SoHereEyeSit
Well-Known Member
Just sharing my setup. I have a whole paycheck invested in reefing and I don't even have fish or coral in my tank yet lol. But i knew what i wanted and ive been taking it super super slow. Mistakes have been made but its basically inevitable, im past beating myself up about them. I've been slowly increasing the light times for the past 2 or so months from 10 minutes a day to now 6 hrs to minimize the ugly phase but a mistake i made proved to help delay this as well, spoiler.
Goal for the tank: Low stock to coral ratio trying for minimal water changes and general maintenance while achieving optimal water quality for my pets, I'll probably be looking into Triton soon. I am big Walstad fan.
Tank
www.petsmart.com
Bought this 125g used and drilled it myself. Installed a Herbie overflow. One of my last big upgrades will be lights. I come from freshwater (just built a pond in my backyard last summer too) and have lots of extra LEDs so for now those will do (I know they're sh**). I bought my rock and gyres and other stuff off BosReefSoc. Purchasing a controller this week from BosRS as well.
Got chaeto from a trusted source and cleaned it myself, left some critters i wanted, removed what i didnt. The pod populaiton has exploded cause i have been ghost feeding to maintain bio bacteria, i saw a rather large bristle worm the other day which led me to some great research only, it was only a few inches. I seeded with bacteria from my goldfish tank and it worked, just FYI.
Sump
This tank is 6ft and split 3 sections, the bottom as well and the middle section is shelves with two cabinets on either side. I didn't want to be limited to one 10g sump so I put one in each side! I could've split the over flow with a Y and two gate valves but I decided to plumb the two tanks together. Overflow goes through my sock into the left side and runs through to the other side by gravity, of course this has its flow limitations between them because it is gravity fed but that's ok because the right side is my refugium which I wanted a lower flow through anyway, seems perfect. So I have two returns, one from each 10g where the left side is about double the right side gph. I foresee tampering and optimizing the Flowrates. The biggest issue with this is the water levels between them can be a bit tricky, the right side will always be a little lower water level but my ATO will on the left side. I have a tunze ATO just havent set it up yet, will monitor it closely after setup. 5 gallon tank ATO behind left side.
QT
Mistake: I strongly believe in airing out all your sh**, not just your successes, especially in a hobby like this where someone can learn. I initially made the assumption that I need not QT my first inhabitants. I thought "If they're sick I can just treat them in the DT, they're alone already anyway." Very silly. First fish i drop in, boom ich, I panicked after doing research and realizing my mistake and it cost me one of my first fish, I will never forget this. So I believe it is only fair and i deserved this last 75 days without fish in my tank. I've had my two red sea clowns who survived the ich in QT (20gal) for this time and they will be heading into the tank May 1st I am very excited.
I bought a 10gal for QT corals and inverts. Bought dip, gloves, coral tools, all the goods.
Some plans - need RnD
A super closed system with little evaporation and use some sort of recirculating co2 scrubber type thing to maintain ph and oxygen.
Try a couple SPS on the top most parts of my rock and cascade corals downwards as PAR goes down in the water.
Installing a filter roller mat.
Goal for the tank: Low stock to coral ratio trying for minimal water changes and general maintenance while achieving optimal water quality for my pets, I'll probably be looking into Triton soon. I am big Walstad fan.
Tank
Aqueon® LED Aquarium & Stand Ensemble - 125 Gallon | fish Aquariums | PetSmart
Aqueon® LED Aquarium & Stand Ensemble - 125 Gallon at PetSmart. Shop all fish aquariums online
www.petsmart.com
Bought this 125g used and drilled it myself. Installed a Herbie overflow. One of my last big upgrades will be lights. I come from freshwater (just built a pond in my backyard last summer too) and have lots of extra LEDs so for now those will do (I know they're sh**). I bought my rock and gyres and other stuff off BosReefSoc. Purchasing a controller this week from BosRS as well.
Got chaeto from a trusted source and cleaned it myself, left some critters i wanted, removed what i didnt. The pod populaiton has exploded cause i have been ghost feeding to maintain bio bacteria, i saw a rather large bristle worm the other day which led me to some great research only, it was only a few inches. I seeded with bacteria from my goldfish tank and it worked, just FYI.
Sump
This tank is 6ft and split 3 sections, the bottom as well and the middle section is shelves with two cabinets on either side. I didn't want to be limited to one 10g sump so I put one in each side! I could've split the over flow with a Y and two gate valves but I decided to plumb the two tanks together. Overflow goes through my sock into the left side and runs through to the other side by gravity, of course this has its flow limitations between them because it is gravity fed but that's ok because the right side is my refugium which I wanted a lower flow through anyway, seems perfect. So I have two returns, one from each 10g where the left side is about double the right side gph. I foresee tampering and optimizing the Flowrates. The biggest issue with this is the water levels between them can be a bit tricky, the right side will always be a little lower water level but my ATO will on the left side. I have a tunze ATO just havent set it up yet, will monitor it closely after setup. 5 gallon tank ATO behind left side.
QT
Mistake: I strongly believe in airing out all your sh**, not just your successes, especially in a hobby like this where someone can learn. I initially made the assumption that I need not QT my first inhabitants. I thought "If they're sick I can just treat them in the DT, they're alone already anyway." Very silly. First fish i drop in, boom ich, I panicked after doing research and realizing my mistake and it cost me one of my first fish, I will never forget this. So I believe it is only fair and i deserved this last 75 days without fish in my tank. I've had my two red sea clowns who survived the ich in QT (20gal) for this time and they will be heading into the tank May 1st I am very excited.
I bought a 10gal for QT corals and inverts. Bought dip, gloves, coral tools, all the goods.
Some plans - need RnD
A super closed system with little evaporation and use some sort of recirculating co2 scrubber type thing to maintain ph and oxygen.
Try a couple SPS on the top most parts of my rock and cascade corals downwards as PAR goes down in the water.
Installing a filter roller mat.
