reeferbrownies Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Reefer Brownies 20 Long Reef Thread "Ocean on a budget" Well its taken me long enough to put together a thread. Let me introduce myself, my name is Rick and I live around northern Chicago, I had been keeping freshwater for a year and I set up a 10 gallon FOWLR for my science teacher, one thing led to another. Long story I convinced my parents to allow me to setup a 20 gallon reef tank. Most things are second hand because I'm still a high schooler but i've managed to slowly begin to stock corals. Shoutout to Seven Seas Aquatic Life in Mount Prospect Illinois. Latest FTS 12/30/2016 11/8/2016 (Election Day!) 10/3/2016 9/24/2016 8/30/2016 Stock List:2 tank raised Ocellaris Clowns (host the hammer)Dwarf Zebra Lionfish Carpet surfing RIP 8/30/2016 Neon blue velvet damsel coral is NOT on the menu (out of my tank)Yellow watchman goby possible death by pistol shrimp1 pistol shrimp 2 hermit crabs (murdered two other ones and killed my nassarius and took its shell) Equipment:Used 150watt Metal HalideUsed 20 gallon long tankUsed Tunze 9001skimmerJebao RW-4 (bought in china for half price)Aqueon filter20 pounds fiji pink sandOmega Sea premium reef salt Corals:3 head hammer2 head frogspawnKenya TreeIronman mushroom morphXeniaBlue tub zoasassorted YumasLeather coral?red monticapinert GSP4 head blue and red acanHope you enjoy Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 Nice job ....budget tanks can be fun. Looks like you got the basics covered. Get an ATO- Automatic Top Off.....not "needed", but awesome once you have one. Stability is your best friend. Link to comment
Astinus Posted August 30, 2016 Share Posted August 30, 2016 VERY nice Tank and Scape! Sorry to see u Lost a Dwarf Zebra Lion Fish due to it's desire to Hang Fin on the Carpet *Following* Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Anybody know what this is? Also i'm thinking about adding a sump/ refugium either in the form of a tank or an Aquaclear filter. Sumps going to be hard to convince my parents to allow and Ill have to go with an external overflow box. Aqua clears going to have to go in the side because stupid me back the tank/stand into the wall with 2.5 inches of room on the back. VERY nice Tank and Scape! Sorry to see u Lost a Dwarf Zebra Lion Fish due to it's desire to Hang Fin on the Carpet *Following* Thanks, came back after school and he was in a plastic bin on the ground RIP, will make a screen lid when I get a chance to go to home depot Nice job ....budget tanks can be fun.Looks like you got the basics covered.Get an ATO- Automatic Top Off.....not "needed", but awesome once you have one.Stability is your best friend. Thanks, yeah I'm definitely on a budget! hence the lack of the ATO for now, but I'm thinking about a few options, either the tunze nano osmolator used or to scrap up money to get a used controller and hook up a few float switches to those. Link to comment
Friendly Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 have your goby and shimp bonded? Link to comment
jack1978 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Anybody know what this is? Also i'm thinking about adding a sump/ refugium either in the form of a tank or an Aquaclear filter. Sumps going to be hard to convince my parents to allow and Ill have to go with an external overflow box. Aqua clears going to have to go in the side because stupid me back the tank/stand into the wall with 2.5 inches of room on the back. Thanks, came back after school and he was in a plastic bin on the ground RIP, will make a screen lid when I get a chance to go to home depot Thanks, yeah I'm definitely on a budget! hence the lack of the ATO for now, but I'm thinking about a few options, either the tunze nano osmolator used or to scrap up money to get a used controller and hook up a few float switches to those. It's a Nudibranch.......they only eat specific foods....AKA, your coral most likely. Their little frills should be roughly the same color as what they have been eating. Any coral not looking so good....or disappearing? Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Sadly I don't think so, the goby was free from a LFS its fins were all deformed, this pistol is also quite large, they live on the left rock formation but I have never seen them working together. Stupid me just knocked my eheim auto feeder into the tank, so far its fried Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 It's a Nudibranch.......they only eat specific foods....AKA, your coral most likely. Their little frills should be roughly the same color as what they have been eating. Any coral not looking so good....or disappearing? THATS NO GOOD! Just took it out, looks like a zoa eater if i remember correctly, luckily my blue tubs have been doing amazing since day one, hmm, hopefully its just one but probably not, goes to show dips aren't 100% either that or it most likely might have hatched from eggs then. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 That nudibranch is your worst nightmare. If you see one, there are more. I would avoid zoas for awhile. Hopefully they will starve themselves off. Keep checking your tank for them and inspect your blue tubs for eggs. If you want more GSP, let me know. When you are ready, I have small frags of red monticap and green birdsnest that are just sitting there on my frag rack. Have some very small setosa too. I keep breaking my SPS whenever I rearrange stuff. Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 That nudibranch is your worst nightmare. If you see one, there are more. I would avoid zoas for awhile. Hopefully they will starve themselves off. Keep checking your tank for them and inspect your blue tubs for eggs. If you want more GSP, let me know. When you are ready, I have small frags of red monticap and green birdsnest that are just sitting there on my frag rack. Have some very small setosa too. I keep breaking my SPS whenever I rearrange stuff. Thanks for the input, after further inspection it seems that some of my blue tubs are missing their little hand thingies, I think ill try to dip the coral again and keep watching for more, As for the frags, thanks of the offer and ill probably come by sometime. My current GSP is the actual star kind and doesn't seem to want to open despite daily cleaning of detritus and algae, lol "involuntary fragging" Solar fairy wrasse for this tank? Too small? or just right? Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Solar fairy wrasse for this tank? Too small? or just right? tank way too small. the only wrasse i would put in this tank are: sixline possum pygmy pink streaked Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 tank way too small. the only wrasse i would put in this tank are: sixline possum pygmy pink streaked thats what i thought, i just need to find a nice colorful active fish to restock the tank Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 royal gramma yellow assessor neon dottyback (assholes though) Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Anything blue? also Chromis are too large right? dotty backs and grammas are nice colors but rather not have dicks in the tank Also looking into getting a real clean up crew, any good places around northern chicago or should i buy from reef cleaners? Link to comment
Cencalfishguy56 Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Anything blue? also Chromis are too large right? dotty backs and grammas are nice colors but rather not have dicks in the tank Also looking into getting a real clean up crew, any good places around northern chicago or should i buy from reef cleaners? reef cleaners and call it a day Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 reef cleaners and call it a day Might do an order of CUC, chaeto, and pods Link to comment
Astinus Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Link to Reef cleaners "Custom CUC" https://www.reefcleaners.org/index.php/custom-clean-up-crew John is excellent to work with. Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 I used to get ReefCleaners but their standard package that ship USPS priority doesn't really include the best snails you can get locally. You can get trochus for $1.00 or so from LFS in Chicago. And Nassarius for $1.00 too. Link to comment
Astinus Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 I used to get ReefCleaners but their standard package that ship USPS priority doesn't really include the best snails you can get locally. You can get trochus for $1.00 or so from LFS in Chicago. And Nassarius for $1.00 too. Good point. I s'pose u could build an order from the store (ReefCleaners) and get the snails U mentioned locally. U have an advantage to a degree. I have 1 LFS that I trust and use. There is only the 1 local to me. I could travel half hr or so and see about the others in Ft.Myers. I live in Cape Coral. I would imagine that u might have an advantage over myself, seeing that ur from a BIG city. "Chicago" But, I do agree with ya Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Good point. I s'pose u could build an order from the store (ReefCleaners) and get the snails U mentioned locally. U have an advantage to a degree. I have 1 LFS that I trust and use. There is only the 1 local to me. I could travel half hr or so and see about the others in Ft.Myers. I live in Cape Coral. I would imagine that u might have an advantage over myself, seeing that ur from a BIG city. "Chicago" But, I do agree with ya haha, i have like 8 LFS within 45 mins of me =P Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted August 31, 2016 Author Share Posted August 31, 2016 Chicago is great, so many stores and I haven't been to all. Might do reef cleaners but a store called old orchard aquarium has a lot of macro and cuc. Any good blue fish suggestions too? Link to comment
cruiZe Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Great looking tank! I like your fish choices (same as mine mostly) sorry about the Lion- it'd probably get too big or eat your other fish anyway. Hopefully the YWG and pistol pair up, that is super cool. John at reefcleaners is the best, it's ok to order less than recommended too because he will send extra. I had a gramma who was fine with the clowns and YWG for a long time , but in a larger tank so I'm not sure Link to comment
vlangel Posted August 31, 2016 Share Posted August 31, 2016 Hey, nice tank. Looks like you are off to a pretty good start...well except your lionfish and the nudibranch. I also have a royal gramma and he's pretty nice although him and my clown do give each other the hairy eye ball sometimes. Link to comment
reeferbrownies Posted September 1, 2016 Author Share Posted September 1, 2016 Great looking tank! I like your fish choices (same as mine mostly) sorry about the Lion- it'd probably get too big or eat your other fish anyway. Hopefully the YWG and pistol pair up, that is super cool. John at reefcleaners is the best, it's ok to order less than recommended too because he will send extra. I had a gramma who was fine with the clowns and YWG for a long time , but in a larger tank so I'm not sure Thanks, my original plan was to give him away once he had gotten larger, he was only 2.5 inches but yeah i was still worried about him and the YWG, his mouth was fully open when I found him, and if it had grew a centimeter longer he would have been able to swallow the YWG. Luckily he was a very peaceful and nice guy. Might go for a purple his like a gramma, so probably 2 more fish and I'm done, either a blue damsel, purple fish, or a bangaii cardinal. It will place me a bit overstocked, but I've been keeping up on maintenance. Hey, nice tank. Looks like you are off to a pretty good start...well except your lionfish and the nudibranch. I also have a royal gramma and he's pretty nice although him and my clown do give each other the hairy eye ball sometimes. I have read through so many of your threads! Love the seahorses, almost went for dwarf seahorses for a 5.5 AIO i might be setting up soon, but with the daily hatching I might not be able to keep up on feeding, I saw PolarCollision had a bbs auto feeder but eh.. The nudibranchs were really smaller than I thought they would be which kinda caught me off guard, when I was dipping I thought they were just debris. But I dipped the whole rock today and 3 small nudis fell of and died. Just did a 5 gallon water change, tank should be set for the next week, luckily because the salt is pretty good, I haven't needed to dose yet. Water test time! Nitrate 20ppm a little bit high Alkalinity 8.6 DKH low resolution mode because i was a bit of a klutz and knocked the reagent bottle over in a previous test ARGHh Calcium 475 ppm Good point. I s'pose u could build an order from the store (ReefCleaners) and get the snails U mentioned locally. U have an advantage to a degree. I have 1 LFS that I trust and use. There is only the 1 local to me. I could travel half hr or so and see about the others in Ft.Myers. I live in Cape Coral. I would imagine that u might have an advantage over myself, seeing that ur from a BIG city. "Chicago" But, I do agree with ya Chicago is great, sadly though I need my parents to drive me to these stores, will order from reef cleaners if i can't get a good price nearby Link to comment
vlangel Posted September 1, 2016 Share Posted September 1, 2016 Thanks, my original plan was to give him away once he had gotten larger, he was only 2.5 inches but yeah i was still worried about him and the YWG, his mouth was fully open when I found him, and if it had grew a centimeter longer he would have been able to swallow the YWG. Luckily he was a very peaceful and nice guy. Might go for a purple his like a gramma, so probably 2 more fish and I'm done, either a blue damsel, purple fish, or a bangaii cardinal. It will place me a bit overstocked, but I've been keeping up on maintenance. I have read through so many of your threads! Love the seahorses, almost went for dwarf seahorses for a 5.5 AIO i might be setting up soon, but with the daily hatching I might not be able to keep up on feeding, I saw PolarCollision had a bbs auto feeder but eh.. Thanks! I might do dwarf seahorses also some day. I have been reading polarcollisions thread as well. I am interested in how the bbs auto feeder does long term. I will probably use a standard 10 tank and turn it into an AIO. Link to comment
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