Samhain's 50 Gallon Long Reef

[Samhain]

Well into the initial cycle at this point in time.

Ammonia has peaked (it read above the last level my scale showed, so I'm guessing around 10 ppm), and Nitrite is way up right now.

Nothing living in there except what may have ridden in on my sand and rocks. So on that note, here's some pics of wet rocks!

 

[little_fish]

Looks like you are off to a great start!

 

[coolhandgoose]

Loving the rock work, good job so far.

 

[Distemper]

Nice start. Any thoughts on what you'd like to keep in there?

 

[marcah]

looks great.. this is always the hardest part for me.. the waiting game to see life in it..

 

[Samhain]

I know I'll be keeping an Ocellaris and a Firefish (although I keep vacillating between a regular firefish and a purple one). I also know there will be a dwarf angel, but I can't decide between a Flame and a Coral Beauty. I love the Flaming Prawn Goby, but I just don't know if I can justify spending $150 on fish that maxes out at 1 inch and might end up lost in my tank. I also love the Mandarin Dragonette, but I want a lot more experience before I take on that responsibility. Other fishy candidates include a Possum Wrasse and a Yasha Haze shrimp goby. Inverts will include the usual bevy of snails, some hermits and emerald crabs, a cleaner shrimp or two, and perhaps a brittle star. Eventually, after I get some experience and the tank is well established, I'm going to try my hand at corals.

Any thoughts or suggestions? I'm still very open. :question:

 

[little_fish]

Sounds like a good plan, although some corals are easier in fish IMO and do great in new tanks, so dont let that hold you back from getting some corals :)

 

[Samhain]

I've heard that mushrooms, zoos, and leathers are fairly easy keepers for beginners. I have Marineland reef-ready LEDs, so I know the lighting will be adequate. Opinions?

 

[little_fish]

they should be!

 

[Dana42078]

Nice!

 

[Samhain]

Powerhead and protein skimmer are in place. I tried adding two powerheads for more circulation (one at each end of the tank) but it just ended up blowing my sand all over and creating a mess. So I took one back out. My water is a hazy green and my rocks are covered in short brown fur, except for one teeny tiny little red thing that's showed up on one of my Bali Alor rocks.

pH 8.0
Ammonia 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 40 ppm

Is it safe to add my snails yet? And anyone have suggestions for bumping my pH up a couple points? I have 60 lbs of LS and 50 lbs of LR.

 

[BL1]

Is your pH steady at 8.0? If so then don't touch it, it's fine there 7.8-8.3 is good.
As far as the snails, I'd do a few water changes and get your nitrates under 20 before I added any inverts to the tank.

 

[little_fish]

+1 bl1

 

[Samhain]

It's been steady at 8.0 for the last couple weeks, so I guess I'll leave it alone! Thanks for the suggestion about water changes. I'll try that in the next couple of days if it doesn't come down on it's own. It's just finishing it's initial cycle, and I'm not in any hurry.
Then it's off to ReefCleaners.org !

 

[Samhain]

Moved my rocks around to create more stable structures. I had epoxied some of the rocks, but I wanted to leave some flexibility in restructuring, so I left several loose as well. Anyway, now that I'm fixin' to start dropping in critters, I rearranged the furniture a little bit. Pics as soon as the sand settles.

 

[pgr11]

Can't wait to see it

 

[Samhain]

Here's the rearrangement. The structures to the left of the tank have been epoxied, so there's only so much rearrangement I can do with them. The pile on the right is all loose, and it HAD to be rearranged so it didn't decide to rearrange itself and break glass. I like the new arrangement better anyway. Lots of smaller caves and great places to lodge coral mounts! Plus now I have some open space for my macro, which should be here any day now. And my lights are supposed to get here either today or tomorrow! So next photos should be better lit.

 

[Samhain]

Lights on! Score!

 

[Amlique]

Guess they came today. =)

 

[Zissou]

Looks great!