Salty Noobs "Not So Nano" 29g Reef Build

[Big Tex]

So guys I decided to take the plunge and get me a nice reef tank going for the wife and I in our bedroom, its on a desser by the footboard in our master bedroom (don't worry this dresser is solid oak its a monster) so we can fall asleep gazing into a our little piece o' the ocean. She wants it simple, zoas, mushrooms, hammers, "pretty neon stuff" as she says and she also wants a pair of real nemos aka occ clownfish, an orchid dottyback, and a canary blenny. I think she's on the right track.

I picked up this tank about a 2 months ago and its been cycling about a month I was waiting to start this thread so it wont be so boring for you all to sub lol anyways, the hardware is, my tried and true topfin 75 dual valley high output filter (300gph) picked it up for around $45 on sale also packed with 5 micron polyfil for water polishing, as for powerheads I have 2 aquatec 250s off ebay picked em up for around $45 for the pair (since its ebay i say its maybe 175gph true output) they've been good to me before so I thought why not, and finally for a skimmer I picked up an aquaticlife 115 in tank for $45 (i know its rated for 30g i know, but ive heard nothing but good about it) all that being said im looking at around 26x water turn so im off to a good start, so that's it for the boring stuff lets get to the pics!

[Big Tex]

These are the first pics I took, all this rock was live in a buddies tank and still is so minimal die off here, just the drive to and from his house about 20min total and rocks were submerged in his old tank water the entire trip, I'd say there's about 25lbs of pukani rock in there and I'm aiming for around 35-40lbs total, and after filling the tank took about 1hr to clear up (the topfin 75 kicks a$$ at this) with the hob and a maxijet 1200 and koralia 425 doing the grunt circulation, and heres the progression pics, what do guys think..?

[Big Tex]

So I thought most of the grunt work was done so I removed the beastly maxi jet 1200 and left in the koralia, shifted the topfin over to the center of the tank and did a polyfil swap and let the water run its course, polish up again, looking better! Did you notice my outouts on the topfin? Hmm.. one is stronger than the other, I need to shim the dresser!

[Big Tex]

After the shimming and letting the tank cycle a month, it looks gorgeous to me, cleaned up the glass front back and sides and swapped light fixtures IMO it looks great, this is how it sits today, what do you think guys..?

[bmarine]

Looks good! Following along!

[Nikachu0315]

Originally Posted by Big Tex

After the shimming and letting the tank cycle a month, it looks gorgeous to me, cleaned up the glass front back and sides and swapped light fixtures IMO it looks great, this is how it sits today, what do you think guys..?

Awesome im totally jealous my lights arent coming until october 30 t.t

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by bmarine

Looks good! Following along!

Thank you very much, ill try to do some entertaining updates untill the cycles over.

Originally Posted by Nikachu0315

Awesome im totally jealous my lights arent coming until october 30 t.t

What lights did you get? I'm an led fan and ill never own anythinh else, just my $0.02 lol

[Fenix22]

Do you have a powerhead ? Just wondering or are you planing on keeping the filter for movement is it strong enough jw thanks

[Fenix22]

Oh crap lol I just saw it my bad Iove your rock placement by the way

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by Fenix22

Oh crap lol I just saw it my bad Iove your rock placement by the way

Thanks I'm running dual ph and the filter its PLENTY of flow for now might be too much I'm undecided so far, and thanks on the rocks I'm going to go a wee bit taller but I wanted to have them wall to wall do my fish and corals will have lots of room to grow and explore lol plus more territories to claim.

[Horvy19]

Looks great. I will keep checking in to see how it comes along

[Big Tex]

well, guys im waiting on my lrs to get in a fresh batch of oc clownfish for us, my wifes so anxious shes been calling all week lol im excited to because they just got a fresh batch of corals in and i fell in love. we'll see!

[paul87]

Cant wait to see how it turns out. Ill be following.

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by paul87

Cant wait to see how it turns out. Ill be following.

im still waiting on these clowns im getting so anxious, went to petco and i was disgusted so my lrs is my only hope and i have one more week to wait.

[Big Tex]

Alright guys I know its been about 2 weeks but I really wanted to make sure these clowns were healthy since my lrs switched vendors and I could not be happier!

New cuc additons are a pair of skunk cleaner shrimp, and 6 blue leg hermits, im also about to get a flame scallop but I'm holding off until I do some more research on them.

New fish additions are a pair of oc clowns, a pair of banggai cardinals, a purple orchid dottyback and my zoa colony too test the water parameters before I start adding expensive corals.

So far so good and I'm loving this tank in my bedroom I get to start at it till I drift off into sleep. Sorry for the delay guys but the wait paid off!

[Big Tex]

Onto the pics!

[Horvy19]

Looks great. Just got a 3 gallon for my bedroom. The eagle eye and green zoas are awesome. Lots of luck. Here are my zoas after 8 months.

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by Horvy19

Looks great. Just got a 3 gallon for my bedroom. The eagle eye and green zoas are awesome. Lots of luck. Here are my zoas after 8 months.

Ohh that's awesome, I want mine to spread like that. My wife loves the zoas at night under the blue leds I'm looking into a green and pink tipped frogspawn after seeing a pic of one under blue leds.

[paul87]

Originally Posted by Big Tex

Ohh that's awesome, I want mine to spread like that. My wife loves the zoas at night under the blue leds I'm looking into a green and pink tipped frogspawn after seeing a pic of one under blue leds.

Id pop it off of the tile it came on and mount it directly to the rock. Itll be hard for the zoas to grow over and around that square and onto the rock. Just my .02

[Big Tex]

Originally Posted by paul87

Id pop it off of the tile it came on and mount it directly to the rock. Itll be hard for the zoas to grow over and around that square and onto the rock. Just my .02

wow, i can t believe i didnt think of that, ive been looking for a good rubble piece nice and round like a chefs hat to glue it too