40 Gallon off to a great start with Pics!

[Kmoriarty]

Hey all! About 6 months ago I decided to venture into the reef world . I thought it best to start with something small but not too small. I went with a 40 gallon: After careful planning and lots of research here is where I stand:

40 Gallon Tank
55Lbs Live Rock
Coralife 65 HOB Protein Skimmer
Filstar XP3 Filter with Bio media removed (only running carbon)
2x Hydor Koralia Powerheads moving 1300gph
Aquaticlife 36" 4-bulb fixture T5 HO with LED moonlights (beautiful light!)

My tank additions in order were:

8x Turbo Snails
2x false perculas (about 1.5 inches each...one is demonstrating dominance already)
2x Skunk Cleaner Shrimp (about 2 inches each)
2x Feather Duster Worms
1x Orange Spotted Shrimp Goby (about 2.5 inches)

I'm making this post to show the pictures of my progress and because i made my first coral additions. I added two small frags to start: a Green Leather Toadstool, and a Frogspawn.

Below is a link to my profile! Check out my album with all the updated pictures i posted today. And by all means...LET THE COMMENTS FLY. I'd love to hear any concerns you all think i may run into in the future and any comments or questions you have for me. Just scroll down to my gallery. My Album is made public.

http://www.reefland.com/forum/members/kmoriarty.html
My future plans for the tank are to establish a sump/refugium...probly 20-30 gallons with some Chaeto and lots more live rock. I want to make two more livestock additions before being finished...one pistol shrimp and one mandarin...Mandarin will be the last addition because i want to get the sump/fuge up to establish enough life for him to feast on . Additionally, i plan to add more corals. Any recommendations? Finally, thank you to everyone for all the guidance and advice i've gotten! I've had some trials and tribulations as all tanks have, but i'd be totally lost without all your help.

[reeferbill]

Hi Kmoriarty ; I would not add amandarin yet until your tank is aged another six months and you have established your refugium with lots of cheato and copepods. As far as the pistol shrimp goes I tried one once and lost all my other shrimp and my Randell Shrimp Gogy. What about a Bubble-tip for your clowns or even a rock covered with hairy mushrooms wil attrack the clowns the same as an anenome.Fairy and Flasher wrasses are great community fish....Great start ! I enjoyed the pictures!!!!!!What are you dosing as for supplements?

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

Another thing about the mandarin ... If you are going to get one, try to find a captive bred species as they are already trained to eat prepared foods. If you end up getting a wild caught one ( like I did) , spend some time training it to eat prepared foods in a quarantine tank. It took the better part of a month for my Mandy to accept all the different prepared foods offered. Pods are the mandarin's primary diet but being able to supplement with vitamins and prepared foods will ensure a healthy, balanced diet and a long life.
Training mandarin's to eat prepared foods is sometimes difficult but with the right environment ( a quarantine tank) , persistence and some patience , it can be done.
That being said, you may want to reconsider adding more fish.
40 gallons is just enough for the 2 clowns. The goby will probably be okay but adding the mandarin may or may not cause some territorial problems between the other fish.

[Kmoriarty]

Thanks for the info! I was definitely going to wait a while on the Mandy because I don't have the money to build the sump/fuge yet. I definitely want to get a captive bred one.

The only additives I've done were a ph buffer until I got my ph to about 8.3. Now I stopped adding it but am monitoring the range. Also, I dose iodine for the shrimps but a very small amount. I do checks on the ph weekly with all my other water checks. Iodine I don't check but I dose only half what the bottle reccommends about once a month.

Once I get a better camera I'll post better moonlight pics. It's truly stunning.

[Kmoriarty]

Before anyone tells me to go buy test kits for all the reef neccessary elements...I just bought them. Like I said, the corals were just added so I'm very new to them. I just got a kit for testing calcium, magnesium, and alkalinity. I have seperate test strips for ph.

As far as adding some mushrooms or s BTA for the clowns...I just haven't decided exactly what I want. Plus, once the green leather coral is slowly acclimated higher in the tank...I think the clows might host in it as it grows larger.

[Original Fin]

I would give you a hard time about the PH test strips (because they're junk) , but since you now have kits for Cal, Alk and Mag, I'll give you a break. If you can keep those three in balance, you won't even need to test for PH, they are the controllers of it.


You'll still probably have small diurnal PH swings, so if you plan on getting into more difficult corals, or you're going to run a Calcium Reactor, dose Kalkwasser, etc.. it would be nice to know where PH stands at any given time...I'm going to guess that most advanced marine aquarists prefer to use electronic PH monitors/controllers over test kits when you get to this level...

[Kmoriarty]

Yea I'm definitely not ready for any SPS corals but if I eventually am I'll jump for a better test product.

Coralwise, I plan to keep polyps, leathers and maybe some LPS. Nothing more difficult than the frogspawn I already have. Thanks for the advice and everything! I'll update this thread with any new additions or cool pics.

I'll be working on a sump/fuge over the next few months so I'll love any advice I can. Thanks guys!

[Kmoriarty]

I just did my first testing with the new kit...I know the readings were all s bit low but tell me if they're dangerousky low. Keep in mind the only corals in the tank are a frogspawn frag and a green leather frag.

Mg= 1200ppm
Ca= 375ppm
Kh= 3.75meq\L dKh=10.75
Ph= 8.2
nitrates= 5-10ppm
Nitrites= 0ppm
Ammonia= 0ppm
Alkalinity= ~280ppm
SG= 1.024

[Kmoriarty]

My testing has been much more in range since the initial tests. I did end up getting the mandarin after I set up my sump/fuge. Here's a few pics of my coral selection and the sump/fuge. I just added the brain coral a few hours ago so he hasn't fully opened but he beautiful and I got him for only $40.

[chrisfont23]

Thos Daisy Polyps are awesome. I brought some home one day after work. Told my wife I got her flowers. Fits. Right? They grow pretty unabated. If u put them up against the glass they will grow right on it in time.

[FoMoCo Master Tech]

looking pretty good!

[Kmoriarty]

I wish I had a better camera cuz my leather coral looks really cool under moonlight. It was just a tiny frag about a 6 weeks ago but it's doing really well in it's final spot. Here's an attempt at a pic.

[Kmoriarty]

Just a few picture updates. The first two are my latest coral additions. The first is my one and only sps. A green digi that I have pretty high in the tank. The second is a small zoa frag that I'm hoping will spread. The rest are just some cool pics of existing stuff under my actinic lighting. Hope you all enjoy!
These

[chrisfont23]

Very cool ! Your tank and mine are very similar. My 2 inch ricordea frags are now enormous - in about 1 months time too. And I had a small zoo frag too like that - spread tremendously. Good luck. Looks good!

[i lov angelfish123]

may i ask how do you get RO water to a PH of 8.2 and make it stay like that THANKS

[Original Fin]

The only reason I can think of that you would ever need to raise RO PH would be to do a freshwater dip for fish. Is this what you're trying to do?If so, your local fish store should sell reef PH buffer...that's what you'd want.Otherwise, simply adding your reef salts to RO will bring PH up to the proper level. It doesn't really matter what the RO PH is starting out.