So Im going to try this out and see how it goes. I have seen many other posts on tank builds and start up. Tonight I think I will start one. If nothing else it will act as a "journal" of sorts to keep all of this stuff straightened out in my head.
I will also try to post some pictures too.
So my tank has been up for about 7 months or so. My first saltwater tank and I am loving it. I have tons of freshwater experience but this is the first with salt.
This is what I was running when I first started:
125 gal,
2 AquaLife Edge LED (13) 6K White, (14) 9K White, (17) 10K White, (3) Blue, (7) Red, (3) Blue Lunar LED`s
Eshopps 3rd Gen R-200 sump with refugium
Eshopps SnowCone Skimmer S200
Heater and UV Sterilizer inline
SunSun JVP-201 Powerhead @ 650gph
That is not what I am currently running but I will circle back to that.
When I first started I rapid cycled my tank using an instant cycler (dont remember which one) and some freshwater mollies that I converted to saltwater fish. They were in the tank for about a month an a half then they started popping out babies (as mollies do.) I captured all of the mollies and put them in my hospital tank so I could add saltwater fish to my DT. The mollies went to my LFS and from what I hear they were taken home the same day by one of the employees that wanted to put them in the fuge.
I started slow with the fish...nothing crazy. Each fish has had a good amount of QT time.
To date I have a sailfin tang, pair of clowns w/anemone, 4 anthias, two bar gobies, 4 blue damsels, and a dwarf flame angel. Im still under my bioload for the tank (even counting my snails,shrimp,and crabs) but I am treating all of the fish (except clowns) for ich so I am working on my corals for the moment. I believe the ich was introduced into the tank from a "free with purchase" coral that I got from an online retailer when I got my dwarf angel.
The fish are fine in the HT and the corals seem to be doing good as well. The corals that I have are a green hammer colony, pink hammer colony, green brain maze, blue mushrooms, red mushrooms, green mushrooms, GSP, sun coral and a Kenyan tree. After weeks of work and teasing I am FINALLY getting the sun to open during the day, it is amazing.
My equipment has been upgraded since the start. I am now running two Maxspect Gyre XF150's for flow instead of the SunSun that I had in the beginning. Technically I am running one and working with Coralvue on the warranty for the second. it just stopped working on me so we are trying to figure out what is going on with it.
I have also upgraded my lights. The Edge looked great but did not provide the PAR I wanted for lower level coral growth. I upgraded to 2 Maxspect Razor (R420R) lights and things seems to be doing great with those. Right now I am running them at 40% max as the lights have been up and running for about 2 weeks. I am getting a PAR meter on Wednesday and will slowly bump the intensity up once I make sure that it will not be too much for the corals.
The fish will be ready to go back in the DT in about 4 weeks and once they are back in I am going to hold off on more fish until I get my corals going. I do have enough spare equipment that I am thinking of setting up a second DT and running seahorses, garden eels and some pipe fish (if anyone knows of a good vertical tank around 65g let me know.)
Here is a picture of my sun coral that I took earlier tonight. I apologize for the color but there is only so much that can be done with my camera phone. I am always up for tips and suggestions. Also I would love to hear thoughts and feedback or suggestions on corals. I am always looking for a great addition to the tank.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
I will also try to post some pictures too.
So my tank has been up for about 7 months or so. My first saltwater tank and I am loving it. I have tons of freshwater experience but this is the first with salt.
This is what I was running when I first started:
125 gal,
2 AquaLife Edge LED (13) 6K White, (14) 9K White, (17) 10K White, (3) Blue, (7) Red, (3) Blue Lunar LED`s
Eshopps 3rd Gen R-200 sump with refugium
Eshopps SnowCone Skimmer S200
Heater and UV Sterilizer inline
SunSun JVP-201 Powerhead @ 650gph
That is not what I am currently running but I will circle back to that.
When I first started I rapid cycled my tank using an instant cycler (dont remember which one) and some freshwater mollies that I converted to saltwater fish. They were in the tank for about a month an a half then they started popping out babies (as mollies do.) I captured all of the mollies and put them in my hospital tank so I could add saltwater fish to my DT. The mollies went to my LFS and from what I hear they were taken home the same day by one of the employees that wanted to put them in the fuge.
I started slow with the fish...nothing crazy. Each fish has had a good amount of QT time.
To date I have a sailfin tang, pair of clowns w/anemone, 4 anthias, two bar gobies, 4 blue damsels, and a dwarf flame angel. Im still under my bioload for the tank (even counting my snails,shrimp,and crabs) but I am treating all of the fish (except clowns) for ich so I am working on my corals for the moment. I believe the ich was introduced into the tank from a "free with purchase" coral that I got from an online retailer when I got my dwarf angel.
The fish are fine in the HT and the corals seem to be doing good as well. The corals that I have are a green hammer colony, pink hammer colony, green brain maze, blue mushrooms, red mushrooms, green mushrooms, GSP, sun coral and a Kenyan tree. After weeks of work and teasing I am FINALLY getting the sun to open during the day, it is amazing.
My equipment has been upgraded since the start. I am now running two Maxspect Gyre XF150's for flow instead of the SunSun that I had in the beginning. Technically I am running one and working with Coralvue on the warranty for the second. it just stopped working on me so we are trying to figure out what is going on with it.
I have also upgraded my lights. The Edge looked great but did not provide the PAR I wanted for lower level coral growth. I upgraded to 2 Maxspect Razor (R420R) lights and things seems to be doing great with those. Right now I am running them at 40% max as the lights have been up and running for about 2 weeks. I am getting a PAR meter on Wednesday and will slowly bump the intensity up once I make sure that it will not be too much for the corals.
The fish will be ready to go back in the DT in about 4 weeks and once they are back in I am going to hold off on more fish until I get my corals going. I do have enough spare equipment that I am thinking of setting up a second DT and running seahorses, garden eels and some pipe fish (if anyone knows of a good vertical tank around 65g let me know.)
Here is a picture of my sun coral that I took earlier tonight. I apologize for the color but there is only so much that can be done with my camera phone. I am always up for tips and suggestions. Also I would love to hear thoughts and feedback or suggestions on corals. I am always looking for a great addition to the tank.
Thanks for reading and if you have any questions please feel free to ask.
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