This is my first adventure into a SW tank. I have had various FW tanks in the past(but not for a while ) and have always wanted to do SW. Well, my kids wanted me to start up a tank and i thought what a perfect opportunity to go SW. Only one thing in the way...my Wife. She finally said ok but she didn't want me to do a real big tank so i had to settle for a 28gal bow front tank (not exactly what i wanted but hey...SW!).The following is what i have with this setup.
Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights
AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer with Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump
Topfin Power Filter 30
Power Sweep 212 (125 gph)
Power Sweep 226 (190 gph)
Neptune 100W Submersible Aquarium Heater
Metal Halide Aquarium Chiller Cooling Fan Kit (4)
40 lbs - Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black
40 lbs - Caribbean Live Rock
100gpd R/O unit (great find on ebay!)
Aquarium Systems Synthetic Sea Salt Instant Ocean
This setup only took around 2 weeks for the curing process to finish to my surprise but i waited another 2 weeks and kept close eye on it before venturing into adding livestock. Didn't want to rush into this even though kids wanted to...they didn't want to just look at rocks! Well, after this period, i changed 50% of the water and added the following:
2 - Ocellaris Clown
2 - Astraea Snail
3 - Zebra Turbo Snail
5 - Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crab
6 - Dwarf Red Leg Reef Hermit Crab
I had 3 Astraea snails but one got sucked up in one of the power heads! Everything has been going well and I have been thinking about what to add next and how soon? I know i will add more snails and crabs (15 snails and 30 hermit crabs altogether is where it will probably end up). I know that the next fish that i am goiing to add will be a yellowtail damsel. Another one i want to add is a clown goby. I do like the yellow watchman goby as well but i am afraid that it will jump out of the tank so i'm leaning toward a Sailfin Blennie. That will probably be it for the fish. I also would like to add a peppermint shrimp but is it too early to add this to the tank? Another question is that i do want this to be a reef tank, How soon should i wait before adding mushrooms, polyps, and corals? I have read in some threads that you should wait at least 6months before venturing into the reef but also have seen where others say to start after cycling with either mushrooms or polyps. I was thinking about the nano packs that liveaquaria have. Would one of each of those packs be enough for this size of tank or would i need more? There are two other inverts i have been kicking around the idea of adding and that was a star and a cucumber. These scare me. The stars seem like they would get to big for my tank. The cucumber really scares me because if it were to get injured or died i wouldn't want it's toxins to destroy what i have started and frustrate me to not want to continue! Am i just being to paranoid here or is there truth to this?
The other item i have been thinking about doing is making a ~14 gal refugim/sump for this system. What are all of the benifits that this would do besides increasing the overall volume of water in the system?
I have really enjoyed all of the threads and have learned a lot from them. Sorry about the rambling, can't wait to hear from all of you!
Coralife Lunar Aqualights Compact Fluorescent Strip Lights
AquaC Remora Protein Skimmer with Maxi-Jet 1200 Pump
Topfin Power Filter 30
Power Sweep 212 (125 gph)
Power Sweep 226 (190 gph)
Neptune 100W Submersible Aquarium Heater
Metal Halide Aquarium Chiller Cooling Fan Kit (4)
40 lbs - Arag-Alive Indo-Pacific Black
40 lbs - Caribbean Live Rock
100gpd R/O unit (great find on ebay!)
Aquarium Systems Synthetic Sea Salt Instant Ocean
This setup only took around 2 weeks for the curing process to finish to my surprise but i waited another 2 weeks and kept close eye on it before venturing into adding livestock. Didn't want to rush into this even though kids wanted to...they didn't want to just look at rocks! Well, after this period, i changed 50% of the water and added the following:
2 - Ocellaris Clown
2 - Astraea Snail
3 - Zebra Turbo Snail
5 - Dwarf Blue Legged Hermit Crab
6 - Dwarf Red Leg Reef Hermit Crab
I had 3 Astraea snails but one got sucked up in one of the power heads! Everything has been going well and I have been thinking about what to add next and how soon? I know i will add more snails and crabs (15 snails and 30 hermit crabs altogether is where it will probably end up). I know that the next fish that i am goiing to add will be a yellowtail damsel. Another one i want to add is a clown goby. I do like the yellow watchman goby as well but i am afraid that it will jump out of the tank so i'm leaning toward a Sailfin Blennie. That will probably be it for the fish. I also would like to add a peppermint shrimp but is it too early to add this to the tank? Another question is that i do want this to be a reef tank, How soon should i wait before adding mushrooms, polyps, and corals? I have read in some threads that you should wait at least 6months before venturing into the reef but also have seen where others say to start after cycling with either mushrooms or polyps. I was thinking about the nano packs that liveaquaria have. Would one of each of those packs be enough for this size of tank or would i need more? There are two other inverts i have been kicking around the idea of adding and that was a star and a cucumber. These scare me. The stars seem like they would get to big for my tank. The cucumber really scares me because if it were to get injured or died i wouldn't want it's toxins to destroy what i have started and frustrate me to not want to continue! Am i just being to paranoid here or is there truth to this?
The other item i have been thinking about doing is making a ~14 gal refugim/sump for this system. What are all of the benifits that this would do besides increasing the overall volume of water in the system?
I have really enjoyed all of the threads and have learned a lot from them. Sorry about the rambling, can't wait to hear from all of you!
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