My First SW Tank (Pictures!)

[DRock]

Hey everybody,

This is my first saltwater tank, I have experience with freshwater, but am a complete newb in the land of saltwater. I have converted our old freshwater 20g into a salt set up and currently have the following equipment on the tank.

- Penn-Plax Cascade 700 Canister filter with a directional spout set up
- A heater (Can't remember brand and wattage)
- About 8 pounds of base rock
- 6 pounds of Fiji live rock
- 20 pounds of live reef sand
- Cheapo light that came with the tank

Here are a few pics of my aquascape, as well as a few pictures of some hitchhiking corals and a starfish that snuck in on my live rock.

My tank is on day in the cycle and hasn't spiked ammo yet.

Any and all advice, especially on the topic of lights, is more than welcome!

Thanks,
Darrell

 

[Bectan01]

Looking good! What are your plans for the tank? What would you like to keep in it?

 

[DRock]

Looking good! What are your plans for the tank? What would you like to keep in it?

I plan to have a pair of clownfish, a few different crabs/snails, a goby/shrimp pair, and possibly a firefish. I'm leaning towards two Emerald crabs and a team of astrea snails. After having the tank established for about a year or so and setting up a 10g refugium underneath, I'd love to have a mandarin and a self sustaining colony of copepods, but I've never done one and don't want to rush into that and hurt the fish. Outside of that I just plan on keeping some different zoas, mushrooms, and maybe a few LPS's like torches, frogspawn, etc. But I know I need more lighting and flow before then.

 

[DRock]

Day 5 update

So my tank is doing well, the cycle is coming along nicely since I have added a raw shrimp to the tank a day and a half ago. I am going to order a Coralife 4 bulb 96w 24" T5 fixture from marineandreef.com and want to keep zoas, an anemone, some mushrooms, and a xenia in terms of coral, possibly with a torch. Fish load will be a pair of occ clowns, a shirmp/goby pair, and a firefish or lawnmower blenny plus a CUC.

Test results are

Ammonia 2.0ppm
Nitrite .50 - 1ppm
Nitrate 15-20ppm

 

[Bectan01]

Just remember to wait 8 months to a year before trying the anemone, they are delicate and will not survive in a newly set up tank. When I first started I kept a log book of my water parameters, twice a week I would enter all the results including temp and salinity. You will notice the fluctuations as you get to know your new tank, you will also see diatoms and others strange algae blooms. That's why it's best to wait, I would also wait a couple of moths before adding corals and make sure you research the corals you buy, some will require high flow, high lighting, others not so much...

 

[Bectan01]

You may also need a power head for additional flow and remember to clean that canister thoroughly, weekly! I forgot to ask what kind of water did you use? You shouldn't use tap water for a reef...

 

[epaz]

I don't believe your T5's will support the nem I have 2 30" fixtures over my 125g and my nem is not happy so I've ordered some radion LEDs

 

[DRock]

I will be adding another powerhead for sure, 425gph plus my canister should provide plenty of flow. I've heard anemone's do well with between 3-4 watts per gallon as a rough estimate and the 96w would put me over 4 in my 20g. I'll definitely be cleaning the canister once a week, and was wondering if you had any input as to what media to keep in the trays? I've heard sponges are no good because of nitrate build up so I'll be taking those out after the cycle completes, but not sure what to replace it with, I've heard carbon is good and ceramic substrate orbs/pellets?

Also going to add a 10g refugium under neath once I do some more research and get a better stand, any experience setting one up?

Thanks,

D

 

[DRock]

You may also need a power head for additional flow and remember to clean that canister thoroughly, weekly! I forgot to ask what kind of water did you use? You shouldn't use tap water for a reef...

I bought premixed instant ocean from my LFS, I'll be using RO/DI from them for top offs as well.

 

[Bectan01]

No worries, I never use the watts per gallon rule in salt water - too many differing factors. Anyways if your 20 is shallow it may be ok, I tried keeping nems under as much t5 and it wasn't enough, I also battled temp issues - the heat from the t5 added a couple of degrees to the tank, plus you have to switch the bulbs every 6-8 months so I ended up buying LEDs. If you haven't purchased the t5 yet I highly recommend going the led route for all the above reasons. At the end of the day you still need to wait until your tank is established anyway, but don't do what I did, buy lights three times before getting the right thing! Lesson learned.

 

[Bectan01]

Sorry I can't give advise on the canister, I usually wouldn't recommend them for salt use. There is a few people on here that are using them so hopefully they can chime in...

 

[DRock]

No worries, I never use the watts per gallon rule in salt water - too many differing factors. Anyways if your 20 is shallow it may be ok, I tried keeping nems under as much t5 and it wasn't enough, I also battled temp issues - the heat from the t5 added a couple of degrees to the tank, plus you have to switch the bulbs every 6-8 months so I ended up buying LEDs. If you haven't purchased the t5 yet I highly recommend going the led route for all the above reasons. At the end of the day you still need to wait until your tank is established anyway, but don't do what I did, buy lights three times before getting the right thing! Lesson learned.

The fixture I'm looking at has built in fans and lunar LED's, my tank is 24"L x 12"D x 16"H with a 1-2" sand bed so I figure my lights will be a few inches off of the top and I'll have to get light around 16" down. Any recommendations of LED's I can look into? I'm trying to keep light cost around $150.

Thanks for all the advice through the process Bectan, I'll hold off on an anemone for a while for sure, don't want to stress the animal in an un-established system.

 

[epaz]

+1 all good advice here learn from my mistake a blew $300 on my 2 fixtures only to be replacing them with LEDS 6 mo. Later

 

[epaz]

http://m.ebay.com/itm?itemId=380810482516

Check these out these were recommended to me by mr.x and are so far awesome lights and really good price point

 

[DRock]

Looks like a good light, but I've heard that the wattage per LED is pretty important and that less than 3 watts per led didn't give good penetration, any truth to that?

Also, anyone ever built a PVC overflow, seen a few in photos with DIY instructions, just looking for pros/cons and any general tips.

 

[navaljonf]

Those 120 W LEDs will be more than enough for you

 

[BigRedsReefs10]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B0092...547b7e0f#ref=mp_s_a_1_1&qid=1393207404&sr=8-1
A little over your $150 but will allow you to keep what ever you want and save you in the long run over t5's with the bulb replacements

 

[jeremy upshir]

be sure to service your canister weekly and change pads..i also had a penplax 700 canister and I could not find the replacement pads anywhere I herd they went out of business. I had a lot of problems with nitrates until I went to a sump. I also argree with the above about leds. I heard that t5s also produce a lot of algae

 

[DRock]

Zoa

Hey everyone,

Quick update, I ordered the 120W LEDs from eBay, I also got some macro extension tubes for my DSLR and took a cool pic of the zoa's that hitch-hiked in on my live rock, just thought I would share.

My tank is just about done cycling, ammonia is almost 0, nitrite is almost 0, nitrates are around 20ppm, I have added a black and white damsel who seems really happy. It was recommended as a really hardy fish to supplement the cycle now that the levels aren't toxic, and I plan on keeping him for at least a few weeks while I monitor the parameters, then I'll trade him back to my LFS.
Included an up-close of him too.

D

 

[DRock]

Cycle is practically complete! Ammo and nitrite are at 0, Nitrate is still climbing but I'm doing my first water change in a little while to bring those down.

Also, my lights have arrived!! Now I'm going to home depot to get some plant hangers/something like that to hang them over my tank. Pics to come when finished!!!