Alain Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Hi all! I'm Alain! Hello! I have been browsing N-R for a while in the preparation to get myself into a marine set up. Coming from a teensy 30L freshwater tank with guppies, catfishes and angels, this is quite the leap. Unfortunately the last addition of platinum angelfish ended up killing the whole tank, looking back it was such a rookie mistake! Thanks to some great motivation by a friend (ahem, Justin Fox), I decided to look back into getting something - this time I was adamant I would go salt, and go hard! Here's the set up I pulled my trigger on: 30G Innovative Marine Fusion 30 tank and cabinet 2x IM SpinStream attachments IM Hydrofill pump Hydor Smart Level IM Ghost Skimmer for Fusion 30 Eheim 150W Heater Caribsea Live Sand 2 x AI Prime LED lights with mounting kit In the tank I've got three pieces of live rock and associated critters. The tank was already previously cycled, and already a few months old. I bought the tank from an aquarist friend who needed the space in his apartment. Here it is! I recently dropped by and got a big bag of snails for my CUC, and because the shop was clearing out their tank to upgrade, I ended up getting some bonus brittle stars, a feather star, a ghost shrimp, a red Fromia star and a blue Linckia star! Only after acclimating them and putting the bag in my tank did I realise how difficult keeping the stars might be. (But look how cute he is!) Going to stock the tank with fish over the coming weeks. Any help, feedback or advice for a new marine guy would be appreciated! Looking forward to being an active member here on N-R Cheers guys. FTS - 27 Aug 2015: FTS - 17 Sep 2015: FTS - 25 Oct 2015: END OF PHASE 1 (NEGLECT) - FTS - 02 August 2016 PHASE 2 BEGINS - FTS - 09 August 2016 FTS - 11 August 2016 FIRST BIRTHDAY FTS - 13 August 2016 FTS - 23 Aug 2016 Link to comment
Slowtwitch Posted August 18, 2015 Share Posted August 18, 2015 Good luck with the stars. Hope you can keep them going. Tank looks awesome so far. Link to comment
Alain Posted August 19, 2015 Author Share Posted August 19, 2015 Good luck with the stars. Hope you can keep them going. Tank looks awesome so far. Thanks, I hope so too. The general consensus from my research leads me to think all stars are doomed in an aquarium Link to comment
Alain Posted August 22, 2015 Author Share Posted August 22, 2015 Finally! Made my first coral and fish additions to my tank today! Was a nice day to go for a drive here in Sydney so I drove out of my way to find a new shop to browse and ended up walking out with three Gonioporas and a pair of clowns! For the meanwhile, the gonis live on the centre piece of live rock but ideally I would like them to be placed on either the left or right pieces of rock and the far side would be inhabited by hammers and torches.Now to buy some Reef Roids to keep these guys fed right! Also, the first fish inhabitants:Can't go wrong with a pair of Ocellaris Clowns, can you? Hopefully the clowns become less shy and the Gonis open up nice and fluffy for me in the coming days!Also, the stars seem to be becoming more active during the day, I hope this is a good sign for them! I also spotted my shrimp finally coming out for a peek at the new tankmates as I finally let the clowns into the tank. Curious bugger! Wish he'd come out and play!! Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 22, 2015 Share Posted August 22, 2015 Nice additions! I also love the classic Occelaris clowns Link to comment
justinfox Posted August 23, 2015 Share Posted August 23, 2015 Looking good! Catch up next week Alain! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 23, 2015 Author Share Posted August 23, 2015 Nice additions! I also love the classic Occelaris clowns Was having doubts about my first marine fish pick, but I would be kicking myself if I didn't keep it simple and start with the good ol' clown! Looking good! Catch up next week Alain! Very keen Justin, I'm glad I have you to share this addiction with!! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Gonioporas are doing well in their new tank, opening up for me nicely so far! The clowns have started playing in the bigger guy on the right, and I hope this doesn't become detrimental to it. Dude in the middle seems to not want to open us as much, is he too close to the other two? Should I move him? Link to comment
HarryPotter Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Looks good to me (although I've never had one ) Maybe a red and/or green gonipora next- they're super neon Link to comment
Alain Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Looks good to me (although I've never had one ) Maybe a red and/or green gonipora next- they're super neon One on the right is green! Middle one is a bit more yellow but sometimes green? And the guy on the left is mostly purple! Phone photos are terrible at capturing colour haha I will take better photos with my next addition! Link to comment
justinfox Posted August 24, 2015 Share Posted August 24, 2015 Your live rock looks really really good Alain! Lots of live stuff on it by the looks of it! Macro, some sponges too! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Your live rock looks really really good Alain! Lots of live stuff on it by the looks of it! Macro, some sponges too! Yeah I am stoked with how 'live' the live rock is! It squirts every now and then (lol), feather duster worms that pop out at feeding time and specks of fluoro here and there when I have the blues on too. It's so interesting to look at! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 ... and I just ordered a MP10WQD! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 24, 2015 Author Share Posted August 24, 2015 Nice looking tank! Thanks! Just checked out yours! How are those emeralds treating you? They're so cute! Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 I've been debating about the "short live rock" look for my 30L and your build has definitely persuaded me to do it. Love the tank Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Thanks! Just checked out yours! How are those emeralds treating you? They're so cute! They're fine, even the big male isn't being problematic. Just eating algae Link to comment
Alain Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 I've been debating about the "short live rock" look for my 30L and your build has definitely persuaded me to do it. Love the tank Thanks! Go for it, I like the look of it myself too! The build is just getting started though, I have a feeling I will run out of room on the live rock for the corals I want! I would love to build it taller and go for a 'two island' look! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 I spent the day hanging with Justin Fox (See his epic Fluval Edge build HERE) who as I've mentioned was the reason I got back into the hobby. He's incredibly knowledgable on rare and eye-catching fish and corals so we drove around Sydney checking out a few stores we'd both been meaning to go to. Met some great store owners, saw some rarely seen fish (Brachiosaurus Blennies?!) and even spotted two Pistol Shrimp-Goby pairs which were very tempting to buy! Awesome inspiration for livestock I want to keep, hopefully I will make more additions soon fish-wise. We ended up at the shop I got my goni and clowns from and bought a awesome orange fungia, green helmet fungia and a cute little purple stem torch! We also rearranged my LR to create a more pleasing aquascape (Thanks Justin!). I forgot to take a FTS earlier, but Justin reckons I should take a photo with a real camera as I haven't done the colours justice from my phone! I'll be sure to take one tomorrow. In the meanwhile, here's a few snaps of today's purchases! Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Justin and Alain's Excellent Adventure! Link to comment
charnelhouse Posted August 25, 2015 Share Posted August 25, 2015 Party REEF on, dudes! Link to comment
Alain Posted August 26, 2015 Author Share Posted August 26, 2015 HELP! The green helmet fungia doesn't look too well Is he dead?!?! (See above for how he was when I got him) Link to comment
uwdanno Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 HELP! The green helmet fungia doesn't look too well Is he dead?!?! (See above for how he was when I got him) Not dying. Plate corals do all kinds of odd things. From what I have seen- they will often inflate like that if they are hungry. I'd just let it be. Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 26, 2015 Share Posted August 26, 2015 Looks okay to me, I wouldn't worry right now. FYI, I read somewhere, when I thought about getting one, that they shouldn't be placed on rock work because they can fall off when they move and injury themself? Something to think about. Link to comment
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