w nanoreef for 300$(I'm cheap, but I want my fish to thrive
), I know this setup is not optimal, but I had only 2 clownfish and a torch coral that I killed .Here is a photo of how it looked at the start.
I then put my 2 clownfish inside. I loved them( you'll see why I use the past tense).
When I put them in the tank, I saw a small nimble on the mouth of the smaller ocelaris. I didn't pay too much attention, thinking it would heal, but I was wrong.
It ended in a disaster; the nimble grew bigger day by day. When I finally found out it was a mere mouth fungus, I bought the medicine on Amazon. They said it would take 2 days, but it took 2 weeks. Once I started the treatment, it was too late; the fish were already at the bottom of the tank. I spent 75 dollars on medicine that could have bought me two brand new fish for nothing. I learned that I should always put my fish in a hospital tank. Luckily, there weren't any other fish in the tank. I still feel bad that I couldn't save them; they are living beings, and they deserved a better ending.
Here is the fungus progression:
When they died, I took a break for like 1 month. Then a friend of mine put me back on track. I started over from scratch. I recycled the tank for a month and added my new pair of clownfish; they were thriving. I waited for the tank to mature a bit before adding more fish. Once the wait was over, I added a chromis and a bunch of corals, a torch, a hammer, frogspawn, a Kenya tree, green and pink star polyps, and that's most of it. For the inverts, I added a couple of netherite snails, a cleaner shrimp, which I love, because it interacts a lot with me, and I also added a couple of blue-legged crabs, which I hate. Those little demons have some extra shells that I scattered across the reef tank, but guess what they do? They roll and try killing each other nonstop. I added a bit more hiding spot, and it appears that the aggression stopped.
Now the fun parts begin,
Three weeks ago, I decided to buy a 55-gallon 4-foot-wide aquarium on Marketplace for 150 dollars, which wasn't my best idea, because once the tank got home, I realised that I didn't like it, it was too long and not deep enough. My dad wasn't too happy with my recent purchase. To make him angrier, I bought another used tank off Facebook Marketplace for 120$(Canadian) the next day.
The tank is a 72-gallon Fluval Sienna. This tank is meant for fresh water, meaning that it has the overflow and the output at the bottom for a canister filter. I know this is a bad idea, but I'm sure it'll work just fine. To rig this tank from freshwater to saltwater, I had to cut a hole in the cabinet to put a 25-gallon sump. Don't worry, I reinforced the cabinet with 2x4. The next thing that I did was lengthen the overflow and add another input so that if one clogs, there will be another one. To do this, I went to 6 different fish and plumbing stores to find the perfect PVC. Fluval makes it hard to find. I came back home with a 12-foot white PVC pipe that I had to plastic dip black. The store wouldn't let me take only 3-4feet. I am now the lucky owner of 9 feet of PVC that I won't ever use. Here is a photo of the overflow(sorry for the bad quality, it's the only picture that I have of it; the tank is full of debris right now). (The first photo is the overflow, and the second is the modified cabinet.) I really like doing a diy reef tank because it helps me learn some basics that I wouldn't have learned if I had a premade tank, like plumbing and carpentry. Yes, premade tanks are safer, better, but they are more expensive. Also, I'm not going to keep this tank for a long time, maybe 2 years max, just to learn the basics, and then I might upgrade to a premade tank like Waterbox or Redsea.
For the sump, I went for a traditional design; the skimmer and the filter socks are in the same chamber, followed by 3 baffles that imprison the bubbles of the skimmer.
Then there is the refugium full of rocks, followed by 2 baffles and the return pump with a one-way valve.
I then tested the tank in my garage for 3 days to see if there weren't any leaks and to adjust the sump pump. I made a big mess trying to set up the tank; there was water everywhere
. Once finished adjusting the tank and seeing if there weren't any leaks, I put it in my bedroom. ( I hope I don't regret it.)Next, I did the aquascape. It took me a lot of time. My goal was to make a bonsai-type of aquascape to put loads of hammer on each branch, and another part to put some Acropora. I did some research, and the thing that looks the most like a bonsai tree is an Nsa. The NSA cost me about 100$ for 50 lbs of dryrock on Facebook Marketplace and about 150$ of glue!!!!!!!!! If I could redo, I would only take Gorilla Glue gel and reef cement. This would have cost me 200$ for the whole aquascape. My dog kept trying to make it fall over, and he succeeded. When I added the cement, he couldn't make it fall over.
Here is a picture of my workbench:
Here is a photo of the little delinquent:
I then put it in my cycling tank. Here is how it looks:
So this is my reefing journey so far. I hope it wasn't too boring!
Now for the future, I bought a radion xr30 g6 blue for 700$(Canadian) and I'm also «stuck» with an orphek atlantik icon that can't be returned, and if I sell it, I'm going to lose 400$. I'm thinking of using the 2, but at 30%.If I upgrade later on, I won't have to spend a lot on a new light.
Thanks everyone!!!!
Also, I'm open to criticism, don't be an a...hole tho
.
