New here - well sort of

J

jennystyyle

Member
First off - Hi all, it's great to be back!

I decided today to get back in! I have roughly 10 years experience and got out in 2016 (mentally a bit earlier than that due to life happening and my tank suffered(. I had a 92 gallon corner with MH lighting and was very active in swaps. I don't want to get back into it, but rather to have something to dabble with and enjoy.

So today, I ordered a 20gallon Red Sea Max. I also got the DIY screen for the top. I ordered 30 lbs Pink Fiji, 20 lbs CaribSea dry live rock. I went with Nyos Pure salt mix and ordered a full battery of Hanna test kits and TDS / PH meter. That will do me to keep me occupied and start the cycle.

Next will be the fun part.

I'm thinking for the inverts:
One cleaner or fire Shrimp
Snails - What kind and how many for a nano?
One fan worm
Absolutely no crabs!


Corals
Very simple, zoa garden and maybe some acan. I don't plan to get into fragging and trading again.

Then the fish - I know this is too many and I have time to pare the list down.
First will probably be a Royal Gramma for color

Then (all are just maybe), only one of anything
Hector's Goby
Helfrichi Firefish
Black fantom or storm clown
Blue Dot jawfish
Mandarin Goby (not until the tank matures way down the road)

Thoughts?

I can't wait to get started again!
 
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Welcome back to the hobby. If you are not new to RC and have a previous account, @JohnL may be able to recover your original account for you.

Sounds like you have a good plan and are approaching this with patience (y)
As far as snails, I'd recommend a variety for cleaning different areas of the tank. Turbo snails and Trochus are both good species but they are Pacific species and a little pricier than Caribbean/Gulf snails. If you want a good mix of Caribbean/Gulf, look into KP Aquatics, Reef Cleaners or Reeftopia.

Here's a crabless cleaner crew from Reef Cleaners for a 25 gallon.
1706122341402.png


I love Grammas, so I like that as your first fish pick. I think if you pare down your fish list by one or two fish you should be good. Personally, I would not add a Mandarin to a tank smaller than 120 gallons due to their eating habits unless I had access to live pods to regularly replenish the pod population.
 
Thank you! I’ll look into the snail pack!

I just got a lot of my supplies. Though my tank isn’t here yet. I’m looking at a bucket of salt, dry live rock, a heater and bags of live sand. It’s killing me!

I just ordered my screen lid from kraken. It looks amazIng!


this is my updated plan

Red Sea max nano 20 gallon
Fiji pink sand 30 lbs
Dry live rock. I have 20 lbs. once set up, I’ll see if I think I need 10 lbs more
Salt Nyos

Inhabitants
Snail pack. Probably from KP aquatics. Thank you for the recommendation!
1 cleaner or fire shrimp
1 sexy shrimp
Zoanthid garden
Maybe an a an or two

Fish - in order of adding slowly
Royal gramma
Helfrichi firefish
Black phantom clown
Blue dot jaw fish
 
Sounds like a plan. I know the waiting is tough but, remember nothing good happens fast in this hobby.
 
Welcome back to the hobby and looks like you have a good plan. I love my kraken lid. Only issue with mine is I went cheap so I don’t have a handle on it (not even sure if that was an option) which makes it kind of difficult to remove as I have a rimmed tank. But I’m looking at buying some handles off Amazon.
 
Also, have you considered using a little live rock with the dry? There are several companies that have Gulf and/or Caribbean aquacultured live rock including Tampa Bay Saltwater, KP Aquatics, Gulf Live Rock and Salty Bottom Reef Company.
 
griss said:
Also, have you considered using a little live rock with the dry? There are several companies that have Gulf and/or Caribbean aquacultured live rock including Tampa Bay Saltwater, KP Aquatics, Gulf Live Rock and Salty Bottom Reef Company.
Click to expand...
I had a very bad experience with Tampa bay saltwater with my first tank. I got at least 6 mantis shrimp that I never completely exterminated in the 10 years I ran it.

So, at this time, no
 
jennystyyle said:
I had a very bad experience with Tampa bay saltwater with my first tank. I got at least 6 mantis shrimp that I never completely exterminated in the 10 years I ran it.

So, at this time, no
Click to expand...
Holy cow. That's unusual to get many, how many pounds of rock did you order?
 
I don’t recall but it was for a 92 gallon corner. I loved the rock, hated the mantis.
I battled them the entire time I had the tank. I’d get one and was so happy. And…. Click click. Repeat. I think I got the last one around the time I had some major personal problems with a troubled marriage resulting in suicide. This is also why I prefer a new username, that is not associated to my old identity. I’m well past it now😊. And ready to go back to the hobby that I love but at a smaller scale. And…. Change some mistakes that I made along the way.

I lost countless fish, I’m sure because of them. I want to start this one knowing for sure I’ll never have one.
 
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jennystyyle said:
I don’t recall but it was for a 92 gallon corner. I loved the rock, hated the mantis.
I battled them the entire time I had the tank. I’d get one and was so happy. And…. Click click. Repeat. I think I got the last one around the time I had some major personal problems with a troubled marriage resulting in suicide. I’m well past it now😊. And ready to go back to the hobby that I love but at a smaller scale. And…. Change some mistakes that I made oolong the way.

I lost countless fish, I’m sure because of them. I want to start this one knowing for sure I’ll never have one.
Click to expand...
Hmm maybe seed with some local rock from a tank breakdown or similar? Should be “relatively” pest free as long as you get a good look at it first
 
jennystyyle said:
I don’t recall but it was for a 92 gallon corner. I loved the rock, hated the mantis.
I battled them the entire time I had the tank. I’d get one and was so happy. And…. Click click. Repeat. I think I got the last one around the time I had some major personal problems with a troubled marriage resulting in suicide. I’m well past it now😊. And ready to go back to the hobby that I love but at a smaller scale. And…. Change some mistakes that I made oolong the way.

I lost countless fish, I’m sure because of them. I want to start this one knowing for sure I’ll never have one.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear about your past troubles both in life and with the tank. Stay strong:)
 
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