First Build - 55 gallon mixed reef

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Hey everyone!

New to the community and to the hobby!

I have been researching numerous forums on how to approach this correctly and make sure everything is done appropriately, and picked this forum as my victim... :smokin:

Quick background: 23 year old male from Boston, engineer working in aviation manufacturing; commerical and DOD (department of defense) engines.

OKAY SO.....

The tank:

I got a "complete" set up off of craigslist, but replaced everything except the heater.

55 Gallon Sea Clear acrylic w/ stand and canopy - no sump ATM
~70lbs of rock (45# base, 25# varying live rock)
30lbs oolite sand

The goods:

Current USA Orbit Marine LED 48"-60" w/ controller (being delivered today :beer
HK nano 240gph (x2) PH
HK nano 425gph PH
HK evo 1185gph PH
Sicce Voyager 2 850gph PH (currently on ~650[?]gph oscillating flow setting)
HK smartwave controller
HK auto topoff controller
RO BH-1000 HOB protein skimmer
Sicce Syncra Silent 1 pump (running with ATO unit)
10 QT tank (empty awaiting fish :fish2
Aqueon Pro 250watt heater
Some cheapo temp probe

Water parameters:

AT DAY 27

SG - 1.025 (instant ocean salt mix)
Temp - 78-79*f
NH3 - 0ppm
NO3 - 5-10ppm
NO4 - 20ppm
dKH - 11
PH - 8.0-8.1

Pic from DAY 3 - (day 1-2 was a cloudy sandstorm mess)



DAY 25 pic (third aquascape attempt - next tank, this gets done before we go wet and well planned ahead of time :headwallblue


Hard to see all the powerheads, but I have the Sicce front left angled down and in, HK 1185 is behind that facing up and front.

Right side has a 240 - 425 - 240 configuration; with the 240's running alternate on the smartwave every 5-7 seconds

Creates a very nice surface distrubance as while as a nice "current" with little settling on the sand bed.


Also got 3 "banded trochus snails" becuase my NH3/NO3/NO4 all read 0/(trace on the nitrates) finally but unfortunately when I moved some rocks after putting the snails in, my sand seems to have released some NO3/NO4 back into the water column (see water params above for day 27). Hopefully they make it, also concerned about them having a big enough food supply.

Might've jumped the gun a little too early on the snails :headwally:

Any suggestions for the next move?

My plan is to ensure water quality and then look for my first fish to add..

Midas blenny
A type of shrimp goby
Mimic saddle puffer


Feel free to sub for the ride! :bounce3:

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

One of the snails




One of the three has hair? Dark red/brown sprouts coming out of his shell - will try to get a picture tonight when I get home from work.

Is this normal? or am I going to regret picking him LOL

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Detailed shots of the aquascape:




You can see Harry (the hairy snail) in this picture! What do you guys think?
*Middle top rock - ~ one inch to left of the acrylic eating snail*




Love this tonga shelf piece I got from BRS (ordered 5 lbs got this and the middle shelf in the previous pic)

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

New lights came in yesterday as planned! Set them all up and using a preprogrammed schedule for now.

Really impressed with the controllability... brightness is OK, would definitely need two to be able to handle high light requirement corals/anems.

Forgot to get pics, will get some later.

If you set the whites to 0% and blues to 1% - I don't even know how to decribe it, extremely cool for night viewing. :eek2:


Still seeking advice/opinions on my cycle... :hmm3:

I want a fish :fish2: I mean I love looking at my rocks and all but I can't wait to have some life going into the tank. (no offense to my snails)

 

[Jholt11]

Personally, I liked your original aquascape best.

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Personally, I liked your original aquascape best.

Thanks! To be honest staring at an empty tank got the best of me and I played too many times.

It will stay like this for now, except you have now planted the seed of thought into my head :uhoh3:

 

[pscott99]

You have a good start for sure. Looks like you've been some reading for sure. If I am reading right and your are a month in and have a qt tank go ahead and get a couple fishes. Have fun. I like the first scape too only because I think less is more.

 

[scott3569]

well I am not much newer than you..I just got my tank yesterday, I am water testing it now. It looks like maybe you have used some dry reef saving rock??? and some live rock??

I just placed an order for some dry reef saving rock my self because I want to really work with my scape and making it interesting and natural looking..I will add live rock in with it so that the live rock will seed..the dry.

I would love to see what your stock list looks like. I have a stock list going my self look for my post.

I am on the fence with which one of your biulds I like best..they both look great
Hope all goes well with you!!

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

You have a good start for sure. Looks like you've been some reading for sure. If I am reading right and your are a month in and have a qt tank go ahead and get a couple fishes. Have fun. I like the first scape too only because I think less is more.

Thanks! Yes I have been researching like crazy, engineering has taught me to do something right the first time... :reading:

well I am not much newer than you..I just got my tank yesterday, I am water testing it now. It looks like maybe you have used some dry reef saving rock??? and some live rock??

I just placed an order for some dry reef saving rock my self because I want to really work with my scape and making it interesting and natural looking..I will add live rock in with it so that the live rock will seed..the dry.

I would love to see what your stock list looks like. I have a stock list going my self look for my post.

I am on the fence with which one of your biulds I like best..they both look great
Hope all goes well with you!!

I ordered my base rock from marine depot - 40lb box (very pleased)
The two shelf peices are tonga shelf from BRS (extremely pleased - ordered 5lbs got about 8-9lbs worth)
The purple rocks are cured live from one of my LFS
The stack on the left is all old live rock, that I did my best to clean, that was thrown in with the tank when I purchased it from the guy..

I actually am toying with the idea of removing the left stack. LOL can't make up my mind :hmm5:

But I already have some growth appearing on about half my base rock and my sand!

I will have to look for your post and follow along!

My stock list for the future right now looks like this:

orange stripe prawn goby
tangaroa goby
yellowhead jawfish (??)
midas blenny
blue reef chromis (probably won't get these - but I would like a schooling fish)
pair of clowns

Pistol shrimps for the gobies

Haven't even really thought about corals yet...

DAY 28

Got my pair of clowns! The LFS had a big guy about 2-2.5" and I took another ~1" guy.. So far they stick together and the smaller one kind of floats underneath the big guy.. I am hoping they pair up!





Going to make sure eveything is alright with these guys, let them settle in, check out how my water parameters and tank handle the new bio-load when I add them... Now to start planning my next purchase ! :beer:

 

[jdstank]

Looks good but you're going to have some dead spots on the left side of your tank. You may want to rethink the aquascape and move it off the edge as it is now.

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Looks good but you're going to have some dead spots on the left side of your tank. You may want to rethink the aquascape and move it off the edge as it is now.

Thanks!

Yeah tonight I am going to move some powerheads around and probably pull out the left stack of rocks to open the side by the glass after your comment. :hammer:

 

[ThisGuy12]

Question answered, the clowns are in the tank. Watch them closely, the bigger one might already be matured which could very well be bad for the little guy. Generally most people get clowns that are the same size and introduce them to the tank at the same time.

They may very well be okay, but I would still watch their behavior.

Personally, your first aquascape is my favorite , how's the tank looking now? Growth starting to happen?

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Question answered, the clowns are in the tank. Watch them closely, the bigger one might already be matured which could very well be bad for the little guy. Generally most people get clowns that are the same size and introduce them to the tank at the same time.

They may very well be okay, but I would still watch their behavior.

Personally, your first aquascape is my favorite , how's the tank looking now? Growth starting to happen?

You guys and my aquascape... :deadhorse1: LOL

I have been watching the clowns, I have seen no signs of agression towards the smaller one. Last night, the larger one would venture off and soon return to the small one, as if to check in on him. Both were sleeping together in the corner when I got up for work at 5.

As far as growth goes, I have what I believe is a diatom bloom.. trying to figure out how to post a video.. below is a screenshot from said video. You can see how half of the base rock and some areas of sand are becoming rust/brown in color with growth.

The rocks supporting the shelf used to be the same color, the one on the left is starting to darken with growth, right one looks about the same as how it did when I got it. Also note the sand in front of the darker rock.




I have a video that I uploaded to YouTube but it doesn't show up yet when searching... ThisGuy12's - I would like your (and anyone else's) opinion on their behavior. The above picture was a screenshot from the video on my iphone.

I will put the link in here whenever the internet gods decide that it is worthy of the public eye. :headwalls:

Also updates/pics later tonight when I get home from work!

 

[pscott99]

Nice pic. Looking great.

 

[dinger28]

Tank looks great. I started out with a 55 as well before I upgraded. Ditto on what the first guy said about your aquascaping. I also liked the first aquascape the best. Also, you said you had a QT tank and was just curious on why you didn't use it for your clowns? I learned the hard way by not QTing. I know they're the first fish, but they unfortunately wiped out my other fish when they had brook and ich and I didn't realize. Hope all goes well.

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Tank looks great. I started out with a 55 as well before I upgraded. Ditto on what the first guy said about your aquascaping. I also liked the first aquascape the best. Also, you said you had a QT tank and was just curious on why you didn't use it for your clowns? I learned the hard way by not QTing. I know they're the first fish, but they unfortunately wiped out my other fish when they had brook and ich and I didn't realize. Hope all goes well.

Honestly, I intended to use the QT tank, but talked myself against it because they were the first fish... Rookie mistake and I hope I don't have to kick myself for it later.. would hate to have to re-cycle the tank fishless for a length of time ridding diseases.

Everyone esle from now on gets the QT!

Gonna start ignoring the aquascape comments now :rollface:

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Day 31

Day 31

Water parameters:
NH3 0ppm
NO3 0ppm
NO4 0ppm

Both clownfish are doing good and still hanging in the front right corner. Fed them a cube of mysis and nothing is left over! The big guy let the small one eat no problem, and currently they are swimming next to each other nice and cozy.


How much does a pair usually eat per day to maintain size and growth ?





And now to maybe get some of you off my back :debi: I took out the left stack and slab rocks from the left side of the tank. Free up a bit off space. I also changed the flow a bit and watched to make sure nothing really collected anywhere with the new set up.

Here are some pics, hope you guys like this a little more. :thumbsup:




You can see what I think is diatom bloom on the sand and rocks below









I like this a lot better, and there was a decent amount of leftover flake food built up behind the tower, which I siphoned the most out that I could without losing too much water.

That's it for the night, atleast for an iphone post :hmm4:

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

Finally got the video up of the pair hanging out together..

Clownfish Chilling

Sorry for the low quality, I can't upload HD without WiFI connection on my phone and our network is tightly monitored at work.

How do they look?

Every once in a while (not in the video) the little one kind of like falls over or flips on his side when near the larger one, almost like a spazmatic.. :spin3:

 

[scott3569]

HEY Derek, boy you aquascape sure has had some changes..LOL what do you do or what are you going to do about that dia tom bloom? looking good!!

 

[Red Eyed Reefer]

HEY Derek, boy you aquascape sure has had some changes..LOL what do you do or what are you going to do about that dia tom bloom? looking good!!

Yes too many changes... this is the final set-up. :smokin:


Not too much to really do about the diatom bloom, just gonna let it ride out its course!

Now when the GHA shows up... then I'm going Rambo with syphon tube :uzi: