30 gallon gallon reef to be ...

Fishing4Answers · 08/27/2016, 08:01 PM

So I am going to start a tank journal, so to speak, here for a couple of different reasons. One being that everyone can see what I am doing and give any input that they may have (I know there will be some hard critique going on for some of the points). The other reason is so that I have a chronicle of this journey. This will be helpful later as I am planning to bring back to life my old 55-gallon I have sitting around at the moment. Any comments that everyone has will only help me when I set up the 55; I will be able to look back and see what struggles I had and what worked well, so, please post if you want!

With that being said lets get into the current tank. I have been researching and buying bits and pieces for a bout two months now. I did have a tank years ago and then I moved and did not have it long, so I have little experience and did a lot of things I will be doing much different this time around. Next weekend will finally be the point where I can put the major structure together and kick off the cycle. I will be going with the shrimp method for the cycle and mixing up my saltwater with instant ocean reef crystals. The gear that I will be using:

Decided to go with a 30-gallon tank, which will be sitting on a DIY stand. I will hopefully have that built next weekend as well. I also already plasti-dipped the back of the tank blue. I may build a hood at some point down the road. I was thinking I could build a shelf inside I could put a dripper on to dose my kalkwasser where it cannot be seen. I’m just not sure how big of a deal it will be with trapped heat from the lighting.

There will be 25 lbs of Fiji dry rock in the tank with a somewhat shallow sand bed of special grade live sand. There is not a ton of space front to back in this tank so aquscaping with this small amount of rock is proving to be a challenge. Any suggestions here would be awesome.

I went with a H.O.B aquaclear 70 filter. A sump is just not an option I have right now because of many factors. I may upgrade at some point in the future if things go right. I will run the sponge, a poly-filter pad, activated carbon (BRS ROX 0.8) and phosguard in the filter. I might get a reactor for the loose media a few weeks after set-up, we will see how it goes in the filter for a while.

I will be using two Eheim Jager 50W heaters, not sure where I will set those up yet so if you have any suggestions I would like to hear them. It will probably be in the area of the powerhead.

I researched this one a ton and had a three day long debate before I just bought one so I would not think about it anymore. It will be a Jebao PP-4 powerhead, seems to put out a lot of flow, which can be adjusted. There was a shipping problem and amazon actually refunded the purchase and sent me the pump, so I might just buy another one to run. Not sure if one will be enough flow.

I am thinking for lighting that I will go with a smaller LED and supplement with a T5 light for a little more intensity. This will not be a ton of heat, but as I mentioned I’m not sure if it will be too much with heat in a hood. I will order the two lights in the next few weeks, as I did not need them while cycling.

The last part of the system right now will be an apex controller. I like the data plotting and redundancy I can build with this system. I might add a dosing system and ato with this to make my dosing easier. I may switch to two part if the need or ease arises.

That’s really all for the equipment side of things. I am pretty sure I know what fish I will be going with as well. I will first add a pair of ocellaris clowns and let them hang out for a few weeks. Ill add a diamond watchman goby at that point followed weeks later by a royal gramma basslet. The last fish which I might not add because of bioload will be a blue green chromis, we will see what I decide there. I am thinking a week or two into the cycle I will set up a qt tank and start to qt the first fish so it will be ready to go when the tank is ready to go.

I am still not sure exactly sure of what corals I will add. I have been thinking about this a lot this week and have a lot of research to do before next week. I want to plan out pretty much everything here so that I can scape appropriate and have a place for everything the way it will work and look best. It will only be a mix of lps and soft corals. The small starting list that I want so far is torch coral, hammer coral, eagle eye zoas and maybe a brain coral. Like I said before if you have any aquascaping info or help with coral in mind I’m listening haha. It would be awesome to have everything planned and have a spot from the start.

That was a lot longer then I thought it would be, so if you read it all thanks! I cannot wait until next week when I can start to kick everything off and keep the updates coming. Hopefully there will not be any major issues and a ton of questions.

marleesan · 08/28/2016, 06:24 AM

Looks like a good start! Regarding stocking, I would be careful with the diamond goby as they need an established sandbed. Also, be warned, as they are jumpers

Fishing4Answers · 08/28/2016, 11:16 PM

That is one thing that I was researching into a little more, I certainly do not want to add it to something that will not bear enough food. I have seen very mixed reviews as to whether they will eat when fed directly. I have also read a few people that have has some success "injecting" the food into the top of the sand bed and they will eat it by accident in a way doing their normal thing; eventually they learn that that is food and will eat the spots they see. Do you have any information or experience with this? I might just hold off months and add it as the last fish if it seems the tank can support it.

08/27/2016, 08:01 PM	#1
Fishing4Answers Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 9	30 gallon gallon reef to be ... So I am going to start a tank journal, so to speak, here for a couple of different reasons. One being that everyone can see what I am doing and give any input that they may have (I know there will be some hard critique going on for some of the points). The other reason is so that I have a chronicle of this journey. This will be helpful later as I am planning to bring back to life my old 55-gallon I have sitting around at the moment. Any comments that everyone has will only help me when I set up the 55; I will be able to look back and see what struggles I had and what worked well, so, please post if you want! With that being said lets get into the current tank. I have been researching and buying bits and pieces for a bout two months now. I did have a tank years ago and then I moved and did not have it long, so I have little experience and did a lot of things I will be doing much different this time around. Next weekend will finally be the point where I can put the major structure together and kick off the cycle. I will be going with the shrimp method for the cycle and mixing up my saltwater with instant ocean reef crystals. The gear that I will be using: Decided to go with a 30-gallon tank, which will be sitting on a DIY stand. I will hopefully have that built next weekend as well. I also already plasti-dipped the back of the tank blue. I may build a hood at some point down the road. I was thinking I could build a shelf inside I could put a dripper on to dose my kalkwasser where it cannot be seen. I’m just not sure how big of a deal it will be with trapped heat from the lighting. There will be 25 lbs of Fiji dry rock in the tank with a somewhat shallow sand bed of special grade live sand. There is not a ton of space front to back in this tank so aquscaping with this small amount of rock is proving to be a challenge. Any suggestions here would be awesome. I went with a H.O.B aquaclear 70 filter. A sump is just not an option I have right now because of many factors. I may upgrade at some point in the future if things go right. I will run the sponge, a poly-filter pad, activated carbon (BRS ROX 0.8) and phosguard in the filter. I might get a reactor for the loose media a few weeks after set-up, we will see how it goes in the filter for a while. I will be using two Eheim Jager 50W heaters, not sure where I will set those up yet so if you have any suggestions I would like to hear them. It will probably be in the area of the powerhead. I researched this one a ton and had a three day long debate before I just bought one so I would not think about it anymore. It will be a Jebao PP-4 powerhead, seems to put out a lot of flow, which can be adjusted. There was a shipping problem and amazon actually refunded the purchase and sent me the pump, so I might just buy another one to run. Not sure if one will be enough flow. I am thinking for lighting that I will go with a smaller LED and supplement with a T5 light for a little more intensity. This will not be a ton of heat, but as I mentioned I’m not sure if it will be too much with heat in a hood. I will order the two lights in the next few weeks, as I did not need them while cycling. The last part of the system right now will be an apex controller. I like the data plotting and redundancy I can build with this system. I might add a dosing system and ato with this to make my dosing easier. I may switch to two part if the need or ease arises. That’s really all for the equipment side of things. I am pretty sure I know what fish I will be going with as well. I will first add a pair of ocellaris clowns and let them hang out for a few weeks. Ill add a diamond watchman goby at that point followed weeks later by a royal gramma basslet. The last fish which I might not add because of bioload will be a blue green chromis, we will see what I decide there. I am thinking a week or two into the cycle I will set up a qt tank and start to qt the first fish so it will be ready to go when the tank is ready to go. I am still not sure exactly sure of what corals I will add. I have been thinking about this a lot this week and have a lot of research to do before next week. I want to plan out pretty much everything here so that I can scape appropriate and have a place for everything the way it will work and look best. It will only be a mix of lps and soft corals. The small starting list that I want so far is torch coral, hammer coral, eagle eye zoas and maybe a brain coral. Like I said before if you have any aquascaping info or help with coral in mind I’m listening haha. It would be awesome to have everything planned and have a spot from the start. That was a lot longer then I thought it would be, so if you read it all thanks! I cannot wait until next week when I can start to kick everything off and keep the updates coming. Hopefully there will not be any major issues and a ton of questions.

08/28/2016, 06:24 AM	#2
marleesan Registered Member Join Date: Feb 2016 Posts: 327	Looks like a good start! Regarding stocking, I would be careful with the diamond goby as they need an established sandbed. Also, be warned, as they are jumpers __________________ 90 gallon FOWLR Valentini puffer, ocellaris clown, cherub angelfish, flametail blenny, falco hawkfish, green wrasse 180 gallon reef: starry blenny, yellowtail damsel

08/28/2016, 11:16 PM	#3
Fishing4Answers Registered Member Join Date: Jul 2013 Location: Fort Collins, CO Posts: 9	That is one thing that I was researching into a little more, I certainly do not want to add it to something that will not bear enough food. I have seen very mixed reviews as to whether they will eat when fed directly. I have also read a few people that have has some success "injecting" the food into the top of the sand bed and they will eat it by accident in a way doing their normal thing; eventually they learn that that is food and will eat the spots they see. Do you have any information or experience with this? I might just hold off months and add it as the last fish if it seems the tank can support it.