Hi all

[onefastx]

I am a new reefland user, and would like to first introduce myself. My name is Tim and I am a new reefer. My fiance and myself have a 20 gallon nano small but fun. Well we decided if we have one, why not have another, so we just purchased another set up.
The 20 gallon has about 10 blue legged hermits, 5 white legged hermits, 3 turbo snails, and a few nassarius snails. 2 percula clowns, and one dotty back, and one bubble tip anemone. 30 pounds live rock, and 25 pounds live sand. CPR bak-pak2 reef ready, dual t5 lighting, 100 watt heater, powersweep powerhead.

Ok so Here is what I ordered for the new setup, let me know what you think.
46 Gallon Bow front, glass hood, and stand
Reef Octopus BH1000 Hob Skimmer with Surface skimmer attachment.
3- CoralVue 101b powerheads
Aquarium systems natural wave timer
Aquatic life t5 ho 4x39 with 4 lunar leds built in timer
R/O system IDK which one it was new and 100 bucks
200 watt Marineland stealth heater.
50 lbs dry rock
10 lbs live rock
30 lbs carib sea aragonite dry sand
20 lbs carib sea live sand
SEACHEM reef salt for 50 gallons

I may have ordered more but it is raining outside and I left the reciept in my car.

I wanted to let everyone know That I ordered all of this stuff from Hackettstown Pet & Supply in Hackettstown NJ, He gave me a hell of a deal, I mean he beat every price that I brought in and these were online prices of me shopping around for months. Example I cannot find that lighting system for less than 270 online he gave it to me for 225. Also it was not sitting around his store for months, he had to order everything except the live rock which I obviously left there,sand, and salt. He is very helpful, and did not try and sell me more expensive stuff, in fact he talked me out of certain things, replacing with others that would work better for my application. I looked online when I got home and still beat online prices of those products too!
I can say I will never go to another LFS again. I have shopped at tons in NJ north to south. Some stores would have had this stuff in stock (absolutley fish), But would have charged me double for the product, while others would try and sell me rio products to save money. I mean really what an experience.

I will start taking pictures of the build as everything arrives starting on Tuesday.

Also I will be getting a mandrin eventually and have an idea, I am thinking about taking a case from a 50 pack of cd's like you would buy at bestbuy. Drilling a bunch of small holes in it including the top bottom and sides. filling the bottom with a little sand and putting it into the tank. Hiding it behind rock work and once the tank is cycled (fishless) using a baster and putting copepods into the case. If my logic is correct, only very small snails, tiny stars, and copepods would be able to enter and exit the case, and I think this would allow for plenty of food for the mandrin.

[Steve McKay]

I am a new reefland user, and would like to first introduce myself. My name is Tim and I am a new reefer. My fiance and myself have a 20 gallon nano small but fun. Well we decided if we have one, why not have another, so we just purchased another set up.
The 20 gallon has about 10 blue legged hermits, 5 white legged hermits, 3 turbo snails, and a few nassarius snails. 2 percula clowns, and one dotty back, and one bubble tip anemone. 30 pounds live rock, and 25 pounds live sand. CPR bak-pak2 reef ready, dual t5 lighting, 100 watt heater, powersweep powerhead.

Ok so Here is what I ordered for the new setup, let me know what you think.
46 Gallon Bow front, glass hood, and stand
Reef Octopus BH1000 Hob Skimmer with Surface skimmer attachment.
3- CoralVue 101b powerheads
Aquarium systems natural wave timer
Aquatic life t5 ho 4x39 with 4 lunar leds built in timer
R/O system IDK which one it was new and 100 bucks
200 watt Marineland stealth heater.
50 lbs dry rock
10 lbs live rock
30 lbs carib sea aragonite dry sand
20 lbs carib sea live sand
SEACHEM reef salt for 50 gallons

I may have ordered more but it is raining outside and I left the reciept in my car.

I wanted to let everyone know That I ordered all of this stuff from Hackettstown Pet & Supply in Hackettstown NJ, He gave me a hell of a deal, I mean he beat every price that I brought in and these were online prices of me shopping around for months. Example I cannot find that lighting system for less than 270 online he gave it to me for 225. Also it was not sitting around his store for months, he had to order everything except the live rock which I obviously left there,sand, and salt. He is very helpful, and did not try and sell me more expensive stuff, in fact he talked me out of certain things, replacing with others that would work better for my application. I looked online when I got home and still beat online prices of those products too!
I can say I will never go to another LFS again. I have shopped at tons in NJ north to south. Some stores would have had this stuff in stock (absolutley fish), But would have charged me double for the product, while others would try and sell me rio products to save money. I mean really what an experience.

I will start taking pictures of the build as everything arrives starting on Tuesday.

Also I will be getting a mandrin eventually and have an idea, I am thinking about taking a case from a 50 pack of cd's like you would buy at bestbuy. Drilling a bunch of small holes in it including the top bottom and sides. filling the bottom with a little sand and putting it into the tank. Hiding it behind rock work and once the tank is cycled (fishless) using a baster and putting copepods into the case. If my logic is correct, only very small snails, tiny stars, and copepods would be able to enter and exit the case, and I think this would allow for plenty of food for the mandrin.

Sounds pretty good so far. You have the right sand, that's what I use. You might want to look at Hydor Koralia circulation pumps they are pretty good.

Mandarins require special care so research them well before buying. They also require a mature tank, you also might think about getting a refugium for raising pods and for nutrient control.

[onefastx]

The reason I did not get hydor is they will not work with the cheaper wavemakers. Basically the wavemake I purchased looks like a powerstrip with a time controlling three outlets. The hydors lock up sometimes with this type of setup, the coralvues dont lock up on startup. I have read much on the madarin, and know they need a mature tank, but I am thinking with a large spot in a corner of the tank that no fish or large creatures could get to, they may flourish in the tank, if not then I will get a fuge, but it will have to be a small hob, the stand does not have room for a sump, and I am very limited on space, and weight.

[Steve McKay]

Your right about the Koralia circulation pumps locking up. The amount of space you are devoting to have pods will probably not be enough, A mandarin will eat about 60 pods a day. If you are able to get it to eat other food items that will help.

[onefastx]

I will probably buy an ora mandarin apparently they take frozen foods along with pods. I eventually want to do coral but as I have done a ton of research on the fish, I have very very limited knowledge on corals, and inverts. Just enough on the CUC to get that started.

[Steve McKay]

Researching corals will help. Also research how to keep your calcium,alkalinity and magnesium levels where they need to be, this is important when keeping corals.

[ToddTT]

I will probably buy an ora mandarin apparently they take frozen foods along with pods. I eventually want to do coral but as I have done a ton of research on the fish, I have very very limited knowledge on corals, and inverts. Just enough on the CUC to get that started.

http://www.melevsreef.com/video/diner4.wmv

[onefastx]

Wow not only 2 mandarin, but greenspot. What size tank, and does that jar stay in tank all the time? Does it maintain a sufficient supply for all of them? I sure hope the answer is yes, but I know it will be no. The one I made is larger and would allow the copepods enter the water keeping my fish from hiding, or the others taking the food from the dragonettes.

[ToddTT]

Wow not only 2 mandarin, but greenspot. What size tank, and does that jar stay in tank all the time? Does it maintain a sufficient supply for all of them? I sure hope the answer is yes, but I know it will be no. The one I made is larger and would allow the copepods enter the water keeping my fish from hiding, or the others taking the food from the dragonettes.

Hey, you want all of my secrets?!?

Okay... I'll give you just one. It's from this site:

Melevsreef.com - Melev's Mandarin Diner

Make sure to spend a couple of hours there, it's a great site:

Melevsreef.com - Welcome!

[onefastx]

Wow his actually takes pellets, I have heard that this is really hard to start. I am getting very anxious about starting this tank. I have done so much research, then more on pricing, I just cannot wait to get everything to my house. Its like a child 2 days before Christmas. I have my camera all prepped, cleaned up the area nicley, got my zipties and cutters ready for wire routing, and my drill is charged for mounting power supply. I am also thinking about getting a battery back up (like the ones for computers) just incase we have a power outage, though it does not happen often here, but better safe than sorry.

[ToddTT]

I am getting very anxious about starting this tank. I have done so much research, then more on pricing, I just cannot wait to get everything to my house.

Painful isn't it?

Just remember to take your time once you do get it all in the house. You don't plan on buying that mandarin for a couple of months, right?

Do you have a QT yet?

[onefastx]

I am going to set up the tank tuesday when I get home from work, throw the heater on and skimmer and wed morning get a mandarin lol just kidding. I was not planning on adding any fish for atleast a month or 2. Fishless cycle with a shrimp from shoprite, I am thinking that the live sand should easily handle that and once my cycle is done, I will start adding my clean up crew, ( feed them frozen foods for a little bit) once I am saitisfied that my water perameters are really good I will add my first fish (ora picasso percula breeding pair and an anemone). When I am satisfied with them being happy and healthy, I will begin adding more very slowly like once a month, I will not be adding any blennies or gobies until I have my madarin in so this tank will be a work in progress for atleast a year. I am however going against what most people say, and will be adding a goby, blennie, and dragonette. I will be looking for the most peacfull of the groups, and adding the dragonette first ( 1 year minimum from start of tank.) Then I will add the blennie and goby after the dragonette (atleast a 2 month wait) but will be adding both at the same time, this should (with all the luck in the world) allow them to live together without fighting. But again i do not know enough on corals to figure them into the mix. I do about 4 hours of reading on the web a day about them, but the different species, and the different advice makes it more difficult than the fish. The main thing is this is our first real reef, (the nano only has sand, fish, rock, and one anemone), and I want to be able to breed and frag, so I will be playing with the lighting and currents often until I am satisfied. I am a perfectionist, as you can tell.