esoxreefer
05/17/2003, 06:56 AM
Hi all,
I have been threatening to set up a mini reef for a few months and now its come to pass. I have met a number of you through my work (manager at the Pet Advantage). I would like to thank all of you who have given me advice about how to get it rolling. That has been very helpful to me. Its been a while since I have had a reef running and a lot has changed during that time. (and what a disaster that first set up was- lets just not mention it again)
So its up and running now for 6 days. Its a black 37 gallon tank. I have an gutted Aquaclear 300 filled with chunks of live rock and topped off with calurpa to provide Bio Filtration. There is an Aquaclear 802, Powersweep 20 and two small water pumps strategicly placed for water movement. I should be recieving a Bac Pak unit shortly to complete the filtering of the tank. I am also waiting for a 400 watt Metal Halide with a 20K Ushio bulb as the main lighting. I should have that on Tuesday or Wednesday. Currently I have a single 55W Power compact and a couple of 15 watt bulbs that came with the tank when it was given to me. For substrate I used a 20 lb bag of aragonite, a 20 lb bag of Oolite Aragalive and added 2 lbs of live sand from our system at work. I have a large peice of very porous coral rock and several smaller peices as the base. On top of that I have added about 6-8 pounds of live rock to seed the dead rock. The live rock has quite a few sponges on it and I also added a red ball sponge. Since I already had a decent amount of detritus in the tank and some of the live rock had algae on it I also added in 6 small hermit crabs.
I am keeping the specific gravity at 1.023. The tank has had a constant 1ppm level of ammonia in it since Wednesday night when I first checked it. Just this morning I detected the first nitrite- 0.25ppm. Since the nitrite is present, I suspect that the ammonia level will drop within a day or two. I am hopeful that with all the cured rock I used and the live sand that the cycling process wont take too long, perhaps 2-3 weeks. pH is good at 8.2. I have been adding B-Ionic and the calcium level is over 420 mg/l.
I am probably going to add in another 4 or 5 pounds of live rock when I find stuff I like (and if its well cured). Between the stuff Tom has and the 100 lbs of rock we ordered for this week that should not be a problem.
Once the ammonia level breaks I am going to add in the first fish- a Yellow Assessor. Does anyone have any experience with these fish? Seems like an excellent little reef fish. My first choice was a tank raised Neon Dottyack but it was pointed out to me that they are nasty little buggers that have a tendency to disembowel other smaller fishes I think I will steer clear (thank you Justin). I would love to also have a Royal Gramma in there, but I am trying to figure out if the Gramma would bang the little Assesor around- any ideas? I would like to eventually have a fairly light fish load- maybe 4 or 5 fish- the Assesor, Gramma, an Algae Blenny, a small Cardinal and a Clown Goby (or two).
The main focus of the tank is going to be SPS corals with a few small polyp rocks and a softy or two. I would also like a Tridacna to help keep any nitrates in check. I plan on keeping a close watch on the polyps, most likely keep them away from the live rock itself so they can't overrun the SPS.
I would love to hear any feedback that anyone has.
Drew Price
ps- lots of goodies coming into the store this week.......
I have been threatening to set up a mini reef for a few months and now its come to pass. I have met a number of you through my work (manager at the Pet Advantage). I would like to thank all of you who have given me advice about how to get it rolling. That has been very helpful to me. Its been a while since I have had a reef running and a lot has changed during that time. (and what a disaster that first set up was- lets just not mention it again)
So its up and running now for 6 days. Its a black 37 gallon tank. I have an gutted Aquaclear 300 filled with chunks of live rock and topped off with calurpa to provide Bio Filtration. There is an Aquaclear 802, Powersweep 20 and two small water pumps strategicly placed for water movement. I should be recieving a Bac Pak unit shortly to complete the filtering of the tank. I am also waiting for a 400 watt Metal Halide with a 20K Ushio bulb as the main lighting. I should have that on Tuesday or Wednesday. Currently I have a single 55W Power compact and a couple of 15 watt bulbs that came with the tank when it was given to me. For substrate I used a 20 lb bag of aragonite, a 20 lb bag of Oolite Aragalive and added 2 lbs of live sand from our system at work. I have a large peice of very porous coral rock and several smaller peices as the base. On top of that I have added about 6-8 pounds of live rock to seed the dead rock. The live rock has quite a few sponges on it and I also added a red ball sponge. Since I already had a decent amount of detritus in the tank and some of the live rock had algae on it I also added in 6 small hermit crabs.
I am keeping the specific gravity at 1.023. The tank has had a constant 1ppm level of ammonia in it since Wednesday night when I first checked it. Just this morning I detected the first nitrite- 0.25ppm. Since the nitrite is present, I suspect that the ammonia level will drop within a day or two. I am hopeful that with all the cured rock I used and the live sand that the cycling process wont take too long, perhaps 2-3 weeks. pH is good at 8.2. I have been adding B-Ionic and the calcium level is over 420 mg/l.
I am probably going to add in another 4 or 5 pounds of live rock when I find stuff I like (and if its well cured). Between the stuff Tom has and the 100 lbs of rock we ordered for this week that should not be a problem.
Once the ammonia level breaks I am going to add in the first fish- a Yellow Assessor. Does anyone have any experience with these fish? Seems like an excellent little reef fish. My first choice was a tank raised Neon Dottyack but it was pointed out to me that they are nasty little buggers that have a tendency to disembowel other smaller fishes I think I will steer clear (thank you Justin). I would love to also have a Royal Gramma in there, but I am trying to figure out if the Gramma would bang the little Assesor around- any ideas? I would like to eventually have a fairly light fish load- maybe 4 or 5 fish- the Assesor, Gramma, an Algae Blenny, a small Cardinal and a Clown Goby (or two).
The main focus of the tank is going to be SPS corals with a few small polyp rocks and a softy or two. I would also like a Tridacna to help keep any nitrates in check. I plan on keeping a close watch on the polyps, most likely keep them away from the live rock itself so they can't overrun the SPS.
I would love to hear any feedback that anyone has.
Drew Price
ps- lots of goodies coming into the store this week.......