29 gallon build jour

[Mcgolg76]

So all my supplies have arrived and I am ready to start setting up my first reef tank. I have no experience with sw but have done a lot of research. If you are following along and see any mistakes please let me know.

Tank is going to be sumpless. Using two koralia 600s for flow. My lighting is a 120 watt dimmable taotronics LEDs. So far I have painted the back of the tank black. Slowly making rodi water in buckets. Started filling tank and noticed floor board a bit uneven so want to make some shims before I put any more water in.
Have 27 lbs of dry rock and live rock in buckets. Gonna get another 15 lbs.
Tomorrow's plan is to wash the sand, figure out how to hang me lights and calibrate my Refractometer. Hopefully can get all the rocks and sand in this weekend so I can start cycling. B

Ty if you read so far and please give feedback.

 

[Macscale]

You sound like you did your research appropriately, and should be smooth sailing. Welcome to the hobby.

 

[bribo12]

What's your plan for cycling? Like Mac said you sound like you have a good base to start off of


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[Mcgolg76]

I researched like crazy before I spent a penny. Hobby way to expensive to make mistakes.
Not 100 percent how much I need to cycle. Sand I bought is not live. Bought about 4 pounds of live rock and 23 pounds of dry rock. The dry rock was still damp and still has some purple so figure there is some life in it. Have had it in bucket of sw with a heater and power head. Hopefully will give me a head start on my cycle. Should I add a raw shrimp?

 

[Macscale]

If you plan on cycling the rock separately from the tank, you can do it in the bucket...
However with live rock, is recommend doing a soft cycle. There are plenty of articles on here about that.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Added 40 lbs of Carib sea seaflor special grade sand. Super pain to wash. Even after washing sand A lot tanks is still super cloudy. Might remove some of the sand cause sand bed might be too deep. Will be able to tell when tank finally clears up. Been 24 hours and stop super cloudy. Will also add the live rock when it clears. Hung the lights. Wow it brightens the entire room. Need to play with it a bit to center it better.

 

[Mcgolg76]

Bought another 20lbs of dry rock today. Gonna clean and add tonight. Tank has cleared up. Nitrite are super high after 4 days so cycling very fast. Just used the uncured rock to cycle

 

[Mcgolg76]

Ammonia is almost zero now. Nitrites and nitrates are thru the roof. Never added ammonia or shrimp to cycle, So guess they were a lot of dead stuff in the rocks. Yet to see any types of hitchhikers. Hopefully nitrites will drop soon

 

[Mcgolg76]

Nitrites are still high and nitrates now are thru the roof. When do I do a wc. Should I wait till nitrites drop.


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[Mcgolg76]

Woohoo nitrites starting to drop


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[Mcgolg76]

Ok so Ammonia and nitrites are zero. Did a 90 percent wc. Added a pair of oscellaris clown fish and they look to be doing fine. Copepods are all over the glass. No other hitchhikers I have seen. Yet to see any algae of any type. Gonna prob add a couple of hermits this weekend.


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[ms705jk]

Sounds like you're off to a good start. Post up some pics

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[Mcgolg76]

Still playing around with lr placement. Clownfish are eating but are kind of lazy about chasing food. Decided to get a few hermits today. Got 4 blue leg and two red legs. Hopefully they will eat the food the clowns won't chase.


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[Sniperhank]

Scoop out the food that isn't getting eaten. What you put in needs to be taken out, if not like such you'll end up doing it via water changes as it all turns into nitrates/phosphates...or consumed by algae growth.

 

[Mcgolg76]

What I been trying to do. Clown fish aren't moving much. Just eating food that falls within 6 or so inches of them.


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[Mcgolg76]

Hermit crabs are super entertaining to watch. Especially the blue legged ones.


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[Mcgolg76]

Stock doing great. All 6 hermit crabs are alive and active. Clowns still only hanging out in one third of tank And not exploring rock work. Are coming to front when they see me to beg for food. Been feeding with power heads off and dropping in a few pellets at a time so no waste.
Starting to think about getting more stock. Def want more inverts. For fish I am leaning towards a tailspot blenny and a goby shrimp pair. How active are these fish?
Do I have room for a 5th fish? Some I like that are small
Clown goby
Firefish
Royal gamma


Any other suggestions


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[Mcgolg76]

Bought a yellow watchman goby and a tiger pistol shrimp. They were already paired at the store. After acclimation I wanted to put them in same part of tank. Unfortunately the tiger shrimp swam into the rocks and I haven't seen him since. After the first night the goby is hovering by a burrow. When he sees me he darts in then slowly comes about halfway out. If food drops within a few inches he darts out and grabs it then retreats. Very mouse like behavior. I assume the shrimp is in the burrow. Tunnel looks too elaborate for the goby to make solo.


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[Mcgolg76]

Just got to witness the goby and shrimp at work. While the goby was standing watch. The shrimp was carrying sand out of their burrow. Just and unbelievable moment for me.


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[mtimtam]

Don't worry about the clownfish as they are fairly new I suppose and will become accustomed to their new environment soon, after that they will gladly follow you around the tank and come up to the surface to feed!! And make sure your not very feeding maybe just stop trying to feed them and start again in 2-4 days