New 5.5g Tank Setup

[bobajum]

I'm just getting started on my 5.5g tank and I thought I'd keep a journal of sorts like I've seen soo many people do.

Here is what I'm starting with. Any suggestions or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.

5.5g glass tank - no lid
7.5 lbs of RL
5 lbs of Calcium Carbonate sand
AC70 Fuge mod w/ LR rubble - clip on light for fuge
20" 28w 50/50 Coralife Aqualight with legs for mounting
50W heater

I have LR, Sand, and the AC70 going right now. My lights are due to arrive on Thursday so I'll try to take some pics when it arrives.

I'm hoping to keep mostly Zoas and Mushrooms at first and hope to add some other corals later. As for the tank's main inhabitant...I think im gonna just go with a sexy shrimp.

Hopefully my tank will be cycled in a few weeks and I can start bothering Edgray and Reefman with lots of noobie questions since they seem to be very helpful and local

 

[Anonymous]

Good luck with the new setup! Don't forget those all important pictures!

 

[reefman23]

Sounds good... you're off to a good start. Keep us updated as things progress and feel free to PM me when you want to meet up at some fish stores or come by.

Jesse

 

[skipm]

Sounds like you have all of the basics to get things up and running. Keep us updated and feel free to ask any questions you may have.

 

[bobajum]

Thx for all the encouragement guys. I'm sure when it comes time to stocking the tank with coral, I'll pick everyone's brains and make sure I dont screw anything up.

On a side note...I just came back from a 3/4 day fishing trip out of LB and it was amazing!!! Boats was empty, everyone caught more then the limit of SandBass and there was even Barracuda action today. If anyone likes fishing...I recommend going now.

 

[jay]

I'm working on putting together a setup also.
Pics would be great - it's something that would keep me inspired!

Good to hear you had a great time on your fishing trip.

Jay

 

[bobajum]

Jay,

I'll post some pics when I get my Aqualight tomorrow...if the UPS comes in time. If not, I'll get some pics up by Friday at the latest.

 

[bobajum]

I finally got my lights and the rest of the goodies. I was only able to get a FTS as my old canon s200 doesnt have a macro feature.

My LR doesn't seem to have much life as the only hitchhikers I found were some small dusters.

Well...here is the pic of my tank as it stands tonight.

Here are my parameters also:

pH - 8.4
Amonia - .50
Nitrite - .00
Nitrate - .20
SG - 1.025

I'm using Catalina water from my LFS and when I first put it in the tank, I noticed that hte SG was at 1.027 so I added some RO water. Is it ok to have my SG at 1.027 or should I continue to add RO water to bring it down? What should my SG be at ideally?

Thanks all.

 

[skipm]

1.027 is okay if you stay on top of evaporation, if you are manually topping off then you may want to bring it down a little to make sure it doesn't get too high. If you are going to have an auto topoff leave it as is to keep things easy.

 

[bobajum]

Skip,

I don't have a ATO setup right now but I will probably end up setting up a Gravity fed drip one until I can figure out a better method that doesn't rely on a float switch. What is the ideal SG my tank should be at and since the Catalina water seems to have such a high SG, what should I try to keep it at if I do bring it down?

Thanks.

 

[skipm]

The Catalina Waters SG is fine (I have found most people using synthetic seawater mix theirs to 1.025-1.026 for a reeftank), what I was getting at is if you let water evaporate too much the salinity could get too high. Thats why I mentioned an auto-topoff, there would be little evaporation before replacement water is added.

 

[bobajum]

I did a water change yesterday and tested my params today.

SG - 1.023 ( I decided to dilute my Catalina water with some RO/DI water)
pH - 8.4
amonia - 0
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 10 ppm

It looks like im getting close to the end of my cycle. I want to start shopping for some cleaning crew to add next week. Can someone tell me what kind of snails I will need? I want to buy some blue legged hermits but at Strictly Fish...they were selling them for 12 bux each!!!

Ed or reefman, can you tell me where I can buy the cleaning crew at a decent price locally?

Thanks.

 

[EDGRAY]

Well i can say that tongs or circle pet have the best prices on cleaning crew .... and well also ill recomend you to get this kind of snails (nerite,cerith & nassarius) and well also your blue legs....
also i thing ill PM you..

 

[bobajum]

Ed,

Thx for a great deal on the cleaning crew and the chat. After our chat, I decided to just change my aquascaping just slightly and look what I found...

This thing is about the size of a quarter when its fully opened. I also found a small snail but I have no idea where he went and what type he is. Probaly the size of half a rice grain so he's hard to spot.

Its always nice finding new hitchikers

 

[EDGRAY]

:shock: GOSH you got your self a feather duster CONGRATULATIONS thats great!!! and well try to spot the snail and take a pic so we can tell you if is reef safe or not ok but if looks like spiral shell take it out might be a sundial snail bad for your zoas ok...

and well see you soon!!!

P.S: was a pleasure to chat with you and well i had a great time to thx for chatting and see you there soon hopefully :mrgreen:

 

[bobajum]

Eddy,

It was great meeting you yesterday and as I said...thx for the great hookups!!!

Here are some pics of my new inhabitants...

Sorry for the large pics everyone...just too lazy to resize them all.

These guys haven't opened up yet but I'm hoping they'll open up soon. Everyone else is doing well and seem happy.

Thanks again Eddy!!! :thanks

 

[EDGRAY]

NP glad you like them and well nice picture!!! and also yeah the zoas are kinda muddy when is about new tank or being transfer .....they say they are hardy but some are really stubborn and wont open until they want to :lol: and well after your tank gets more mature ill share more corals with you ok :mrgreen:

 

[bobajum]

Eddy,

The zoa's still haven't opened... :cry:

I hope they'll survive.

On a different note...the cerith i got from you laid a crap load of eggs!!! I hope they hatch and survive. Also, over the weekend...I've had an explosion of Copepods in my tank. I know they are good for the tank and all but what will eat them if I have no fish in the tank?

 

[skipm]

Sometimes it may take a week or so before zoos will open if they get ticked so as long as your water parameters are good just be patient.
You also don't have to worry about too many pods, they will only produce as many as you system will support and the rest will simply dieoff.

 

[bobajum]

The Zoa's still have not opened...I just hope I haven't done anything to harm them and thats why they're not opening.

I also seem to be having some sort of a Red, velvety algae growing like mad. Is this a normal algae or is this something I should be worried about. I think there was some to begin with on the LR and it has been growing steadily. Also, I have lots of hair algae, what's good for cleaning those?

Thanks.

P.S - My params are 8.4, 0, 0, 0