MY 1st reef tank

[juice28]

this is my progress so far of my first reef tank set up, even though the guy at my LFS sold me the wrong type of tank for a reef. I should have gotten a long tank instead of a tall one but i got it now..

SO far i have a 47 gallon, 65-70lbs live rock 7 nasarius snails probably 8 hermits(had 12 but some didnt make it lol) 1 pencil urchin, 1 pin cushion urchin, 1 emerald crab(he came with a rock) 1 peppermint shrinp, 1 spider decorator crab, 1 mandarin dragonette, 1 rusty clown goby, 1 engineer goby, 1 striped hawk fish, 1 yellow tail damsel and 1 yellow eyed tang

 

[juice28]

still more work..

this is my progress so far of my first reef tank set up, even though the guy at my LFS sold me the wrong type of tank for a reef. I should have gotten a long tank instead of a tall one but i got it now..

SO far i have a 47 gallon tank, 65-70lbs live rock 7 nasarius snails probably 8 hermits(had 12 but some didnt make it lol) 1 pencil urchin, 1 pin cushion urchin, 1 emerald crab(he came with a rock) 1 peppermint shrinp, 1 spider decorator crab, 1 mandarin dragonette, 1 rusty clown goby, 1 engineer goby, 1 striped hawk fish, 1 yellow tail damsel and 1 yellow eyed tang

 

[juice28]

a few hitchhikers I picked up along the way

47 gallon tall tank, 65-70lbs live rock 7 nasarius snails probably 8 hermits(had 12 but some didnt make it lol) 1 pencil urchin, 1 pin cushion urchin, 1 emerald crab(he came with a rock) 1 peppermint shrinp, 1 spider decorator crab, 1 mandarin dragonette, 1 rusty clown goby, 1 engineer goby, 1 striped hawk fish, 1 yellow tail damsel and 1 yellow eyed tang

 

[thincat]

Looking good. Keep up the good work..

 

[melosu58]

Very nice tank. Nice progression.

 

[juice28]

some more critters

A few more things in the tank, oh the pencil urch is eating one of my snails... I didnt realise it until the empty shell fell

 

[juice28]

thanks Im trying to be like you all!! lol Its coming along so far this at 3 and a half months give or take a week or two

 

[juice28]

the big boys in the tank so far

the damsle is camera shy and the hawk fish well he is just small and hard to distingush in a picture, camera phone is the best i got right now so i think im doin ok with pictures all things considered..sorry for the engineer goby being blury I had to snap him at feeding time, thats the only way i see him at all

 

[juice28]

47 gallon tall tank, 65-70lbs live rock 7 nasarius snails probably 8 hermits(had 12 but some didnt make it lol) 1 pencil urchin, 1 pin cushion urchin, 1 emerald crab(he came with a rock) 1 peppermint shrinp, 1 spider decorator crab, 1 mandarin dragonette, 1 rusty clown goby, 1 engineer goby, 1 striped hawk fish, 1 yellow tail damsel and 1 yellow eyed tang

I think IM finally done with aquiring my rocks, I believe I have enough now..maybe one or two more...

 

[thincat]

Yea, go slow and watch the water readings and do a pwc if any goes out of wack. Your load is a little hign for such a young tank (3 1/2 months) so keep your I on it.
PS: if possible I would return the Mandarin to the LPS. Also that Kole looks a little big for your tall tank. A 48" long might even be to small.

 

[Barnature]

Nice Tank! I wish I got start a reef tank!

 

[thincat]

Hi, I believe you are in for a sharp rise in the ammonia readings. You got to many things to fast. To be honest I would take all the fish back. Even the Zoas and urchins should go back. You are no where near the end of your cycle. Please keep a close eye on your ammonia and nitrite readings and do water changes to bring them down.
Sorry to be so late in telling you this, but 2 cups of coffee and I re-read your post and realized how young your tank was!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[juice28]

thanks for the tip, unfortunately i tried to take back a few of the animals but i was told"we dont have the room for them" Im looking for another good LFS but there arent that many in oklahoma...and the corals i got came with the rocks as hitchhikers, they have actually started to spread around the rocks and appear to be doing ok. but I def. will keep my eyes peeled, I probably spend every bit of 3-5 hours a day just monitoring and watching how the tank is going..i check my water parameters daily to see any flucuations, the fish get fed about every 3 days in very small amounts throughout the feeding day and the cleaner crew that came with the tank when i purchased it so far is doing pretty good, i have lost a few hermits but i think that was because of a lack of empty shells and too many for my tank but they kind of balanced themselves out so IM now just basically letting it "sit" I add a small amount of macro ever so often after a water change, A guy who has a 150 reef for about 3 years gave me some tips on that and doing more small water changes than the big 20-30 at a time every few weeks. that seems to have helped keep the levels from spiking so much, but I agree. I basically went on the information that the fish store gave me, who else would know how to do it best than the guy who owns a slatwater fish store..lol go figure. I found another one and all we do is talk, I think i found a good one, he actually wont sell me anything escept maybe some LR or macro or rotifers to build a good base for my tank which i appreciate, he told me id rather get you set up right forst and then seel you some fosh or corals than sell it to ya, have it die and then now Im not a good fish store to go to in your eyes

 

[thincat]

Looks like you found a winner in that lfs. Yes, more frequent small water changes is better then one big one. If you keep tabs on your water quality and don't mind changing water as needed you should be okay.
My tank makes one year old tomorrow.
Here is a shot of part of my tank. The urchin was a hitchhiker and came in about the size of pea.
The Zoas are Hawaiian people eaters (true red) the other I forget also Hawaiian same shipment from AC corals...

 

[juice28]

it looks great the color combo's and the urchin, and the rocks, how long did it take you to find him being that small lol. my main problem is lighting, my tank is only about 20x20...but its very deep and im pressed for space. the smallest light i could find was a 24 but it sticks 4 inches out into the walkway..my buddy knocked it off the other day on his way to the bathroom and ive seen some 20 inch pwr compacts 4 bulb but they take up the entire surface area of the top of the tank, i would need to suspend it and im not allowed to do that in the apartment.. i barley got to keep the tank lol technically its too big but im on the ground floor.

 

[thincat]

Weel, today makes 365 days that the AQ has been set up. I was like any other newbie and watched my AQ 24/7 so I spotted two of them within the first 6 months of setting up the tank. When I see a different color of coralline I take that rock out and scrape the coralline off part of it and then let it blow back into the AQ by swishing it in front of the return line to the AQ. This helps spread it around the tank.

 

[juice28]

man thats good idea.. im kinda mad i never thought of that lol. its so simple its brilliant! Ive been wondering how do i get more.. good algae around my tank ill have to do that. Yea im def a newbie.. im fascinated to see what crawls out of my rocks... i saw a bristle worm the other day he had to be every bit of 6 inches..i was going to remove him but they come out and dissapear fast and I havent seen him latley.. I found an emerald crad about a month ago. quick question, if "plants"leafy algae remove nitrate's/ites, why dont people keep some in the tanks, I know that they put them in the refur or in theire sumps... is this just for cosmetic reasons or is there a drawback to having it directly in your tank? I had some, urchins ate it but i thouhti made my tank look really good.. it wasnt alot but it was basically like having a couple nice shrubs in your yard..

so far this is my set up.. i think i need more rocks but the whole 1.5-2 lbs per gallon is throwing my off... if you go 2 lbs then I should have roughly 80lbs ofrock.. this is just about 60-65 counting the limestone I used, i read that it will house the bacteria and grow algae so technically when you put in your tank it becomes LR.. at least thats what my LFS guy told me.