First 20 g reef tank

My emerald always came out at night. Those little starfish are not as good as they are bad. IMO remove it. I really like your rocks and sand. Very nice start. Shrimp typically dont do well in new tanks. . as far as cuc goes. i hope you have enough algae for that emerald. he will scrape every rock.
 
The starfish is gone. I haven't seen him in weeks, which is fine with me! I plan on getting some snails tomorrow because there's a ton of algea growing on my acrylic! I also plan on scavenging for some beginner coral frags from members on this forum. I'm looking for some pulsing xenia, kenya trees, and some zooanthids. I'll keep looking around but if any of you have some, let me know!

Thanks for the compliments.
 
Added my first coral on saturday. A pink pulsing xenia. I know they grow like a weed, so I isolated it by epoxying it on the top shelf. I gave in to the salesman at the lfs and bought the kent nano reef tank supplement - parts A and B. I also bought a iodine supplement. Are these necessary? Shouldn't I get my trace elements from my instant ocean reef sale crystals?

I also noticed my clowns swim in the top left corner at night. My tank is at a slight angle, meaning its not perfectly level, so this would probably be the least dense part of my tank. Did I overdose with the supplements? Or am I just paranoid?

[video=youtube;UgpFa8QcTHE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgpFa8QcTHE[/video]
 
Tank is looking good. Congrats on the first coral.

To hopefully answer a few of your questions. Parts A & B is to help replenish your systems alk and calcium requirement. It is import to keep these parameters stable for coral and is needed for coral growth. I recommend testing your water parameters regularly until you get a feeling for what a "normal" fluctuation/swing is.

Iodine is a highly debated topic whether you should add it or not. A lot of people subscribe to the theory do not add anything you don't test for. Some others see an added benefit for some soft corals (such as xenia) with the addition of iodine. Please note that adding too much is toxic.

Regarding clowns swimming in a corner. It seems that that is 'just what they do' until they settle in a bit more.

Just make sure you keep up with whatever water change schedule you decided on, test, test, and retest, and everything should be fine.
 
Thank you for the great feedback. On sat. I added a frog spawn coral and a blue zooanthid coral. They are both healthy as of this morning.

My emerald crab died though. Am I adding livestock too quickly? My ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and ph are normal. I used saltwater from the lfs this time. I think they keep pretty low salinity. The sg was a little lower, 1.023, instead of my normal 1.0245. Is it possible that the sudden change in salinity killed my crab?

I also have a bristleworm, around 2-3" in length. Yay for me....View attachment 4302View attachment 4303
 
you said you added water from lfs ..

how big of a water change did you do ??

also if that wc is really big like more than 5 gallon on that tank you should also take care of the temp difference ..

Sookie said:
Thank you for the great feedback. On sat. I added a frog spawn coral and a blue zooanthid coral. They are both healthy as of this morning.

My emerald crab died though. Am I adding livestock too quickly? My ammonia, nitrite, nitrates and ph are normal. I used saltwater from the lfs this time. I think they keep pretty low salinity. The sg was a little lower, 1.023, instead of my normal 1.0245. Is it possible that the sudden change in salinity killed my crab?

I also have a bristleworm, around 2-3" in length. Yay for me....View attachment 4302View attachment 4303
Click to expand...
 
The fresh saltwater had a temp of 77, while my old tank water was 80. I change 5 gallons a week as per recommendation from the lfs.
 
Nice additions. I love Euphyllia. FYI - I have seen better health and growth with a few additional spot feedings a week. In no time your ~ 4 heads will be 8, 16, 32....

For future water changes, try to match salinity and temperature as close as possible; especially if you have a small setup.
Note that natural salt water salinity is measured at 1.026 and it seems many reef aquariums are kept at 1.025 (in case minor of fluctuations in evaporation ect).
If you need to raise or lower salinity or any parameter in this hobby, slower is always better.
 
I hope this image is viewable??
I'm about as good with computers as I m with reefing.
This is my 20 gal after a little more then two years. No artificial filtration, or costly dosing.
Every other Sunday I do a wc of a full 5 gal bucket.

Advice,
IMO you can read all the reviews and take in all the recommendations, but its a whole lot of trial and unfortunately error.
Starting out with a fresh tank and new to the game... Me I would recommend going slow and sticking to notoriously easy to keep corals and fish.
Just so you don't get discouraged.
Another major thing is investing in an RO system so you can regulate water changes and top offs.
Staying on schedule and with good clean water and the same salt mix will prove itself to be extremely beneficial. Once you get down a solid schedule with the right routine for your system you will see it in the look/behavior of your corals & fish.

Good Luck and I hope you enjoy this hobby as much as my family and I have.
View attachment 4309
 
Your tank is really nice! Love all the coral, and that's a beauty of a clown. It's nice to hear that you have no artificial filtration. No dosing? Interesting....
 
NeverSatisfied }Q said:
I hope this image is viewable??
I'm about as good with computers as I m with reefing.
This is my 20 gal after a little more then two years. No artificial filtration, or costly dosing.
Every other Sunday I do a wc of a full 5 gal bucket.

Advice,
IMO you can read all the reviews and take in all the recommendations, but its a whole lot of trial and unfortunately error.
Starting out with a fresh tank and new to the game... Me I would recommend going slow and sticking to notoriously easy to keep corals and fish.
Just so you don't get discouraged.
Another major thing is investing in an RO system so you can regulate water changes and top offs.
Staying on schedule and with good clean water and the same salt mix will prove itself to be extremely beneficial. Once you get down a solid schedule with the right routine for your system you will see it in the look/behavior of your corals & fish.

Good Luck and I hope you enjoy this hobby as much as my family and I have.
View attachment 4309
Click to expand...

is your tank on the floor?
 
Sookie said:
Your tank is really nice! Love all the coral, and that's a beauty of a clown. It's nice to hear that you have no artificial filtration. No dosing? Interesting....
Click to expand...

Thank you,
Most of the tank is coral only a few smaller fish (Less waste).
I only have a power head attached to that spray bar seen in the photo. It makes great surface movement.

And, yep no dosing!
None of those corals are very demanding on the system. So the salt refreshes the tank with needed nutrients.

Tethered_Limbs said:
is your tank on the floor?
Click to expand...

No, I framed a corner stand and tile the top. It turned out to be very convenient having room along the sides for shelving and the tile makes for super easy clean up!
The tank and stand are in the corner of the living room behind the couch.
 
Herbie said:
Edit: nm you said avatar. Lol I'll delete when at PC.

Sent from my Galaxy Nexus using Tapatalk 2
Click to expand...

Tethered_Limbs said:
huh?
Click to expand...

LOL, I will try to explain (and sorry for the HJ) what I orignially said was: "I think that's a flow-bar IN the tank" (refering to your comment about the PB gun) because I didn't noice you said avatar pic. I thought you thought the flowbar was a PB gun, but in actuallity I am dumb. Carry on. very nice tanks all around.
 
So, I'm going to Seattle sunday morning and I return late thurs. evening. I've read that I should integrate an auto-top off unit along with an automatic feeder. I dont mind paying $40 for the feeder, but $100 for a top off unit?!

Any recomen
 
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