Reesy's 20 Gallon Reef Adventure

[Reesy1989]

Hey All,

I recently celebrated my 20th Birthday on Tuesday of this week, with the money I have been given plus abit of extra cash from the jobs I have managed to launch myself into the world of Marines!!

First up I woke up the day after the celebrations with a clear head for the days events ahead. I have up till today been keeping Kribensis in a 20 gallon long tropical tank. They have bred twice and I had a healthy young population of little Kribs. 56 Baby Kribs plus the father were all bagged up and off we went.

Gave the bagged fish to the chap in the shop and apparently they were not quite and inch? So he couldn't give me that standard price for them? However I had £80 store credit which I was extremly happy with. Bought the following Items:

• River Reef 94
  Aquarium Salt
  Hydrometer
  Sand
  RO water
  Test Kit

Back at home I had another job to do, my current display tank (another 20 Gallon long) I had my mother Krib plus her new batch of fry (about 3 - 4 weeks old so still to small to take to LFS) I had to take this tank out to the outhouse so that the New River Reef could be on display. Emptied the tank till about 1/4 full. Had to get a mate over to help my carry it as it was still quite a weight and arkward to carry. Got the Tropical tank in place and refilled it.
Finally was able to setup the River Reef.
Put all the bits and bobs together and put it in pride of place. Sand was washed and alot rubbish came out of it! Filled the tank up 1 Bucket at a time, Each bucket was about 10 littres and the distance from were the hose would stretch to were the tank was is about 50 - 70 metres, Running back and for about 12 - 15 times really makes you realise how unfit you actually are lol. With the tank finally full Added the sand. Tank was clouded but that was to be expected, added the heater that came with the tank and an extra two just to get the tank the right temp quicker.
The Girlfriend (who says doesn't like fish but always used to comment on them when we used to live together??) had rented films two day prior and had to take them back at 10 so after and exhausting day I have left the tank with the water full, the sand added and the heaters going. Today when I get home from work I will add the salt and test the salt levels to make sure they are correct. Hopefully I will be able to get my 10KG of live rock on the weekend if all is going well.

Haven't really thought about Stocking for CUC or fish yet, have read all the other diaries on here and am planning for a patient wait to alow the tank to mature and become a stable environment before getting my CUC let alone fish or corals.

However I am interested in what you guys think my little tank will be able to home?

Any suggestions are welcomed

Cheers,

Reesy1989

 

[Buddyboy67]

Welcome to the salty side mate

 

[youngfisher]

Did you use tap water with the tank? As thats not good if you want it to be a reef. Its fine for just fish, but if you want to keep corals it needs to be RO water.

YF

 

[Buddyboy67]

Said you bought ro but ran to tap..well noticed yf...again here I have used tap water for years in this game, though ro is definately preferable, and if treated properly may be used...

 

[daveo_irl]

Looking forward to seeing more updates. Oh and

Also, I would invest in a refractometer to measure your SG (you can get them relatively cheaply on fleabay). Hydrometers aren't very accurate.

 

[Reesy1989]

Thanks all ,

I was advised at the LFS that I could use Ro water and Tap water? Hmmmm LFS strikes again. I thought it was better to use RO water.

Im gunna have to empty the tank tonite and pick up some RO Water then Im guessing! Dang!

Ah well you live and you learn i suppose.

Just hope to have learnt as much as possible before I put any life in there. I've read a couple of book and read quite alot online but the problem is there are so many views that conflict?

Reesy1989

 

[Buddyboy67]

Notice you said you bought aquarium salt..take it you mean marine salt and if so what brand did you opt for??
As said i've used treated tap water for years..and still do regularly..a big no no to most on here i guess but i've done it since before ro was available to the home keeper. I also know a lot of big time reefers that still use it as well...just make sure to add a good quality phosphate remover and replace it more often than if using ro...
Warning....it's worth testing the quality of ro from your lfs, as many don't keep their ro units fully maintained and the ro produced can be little better than tap water anyway.....

 

[Reesy1989]

Ye sorry, it was marine salt lol,

I'm actually in work at the moment and I cannot remeber what brand it was?

I was considering using Tap water as i read online about a month ago that aslong as the tap water was de-chlorofide and a solution to remove phosphates and zinc if im correct as these can harm corals?

If Im wrong please let me know as I'm eager to learn and provide the best environment for the sea life

 

[seffieuk]

Reece

First things first, where are the photos of the new tank

Secondly, your rock needs to be sitting on the bottom of the tank, not on the sand - move all your sand to the front, put your rock in and then move the sand back around the rock

Where are you buying your live rock from?

If you want corals, try to start off right from the start with an sg of 1.026

As the river reef isn't that big I would be tempted to take out the water and use all RO water to cut down on any problems later. Bud uses tap water, but he is a very experienced aquarist so knows how to deal with any problems

Seffie x

 

[Buddyboy67]

Why shuxx seffie ..thanx,lol...



As said but..get this source of ro checked for phosphates and nitrates before buying too much...even better , invest in your own unit..available for less than £100 nowadays

 

[ben1987]

to the nut house

 

[Reesy1989]

Thanks for the info guys,

Seffie I took your advice, I completely emptied the tank last night and the sand is currently in the bucket.

My LFS are useless, I made a point of asking him about putting the rock in first as I've seen so many people do it plus if they are on the tank bottem rather than the sand it makes it more stable and less likely to cause a pressure point when the rock sinks through the sand? Is that right?

I'm going to be getting my RO Water tonite, got 5 litres last night an tested it and the test results were in line so tonite when I finish work its straight to the LFS to buy 90 litres.

Also the LFS will be the supply for the live rock also its £9.99 per kilo and its already cured, although I know it'll still need to cycle in my tank as when you move the rock it'll have some die off from being out of water.

Also Buddyboy to you earlier question the Salt brand is Tropic Marin?

Don't worry Seffie I'll try and get some pictures asap, problem is that i've not got a decent camera but I have two jobs at the moment so on the weekend i'm planning on getting a half decent one.

Still dont know about stocking yet. Any suggestions?

Cheers,

Reesy

 

[ben1987]

gotta be a pair of clowns!

 

[Reesy1989]

I like your style Ben,

I've always planned on having clowns, I'm hoping to get two juvenile clowns for my first fish so that when they mature hoping for male and a female

I am currently trying to decide what other fish, with the specifications of the tank I know that Im not going to be able to fit a whole lot in there.

Was figuring a Yellow Watchman Goby and another centre fish, nothing aggressive towards fish or corals which I hope to eventually keep.

Maybe a wrasse or hawkfish although not sure if 20 Gallon is to small for these, any advice?

Cheers,

Reesy

 

[Trod]

to the salty side

Its nice to see you taking advice seriously and not just leaping in
Looking forward to seeing photos, don't worry to much about standard of camera yet, most of my pictures are naff, but still give a good sense of how things look, have you got a camera on your phone, if so whack some piccies on here. We do get very demanding

As for fish, I love the purple firefish that would go well in your tank.