Brooksters 29 gal reef

[Brookster123]

Tank is up and running. 30lbs of sand and 10 lbs of live rock in. More base rock coming from reef cleaners, going this weekend to possibly pick a few more pieces of lr from an established aquarist tank.
Equipment (for now)
Electric things making water move-
Hydor 450
Eheim skim 350
Fluval c4 hob completely void of all media, adding a purigen and phos gard bag.
Lighting is a Mars black box led.
Stocking.... I'm definitely wanting the pair of clowns and a cardinal (have to see what's available locally). Should I go ahead and grab a cuc package from reef cleaners? I dig the idea of having all that activity in the tank. Would I/should consider a wrasse or goby as well? Would like this tank responsibly stocked.

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[flchamp89]

Where picture

[Brookster123]

No pic... it's not ready yet.. should have a worthy photo Sunday for ya'll fine people

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[bribo12]

You could do the 2 clowns, cardinal and goby. A wrasse may be pushing the bioload a bit with the rest of the stock.

[Brookster123]

Originally Posted by bribo12

You could do the 2 clowns, cardinal and goby. A wrasse may be pushing the bioload a bit with the rest of the stock.

What about the CUC?

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[TMRC Exotics]

Originally Posted by Brookster123

What about the CUC?

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I wasn't a big believer in cuc, I had read some things discouraging it, fast forward, I won't have a reef without a few snails and hermits now, making my life easier with negligible nitrate increases, actually registering less nitrates in the first weekly period, probably due to less missed food, even though I don't feed heavy.

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[bribo12]

I like having snails and hermits too but my wrasse killed all my hermits lol . I have a serpent star whose an all star on the cuc as well. If you do order from reefcleaners I'd get one size down from your tank. He sends a million extra little cerith snails usually

[Brookster123]

Good stuff! Should I add an ammonia source for the 10lbs of lr currently in the tank?

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[Dallascowboys16]

Hey brookster, welcome to the salty side. I too used to only do planted tanks, but finally ventured into the salty side last year and I have never regretted it. The variety of life that you can add to your tank is vastly larger than in freshwater. Just a quick tip I'd have is to get yourself some Chemipure blue for reef tanks for your filter. I couldn't get my water 100% clear and lose the last bit of pest algae I had until I added the chemipure. It seems to completely drain phosphates and dramatically improve clarity.

[Autumnsky]

You need Nassarius aka zombie snails, watch a YouTube video of them, they are the best!!! They stir the sand and eat left overs.

[Autumnsky]

Nassarius Vibex

[Brookster123]

Originally Posted by Autumnsky

You need Nassarius aka zombie snails, watch a YouTube video of them, they are the best!!! They stir the sand and eat left overs.

They do just pop out the sand like a zombie haha.

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[Sniperhank]

I am not a huge fan of CUC in general. But, with that said I have 3 guys in my 55 reef. I have 1 nassarius snail, 1 large turbo, and 1 pink tuxedo urchin. The nassarius snail is a surviving relic from previous tank issues that always comes out when I feed. I like having a turbo around, but they are bulldozers. Same goes for the urchin, but they are algae eating machines.

[Brookster123]

Originally Posted by Sniperhank

I am not a huge fan of CUC in general. But, with that said I have 3 guys in my 55 reef. I have 1 nassarius snail, 1 large turbo, and 1 pink tuxedo urchin. The nassarius snail is a surviving relic from previous tank issues that always comes out when I feed. I like having a turbo around, but they are bulldozers. Same goes for the urchin, but they are algae eating machines.

Why not a fan? I like the idea of the little hermit crabs and snails. If these small snails are anything like say, Malaysian trumpet snails in a fw tank than I imagine they can become an eye sore quick?? If I don't need a cuc would their be an issue with keeping small crabs and a couple quarter sized snails?

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[Sniperhank]

They are the opposite of everything. Many snails fall and aren't able to right themselves and die. Hermits go on killing sprees of any snails they can find for the shells and usually don't ever use them. I've never had more than a snail or two live more than a year...then have to restock the CUC... It just becomes insulting over time. Reef cleaners is great and gives you way more than you need and pay for, but doesn't change how many empty shells I remove from my tank. I just lost one of my two large turbos the other day because it fell over onto its back and drown. Shells anymore in my system are simply something for the tuxedo urchin to carry around while I do my best to siphon out things.

[Brookster123]

See... a hermit killing spree sounds like a good time?? Put on some game of thrones music and make some popcorn got this Mars aqua led here, what a beast?!? I'm going to put on my electrician pants this weekend and get this tank a dedicated gfci.

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[Autumnsky]

The Pom Pom Crab is a great little gal, she had a huge bunch of eggs, so I know it is a girl.

78F I will filter feed First Bites fry food from Hikari, in little amounts, a amount on the end of a flat toothpick is enough. It is so tiny of particle size and way too easy to get a too big pinch. I usually will do that on a day w/ a planned pwc. But I have all the RFA and they will grab tiny particles, and tiny feather dusters which will do the same.

Here are the tiny tubes, white part about the size of a pencil lead


Hermits are mean, but cute. I like snails a lot so I don't like how they kill the snails. I have 3 since forever, and they eat the snails, so considering getting them a new home. Blue Legs very attractive.

[Brookster123]

The more I read/think about it.. don't want a war zone.. shrimp and crabs are cool though! I need to put some more planning into the inverts me thinks.@autum Feel free to send me some of those pompoms when they're old enough to fly without mom

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[Autumnsky]

I wish! The momma crab appeared with eggs for a month and then none, that I can see, but I have been surprised before with things appearing when I thought they were gone.

The Sexy Shrimp are nice shrimp and Pom Pom doesn't bother anyone, even lost a anemone pom and must have either found it again or clipped the other one in half because it now has 2 nice ones again!

RFA are great as they do not require high amounts of light like a bubble tip, and can have lots of different colors, shapes and patterns. Many glow in the actinic light (some do not).

I love my little SW nano. And the small little things in there are really cool to watch, I do not have any Paly's now or Zoa's after the toxic blast on my little tank a couple years ago. Decided not to have those for awhile.

[Brookster123]

Big plans today.. big plans... electrician pants on after 5 more cups of coffee, trick is to hyper Caffeinate so the shocks are less noticeable. It is absolutely frigid outside so I'd like to avoid leaving the house as much as possible but there is a guy down the way tearing down his years old tank selling his rock at $2/lb. I had made a bit of mistake between live rock and cured live rock. This will certainly be cured but I'm pretty sure what I have now in tank is cured as well?? Either way.. I have not seen pictures of the tank though so it could be a nightmare/wasted trip.. anything I should look out for and absolutely avoid? Massive green algae bad??purple good?? Feather dusters bad?? Aptasia badddd??

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