Hello Everyone my names Jeff and am new to the reefing community. I went to school for aquaculture and fisheries and this is my first dive into it personally. (Not using university money or equipment) Also my area was not in reefs or tropical fish. So this is quite new to me however i have always loved reefs and am diving into it. I have an Evo 13.5, and this is much different than the setup i had designed in the past. I am familiar with using sumps and iv found it stressful working in such a small back chambers. I’m waiting for an organ transplant and am currently not working... my sister was very nice and got me this tank which she had no understanding of any of the research iv done. So while this isent the ideal set up for me, beggars cant be choosers and I’m going to have to make what i have work as best i can for me.
I want to keep both fish and corals in here, maybe not SPS because as far as flow I’m struggling with the grain size of the sand and it moving around with my minimal flow. I have many questions to ask that I’m sure i will break up and post in the proper areas... some along the lines of...
-Filter chamber set ups.... moving the skimmer to second chamber and media basket in the first as to try to clean up the flow of these back 3 chambers that in my opinion is less than ideal.
As you all can see i have many questions, many of which I’m confidant can be answered by people with experience. That’s why i joined and i hope to make some friends that can help me out on my adventure with this.
Here is a picture of my tank thus far, its 20 days into the cycle with Microbactor and ammonia.
Black Spot Reef
I want to keep both fish and corals in here, maybe not SPS because as far as flow I’m struggling with the grain size of the sand and it moving around with my minimal flow. I have many questions to ask that I’m sure i will break up and post in the proper areas... some along the lines of...
-Filter chamber set ups.... moving the skimmer to second chamber and media basket in the first as to try to clean up the flow of these back 3 chambers that in my opinion is less than ideal.
- how to determine the amount of flow, the stock pump is alright but putting a larger pump in caused the temp to increase, so i put the stock in there and got a 240 wave maker. Not sure if this is enough flow for moderate corals.
- What kinda live stock are my options. I believe there’s a fine line between 10-30 gallons and lots of stocking options air toward 30 gallons. However i def want a fire fish and it will be perfect for 10 gallons, i like friendly fish so he’s a must from what i understand.
- Some cycling questions
- And making the best tank i can with the least amount of mistakes because as i said i cant work and $ is an issue so no making wasteful mistakes.
As you all can see i have many questions, many of which I’m confidant can be answered by people with experience. That’s why i joined and i hope to make some friends that can help me out on my adventure with this.
Here is a picture of my tank thus far, its 20 days into the cycle with Microbactor and ammonia.
Black Spot Reef