jitgobbler
New Member
- Joined
- Jun 2, 2026
- Messages
- 11
- Reaction score
- 4
- Location
- virginia
- What state or country do you live in
- Virginia
So this is my second reef tank and i’m trying to start this one in what my mind is the correct way but many here will disagree.
I started by filling the 20 gallon tank with rodi based SW, I had 15 pounds dry rock 3 live rock and live sand. After dosing seachem stability for 3 days I added 3 hermits and 2 days later added a watchman goby(fish in start). It’s been a total of two weeks now and my detritus has started to settle in.I believe that’s what it is; it’s rust brown colored and on my glass and rocks and comes off easy, wondering if someone could ID for me? Parameters are steady. I’ve added two toadstools to see how they do. A big issue for me in my last tank was seeeming to get lighting and flow right and recognizing what my corals needed. I can’t ever tell if my lighting is too high or if my flow is right. I can’t tell if polyps are retracting because one or the other is too high or low. I’m not messing with any of the big 3 until preparing for LPS. After two weeks I have done one 25-30% water change and from now on continue every 1-2 weeks doing 10-30% water changes according to nitrates. Toadstool polyps aren’t completely extended and wondering if it’s just because they’re new or because something with my lighting or flow. I will list equipment/settings below.
Light is hyper reef gen 2 100 watt set at violet and blue 65%, white 40%
green red 5% about 10-12 inches from water.
flow is 2 jebao wave makers connected to create wave affect set at 2 out of 8 power which should be around a total of 400gph max out put being 1600
I started by filling the 20 gallon tank with rodi based SW, I had 15 pounds dry rock 3 live rock and live sand. After dosing seachem stability for 3 days I added 3 hermits and 2 days later added a watchman goby(fish in start). It’s been a total of two weeks now and my detritus has started to settle in.I believe that’s what it is; it’s rust brown colored and on my glass and rocks and comes off easy, wondering if someone could ID for me? Parameters are steady. I’ve added two toadstools to see how they do. A big issue for me in my last tank was seeeming to get lighting and flow right and recognizing what my corals needed. I can’t ever tell if my lighting is too high or if my flow is right. I can’t tell if polyps are retracting because one or the other is too high or low. I’m not messing with any of the big 3 until preparing for LPS. After two weeks I have done one 25-30% water change and from now on continue every 1-2 weeks doing 10-30% water changes according to nitrates. Toadstool polyps aren’t completely extended and wondering if it’s just because they’re new or because something with my lighting or flow. I will list equipment/settings below.
Light is hyper reef gen 2 100 watt set at violet and blue 65%, white 40%
green red 5% about 10-12 inches from water.
flow is 2 jebao wave makers connected to create wave affect set at 2 out of 8 power which should be around a total of 400gph max out put being 1600
