larrysy Posted August 4, 2014 Share Posted August 4, 2014 Hi! This is my first saltwater aquarium and I will be using this thread to track my progress. My goal is the be able to get an aquarium up and running with minimal cost and with low maintenance. After reading through a lot of posts, I noticed that there is an overwhelming amount of equipment available for the hobby - more powerful lights, protein skimmers, bigger power heads, wave makers, auto-top off systems, chemical filtration, etc., which all costs $$$. For my tank, I'll stick to the "more biology, less technology" thinking which I read somewhere. This should reduce the cost of keeping the tank. Equipment so far with actual costs (in CDN) : 8/2/2014 Evolve 8 tank - 99+tax - from Big Al's Eheim Jaeger 50W heater + 1/3 bucket of Reef Crystals + 15 lbs crushed coral - 50 - used from kijiji Floating hydrometer - 5.48 + tax - from amazon.ca Aqueon acrylic cleaner, small - 8.08 + tax from amazon.ca 5 lbs of live rock - 25 - from Sea U Marine 5 gallon water jug - 15 + tax - from Canadian Tire Filter - live rock and live sand - I have the stock filter at the back at the moment, but I'll remove it later and put in some chaeto- I already ordered an underwater light for 7.79 from amazon.ca for placing in the chaeto compartment - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00JP9CDAW/ref=oh_details_o01_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Protein skimmer - none- I'll just do weekly water changes. 1 gallon is already more than 10%. I'm using a battery powered gravel cleaner and siphon from my freshwater tank which makes it very easy to do the water changes and cleaning - http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B003OYOPNW/ref=oh_details_o02_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 Lighting - stock light at the moment - but looking at this - http://lightboxleds.com/products-page/halo-par-38/ Water flow - stock pump at the moment , maybe a Koralia nano 240? Miscellaneous - looking at an auto top off system - http://autotopoff.com/custom/ Stocking - nothing definite yet, waiting for live rocks to cure. I'm using my leftover API Freshwater Test Kit for testing the water. Tank shot 8/2/2014 - Link to comment
larrysy Posted October 13, 2014 Author Share Posted October 13, 2014 Time for an update: Tank: - Evolve 8 Lighting - still using the stock light on a 12 hour on cycle, but I just ordered the PAR38 24W from Coral Compulsion - my corals don't look the same as when I got them from the source. Pump - upgraded to Maxijet 900 with a Hydro Flo Deflector attached. I also have a Koralia Nano 240 - but it seems to be blowing the corals with a very strong flow, so I removed it and using it now to blow the rock and the substrate just before changing the water. Heater - Eheim Jager 50W set at 78F, but my tank temperature stays ay 79-80F Filtration - 5 lbs live rock + chaeto in the first compartment with an underwater LED light Fish - 2 Ocellaris CUC - 1 cerith (died already), 1 turban snail ( great in cleaning everything but cannot upright itself when it falls on its back), and 1 nasarrius snail (also great at cleaning everything) Hitch hikers - bristle star, bristle worms Coral - started with a Zoas plug, which was later eaten by a nudibranch - a plug with 2 mushrooms - one detached itself and moved to a nook in the live rock - hairy mushrooms - orange ricordea - GSP - Kenya tree ( extends its branches initially but not for the past few days - don;t know what is happening - 3 headed hammer coral - too big for my tank when the polyps are extended. - just recently got a blastomussa Maintenance one a week - change 1g water (about 15%) - change filter floss - rinse chaeto Feeding - Omega One Micro Pellets - small pinch daily - target feed frozen mysis once a week Parameters - salinity - 1.025 pH 8.2 temp - 80.2F ammonia - 0 nitrite - 0 nitrate - 5 ppm Tank shot - 10/01/2014 My first coral - Being eaten by a nudibranch - The shop where I got my zoas from gave me a free zoas frag after I told him what happened. The zoas got knocked off from the frag plug so it's sititng right now on a cup hanging at the side of the tank. My latest coral - a blasto - Link to comment
larrysy Posted November 4, 2014 Author Share Posted November 4, 2014 FTS - 11/04/2014 - Getting more crowded - added candy cane, blasto, a few zoas. The color of the yuma really pops with the upgrade to the Coral Compulsion PAR 38 lamp. Link to comment
larrysy Posted October 7, 2015 Author Share Posted October 7, 2015 One year follow-up - the hammer is gone, gave it away as it has grown too big - the candy cane has really grown - the Kenya tree is already massive and given off a lot of "babies" - the GSP has taken over the back of the live rock - zoas and palys have multiplied - the yuma has gone too big and killed the blasto - has two babies in the tank - added a dendrophyllia - clowns have grown bigger Tank getting too crowded - will be setting up a 40G breeder. Link to comment
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