My first reef tank.

[Ericwm]

Here is mine tonight. He is half way down, I love the eye. And here I thought he was just a $4 member of my CUC.

 

[Ericwm]

Sorry. Here he is.

 

[Beengirl]

Here is mine tonight. He is half way down, I love the eye. And here I thought he was just a $4 member of my CUC.

Yeah, it's funny when they're half buried and you just see an eye sticking out. Lol. Also think its funny when they stick their tongue like 2-3" out to clean something, instead of just taking 1 more step to get closer! Haha

 

[Ericwm]

I just finished up my HOB refuge, I am leak testing it over night. I am pretty pleased and excited to install it and get rid of my HOB filter, it is loud and creates tons of salt creep and micro bubbles. I will post some pictures tomorrow when it is out of my sink.



Here it is so far. It came out to be a little over 3.5 gallons, this should help a bit on my 29 gallon tank. Is there any advantage to adding some live sand or rubble in the bottom if I don't go with a DSB? Also should I add some rock in there I'd just macro?

One more question, Is there a macro that I could feed my coral beauty that I could grow in there?

 

[Beengirl]

That looks amazing! If you don't want the DSB, put some small pieces of LR in there, add some chaeto and the light and your set. Pods will live in the chaeto and on the LR.

 

[Ericwm]

Thanks. It made it all night with no leaks. I am gonna make a trip to my LFS today for some rodi and a midas blenny. I hope they haven't sold him yet. I will also get some base rock and chato for my fuge. I am so excited to get rid of my awful noisy HOB filter.

Should I have any concerns about a small cycle?

 

[Ericwm]

Here is a picture of the final product.

 

[Beengirl]

You have a decent amount of LR in there, so you should be ok, but test the water the first week or two just to be sure you don't have a mini cycle. You could put a little media from the filter into the fuge for a little while too, just to be on the safe side. Then remove the media in a couple weeks after the LR rubble in the fuge has BB built up.

 

[Ericwm]

Big day for the tank today. I got my new fuge installed with a bit of LR and some chato. I also picked up the midas blenny I had been eyeing and researching for a month now. I started the acclimation 3 hours ago, I added him to my tank 30 minutes ago and he is already yellow, swimming around and eating. There are no comparability issues as of yet and I am hoping it stays that way.



I also added a small Monty frag to see how it does with my lighting and tank, it was only $10.

 

[Ericwm]

All is well in my tank today. I got my power heads all figured out and all of my fish and corals are happy. They all love the algae clip, and I think my little clown has made a new best friend.



On a side note, should I be running any sort of carbon in my fuge. I have phosgaurd and my phosphates have been undetectable since it was added. I have read mixed opinions on activated charcoal and just wanted some input.

 

[Jaketit]

I run it in mine. Everyone always says run it like two weeks on two weeks off. I've been running mine all the time and change it every month. Keeps the water crystal clear and smell free.

 

[Ronin77]

I hope your monti does good, I'm still struggling with my reverse sunset, only comes out a little bit. Never all the way. Was curious what lights your running?

 

[Ericwm]

I hope it does good as well. I have a two bulb T5 HO. I'm around 2.7 watts per gallon and it is near the top 1/3 of the tank. I'm guessing if it does survive it won't grow very fast.

 

[Ericwm]

My midas blenny picked his spot.



He slept in the clip last night too. It's a bit strange but it looks like a safe spot and I can see him. I'm glad my little guy has an interesting personality.

 

[obscurereef]

Haha! Dinner and a bed. Love the midas blenny. Very active fish.

 

[daney90]

+1 above

Im in love of mine too lol!!! He's so cute. I love how they swim. Great addition to my tank

 

[Ronin77]

Lol that's funny, they always have such interesting personalities, you should check out the barnacle blenny. They are silly little dudes also. Not very colorful though.

 

[obscurereef]

Barnacle blennies are awesome! I think they're adorable. They don't come out..ever though. Still a cool fish though.

 

[Ronin77]

I need to get another pair, now that I've got a lid on my new tank. Sucks they both went kamikaze out of my nano tank.

 

[Ericwm]

Barnacle blennies are awesome! I think they're adorable. They don't come out..ever though. Still a cool fish though.

They do look pretty interesting based on liveaquarias description.

It seems a tight fitting lid is needed for blennys.



I just made this cover last weekend after reading about all the jumpers. It cut down on gas exchange so that mostly happens in my hob fuge. The major plus is there is way less evaporation. A few days ago I heard my blenny hit my lid so I'm glad it is covered.

This morning i saw my little guy getting his teeth brushed.