How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[living_tribunal]

I manually top off 3/4 to 1 gallon each day.
I want/need an ATO next.
I'd go into the sump

I’ve been doing the same. It’s easy in the 10g but harder on the 65 with these gnarly jebaos wave makers.

 

[Why-Me]

I’ve been doing the same. It’s easy in the 10g but harder on the 65 with these gnarly jebaos wave makers.

I used a label maker and made a SUMP FULL line and just fill to that each day.

 

[living_tribunal]

I used a label maker and made a SUMP FULL line and just fill to that each day.

Smart. I used the rim on the 10g as the cutoff line.

Man I’m hoping tomorrow looks good. There is still so much Dino living in there right now. My nitrates were up a little too high. It’s kind of hard to tell from the salifert kit. But I’m hoping that most of it is dead and that the bacteria has been building from higher nutrients. So when the lights go on, algae, bacteria, and pods have everything they need to go nuts.

 

[Why-Me]

Haven't personally tried them, but heard good things about NYOS kits

 

[living_tribunal]

Haven't personally tried them, but heard good things about NYOS kits

I might look into it. Salifert are widely regarded as the best with hannas but their color checking ones still aren’t easy.

I don’t know if I should put my frags through four days of black out :/.

Dino’s is the worst man. My poor Duncan hasn’t opened in over a week. The Dino’s are wedding themselves imbetween the frags skeletons and tissue making it impossible to blow off as well.

I just know I can’t inteoduce them to my new display rank. It’s only been running for a week and has no where near the biodiversity required to combat them. I’m considering dosing nitrates and phosphates in there as well to prevent the Dino’s from taking off as I know there will be remaining spores on the frag plugs.

 

[Why-Me]

I would blackout for dinos

 

[living_tribunal]

I would blackout for dinos

I’ve been blacked out! 2 1/2 days now. It’s working but there are still a ton of Dino’s left. I don’t know if over 3 days is safe for the frags.

 

[Why-Me]

I’ve been blacked out! 2 1/2 days now. It’s working but there are still a ton of Dino’s left. I don’t know if over 3 days is safe for the frags.

That I'm not sure, more than 3 days may be pushing it.

 

[living_tribunal]

That I'm not sure, more than 3 days may be pushing it.

I have this feeling that it may be a while until I can get the frags in my display tank. I really wish there was a reliable cure for Dino’s :/

 

[living_tribunal]

Okay, so after doing some digging freshwater does kill Dino’s instantly. I’m going to remove the frags from the tank tomorrow, turkey bast the sense out of the, freshwater dip, coral rx dip, fresh water dip again, and add to display tank.

I’m also going to dose some nitrates and phosphates to the display to just make sure my pod/algae pop gets a nice build up.

 

[living_tribunal]

So here is the result of all my Dino fighting efforts. Most of it is white (still can’t turkey bast it off the frags for some reason). It also looks like I had a few threads of Chaeto fall in there from my refugium experiment. Should I try to remove these?

I’m going to move a few of the clean frags over today and leave a few that definitely require more time (one of the chalices has bubble algae).

 

[living_tribunal]

So I guess I uh.... officially have a reef tank.

Boy they are ticked, I put them through the ringer.

 

[Why-Me]

Your lights will turn on tomorrow and they'll look like this

 

[Tplummer]

Y

As the title suggests, I will be losing my reef tank virginity this weekend.

After about as much research, horror stories, and salivating over absurdly beautiful tanks that a man can handle, I decided to commit to building my very first reef tank.

What you see before you are the makings of an amazingly mediocre tank, that which I’m somewhat proud of, more so nervous as s*** about.

I’m starting with a 36 gal aqueon bowfront, the usual suspect in reef addiction, tragedy, and triumph.
-Two aqueon powerheads.
-Current USA marine orbit 36” LED.
-150w aqueon pro heater.
-50 gal ro/di unit.
-Aquaclear 70 power filter (you down with HOB, ya you know me)
-Reef Clear salt
-10 lbs of Marcos dry rock
-20 lbs of Bimini pink live sand
-Refractometer
-40 gal roughneck, 2x Home Depot 5s
-Gravel cleaner
-20 ft airline tube
-Dr. Tims
-Some electronic thermometer I forgot the name of.
-Dos powerstrips stolen from my battlestation (home office)
-Light timers
-Various nutrients for adjusting levels
-Hot tub grade shims
-Bunch of levels
-Yoga Mat stolen from ex

Here are the results from the initial purchasathon (excludes powerheads, dry rock, and ammonia test strips):

youre gonna rock this. Plenty of info here to guide you through it. Just take it slow and research every move. its hard work at times but your gonna love this hobby

 

[living_tribunal]

Your lights will turn on tomorrow and they'll look like this

Dude that haul is looking amazing. Did you get two chalices? That one with the green and purple is stellar.

Send a full tank shot.

We’ll see if I got the placement right. Blastos and acans are so dang picky. I think the favia, echanata, and blastos are going to do really well in here.

I’m going to add the others soon, just have to give them a day or so to heal. My Duncan still hasn’t opened up yet. Doing a wc tonight, hopefully he responds well.

I’m on like a biodiversity bender right now, let me tell you.

I’m ordering weird mud, miniature brittle stars, microbacter, worms, amphipods, brine shrimp, more macro algae, more pods, Bacteria I’ve never heard of, Etc. This tank is going to be dirtier than Gordon Ramsay’s mouth and my lps are going to love it.

 

[living_tribunal]

Y

youre gonna rock this. Plenty of info here to guide you through it. Just take it slow and research every move. its hard work at times but your gonna love this hobby

I’ve had my a** handed to me a few times. Starting to get my reef battle scars. After three months of work, today marks my first official day having a reef tank. Pretty excited.

 

[Why-Me]

I'll get a FTS tomorrow for ya.
Had an issue with my daughter's clownfish today, had to drain 36 of the 40 gallons and net the lil guy he escaped from his acclimation box and the established pair of clowns were going to kill him.
Fixed acc box got him back in there and the tank filled and back up and going without any major issues.
Her new clownfish cannot escape this time, going to set up my 20 tall with HOB filter again and put the lil guy in there to live, I'll put the tank in my home office; I'm currently in the middle of building.

 

[living_tribunal]

I'll get a FTS tomorrow for ya.
Had an issue with my daughter's clownfish today, had to drain 36 of the 40 gallons and net the lil guy he escaped from his acclimation box and the established pair of clowns were going to kill him.
Fixed acc box got him back in there and the tank filled and back up and going without any major issues.
Her new clownfish cannot escape this time, going to set up my 20 tall with HOB filter again and put the lil guy in there to live, I'll put the tank in my home office; I'm currently in the middle of building.

Seems like you have a lot going on. Gl friend. The new frags are amazing.

 

[living_tribunal]

@Why-Me you should check out Indo pacific sea farms if you haven’t already.

: : : : Indo-Pacific Sea Farms : : : :

Indo-Pacific Sea Farms produces captive-bred marine life for healthier reef aquariums: invertebrates, detritivores, live sand, snail grazers, amphipods, beneficial worms, macro algae, plankton, corals, coral food and beneficial bacteria.

www.ipsf.com

 

[living_tribunal]

I’m beginning to wonder if my Duncan won’t open because it has something stuck in it. Every other coral is doing great except for him.

I suspect either the increased flow or agitation is the cause for him behaving odd.