A careful way of getting into reef keeping

Here is the latest pic. If you are wondering about the wierd placement for the wavemaker. It is next to the coralline growth. I am making it clockwise behind the rockwork, opposite to the top flow.

Hopefully, everything grows out nicely.

Future placement:

1) Orange ricordia goes on the rock on lower left.
2) Bam Bam frags are consolidated on the left rock (sprear-tip shape)
3) Meteor shower goes to lower right rock, if it produces a blue coloration. Currently, grey. Otherwise, it goes higher.
4) Rasta goes on middle right rock where the small Bam bam is mounted.

Very happy with Frogspawn placement (except for the glue job), it should keep his tentacles in check and the blondies are looking fuller by the day.View attachment 15941
 
IHaveCrabs said:
Welcome to CR!

I think you have definitely some of the basics down. RODI is a must (but I don't think I'd ever personally drink it) lol.

As far as the "do bare bottom tanks reduce maintenance" I would say no. Instead of vaccuming (or stiring) sand once in a blue moon before a water change, you'll have food and waste particles collect on the bottom of the tank that need to be vacuumed out before they start producing ammonia. If you keep up with that, there is certainly advantages there; however, a sand bed does provide natural filtration that needs to be maintained every few months. Short answer = personal preference once the benefits and opportunities are weighed!

My #1 and #2 addition to lower maintenance is an Auto Top Off and a dosing pumps if you want to get into LPS and SPS corals.

Good luck!
Click to expand...

This was excellent advice. Not having an ATO would mean my salinity would be whack if I were to spend more than two days away from home. Additionally, biocube's running with upgraded pumps (who hasn't upgraded) start spewing bubbles after a few days. The pump upgrade produces a higher min/max level.

I now list an ATO as a must have for any new tank. (I can imagine set it and forget it freshwater setups enabled wih this mechanism.)

May I get some additional wisdom?
 
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