Hello to all novice reef keeper

adinota

Registered Member
Mar 27, 2007
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Hello all,

I am a novice reef keeper from Westchester NY. After 6 years with fresh water fish I have moved onto a 45 gallon reef tank. The tank is two months old and doing well. I have already gone through my brown algae bloom stage and the tank has settled down. I do not have any fish and do not plan on having them until I build up a nice soft coral base. I have included a photo to show all what stage the tank is at with the addition of a couple of mushrooms. The substate is live sand with a covering of Grundge from GARF. My Ammonia is 0, Nitrate 20, Calcium 400, Phosphate 0,and KH between 8-9. I have sump with a Corallife skimmer under the cabinet that removes 1/2 cup of sludge per day.

The only draw back to this wonderful and thoroughly addicting hobby is, if I want any soft coral without having to have it shipped, I am at the mercy of my high priced LFS. Does anyone know of any clubs in the lower Hudson Valley that want to sell small frags at reasonable costs. Any help wpould be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Alex

full tank cropped copy.jpg
 
A lovely looking reef there mate...look forward to seeing you around the marine section...Could do with getting them nitrates lowered though as its a reef....

Welcome to AC!

Niko
 
very nice reef u have there! welcome to the site and cant wait to see u on the reef sections!...but i have to ask...do u have halides for that clam? i hope it does ok they usually need mature tanks(10-12 months old at least)....sry if i kinda spoiled the greeting...just love those clams...lol:)
 
Atnixon
Thanks for the compliment. The Nitrates are a bit of a struggle since I (at the moment) have to use City water (10ppm). I am trying to save up enough for an RO unit but that might take awhile. I do 5% water changes twice a week and that seems to help.

Germanman,

Thanks for the compliments as well. I do not have Halides but use the Corallite Compact Lunar Aqualight with 96 Watt 10,000 K and True Actinic 03 Blue bulbs. The clam is in the upper part of the reef ( about 8" from light) and stays open in all her glory until the moon's kick in. It gets fed 2-3 times a week and seems to be doing fine ( I hope). I did take off the glass top cover in that section to increase the amount of light and she has kept her color. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Again thanks for the reply. I will see you at the reef section.
Regards,
Alex
 
Atnixon
Thanks for the compliment. The Nitrates are a bit of a struggle since I (at the moment) have to use City water (10ppm). I am trying to save up enough for an RO unit but that might take awhile. I do 5% water changes twice a week and that seems to help.

Germanman,

Thanks for the compliments as well. I do not have Halides but use the Corallite Compact Lunar Aqualight with 96 Watt 10,000 K and True Actinic 03 Blue bulbs. The clam is in the upper part of the reef ( about 8" from light) and stays open in all her glory until the moon's kick in. It gets fed 2-3 times a week and seems to be doing fine ( I hope). I did take off the glass top cover in that section to increase the amount of light and she has kept her color. Any recommendations would be appreciated.

Again thanks for the reply. I will see you at the reef section.
Regards,
Alex
sounds good that lighting is insufficient but as long as u feed like u are it should do ok:) if it starts to loose any color though ull have to upgrade to save it. good luck! and looks like u have it under control:)
 
Welcome to AC! Nice photos!
 
Hi and welcome! Nice looking tank you have there.

Does anyone know of any clubs in the lower Hudson Valley that want to sell small frags at reasonable costs. Any help wpould be greatly appreciated.

Regards,
Alex

I haven't been on in several months but here is the forum:

http://hvreef.org/yabb/

Hudson Valley Reef Keepers

There are several nice and knowledgeable people on there. There are always posts to trade/swap/buy/sell frags as well as swap meetings. You should be able to find what you're looking for and if not, just ask. :)

I live up in Ulster County by the way. Glad you found AC!
 
Thanks for the kind words.

5xevy

Thanks for the site. It is exactly what I was looking for.

Regards,
Alex
 
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