My First Adventure In The Salty Side!

[jameshughes1989]

Well, I thought it was about time I started my journal. A few months ago I was going to start up my 1st marine tank but for whatever reason the project never really got off the ground. This one certainly is. Ill start from the beginning, although I did set the tank up Friday.

I won 5kg of live rock from ebay for £9, thats £1.80 a kilo, bargain. This did have some algae on but I scrubbed it and it seems to have come up well, ill post some pics of it. I also got just over a kilo of live rock at swallow aquatics for £14.10, more than all the rest lol but this stuff was a lot nicer. It came with a couple of mushrooms and a coral which I dont know. Pics will follow so I would appreciate an ID.

Some specs for the tank:

Tank: 60 litre Juwell Rekord (24x12x12)
Lighting: Currently a 55w t5 Compact but will be a 4x24w T5 unit.
filtration: 6kg of live rock
Sand: Ocean Nature Live Sand (I wasnt going to use live but its all swallow Aquatics had)
Flow: Currently a new jet 1200 pump but I plan on getting a koralia nano powerhead, will two at each end be okay?
Skimmer: Deltec mce300, maybe a bit overkill but why not

The long term plan for the tank is for a couple of fish, open to suggestions, and mostly soft corals. My fiance would like a clownfish (obviously), I have read that they are okay in a tank this size but have also read differently. What do you guys think? I like the look of corals everywhere! I am buying RO water from my LFS (Aylesford Aquatics) and using tropic marine reef salt with a d&d refractometer.

Time for the first pics:

Tank scrubbed up nicely, blue background painted. I also took the bottom trim off which I feel helps the appearence of the tank.

The first of the live rock dumped in.

Algae, does anyone know what this is and will it come back after being srubbed?

A feather duster (if thats correct) that came on the original rock.

Can anyone identify this?

My first attempt of scaping, not great and still cloudy.

Ill update more later and sorry for the loooong post Hope you enjoy as much as I have so far.

James

 

[sorgan]

hey hey welcome to the saltie side

as for rock scrubbing its doesnt always work well, after you cycle bang a hand full of hermits in and some turbo snails and you should be ok in a tank that size.

regarding the clown the tank may be a little bit small for one as i feel they should be kept in no less then 20g but other people have different opinions, tbh you can do so much more then a clownfish (i love them but only in pairs) why not a nice goby/shrimp pair, blennie of some flavour and clown goby? these fish (usually) stay quite small and are happy in smaller tanks. if not these look up yellow headed jawfish (lid on the tank though), rainfordi and hectors gobies - in fact most gobies will be ok, firefish, pipefish if the flow is low etc etc.

soft corals will be superb under your lighting, things like xenia, zoa's, leathers, colts and ric's will thrive. later if your feeling brave sun corals (these ar LPS but need no light, calc needs to be at 440 but in a softie tank thats an easy thing to maintain) do well in dark corners if spot fed a few times a week.

if you think you have life now look in the tank at midnight with a red torch, beware though as you may still be there at 8 am.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Hey thanks for the welcome, I cant wait to really get stuck into it all. It is so interesting, it really has blown me away.

I didnt think that it would fully get rid of it, but I was thinking the CUC will, cant wait for the cycle to finish so I can get them.

Yeah, thats what I was thinking about the clowns, a shame really. As a matter of fact, a goby/shrimp pair was going to be my next choice. I have been reading about the symbolic relationship they have and I find it very fascinating. Ill look at them other fish though, thanks.

I wrote the lighting wrong, doh! It is actually a 4x24w t5 luminaire. As I said I think ill start with softies but im sure not too long into the future Ill want more adventerous corals. I like all the soft corals you have mentioned so that is good news. I also really like the sun corals, aswell as the torch corals. Once my cycle is done, ill get the calcium test kit but isnt magnesium very important to corals too? Im still learning a lot

Ill have to get a red light and have a look, should be strange and weird!

More pics to follow!

Cheers for your input, James

 

[jaylam]

Hi,

Welcome to the salty side, nice looking tank the blue background looks really bright....I wish I had painted mine now instead of using a blue backing, when I decided to upgrade defo going to paint it instead.

 

[sorgan]

Aye magnesium is important but with only a few hard corals your weekly WC tends to sort out your minerals.

Your lighting is ample for LPS let alone softies

 

[jameshughes1989]

Hi,

Welcome to the salty side, nice looking tank the blue background looks really bright....I wish I had painted mine now instead of using a blue backing, when I decided to upgrade defo going to paint it instead.

Thanks, I like the background. I was going to go black but now im happy with my choice.

Aye magnesium is important but with only a few hard corals your weekly WC tends to sort out your minerals.

Your lighting is ample for LPS let alone softies

Ah okay, everyday is a school day

I thought the lighting would be ample, especially for the size tank. I cant wait for the light to turn up so I can get rid of the temp light.

James

 

[sorgan]

I know the feeling, I am picking up my brand new system tommorow and I feel like a kid at Christmas.

Btw are you testing you water? I ask because if the LR was well cured and didn't die back much on your journey home the tank will ok in a few days for some CUC.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Cool, i will keep an eye out for your journal.

No i haven't at the moment, test kits are the next thing on my list. I plan for my LFS to test my water for me. If there is no ammonia or nitrite, would it be safe to add the CUC? i assume that would mean it has cycled?

Cheers, James.

 

[jameshughes1989]

Anyone know the answer to the above question? I believe I am correct but would like some reassurance from the more experienced reef-keepers.

Right, the what happend next bit.

I finished my scaping, although im still not 100% happy with it Then I went about adding the sand, as you can imagine this caused a massive sandstorm!

Some pics:

Eventually it did start to settle.

And then it cleared up. Im pretty happy with it so far.

Can anyone identify this coral for me? It came attached to the live rock from Swallow.

Any my freebee mushies

Sorry, it got a bit pic heavy My light unit has just turned up aswel so more pics to follow
Any feedback, suggestions or critism welcome, cheers.

James

 

[seffieuk]

Sorry, James, heaven knows how I missed your start

Its looking really nice and can see you went with the deltec 300, good choice

I'm liking the aquascape as well, bet you can't stop pet rock watching , it's mesmerizing isn't it

So your cycle, we are looking for ammonia, then nitrite and then finally a nitrate spike - however if all your rock was transported in water for a very short time (say 15 minutes) you might not have a cycle - but patience is a virtue on the salty side, so give it 48 and then lets see the stats Don't be tempted to jump straight into a cuc when your lfs see your test results and say they are good to go.......... the best tanks are completed over a long period of time

Seffie x

 

[Harry1996]

looking great. when your ammonia and nitrite are 0 and your nitrate is 10 or less then you can add your cuc i dont know what that corals is but it looks nice

 

[jameshughes1989]

haha, no worries. Yeah, I didnt know whether the deltec would be over the top but then is there such thing as too much skimming? Its pulling out a lot already!

Im pretty happy with scape, it has already changed a little bit, nothing major, just a few angle changes and turns I cant help it!

The pet rock watching is amazing, it truely is! I heard it was but I couldnt imagine the amount it has all fascinated me already and all from some rock!

I did think that was the cycling process so thats all good. I know all about that, I just wasnt sure on the difference between FW cycling but im learning all the way. Dont worry about the LFS urging me to buy stuff. Luckily mine (Aylesford Aquatics) have never given me any misleading so far to try and sell me stuff. Im always pretty skeptical on that but they do seem to be spot on, luckily.
I am going to try and have patience, after all I really want this tank to be successful. I just cant wait to get my CUC! Oh wait, calm down, not yet! lol

Have you got any suggestions for stocking?

Thanks, James

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Thanks Harry, I cant wait. I have been reading through all the journals on here, including yours and I just cant wait to get stuck in now. How is your tank doing? I cant remember a recent update

Cheers, hopefully Ill find out what it is so I can care for it, aslong as it survives the cycle. Luckily it was a freebee.

James

 

[seffieuk]

Have you got any suggestions for stocking?

I too am a lover of the shrimp/goby pairing but your rock needs to be very stable, as those shrimp sure do dig

I would love to see an Assessor in their, in particular because they like to hang upside down in caves etc and you have that rock he would just love - but finding them is really difficult they seem to be as rare of rocking horse poo at the moment!

Seffie x

 

[jameshughes1989]

Shrimp/Goby pairs are amazing, I think they will be number 1 on my list

I just looked up the assessor, I like them, particulary the blue. I'd never heard of them before so that was interesting to research. Maybe that'll be another possibility but as you say they are hard to find. Maybe I could ask my LFS to source it.

Thanks for the suggestions and ill update later.

James

 

[Harry1996]

my tank is going great
i have now got 2 blue and 2 white lights on now. i just changed it to that before i have had good sps growth every thing is doing well no more lives stock until after xmas or maybe just before xmas. im saving for a bmx atm