A freshies first reef - Now Clean, and Sexy,.........and Porcelain?

[BigRed10]

Hi NR first off I just wanted to say thank you to all of the members here for making all of your knowledge and experiences so readily available, it has helped with immensely with my research. After selling off 4 of my 5 fw setups over the past year I found a 10g tank that I forgot I even had and decided that I was ready to try what I've always wanted to A REEF!!! So here it is, it's been running a month now with a pretty basic set-up but we'll see how it goes.
Equipment:
10 g standard tank
ac30 hob filter (once I finish relocating my remaining fw fish from my 30g planted in march will be switching to the ac50)
2 korilia nano 240's
100w heater (hate the clear/gray coloration but I had it laying around so...)
fluval sea led lamp Reefkoi par38 full spec
13 lbs lr / 15 lbs ls


Current FTS: 3-24-14

[Angel<3Nanos]

Nice setup. Good choice on the par38.

[BigRed10]

After about 3 weeks my cycle finished and I got a large diatom bloom. Params were ammo/nitrite 0 and nitrates 80 ppm

 

I let that come down and did a couple wc's over the next week and half and got my trates down to 10ppm on Tuesday, and after another wc yesterday I added my first livestock today 3 trochus and 4 ceriths ( am picking up 2 nerites next week after he orders them for me) and I also added my first coral, some blue shrooms

thanks angel, and special thanks to TheKleinReef for answering all of my dumb newb questions, I really appreciate it

[dixie reefer]

Love the black sand and those shrooms are to die for! Awesome start!

[BigRed10]

Thanks dixie, I really like the darker look it gives the tank

[dixie reefer]

It really makes the colors of corals and fish pop. My first tank had black sand and i intend to use it in my seahorse tank upgrade.

[hey]

Great simple start, will really let you grow as you decide what you need/don't need in the future. I also am quite jealous of the sexy blue shrooms you got there.

[TheKleinReef]

Off to a great start! Keep it up. It looks great already.

[ZeroEvoX]

Looking Great! Good Luck!

[2020reef]

Looks good Ill be starting my 10 gallon aio build soon.

[gena]

How exciting. I love starting new tanks...so much fun.

 

You did a great job with the rock scape and those blue mushrooms are so vibrant. Nice pickup!!!!!

[BigRed10]

Thanks everyone, it's coming along slowly but I'm lovin it. Did some accidental rescaping the other day (pulled a rock to super glue an aiptasia and then couldn't remember how I had it) but I kinda like it better now. I also got my par38 last week and changed out my aqueoun 50 power head for 2 korilia 240's and am very happy with that purchase( thanks to rehype). And now I'm noticing that it won't let me post pictures from my phone so I'll throw a couple up when I get home.

[BigRed10]

some pics of the new set up after wc this morning

 

and one with the light (not this blue in person, phone pic)

 

[Steelen]

Off to a great start so far! Keep it up. I love your blue mushrooms. They will cover the bottom nicely.

[BigRed10]

I got goodies!!!!!!

2 hammers and a frogspawn, and they guy threw in a free ric rock w/ 3 different rics

and I moved my mushrooms off of the ugly frag rock and put them where i want them

[BigRed10]

so everybody's looking pretty good about 6 hours after acclimation

the colors a little different in person, but thats actually not bad for a phone pic

[BigRed10]

Picked up my fish for the tank yesterday, he's looking good today and was perching in one of my hammers earlier. The hammer didn't seem to happy about it, will it get used to the goby?

Also grabbed a couple $5 zoa frags but not sure what they are. Anyone know?

[rmacedo2010]

welcome to the most addicting hobby. There is no better feeling than comming home after work and looking at you reef tank you will have ups and down wondering what went wrong but hey thats what were all her for. your best friend will be READ READ READ!!!! i like your set up so far shrooms are always a great addition especially when your have a variety of colors. good luck and happy reefing

[reefernick]

looking good, i almost went with black sand today for my 10g I'm starting, hows that aqueon power head, quiet?

[BigRed10]

It's quiet but I switched it out for 2 k-nano 240's. It would stop working for no reason periodically and after the 3rd time it happened I pulled it

[BigRed10]

Well its been a long time since I've updated this so here goes a big one. Haven't added much more coral, just another ric, a small frag of zoas, and a frag of birds nest that a friend of mine accidentally broke off one of his colonies.

 

I've added a few inverts over the last couple months, picked up a cleaner shrimp, a porcelain crab, and 5 sexy shrimp (not all at once).

[BigRed10]

My GCG has finally started to feel at home, and is out and about now, and actually seems to watch me when I'm in the room. He loves his mushroom bed

 

The sexies seem to have taken up residence in the frogspawn, I was worried at first but it doesn't seem to mind a bit. They never stray far from it.

 

I plan on picking up a duncan, and maybe some acans or more zoas this Thursday, so I'll update again after, but heres the current FTS (don't mind the dirty glass).