10 gallon Reef Tank, 1st tank, Budget build, Lots of pics..

[bagged87blayzer]

Alright well here is my first tank. I built this on a small budget. I have 3 freshwater tanks and decided it was time to try something new.

I had extra parts lying around so I thought I would start.
I am using a Aqua Clear 50 with live sand, live rock ruble, and a Chemi Pure bag as a filter, A 10 Gallon incandescent light strip with 2-20 watt Corallight PC 50/50 bulbs in it. I bought 10 lbs of live sand, 5 lbs of crushed coral, and 12 lbs of live rock-rock came out of friends sump that was curing for about 8 months.

Sorry about the pics just a normal 7 mb digital.

Tank Setup


Week 3 - I installed a Koralia Nano Power head and 5 hermit crabs. All water parameters are good.

Week 4 - Got a Toadstool and Frogspawn, and a Skunk Cleaner Shrimp




Week 5 - Got 2 False Percs

[bagged87blayzer]

Week 7 - Got some Green Hairy Mushrooms and a LTA

[GoingPostal]

Looks good but that lta is horribly bleached out and isn't going to get any better under that low of lighting. I'd build your rockwork up a little if it's going to be a reef tank, makes placing corals apart easier and get the light loving ones closer to the top.

[xenon]

Did you read up on anemone's before you got it?

#1) It's in terrible condition. Feed it daily with silversides.
#2) That is not enough light to sustain it. Upgrade ASAP.
#3) Your tank is way too new. You should have waited 6 months.
#4) LTA's prefer to have their "foot" in the sand bed.

How are you planning to maintain cal,alk,mag and top-off daily?

Anemone's need very stable water conditions.

[bagged87blayzer]

The LTA put himself there. When I bought him he was white and now he is like an ice blue with a deep red "foot". I Did rearrange the rocks last week will post pics

[bagged87blayzer]

Some updates

Week 8 - Added a Duncan with 5 heads, a blue and red mushroom, and a 4 pound rock.



Week 9 - Rearranged rocks, add a couple of small Rics. Noticed that the Frogspawn as grown 2 more heads and the Toadstool has grown about a 1/2" taller.



As for dosing I dose every morning before I go to work with 2 part and top the tank off. When I get home I check to see if I need to top off again. It is Florida but I keep my house at 75 so the evaporation is not that bad. I am running a 100 watt heater with a digital temp gauge. The tank goes anywhere from 79.8 to 80.5 degrees. I feed the fish everyday and the corals every other day. I check my water twice a week and everything stays where it is suppose to. Ammonia and Nitrites are 0 and Nitrates stay between 5-10. Everything seems to be doing great. My Zoas are growing like crazy and the fish seem happy.

[3fins]

how......?

[alicamo]

That looks like a condy anemone...

http://www.liveaquaria.com/product/p...619&pcatid=619


Also, i prolly wouldn't dose in a tank that small and just stick to water changes since its easier to measure. (unless your talking about dosing with phytoplankton or zoo plankton)

[bagged87blayzer]

Originally posted by 3fins
how......?

What do you mean?

[bagged87blayzer]

I dose with phytoplankton.

[nate82]

nice looking tank idk why everyone's being like this you waited a month for the cycle to end i'm not sure about the anenome but everything looks great

[bagged87blayzer]

Alright traded a mushroom for this.

[billie6227]

I'm pretty sure that's a condy anemone, not an lta. But as far as everything else, your tank is coming along well. I like how you spread out putting corals in every couple of weeks. That's very smart on your part, especially since it is a 10 gallon tank. You are on the right track.

[bagged87blayzer]

Soooo
Week 11 - Added 2 more lbs of live rock and the Xenia I added 3 days ago (a little stressed just put the rock next it).

[doihavethemoney]

i agree it looks like a condy it still looks a little bleached but if it was a lta it does look like its on the brink ofr death

[pipper]

Awesome tank bagged87blayzer! Now getting the anemone early probably wasnt the best idea, but HELL! We all make those little mistakes, learn from them, and move on with our tank! Ill admit to you I did the same thing! I got a nem at 3weeks after setting up my tank, I unfortunatly lost him, but Ive learned from that! Thats what so great about this hobby!

So do a little bit more research before you buy something, helps your tank and your wallet Your tank looks great and keep us updated with your progress!
JB

[pipper]

Oh! Forgot something, Now this is just from personal experience, but I use to dose phytoplanton everyday and would always get a large outbreak of nuisance algae.... Once I would stop adding the phyto the algae would go away. So just a heads up, that may happen to you! Try dosing once a week!
JB

[bagged87blayzer]

Just got a great deal on this 35 bucks and about 30 heads but the place I got it from did not what kind of Zoa it was they just had a couple different colors and they where just labled Zoas. Anyone have a clue to what kind it might be. I looked on Zoaid.com and did not see one.

[swervo513]

i also want to say your tank is looking great and not to worry about the harsh criticism you recieved on this thread. I like the scaping.

what kind of lights and filtration do you use?

[bagged87blayzer]

Cheap lights they are Corallight 50/50 PC, but they screw in to a incandescent light fixture. Total of 40 watts. Filtration is a AquaClear 50 with a Chemi Pure bag and live sand and live rock. Nothing special but all my levels suprisenly stay good.

[AwkwardParrot]

Originally posted by bagged87blayzer
Cheap lights they are Corallight 50/50 PC, but they screw in to a incandescent light fixture. Total of 40 watts. Filtration is a AquaClear 50 with a Chemi Pure bag and live sand and live rock. Nothing special but all my levels suprisenly stay good.

Save $61 + tax + shipping and get the:

24" or 18" Current t5!

I have the 24 over a 10 and it grows SPS amazingly, I also have the 18 over another 10 w/ softies and a lobster, again, amazing growth!

[bagged87blayzer]

I am thinking about next month start building a canopy and I am going to wire up my own lights into it. I want more light but I don't want the lights hanging over the side. I did cheat and the light strip I went and silicone aluminum foil on the whole inside of it because there was no real reflector in it. I was going to use polished aluminum but I want to build a canopy so then I will do that. I have 40 watts of 50/50. I don't really want to grow SPS I want to basically stick with softies and LPS.

[bagged87blayzer]

I picked up and AquaClear 500 brand new in the box for 25 bucks. It has a flow rate of 500 fully opened but I tested it and if I turn it all the way down it does not flow very fast. I am thinking about adding it to the back of my tank with about 2 lbs of sand and 2 lbs of rock. Then putting my heater in there so I can get it out of the tank. I am just going to have to trim the intake tube because it is huge. The filter is almost as long as the tank. It is massive basically but for 25 bucks I could not say no.....lol

[swervo513]

hey i had an aquaclear 500 fuge back in the day on my ten gallon reef tank. i put a small piece of pvc between it and the glass to make it fit. then i took some plexi glass and reef safe silicon and seperated the intake chamber from the filtration media. i put about 4 inches of sand, some live rock, and macro algae. finally i put a tiny clamp-on PC light on the aquaclear and it worked like a charm. you should have no problem if you decide to do it that way. its a good and inexpensive way to have an effective refugium

[bagged87blayzer]

You don't have pictures or a diagram do you?