Background: I dabbled in saltwater aquariums a few years ago but never that seriously. I decided a few days ago to get back into it. As I read some articles it all came rushing back.
So I decided to get a 29g mini reef. I bought a tank on sale at Petco for $45. Standard rectangle (30in wide)
This is the list of the things I bought:
Tank - 29g (30" wide)
Heater - 100w heater with adjustable temperature settings, but the default seems to be working well.
Filter - 10 gallon canister filter. I found out here that I don't need filter system but I saw this for $52 at Petco and couldn't resist. It has a built-in 3 stage filter system, but eventually I can use my own media and I'll just fill it with live rock rubble and it will be added flow/filtration. For the time being the activated charcoal and the ceramic biological media will really help with the beginning filtering of the water.
Powerheads: One 250gph circulation pump and one Hydor Koralia Evolution 750gph circulation pump (which will be here tomorrow).
API Test Kits, Thermometor, Hydrometer, and salt.
Sand: I bought 20lbs. of live sand from the LFS and 20lbs of fine white gravel aquarium substrate and mixed them together after washing the gravel. It has covered about 1-1.25 inches of covered over the bottom.
Lights: I do not have lights yet. This is a hot subject for me. I get paid of Tuesday and plan to use a big chunk of that check for a lighting system. I do not know whether I want metal halide lighting or if I want an LED system. I would appreciate links to lighting systems that would be good. I need enough lighting power to be able to keep nems.. My other requirement is night time blue bulbs WITH a secondary switch to control them.
I would like opinions on this setup:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Saltwater-Aquarium-Light-Fixture/dp/B000YHCYEY/ref=sr_1_10?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1339026808&sr=1-10[/ame]
Is 10,000k enough to grow anything I want in a 29g or will I need more than that for some things? How much power do I need?
I set up the tank on the new stand and filled it last night. All equipment is working well.
Live Rock: 9.89lbs. of some very nice live rock from my LFS. I picked some good solid pieces with interesting crevices and things. One has a small polyp growing on it and a few others have some great-looking algae.
Dry Rock: I ordered 21lbs of dry rock from Marcorocks.com as referred by here. It is scheduled to be delivered on Friday. I have to work that day but hopefully they will leave it at my door. The live rock I got today will seed this rock and bring my total to about 31lbs of live rock.
I haven't decided yet whether I will be adding more rock to the tank. I decided that I wanted to wait until the bulk of it got here and see what it all looks like in the tank. I am NOT a fan of a cluttered rock-filled tank. I have already decided that I'm going to have a large sandy area in one corner. This is where I dream of having a beautifully colored clam living someday
So far Its going well. I've set everything up. I just put the live rock in a few minutes ago and I have everything up and running. The water is still really cloudy but there is no good light in there right now so it could just be that. There's also salt building up on the inside of the glass. I remember this happening to me last time and I just have to scrub it with my tank brush to get it off.
So now that it's set up and the rock is in....I just wait. I just have to wait. I have the salinity at about 1.025 right now, which seems right about perfect. I have the pH at a firm 8.2 and used buffer to get it there. Even though I didn't want to I went to walmart and bought 30 gallons of reverse osmosis water so that is what is in the tank now and I used Kent's reef salt and Instant Ocean (two different salts) to mix my tank. This has proven to be a nice idea as my levels have been steady and I'll have some extra nutrients that will be good for my future corals and things. My temperature is still a little low but I've done like 20 small water changes to get the salinity just right and it hasn't really had time to catch up...so I'll give that time to do it.
So I decided to get a 29g mini reef. I bought a tank on sale at Petco for $45. Standard rectangle (30in wide)
This is the list of the things I bought:
Tank - 29g (30" wide)
Heater - 100w heater with adjustable temperature settings, but the default seems to be working well.
Filter - 10 gallon canister filter. I found out here that I don't need filter system but I saw this for $52 at Petco and couldn't resist. It has a built-in 3 stage filter system, but eventually I can use my own media and I'll just fill it with live rock rubble and it will be added flow/filtration. For the time being the activated charcoal and the ceramic biological media will really help with the beginning filtering of the water.
Powerheads: One 250gph circulation pump and one Hydor Koralia Evolution 750gph circulation pump (which will be here tomorrow).
API Test Kits, Thermometor, Hydrometer, and salt.
Sand: I bought 20lbs. of live sand from the LFS and 20lbs of fine white gravel aquarium substrate and mixed them together after washing the gravel. It has covered about 1-1.25 inches of covered over the bottom.
Lights: I do not have lights yet. This is a hot subject for me. I get paid of Tuesday and plan to use a big chunk of that check for a lighting system. I do not know whether I want metal halide lighting or if I want an LED system. I would appreciate links to lighting systems that would be good. I need enough lighting power to be able to keep nems.. My other requirement is night time blue bulbs WITH a secondary switch to control them.
I would like opinions on this setup:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Saltwater-Aquarium-Light-Fixture/dp/B000YHCYEY/ref=sr_1_10?s=pet-supplies&ie=UTF8&qid=1339026808&sr=1-10[/ame]
Is 10,000k enough to grow anything I want in a 29g or will I need more than that for some things? How much power do I need?
I set up the tank on the new stand and filled it last night. All equipment is working well.
Live Rock: 9.89lbs. of some very nice live rock from my LFS. I picked some good solid pieces with interesting crevices and things. One has a small polyp growing on it and a few others have some great-looking algae.
Dry Rock: I ordered 21lbs of dry rock from Marcorocks.com as referred by here. It is scheduled to be delivered on Friday. I have to work that day but hopefully they will leave it at my door. The live rock I got today will seed this rock and bring my total to about 31lbs of live rock.
I haven't decided yet whether I will be adding more rock to the tank. I decided that I wanted to wait until the bulk of it got here and see what it all looks like in the tank. I am NOT a fan of a cluttered rock-filled tank. I have already decided that I'm going to have a large sandy area in one corner. This is where I dream of having a beautifully colored clam living someday
So far Its going well. I've set everything up. I just put the live rock in a few minutes ago and I have everything up and running. The water is still really cloudy but there is no good light in there right now so it could just be that. There's also salt building up on the inside of the glass. I remember this happening to me last time and I just have to scrub it with my tank brush to get it off.
So now that it's set up and the rock is in....I just wait. I just have to wait. I have the salinity at about 1.025 right now, which seems right about perfect. I have the pH at a firm 8.2 and used buffer to get it there. Even though I didn't want to I went to walmart and bought 30 gallons of reverse osmosis water so that is what is in the tank now and I used Kent's reef salt and Instant Ocean (two different salts) to mix my tank. This has proven to be a nice idea as my levels have been steady and I'll have some extra nutrients that will be good for my future corals and things. My temperature is still a little low but I've done like 20 small water changes to get the salinity just right and it hasn't really had time to catch up...so I'll give that time to do it.
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