New 100g Setup

[begginersluck]

Hi guys. 8 weeks of torture and my new tank arrives. It's been hard work setting this up and I've had no help whatsoever.

I have about 35 to 40 kilos of mature live rock in the system that just came straight from my old system. Added 8 damsels yesterday. Parameters seem stable.

Currently working on finishing touches on the plumbing to stop some micro bubbles.

I have 2 clowns, a regal tang and a BTA waiting to go in. I might move the cuc across in a minute.

Here's a few pics

 

[begginersluck]

Just moved across the remaining fish. Strangely my pink spot goby has gone missing. Hoping he's not dead somewhere in the rocks.

 

[Sniperhank]

That is set up really well. Very clean. I'm jealous, I wish mine looked that neat.

 

[begginersluck]

Thanks I've just finished off mounting the controllers underneath. Il tidy up the wires too.


Going to start a refuge un in a week or so. Looking out for the best light that's not too big.

 

[begginersluck]

What do we think about a sand less aquarium and grow coralline algae, zoas and a couple of other corals on the bottom instead?

 

[Sniperhank]

Bare bottom setups are usually used in sps specific tanks to help keep things pristine and sucking up detritus from around the bottom of rocks. I'd suggest using a sandbed so you can keep cool sandbed coral, like plates and brains.

 

[begginersluck]

I will be keeping sps, some lps and a few zoas. I won't really be keeping any softies. Even the ones in my tank I'm trying to get rid of!

 

[Sniperhank]

I'm not the biggest fan of softies either. I do have some zoas, mushrooms, and ricordeas though. I'd trade them all for a nice brain coral.

 

[Jamroz37]

Looks great but would look even better with sand

 

[uh.oh...]

Black Tahitian maybe? CaribSea Tropic Isle Tahitian Moon Sand 20 lb

 

[begginersluck]

Update 1.5 weeks in.


Running really well. Just added a durso stand pipe today as the noise was driving me crazy. It's so quiet now!

Just purchased a few new fish. 3 Anthias and 1 Blue eye tang which hopefully you can see in the pictures.

I'm not going to add sand until everything is settled.

Problems m having are:

1 - There's a lot of floating detritus (not micro bubbles) in my system. I've been cleaning out the filter sock and the skimmer cup and I still have stuff floating around. I'm going to do a water change tomorrow in which I will turn off the power heads to let the detritus settle on the floor,then il Hoover it out.

2 - Green Algae. Not a lot but that's how they all start. I'm doing as much as possible to make sure it doesn't escalate. New RO system, phosphate reactor with new media. Just started my refugium too which I need to add more chaeto. What more can I do? Nitrate are approx 3 - 4 ppm and phosphates are about 0.16

I've got 4 power heads 2 of which run off the koralia smart wave which I'm not too impressed with. You may have seen another thread of mine regarding this. I will be upgrading these to Vortechs as the 4 in my tank look messy IMO!

Looking forward to hearing people's comments. I'm hoping to start adding some corals in the next few weeks but I want to get the algae under control and hopefully reduce them nitrates!

 

[begginersluck]

Just finished a 20% water change after stirring up as much of the detritus as possible. I added some filter floss and sponges to the sump in an attempt to 'polish' the water. Now hoping everything will settle down and il get the crystal clear water I've been looking for.

New RO System doesn't seem to be doing a very good job however. It's a 4 stage RODI unit from RO Man. At first it was giving me perfect water at 0 tds and 0 Nitrates. Now I'm getting 36 to 40 tds. I'm not sure what this could be. Perhaps the PSI as its only 40?

 

[begginersluck]

I gave in and went for sand!

Here's a few pics of the first corals in.

 

[Jamroz37]

Very nice! Get a full tank shot with the sand and everything

 

[begginersluck]

A few full tank shots as requested

 

[Bix22]

Awesome I wish to do a salt tank someday!!!


Looks great

 

[begginersluck]

Thanks and you should! It's very rewarding. Just make sure you're ready to spend a bit on decent equipment

 

[Bix22]

It's not the money or space, it's the time commitment! I have a 2 year old son and one on the way very soon (May 1).

 

[begginersluck]

Congratulations mate!

I have a little boy of 20 months, work a full time job and run a profitable business on the side and manage to find the time for marine. The trick is, get the best equipment you can afford to almost automate your setup so you only have to spend an hour or two a week on water changes, cleaning your skimmer cup and cleaning the glass. Not much else to it mate!

 

[Bix22]

What is your setup?