Spec V- Second tank build

[Cedblais]

*ENGLISH IS NOT MY FIRST LANGUAGE. I WILL TRY TO MAKE THIS TEXT UNDERSTANDABLE FOR EVERYONE. 

 

So a year ago, i jumped in the saltwater hobby after making an impulsive buy that consisted of a Fluval Spec V and a Current USA light fixture. I kept it going for a year, doing all the research that i should have done at the start while it was running. I saw some of you guys fluval Spec, especially Ninja's one and so on i hated mine. It was so ugly compare to the other fluval i was seeing that i wanted 3 months after it start running to start again but i was broke. I decided that it was not looking so bad and kept it full of cheap corals for a couple month until now.

So, last week as i was high on budget i decided to tear my tank down and start again with this time better equipment. That's what i now have :

 

-Spec V fluval tank

-AI Prime with aluminium mount

-AutoAqua smart micro ATO

-Aqueon 600 pump

-7 pounds of live rock

-Aquaforest Reef Salt

 

In the filter section i plan of using Chemi Pure Blue along with some filter pad that i'll change every other day. Plus i will do a 25 30% WC each Wednesday after feeding Reef Roids if i need to. What do you guys think im I missing something ?? Here is what it look like for now.

 

 

Im still thinking about what i want to stuck that tank with, do you have any idea for cool iverts and maybe a fish or two ? Plus do you think the Mame Skimmer would be efficient enough to justify it? ill probably buy it anyway cause it look so good. Ty very much for any comments!

[Christopher Marks]

You are off to a great start @Cedblais, welcome to the community! 

 

Are you using any livestock or rock from the old tank, or is this completely new? What kind of coral are you planning to keep?

 

For an interesting invertebrate you should consider a shrimp of some kind, they can have a lot of personality. Perhaps a shrimp and goby symbiotic pair of some sort?

[samnaz]

Sexy shrimp are fun to keep, I have 4 in my 20 gal. Generally they are reef safe and don't nibble corals unless they're hungry, so you gotta feed em every couple of days. They are really tiny and do well in groups. They would be a great choice for a tank of this size. 

[Cedblais]

18 hours ago, Christopher Marks said:

You are off to a great start @Cedblais, welcome to the community! 

 

Are you using any livestock or rock from the old tank, or is this completely new? What kind of coral are you planning to keep?

 

For an interesting invertebrate you should consider a shrimp of some kind, they can have a lot of personality. Perhaps a shrimp and goby symbiotic pair of some sort?

Ty very much ! No, except the pump everything is brand new. I had a skunk in my last tank but it pretty much outgrow it in a couple months haha, ill search the need of the shrimp and goby. Should i go with a deeper sand bed if i choose to do it ? I plan on keeping acans, shroom, gsp on the wall, zoas, one or 2 easy sps as birdnest. I want to try a maxi mini or a rockflower nem. Would that be possible?

16 hours ago, samnaz said:

Sexy shrimp are fun to keep, I have 4 in my 20 gal. Generally they are reef safe and don't nibble corals unless they're hungry, so you gotta feed em every couple of days. They are really tiny and do well in groups. They would be a great choice for a tank of this size. 

Yeah I loved them, maybe that and a porcelaine crab would be awesome. Would they walking all over the coral making them close all the time ? and how much could I have? ty

[Cedblais]

Little Update, even if maybe no one reads it ;). I change my Prime for the HD model cause the other one had a constant buzzing sound on the white channel. I now wonder what type  of intensity i should run that light to has i never had such a good light before. Ty !

[samnaz]

All you will ever need to know about sexy shrimps can be found here:

 

[Cedblais]

So I just finish cycling about a week and half ago and did a WC to be sure evrything was right, no pike of anything so i decide to build myself a little mesh top. The mesh was given to me by a fellow reefer in my area. When i was at his place he decided to give me a piece og GSP that i glued to the black false wall with crazy glue. Its now been 3 days and he is not opening yet, is that normal for GSP ? I also download from a guy a new light schedule for the prime HD that i run on 50% cause its made for a 2 feet deep tank and the spec is only 11 inches. Take a look and tell me what you think. Im very excited to get new corals but ill still wait a couple weeks to be on the safe side. I plan to go mainly on acan zoa ricordea and a little easy sps, you guys have suggestion for easy sps? TY  

[Lula_Mae]

I had a frag of GSP mailed to me right as my apocalyptic tank crash began and it didn't open for about a week.  Then a teeny tip of a few polyps poked out, next day a bit more, and over the next few days it gradually opened fully.  Now it's open every day!  But in my reading at the time, I found that it is common for GSP to get mad and close up for days on end, usually when things in the tank get changed around or it gets moved or is in a new tank.  I'd give it at least a week before I'd worry.

 

Regarding the light--not sure about settings but I do know that running it at reduced power is a good call, especially for when you put lower light corals in.  I've got a non-dimmable LED PAR bulb over mine and have a screen to help filter the light till everything gets used to it.

 

I don't know much about SPS but I believe some species of montipora and birdsnest are supposed to be easier.  You can probably do a search here or on Google to find some suggestions.

[Weetabix7]

Lula has already given you good answers to most of your questions, but I just wanted to chime in and say that Montipora is probably the easiest and least demanding of the SPS corals. 

You look like you're off to a good start!!

[Cedblais]

On 4/22/2017 at 4:04 PM, Lula_Mae said:

I had a frag of GSP mailed to me right as my apocalyptic tank crash began and it didn't open for about a week.  Then a teeny tip of a few polyps poked out, next day a bit more, and over the next few days it gradually opened fully.  Now it's open every day!  But in my reading at the time, I found that it is common for GSP to get mad and close up for days on end, usually when things in the tank get changed around or it gets moved or is in a new tank.  I'd give it at least a week before I'd worry.

 

Regarding the light--not sure about settings but I do know that running it at reduced power is a good call, especially for when you put lower light corals in.  I've got a non-dimmable LED PAR bulb over mine and have a screen to help filter the light till everything gets used to it.

 

I don't know much about SPS but I believe some species of montipora and birdsnest are supposed to be easier.  You can probably do a search here or on Google to find some suggestions.

Ty for your answer ! as you said, my gsp start opening a couple days ago, each day a little more is opening and i cant wait to see it all open. I already looked into birdnest and i love the branching look of some of them. Might worth a shot.

 

On 4/22/2017 at 5:23 PM, Weetabix7 said:

Lula has already given you good answers to most of your questions, but I just wanted to chime in and say that Montipora is probably the easiest and least demanding of the SPS corals. 

You look like you're off to a good start!!

Ill need to look into montipora as i only have the plating kind of corals in head. Today i went at one of the LFS near my home and bought and nice little colony of Acan coral 3 sexy shrimps and some snails. Really love the acan and think to make my right side an acan garden !!

 

More picture to come tomorrow when light will be on, my sexy shrimp are now staying on the acan all day long haha can it be bad for the coral ? 

[Weetabix7]

Keep an eye on those Sexy Shrimps, they may decide the Acans look tasty if they get hungry. 

[Cedblais]

17 hours ago, Weetabix7 said:

Keep an eye on those Sexy Shrimps, they may decide the Acans look tasty if they get hungry. 

Ohh damn didn't knew that haha !! good ill feed them my best. Bought the regular Acans to see how it does but im sure it will do good no reason they dont and i plan to buy fancier one with more colors down the road ! Still think they look pretty good wonder why i never bought them before !! I heard you feed it one time a week, is that enough for the Acans ? i have seen a video the guy said he feed Acans as much as NPS .... 

 

Trying to catch a pic of my 1 inches black clown but that lilttle guy move so much i cant focus on him ! Next step is the reef fest the 7 of may to pick up some more corals haha super pump

[Simulated Fish]

Acan is pretty, that's a nice sized colony to start with! I spot feed mine a lest one a week and each mouth gets food  and I have had no issue with growth.

 

Tank looks good so far!

[Cedblais]

4 hours ago, Hippieheadshot said:

Acan is pretty, that's a nice sized colony to start with! I spot feed mine a lest one a week and each mouth gets food  and I have had no issue with growth.

 

Tank looks good so far!

Ty very much ! how do you feed the head that are barely upside down haha i cant figure !? And how much is those thing worth usually for a 12 heads colony like this ? I kind of bought it on an impulse cause i find acans so nice and wonder if i overpaid a bit  TY !!!

[Simulated Fish]

2-3 mouth frags are $20ish usd on average, I see ones like yours in that size around $80 usd. Coral price very by location so check online if your unsure, don't forget shipping is pricy too so online is normally a little lower tell you get to checkout.

 

If your happy then enjoy them, fancy coral or not if you like it then it is fancy!

 

I use a this to spot feed my coral.

 

The food I feed the tank is a frozen blend LRS

Edited April 28, 2017 by Hippieheadshot
Extra info

[Lula_Mae]

That's a lovely acan there!  And yeah, a good size, I bought one with 3ish heads for $20.

[samnaz]

Just be sure to keep those sexy shrimp fed. Sometimes when they walk ontop of corals or stand on them for long periods of time, some corals get irritated and retract polyps. It doesn't last long enough to cause the coral any serious harm. I've seen my sexies chow down, poke, etc then and the corals are always fine. 

[money88]

Nice little tank you have going here I like the initial coral picks

[Cedblais]

On 4/27/2017 at 9:15 PM, Hippieheadshot said:

2-3 mouth frags are $20ish usd on average, I see ones like yours in that size around $80 usd. Coral price very by location so check online if your unsure, don't forget shipping is pricy too so online is normally a little lower tell you get to checkout.

 

If your happy then enjoy them, fancy coral or not if you like it then it is fancy!

 

I use a this to spot feed my coral.

 

The food I feed the tank is a frozen blend LRS

Thats cool !! bought at local lfs for 75can, the guy was super nice ans open with my 5.5g build not like other lfs that always say i should upgrade hahah!! and you are so right no matter what i paid if im happy !

 

On 4/27/2017 at 10:00 PM, Lula_Mae said:

That's a lovely acan there!  And yeah, a good size, I bought one with 3ish heads for $20.

TY !! im super happy with it

 

On 4/28/2017 at 1:34 PM, samnaz said:

Just be sure to keep those sexy shrimp fed. Sometimes when they walk ontop of corals or stand on them for long periods of time, some corals get irritated and retract polyps. It doesn't last long enough to cause the coral any serious harm. I've seen my sexies chow down, poke, etc then and the corals are always fine. 

Ok i feed them frozen mysis/brine or flakes and i dont really see them go for food. they do pass 90% of their time on the coral but its not close or dont show signs of irritation, so i bet so far so good.

 

10 hours ago, money88 said:

Nice little tank you have going here I like the initial coral picks

ty !! 

 

Ill keep you guys updated with more pic as my gsp on the back wall is now after 2 weeks barely fully open and got my self a one inche royal gramma that start eating on the first day, so far he is super shy and stay in the right rock barely all the time but he is out at feeding each day !! i love him so much and might get rid of the clown if i cant keep the parameters stable ! 

[Lula_Mae]

25 minutes ago, Cedblais said:

Thats cool !! bought at local lfs for 75can, the guy was super nice ans open with my 5.5g build not like other lfs that always say i should upgrade hahah!! and you are so right no matter what i paid if im happy !

 

TY !! im super happy with it

 

Ok i feed them frozen mysis/brine or flakes and i dont really see them go for food. they do pass 90% of their time on the coral but its not close or dont show signs of irritation, so i bet so far so good.

 

ty !! 

 

Ill keep you guys updated with more pic as my gsp on the back wall is now after 2 weeks barely fully open and got my self a one inche royal gramma that start eating on the first day, so far he is super shy and stay in the right rock barely all the time but he is out at feeding each day !! i love him so much and might get rid of the clown if i cant keep the parameters stable ! 

Yeah, two fish will be a little tight + high bioload in this little tank.  I'd probably go with just one.

[Cedblais]

On 5/1/2017 at 8:25 PM, Lula_Mae said:

Yeah, two fish will be a little tight + high bioload in this little tank.  I'd probably go with just one.

I'll see with the parameters and ill get my skimmer in a month or so, the thing is that when i only had my clown, i was trying to feed it a couple mysis at the time like 2 or 3 and wait for him to finish but each time he was going for one near the top and letting the other one sink. Thats why i bought a second fish. i wanted something to eat the left over near the bottom. today is waterchange day and im excited to see where my nitrate will be with 2 fish is this little system, plus waterchange day mean new corals day haha ill keep it updated with pics for you guys of my selection. Might go with some zoas or ricc or another acans haha !! Heres a picture of the little fellaw ! 

[Cedblais]

So here are my wednesday new corals plus a after WC FTS!! the right will mainly be my Acans garden, might pick one more frag glue them all to the rock and let the grow  excited to see how they will do in the future and are they are going to spread on the rock. To the left still trying to be brave enough to pick my first SPS like a yellow birdnest or other low light one. Im trying to figure if ill have plenty of flow... Guess there is not 100 ways to find out. Ill keep the thread updated with some shots of the Reef Fest this weekend  Happy Reefing to all !

[Lula_Mae]

Fluffy GSP!

[Cedblais]

Hey ! been i while since i posted here. Nothing lot to say except the addition of 4 different kind of zoas i cant really remember the name. I think i have rasta to the right and dead maul to the left but no clue about the front and the back. The one in the back where a kind of dark orange/brown with bright yellow contour. i squish it trying to break the plug and now its heling a little but lost alot of color on the ring. Also got that orange shroom you can see on the rock, is it a rhodactis ?

 

My sand is also turning brown and wonder if it was diatoms or something else, my nitrate was a bit high at 12-15 ppm before last water change so i decide to know change 8l and not only 5. 

 

Last thing is the add of the cooling fan, yesterday temperature rises in my room and my tank hit the 80 degree so i decided ill give this fan a try, do you think it will work enough to bring the tank back to 77? 

[Lula_Mae]

The brown stuff definitely looks like diatoms.  Not sure on the fan, hopefully it will help.  Does your room get hot in summer months?  80 degrees is an ok temp but you don't want it getting a lot higher than that, and you don't want lots of fluctuation in temp.