New to site, and hobby

[GXPKY]

Hello, new to the hobby, have had my tank for about 2 weeks, found it on Craigslist and have studied up on the care for about a month now. Anyhow, glad to be on here, very helpful site!



Frogspawn with 40+ heads on it



Hammer coral, was one head but when we broke down the aquarium to move it broke into 5 seperate frags with around 5-7 heads each....27 heads total, multi color tips, purple and green

















Not bad for 500 bucks, included a 400 dollar RO/DI filter, t5 lighting, etc.

[GXPKY]

[Gawain1974]

To Reef Central

So, how big if your system? What are your other tank specs (sump, skimmer, lighting system, etc.)?

Nice looking corals. I did notice that you have a goniopora (aka flowerpot coral)--they have a dismal track record for survival in captivity, just so you know.

[Sugar Magnolia]

To Reef Central

It looks good, although I do see some aiptasia in that last pic. Toss a couple of peppermint shrimp in there to take care of it for you.

[Gawain1974]

Originally Posted by Sugar Magnolia

It looks good, although I do see some aiptasia in that last pic. Toss a couple of peppermint shrimp in there to take care of it for you.

I've never had any luck with peppermints, personally. If you just have a few aiptasia, you can mix up some kalk paste and coat them with that to eradicate them.

[GXPKY]

yeah i've already seen em, and have plans of peppermint shrimp.

It's a 90 gallon with 20 or 30 gallon sump...I forget what it was. Protien skimmer, Uv filter, all that was included also, drilled tank....

Will post some pics of the sump later, need to head out for a few.

Thanks for the kind posts!

[GXPKY]

t5 lighting, 2x blue bulbs, 2x white...and moon light

think this is correct. Said he'd payed 400 bucks for the light fixture setup.

[Sk8r]

That's a handsome tank in the making. Welcome. You're already doing well. And do give a read to the stickies at the top of the forum, which will supply a lot of detail info.

[SDguy]

Very nice! Some good size euphyllia in there (some of my favorite coral). Do you have a plan on keeping calcium and alkalinity up? Just water changes? Two part dosing?

[GXPKY]

Picked up a calcium testing kit as well as a two part calcium kit.

[SDguy]

Originally Posted by GXPKY

as well as a two part calcium kit.

If that includes an alkalinity test kit, great. Otherwise, pick up an alk test kit too.

[GXPKY]

The guy I purchased the tank from had phos, nitrate, and alk test kits he gave me along with the tank, didnt have a calcium test kit though.

[SDguy]

Perfect!

[kzickovich]

Looks like you got a great deal on the tank and equipment. Good luck with the tank.

[GXPKY]

I'll be sure to get a pic of the sump setup and post it when I get home. Any advice you guys can see is always greatly appriciated!

Cleanup crew right now is

Fire Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp
Red Banded Shrimp
tons of big turbo snails
tons of hermit crabs

[GXPKY]

Heading home, will get some more pics up soonish.

[kzickovich]

Add some nassarius snails too. They live in the sand and help keep it clean.

[rednkfish]

WELCOME TO THE HOBBY Great Deal on the tanklooks good

[GXPKY]

[aleonn]

Great deal that you got, and great start!

[GXPKY]

Several of the corals I picked up other than the hammer, frogspawn, bubble coral, and the branchy one, not sure on the name of it, those came with the tank.

[Gawain1974]

Your thin-branched coral is a birdsnest (a sps coral). I forgot to mention it earlier, but you did get a really good deal on that tank! That's a nice looking set up you have going.

Can you tell us a bit more about your T5 system--who's the manufacturer? Also, does each bulb have its own individual reflector, or is there just one giant reflector behind all the bulbs? I only ask because the reflectors make a big difference with T5 lights.

Also, how do you feel about those mushroom corals? They will spread, and will spread like mad. I'm still trying to kill off shrooms from 3 years ago--the darn things keep popping up, lol.

[Gawain1974]

Oh, I forgot to ask...are you running carbon on your system? I only ask because you do have an sps coral together with some soft leather corals. The leather corals release turpenoids that sps don't tend to like (activated carbon will absorb this). If you don't run any carbon, you can get a simple little reactor like the 2Fishes Phosban reactor and run carbon in that. Just something for you to think about.

Also, in case you don't know, euphylia sp corals can be rather aggressive and send out stinger tentacles (they tend to do this at night when lights are off, so you may miss it and wake up to find tissue missing from a surrounding coral). I've found that they don't tend to bother other euphylia sp, but you might want to keep an eye on your birdsnest.

[GXPKY]

Yes, it is running carbon also, there is a bag in one of the overflows in the sump system.

[GXPKY]

I'll pull the light fixture off and post a pic, and brand etc for ya.