All right, the time has come. I've been reefing for around three years now, and it is time for me to take the plunge and set up my very first SPS dominated reef.
Specs:
Tank: AGA 36 gallon bowfront with black wooden stand. I got this for $75 from a local reef club member. It's practically brand new - he only used it for ten months, and it's in perfect condition.
Lighting: the tank is small enough for one MH fixture to light the whole thing. The middle will have the brightest light, while the edges are slightly dimmer for a few LPS. I have a 14K 400w retrofit from Hellolights with spider reflector and magnetic ballast. Some people like electronic better, but I prefer magnetic because I have found that the time it takes to fully light up is a slight dawning effect. It's very cool when it slowly brightens up - all without the expensive dimmers! It was a little confusing to wire, and it's slightly "ghetto" but the wiring will be protected and covered up with my DIY canopy thingie.
Skimming: I'm putting together a DIY Rubbermaid sump with hang on overflow. My skimmer is a brand new EuroReef CS-80 that I got dirt cheap at a reef club auction.
Flow: sadly a closed loop is out of the question at this point, so I'll be hiding powerheads at various points in the LR, along with having flow from my sump return pump.
Water: I'll be using my 6 stage 100 GPd RO/DI and IO salt, and a portable refractometer from the Drs F & S. Test kits, calc/alk supplements, etc I already have from my last tank.
Substrate: 30-50 lbs sugar fine aragonite. I want a 2" sand layer.
LR: I'm planning on getting it from a club member, there are plenty of people upgrading/downsizing in my area with great rock cheap.
Fish: I know for sure that I want a flame angel. I know they can be iffy, but I've got plenty of people to hand one off to if it doesn't behave itself. In addition, I'm most likely going to get one from another club member who has had it in his tank for a while with no problems.
I had a yellow coris wrasse in my last tank, so I'm considering one of those. I'm open to suggestions, but I live with my folks (I'm in high school) so they say they would like colourful, active fish. They were disappointed with some of the fish in my last tank (pajama cardinals and lawnmower blenny mostly, also the orange spotted goby). I also had two homicidal perculas, but that's a whole other story
Coral: if all goes well and the cycle is complete/algae blooms done within the next few weeks, I'll be adding some hardier LPS corals around a month from then and starting the SPS later.
Clean up crew: I'll be taking advantage of eTropicals.com's great pick-you-own clean up crew package. You have to order $60 worth of critters, about what you would normally spend, and then you get free shipping. Sounds good to me
Calcium issues: I'm used to doing frequent water changes, so that will help keep things going well. I'm pretty sure I want to dose Seachem Reef Complete, or I may go with their kalkwasser mix. No reactors though.
Anyway, that about sums it up. No pictures yet, sorry, but hopefully I'll have some soon. The last thing to get here will be the overflow box, which should arrive in about a week, by which time I'll have my sand and maybe be getting some LR. During the next week I'm hoping to get some sand and some extra 10 and 20 gallon tanks, heaters, etc for quarantine and hospital purposes. Let's just say I got a LOT of Petsmart/Petco gift $$ from the family this year :lol:
Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll have some interesting updates soon.
EDIT: I just made the following "blueprints" of the aquascaping I want. They're not to scale or anything, but I have some general areas marked out for where I want different stuff. I may end up getting a BTA at some point, in which case I'll make a bommie.
Specs:
Tank: AGA 36 gallon bowfront with black wooden stand. I got this for $75 from a local reef club member. It's practically brand new - he only used it for ten months, and it's in perfect condition.
Lighting: the tank is small enough for one MH fixture to light the whole thing. The middle will have the brightest light, while the edges are slightly dimmer for a few LPS. I have a 14K 400w retrofit from Hellolights with spider reflector and magnetic ballast. Some people like electronic better, but I prefer magnetic because I have found that the time it takes to fully light up is a slight dawning effect. It's very cool when it slowly brightens up - all without the expensive dimmers! It was a little confusing to wire, and it's slightly "ghetto" but the wiring will be protected and covered up with my DIY canopy thingie.
Skimming: I'm putting together a DIY Rubbermaid sump with hang on overflow. My skimmer is a brand new EuroReef CS-80 that I got dirt cheap at a reef club auction.
Flow: sadly a closed loop is out of the question at this point, so I'll be hiding powerheads at various points in the LR, along with having flow from my sump return pump.
Water: I'll be using my 6 stage 100 GPd RO/DI and IO salt, and a portable refractometer from the Drs F & S. Test kits, calc/alk supplements, etc I already have from my last tank.
Substrate: 30-50 lbs sugar fine aragonite. I want a 2" sand layer.
LR: I'm planning on getting it from a club member, there are plenty of people upgrading/downsizing in my area with great rock cheap.
Fish: I know for sure that I want a flame angel. I know they can be iffy, but I've got plenty of people to hand one off to if it doesn't behave itself. In addition, I'm most likely going to get one from another club member who has had it in his tank for a while with no problems.
I had a yellow coris wrasse in my last tank, so I'm considering one of those. I'm open to suggestions, but I live with my folks (I'm in high school) so they say they would like colourful, active fish. They were disappointed with some of the fish in my last tank (pajama cardinals and lawnmower blenny mostly, also the orange spotted goby). I also had two homicidal perculas, but that's a whole other story
Coral: if all goes well and the cycle is complete/algae blooms done within the next few weeks, I'll be adding some hardier LPS corals around a month from then and starting the SPS later.
Clean up crew: I'll be taking advantage of eTropicals.com's great pick-you-own clean up crew package. You have to order $60 worth of critters, about what you would normally spend, and then you get free shipping. Sounds good to me
Calcium issues: I'm used to doing frequent water changes, so that will help keep things going well. I'm pretty sure I want to dose Seachem Reef Complete, or I may go with their kalkwasser mix. No reactors though.
Anyway, that about sums it up. No pictures yet, sorry, but hopefully I'll have some soon. The last thing to get here will be the overflow box, which should arrive in about a week, by which time I'll have my sand and maybe be getting some LR. During the next week I'm hoping to get some sand and some extra 10 and 20 gallon tanks, heaters, etc for quarantine and hospital purposes. Let's just say I got a LOT of Petsmart/Petco gift $$ from the family this year :lol:
Thanks for reading, hopefully I'll have some interesting updates soon.
EDIT: I just made the following "blueprints" of the aquascaping I want. They're not to scale or anything, but I have some general areas marked out for where I want different stuff. I may end up getting a BTA at some point, in which case I'll make a bommie.
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