My first reef tank- 5.5g AGA

[amiricle]

Hello, after doing some research on RC I finally started my first reef tank. I don't really know a lot so any help you guys could give me would be great.

I’m in college and my funds are limited, so in terms of lighting I wanted to use 2 or 3 of the coralife 20w self ballast lights. I haven’t made my hood yet, so for now I have no real lighting.

Here is a picture of the stuff I bought to get started. I plan on using an AC70 with the fuge mod that I read about on RC.


I bought 5lbs of LR from the LFS, I don’t know much about LR, does this look good to you guys?


Here is a picture of what the rock looks like with the water in the tank, the light are only temp. lights I had around the house.


This is the LR again, does it look good to you guys? I hadn’t seen any hitchhikers, I don’t know if that is bad.





here is a picture of the AC 70. There is only sand in there right now but I will add LR rubble tonight.



and this is one more FTS


I’m just waiting for the tank to cycle before I do anything else. Is there anything that I am doing wrong? How does my rock look? Do you guys think I should break the piece of LR on the left in half? Any help would be great. Thanks

[kenny77]

I think this is a nice star for the first one. just don't take think ina hurry.

as for the rock I would't beak it. I would get at least 3-4 pieces of the same size and then play around until you get a nice aquascaping. then you will know if you need to break one of the pieces or not.

did you get a test kit, hydrometer (at least), such a small tank will need more care, and more water testing than a big one. so go for a very good test kit. salifet.

what are you planing to keep in there?

[shouldabenacowboy]

Looks good so far....My first tank was a 5.5 and I loved it. The only thing I could recommend is to take the sand out of the AC70. When I had sand in my AC500 it ended up getting in the impeller assembly and it sounded like a freight train 24/7. Nothing worse than a loud a** filter!

Keep us posted

SBC

[amiricle]

Thanks for the help!

kenny77- I have a hydrometer from my FO tank, and I have some test kits but not good ones, so that’s the next thing on my list of things to get. I’m just trying to keep hardy corals like zoos and mushrooms for now.

shouldabenacowboy- Thanks for the tip! Your right I took out the impellor and there was a lot of sand in there! Thanks again, I took all of the sand out of the AC.

I have a quick question, is it a bad idea to have cheato in the fuge during the cycle?

Also, after looking at one of pieces of LR, I saw these brown things that come out of the rock. Is it some kind of mushroom? Sorry for the bad pics.
Its at the top of the rock



Also, my AC 70 is way to strong, its pushes the sand around so I need to get an AC 20 impellor. Anyone know of a place online to get these?


I also had an extra AC50 from another tank, I just put it on so that I could keep carbon and filter floss in it after the cycle.

The AC50 barely fit, i had to trim some of the plastic to make it go in.


I got all these ideas from all the fellow reefers on RC. Thanks again! Any help would be great.

[Colin]

Nice start.

The things on top of your rock look like bubble algae. Might want to gently remove them (try not to pop them) if they are.

You can get that impeller from bigalsonline.com.

Good luck, and keep us posted!

--Colin

[MrMexReefer]

awesome tank! I had no idea the AC70 was shaped like that! Now i want to get one and house a heater and fuge in there too. Keep us informed, very nice start

[rodgod20]

good start, I suggest may be more lr. I would try to put another 5lbs in there.

[amiricle]

thanks for the info, is it bad to run cheato in my fuge during the cycle?

[saltycreefer]

Doesn't look like bubble algae to me. Looks like the polyps are coming back on whatever type of coral that used to be, maybe favia.

[aclos3]

I don't see an issue with having chaeto in the fuge during the break in cycle. If it makes much of a difference to the cycle at all, it will probably only lower the nitrate spike a little bit. If someone knows otherwise, please correct me.

[rodgod20]

I have **heard** it will prolong the cycle. But, if that isn't an issue go for it. You could if you would like to put it in the main tank as well. My nano cube has it in the display

[Rosseau]

did you mod the intake to your AC? (or am I seeing things..)

[Colin]

I looks like he cut down the intake tube and re-glued the screen back on to the bottom. The stock intake is too long to fit in a small tank.

--Colin

[amiricle]

Rosseau- Yes, i had to take the screen off of the intake extension and then add it to the U tube, it was way too long.

[amiricle]

Do you guys think that the rock in the pic above has bubble algae? Should I try to remove it or are they polyps of some kind?

[Colin]

If they are soft and squooshy and expand and retract, then they're polyps. If they're hard and shiny then they're bubble algae. It's hard to tell from the picture.

--Colin

[rodgod20]

doesn't look like bubble to me

[amiricle]

thank you, when i touched one of them, it "retracted" back into the rock, so i guess it polyps. Thanks colin!

Will these polyps die with floresent lighting for another week? Im am building my hood with PC lighting and it will not be compleated untill the end of the week.

[Colin]

Hard to say if they'll live or not. The cycle may be worse for them than the lighting. Just do what you can. How many watts is your lightstrip?

--Colin

[rodgod20]

to help them live (which I would do) do water changes...small ones but do some. Will help.

Looks like favia....be a nice lps to have

[amiricle]

colin- Im not sure how many watts the lights are, they are the lights which came with my 20g hood.

rodgod20- is it alright to do small water changes while waiting for a cycle?

[supernareg]

u'll be fine man, they are polyps, not bubble algae. dont stress over it, things dont die super fast, and this hobby isnt that hard to keep up. (just have lotsa money )


u'll be fine, just get ur lights, no stress, and let nature run its course. the less ur hands are in the water, the better it is.


my 1 advice, get more LR, put it in the dipslay. you dont need to do a water change while waiting for a cycle.... it defeats the purpose, lol.

get more LR because of its biological filtration properties. u'll be happier with it too. if you need advice, just PM me anytime.

[amiricle]

Its been a while so I thought I would update my progress. I just got a new coral today. I think its a frogspawn. What do you guys think? I'm not sure how I should place it, what do you guys suggest? Thanks!

[amiricle]

[amiricle]

Any help would be great! Thanks