AKay09's 29Gallon Build Thread

AKay09

AKay09

New member
Hey guys, been using this forum for a lot of my research but have yet to post, figured now is as good a time as any! Decided to get back into the hobby after a failed attempt before I went off to college. Making sure I go extra slow this time and trying to do everything right from the beginning. The plan is to have 3 or maybe 4 fish one day and some corals but still not sure which kind yet. Still have some time to decide on that. Tank has been up since 01/02/15. Any and all comments or questions are greatly appreciated!

Setup/Equipment:
29 gallon tank (30x12x18) back painted black.
10 gallon sump with 2 baffle bubble trap.
Eshopps Nano Overflow Box
Bio Cube Protein Skimmer
Dual T5 Lighting 48watts (low I know)
20lbs Live Fiji Pink Aragonite
10lbs Dry Aragonite
21lbs Base Rock
2lbs Live Rock
Two 240gph Powerheads
420gph return pump
Refractometer
RODI Unit
TDS Meter

On the List:
Hydor Smart Level ATO Control (Will ideally have before fish are added)
Current USA LED Light (Will have before corals are added)

Cycle is doing well, ammonia is already dropping after peaking at 4.0ppm and nitrites have leveled out while nitrates are rising. I also think I am starting to see a tad bit of diatoms in the sand bed. How exciting!

FTS 01/11/15
 
Day 22: Everything is looking good but PH is still a tad low and Nitrates are down to 10. Tank is bustling with pods and bristle worms and I have at least 4 brittle stars roaming around. The one thing that has me slightly concerned is the little bit of snow globe effect I have going on. Two water changes and some filter floss has helped but it's still annoying me. Anyone have a clue what is causing it? I have read it may be calcium precipitating out of the water. What could be causing this? I'm using RO/DI Water and Instant Ocean Salt.

PH: 7.8/8.0 (API Test Kit)
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates 10
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79F

Finally added some critters that didn't hitch hike in. I bought 3 Astraea Turbo Snails and she gave me 5 and I bought 3 Blue Leg Hermits and again she gave me 5! Wanted to get 10 Nassarius snails and some Ceriths but all 3 of my LFS were out! Lame!

Not sure if anyone is following this but maybe one day it will be worth some looks! ha :lol:


 
Day 29: Everything seems to be doing good. I think the "snowing" effect was a bad mix of salt. Water still isn't as clear as I would like but it's getting better and everything seems happy. I was having the hardest time getting the snails I wanted for my CUC as all 5 of the closest fish stores were out of nassarius and cerith snails. I turned to ReefCleaners.org and ended up being able to get more for less which was great. Got my first 2 fish yesterday as well, I got 2 tiny little Ocellaris clowns, both about a half inch long, so cute :). They have been doing great though, the pellets are a tad bit big for them and they don't seem to be enjoying the mysis I have so I picked up some smaller pellets and brine shrimp to try today. My order of snails came in today and instead of getting 19 total snails, I got 58!! They really loaded me up with dwarf ceriths so I'm not complaining. Water parameters are all checking out great as well.

PH: 8
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5
dKH: 9
Calcium: 400
Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79


 
Still trying to figure out what fish I would like to add next. I'm thinking at about a month since the clowns were added I will get my 3rd fish. I really would like to have a Mandarin and a Six Line but I know the Six Line can be slightly aggressive and that the Mandarin should be added to a more established tank. My question to you guys is do you think if I got a Six Line and then closer to the year mark I added a Mandarin that this would work? If not I think I'll be going with a type of blenny and then adding the Six Line last.

I've also acquired a nice Frogspawn and a small GSP coral since the Clowns. Also changed my lighting to the Current USA Orbit Marine LED.

Is there anyway to edit the original post?
 
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In a tank that small for a Mandrin you will need to be adding pods at least once a week. They eat a massive amount of pods per day that a 29 gallon even with a 10 gallon sump can not keep up with. Trust me I've looked into it and buy pods weekly was really the only viable solution. But at $12.00 give or take a week will get expensive.
 
Yeah I think I've decided that I probably can't have both a Six Line and a Mandarin but I still think I'll give a Mandarin a try eventually. My tank so far is loaded with pods and my LFS gets really small mandarins and they say that they have a very high success rate of getting them to eat frozen.

In the mean time I'd like to get a fish that swims around a lot, the clowns have picked my return nozzle to spend 90% of their time. Anyone have recommendations? I'm thinking maybe a cherub dwarf angel but that could also compete with the mandarin and they are a bit more prone to disease it seems. hmmmmmmm
 
Day 50: For the most part everything is going well. The Ctenophores are still enjoying their little reign over my tank but seem to have stopped spreading for the mean time. My GSP are doing great but the Frogspawn seems to be struggling a bit. Some of the arms seem to be breaking off or apart. I've cut down on some of the flow and also started dosing calcium up to 440 to see if that helps. Might have to try moving him up in the tank to get closer to the light though. Water still isn't as clear as I would like and there seems to be a good amount of particulates floating around in the water column and at the surface, even with lots of surface agitation. Starting running some Chemi-Pure, will see if that helps with water clarity.

Also still haven't had much of any algae growth yet. Never had a diatom outbreak and the only algae I've had has been on the glass and maybe a very small amount in the sand.

Salinity: 1.025
Temp: 79
pH: 8.2
kH: 9
Calcium: 440
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 5


 
Thanks! I think eventually I will be picking up the Hydor Smart ATO. So far topping off hasn't been too much of a hassle for me so I think I'll spend that money on corals!
 
I like it. It was a tad bit noisy even with the silencer they include. I built a Stockman standpipe for a few bucks to help with the noise and its been great since!
 
From what I have read replacing the standpipe is a must with the eshopps overflows. Thanks for the information!
 
AKay09 said:
Still trying to figure out what fish I would like to add next. I'm thinking at about a month since the clowns were added I will get my 3rd fish. I really would like to have a Mandarin and a Six Line but I know the Six Line can be slightly aggressive and that the Mandarin should be added to a more established tank. My question to you guys is do you think if I got a Six Line and then closer to the year mark I added a Mandarin that this would work? If not I think I'll be going with a type of blenny and then adding the Six Line last.

I've also acquired a nice Frogspawn and a small GSP coral since the Clowns. Also changed my lighting to the Current USA Orbit Marine LED.

Is there anyway to edit the original post?
Click to expand...

You seem to be thinking about the same fish...

I am looking at 2 clown fish, a six line, and a mandarin also - mine will have about 40 pounds of live rock with pods added also.

As far as "swimmers' - I am looking at 3 blue/green reef chromis - they school and it looks quite cool.
 
Salty150 said:
You seem to be thinking about the same fish...

I am looking at 2 clown fish, a six line, and a mandarin also - mine will have about 40 pounds of live rock with pods added also.

As far as "swimmers' - I am looking at 3 blue/green reef chromis - they school and it looks quite cool.
Click to expand...

That's a good amount of fish you're planning to add, you have a 40 gallon? I actually decided against the Six Line as well, I picked up a Cherub Pygmy today as it was 50% off, couldn't pass it up. He's a cute little guy but went into hiding, I'll try and get some pics tomorrow if he's a little more bold. I also got a cleaner shrimp and the other day got a big chunk of rock and redid my scape, hopefully you guys like it better when I get pictures up.
 
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For a cool swimmer try a Midas blenny thats what im gonna go with. Tank looks good. And I was gonna say if u go with the cherub u would probably want to get more rocks but sounds like u got that covered
 
Ha yeah I added about 7lbs and have a few more little nooks and crannies for hiding. Nice choice, I was looking into a Midas but none of my LFSs had one. I was in the store today going back and forth
between the angel and a Canary blenny actually, kinda close to a Midas ha
 
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