KristianS
Community Member
Long time no see, everyone.
I have some history with reefing. A successful 3.7 pico 2017-2019 that I abandoned when my mom was doing home hospice. Also, a wildly unsuccessful 20 gallon IM that i spent way more money on, with far less success (velvet or brook first fish i put in, broke it down and sold it) in 2021. From 2021-now I got into high tech freshwater.
This will be my first substantially sized reef and i’m coming into it with more knowledge and life stability. My plan is to go slow, organized and quality stock.
The tank and stand are from Waterbox (90.3), with a 60 gallon display and 30 gallon sump.
Lighting- Aquaticlife T5 Hybrid (2 blue+, 1 coral+, 1 actinic) matched with 2 noopsyche kp7 minis. Philosophy on this is great coverage, decent value, and not too much controllability where I get in my own way. I am using the wall mounts and will likely have a friend build a shade to match stand.
Circulation- Likely going hygger dc return pump, and 2 dc powerheads. I will replace these out 1 at a time with vortex as cash permits, but i’ve had great experiences in the past.
Heater- Hygger again, 500w with controller, great reviews and seems very reliable.
Skimmer- Have not purchased or installed, but looking at the Bubble Magus Curve 5 elite.
Sump Mods- A friend is printing me 2 shallow media baskets, first will have filter floss, second a sponge (in case of floss clogging). Rock rubble or chemi if i need it in the space under baskets. In the skimmer chamber I will likely buy the octoreef magnetic refugium mod and have my fuge after my skimmer (when nutrient levels permit).
Sand- Fiji Pink and Special Grade Carib Sea
Rock- Marco Rock (dry). Went for an HNSA ( habitat negative space aquascape) look. I plan on having mostly smaller fish so made the negative spaces smaller, plenty of room under rock and around back. The structure is 3 main pieces connected with super glue gel and epoxy. I went over the joints witb liquid super glue and the dust from smashing the rock. (Shout out to Ryan with BRS, video was very helpful)
Water- Tropic Marin Pro Reef, mixed with a cheapy kedsum 550gph amazon pump, eheim heater in a Brute. I had a Aquaticlife 75 gpd rodi with replaceable cartridges from my freshwatwr hi tech nano build.
Testing-
Hanna salinity, phosphate and alk testers. nyos nitrate tester, aquaforest magnesium, red sea calcium, test strips for nitrite and ammonia to be extra careful and catch any spikes…if theres an issue ill get specific tests for those.
ATO:
Fluval (great reviews and redundancy). Holding off in setting this up until mid may due to travel)
Initial Stocking:
Fritz Turbostart 900
Dr Reef/Algaebarn for all initial livestock and likely all inverts moving forward. I learned the hard way about not quarantining, and feel that with the amount i will be stocking, the extra price is worth the expertise and less work running my own prophylactic medicated QT. This may come at a later date, as I want to learn the skill/process.
2 Black Ice Clowns
1 yellow watchmen goby (captive bred)
1 tiger shrimp (banded)
10 blue leg hermit crabs
10 pack of 4 different snail types
Normally I would have waited on inverts and the goby, but couldnt pass up the April $300 free shipping deal.
Plan:
Display is full and leveled, the sump gets filled tomorrow and will start circulating. Will be making sure my salinity is perfect, and will ghost feed just a little. No lights. A week from tomorrow, my livestock shipment will be here. The turbostart will go in with the fish and bare bones CUC. This will run for 2 weeks while I am home. I will be gone the following two weeks, and have a friend watching the tank…manually feeding and topping off with fresh rodi for evap, as i dont want a brand new ato running on a new tank without being home to monitor. When i get back, I plan on starting a copepod and phyto culture. it will be a month with no light. I will turn on the light and stock with copepods to hopefully fight off diatom bloom. From there, lots of testing until we are stable enough for coral.
Eventual Stock:
2 clown (hardy classic)
Goby/shrimp (looks and sand cleaner)
Kole tang (algae , will trade if ever too big)
Royal grama (looks)
Mandarin goby (culturing pods)
Red Dragonette (culturing pods)
Melanarus (may out compete the others)
Cleaner shrimp x2
snail mix x 40
Blue leg hermit x 50
Halloween crab
Brittle star x 5
Coral-
Mixed reef, hopefully some acros near top, montis around back/sides. Love birds nest and pocilyporas, encrusters. For LPS i love acans, euphylia, lobos, gonis. Would love a scoly. Zoas and maybe a toadstool for softies, along with a gorgonian maybe.
Open to any and all feedback/suggestions.
I am focusing on quality and healthy lifestock, a tank that will last, and great even lighting. I am admittedly cheaping out on flow and the LEDs, with plans to upgrade flow in the future.
Some pics of what i’ve done so far and where I am at currently.
I have some history with reefing. A successful 3.7 pico 2017-2019 that I abandoned when my mom was doing home hospice. Also, a wildly unsuccessful 20 gallon IM that i spent way more money on, with far less success (velvet or brook first fish i put in, broke it down and sold it) in 2021. From 2021-now I got into high tech freshwater.
This will be my first substantially sized reef and i’m coming into it with more knowledge and life stability. My plan is to go slow, organized and quality stock.
The tank and stand are from Waterbox (90.3), with a 60 gallon display and 30 gallon sump.
Lighting- Aquaticlife T5 Hybrid (2 blue+, 1 coral+, 1 actinic) matched with 2 noopsyche kp7 minis. Philosophy on this is great coverage, decent value, and not too much controllability where I get in my own way. I am using the wall mounts and will likely have a friend build a shade to match stand.
Circulation- Likely going hygger dc return pump, and 2 dc powerheads. I will replace these out 1 at a time with vortex as cash permits, but i’ve had great experiences in the past.
Heater- Hygger again, 500w with controller, great reviews and seems very reliable.
Skimmer- Have not purchased or installed, but looking at the Bubble Magus Curve 5 elite.
Sump Mods- A friend is printing me 2 shallow media baskets, first will have filter floss, second a sponge (in case of floss clogging). Rock rubble or chemi if i need it in the space under baskets. In the skimmer chamber I will likely buy the octoreef magnetic refugium mod and have my fuge after my skimmer (when nutrient levels permit).
Sand- Fiji Pink and Special Grade Carib Sea
Rock- Marco Rock (dry). Went for an HNSA ( habitat negative space aquascape) look. I plan on having mostly smaller fish so made the negative spaces smaller, plenty of room under rock and around back. The structure is 3 main pieces connected with super glue gel and epoxy. I went over the joints witb liquid super glue and the dust from smashing the rock. (Shout out to Ryan with BRS, video was very helpful)
Water- Tropic Marin Pro Reef, mixed with a cheapy kedsum 550gph amazon pump, eheim heater in a Brute. I had a Aquaticlife 75 gpd rodi with replaceable cartridges from my freshwatwr hi tech nano build.
Testing-
Hanna salinity, phosphate and alk testers. nyos nitrate tester, aquaforest magnesium, red sea calcium, test strips for nitrite and ammonia to be extra careful and catch any spikes…if theres an issue ill get specific tests for those.
ATO:
Fluval (great reviews and redundancy). Holding off in setting this up until mid may due to travel)
Initial Stocking:
Fritz Turbostart 900
Dr Reef/Algaebarn for all initial livestock and likely all inverts moving forward. I learned the hard way about not quarantining, and feel that with the amount i will be stocking, the extra price is worth the expertise and less work running my own prophylactic medicated QT. This may come at a later date, as I want to learn the skill/process.
2 Black Ice Clowns
1 yellow watchmen goby (captive bred)
1 tiger shrimp (banded)
10 blue leg hermit crabs
10 pack of 4 different snail types
Normally I would have waited on inverts and the goby, but couldnt pass up the April $300 free shipping deal.
Plan:
Display is full and leveled, the sump gets filled tomorrow and will start circulating. Will be making sure my salinity is perfect, and will ghost feed just a little. No lights. A week from tomorrow, my livestock shipment will be here. The turbostart will go in with the fish and bare bones CUC. This will run for 2 weeks while I am home. I will be gone the following two weeks, and have a friend watching the tank…manually feeding and topping off with fresh rodi for evap, as i dont want a brand new ato running on a new tank without being home to monitor. When i get back, I plan on starting a copepod and phyto culture. it will be a month with no light. I will turn on the light and stock with copepods to hopefully fight off diatom bloom. From there, lots of testing until we are stable enough for coral.
Eventual Stock:
2 clown (hardy classic)
Goby/shrimp (looks and sand cleaner)
Kole tang (algae , will trade if ever too big)
Royal grama (looks)
Mandarin goby (culturing pods)
Red Dragonette (culturing pods)
Melanarus (may out compete the others)
Cleaner shrimp x2
snail mix x 40
Blue leg hermit x 50
Halloween crab
Brittle star x 5
Coral-
Mixed reef, hopefully some acros near top, montis around back/sides. Love birds nest and pocilyporas, encrusters. For LPS i love acans, euphylia, lobos, gonis. Would love a scoly. Zoas and maybe a toadstool for softies, along with a gorgonian maybe.
Open to any and all feedback/suggestions.
I am focusing on quality and healthy lifestock, a tank that will last, and great even lighting. I am admittedly cheaping out on flow and the LEDs, with plans to upgrade flow in the future.
