Ceres' Headfirst plunge...into IM20

[CeresReef]

Hi All,

 

Well, after over a year of research and jealously following along others, I have decided it is time for me to wade into Reef Keeping, although my knowledge to date suggests me physically entering a tank may stress out my inhabitants.

 

My setup plan at the moment is as follows:

 

Innovative Marine Nuvo Fusion 20 - Best tank EVER... out of the 1 tank i have tried.

Kessil A80 Tuna Blue LED - CuhRazy supplied it, works awesome, thank you again!

Cobalt Aquatics Neo-Therm  Accu-therm 75w - cheaper, more readily available, works great

Cobalt Aquatics MJ1200 Return Pump/Powerhead - No powerhead needed, used this as return pump, loving it

A bunch of rock and sand - Going to head down to the Dundas/Tomken area of Mississauga, 4 LFS in 2 blocks, I am sure I will find something decent   I actually got my rock from J&L Aquatics, they provided my tank as well, and to date have been AMAZING, fellow Canadians, look into them.  Sand was Arag-alive Fiji Pink, The Coral Reef Shop in Burlington ordered it for me.  Again, GTA people, when you read all these Americans talking about their LFS, Coral Reef Shop in Burlington is the epitome of what they are describing, Red (the owner) has been amazing so far, and I will be buying probably ALL my livestock from him.  Anyways, 15lbs of both rock and sand. 

 

My livestock will be as follows:

2 occy clownfish

1 Firefish

1 Shrimp/Goby combo

1 Porcelain Crab

1 Blood Shrimp

 

Frogspawn

Gorg

Hammer

Dragon's Breath Macro

Chaeto in the back (will do the light cutout thing and just have a regular bulb)

Plus any easy coral I find.

 

I have one question to get this all started.  With the above mentioned stocking goals, if I get two of the IM SpinStreams, should I use the MJ1200 as a powerhead, or will I have enough flow just replacing the stock return pump with it, allowing me to use the stock pump in a QT or mixing station?

 

Pictures will follow once I have actual saltwater in the tank

 

Wish me luck!

 

Ceres

[HarryPotter]

Don’t get a MJ1200 as a powerhead! That is a pump. It will just send a tiny super fast stream of water. Get a Jebao PP4, which is a proper wave maker that has some nice modes for wave movement while still being at a low price point. If you have the $$, a Vortech MP10QD is top of the line. 

 

For your our current stocking list, you would try with just the spin streams. If you notice dead spots (where cyano grows since no water movement) or not enough flow, then you can add a powerhead. 

[CeresReef]

Thanks HarryPotter,

 

I had bought the MJ1200 as a return pump, but the box said powerhead on it as well, and it got me thinking.  I will stick with the original plan though.  This time next year I MAY be interested in getting a nem for the clowns (way too early to contemplate that right now)  in which I will look into getting a Vortech, for now I will use the MJ1200 as my return pump, and use the stock pump in a qt.

 

I will arrange my 'scape in a way to avoid dead spots.

[burtbollinger]

9 minutes ago, CeresReef said:

Thanks HarryPotter,

 

I had bought the MJ1200 as a return pump, but the box said powerhead on it as well, and it got me thinking.  I will stick with the original plan though.  This time next year I MAY be interested in getting a nem for the clowns (way too early to contemplate that right now)  in which I will look into getting a Vortech, for now I will use the MJ1200 as my return pump, and use the stock pump in a qt.

 

I will arrange my 'scape in a way to avoid dead spots.

watch this before plopping an anemone in a perfectly good reef tank:
 

 

[CeresReef]

Awesome vid, definitely makes me re-think whether i want one for this tank or not, I was getting the frogspawn because I have seen clowns host that, so if that happens, probably will just avoid nems.  

 

- A few small updates, I am getting the Accu-Therm 75w instead of the Neo-therm, so no fancy display, but a good heater nonethless.

- My tank does not leak!  Been running it last two days and nothing leaked, so thank you J & L Aquatics and UPS for the fine job shipping it. 

- My Birthday is one month from today, and although I see 33 people have read this thread, nobody jumped up and said "Oh I have an extra A80 Tuna Blue I can sell you!"  So if I can't find a decent used  one in 1 month, my LFS in Burlington will order me one, and I will send my dad to pick it up, and hopefully he willhelp pay for it.  For my cycle I have old crappy fluorescent lights I will use to keep the rocks happy... stupid hobby, has me trying to please a rock.... 

- Lastly, you may have read a very matter-of-fact comment I made above,

Quote

23 hours ago, CeresReef said:

Chaeto in the back (will do the light cutout thing and just have a regular bulb)

 

... well... does anyone know how to actually do this?  I read somewhere there was like an official IM video on it or something, but haven't found it.  I will do a more in depth search of the forum once I am cycled and actually going to implement it, but if anyone reading this just happens to know a useful link off hand, I have been itching to try the little "like" button I see at the bottom of posts.

 

Anyways, still just a freshwater tank (if City of Toronto water can be considered fresh)  so no pictures yet, Thanks for all the help so far!

-Ceres

 

[CeresReef]

Well...  possibly some good news.  CuhRazy, a member on this form, just posted my light for sale!  Apparently there may be some restrictions on my account at this time, as I couldn't reply to his thread, but a PM has been sent!  With luck he is willing to ship north of the border and I will have light!   

 

I have also picked out a decent stand from a local store around here, a nice rustic metal one, the color should look nice under the blue lights!

https://www.structube.com/en/eleanor-nightstand-39-52-14?pid=19601  

 

They are looking into how much weight it can hold, but it is solid metal, and supports me sitting on it well, so I am optimistic!

 

Anyways, if anyone knows CuhRazy, mention he may want to check his PMs.

Cheers,

-Ceres

[CeresReef]

Alright, so my potential good news turned out to be not so good.  After a good discussion with CuhRazy, we decided it would not be worth the money to buy his light and have it shipped to Canada, we both looked into shipping and neither of us could find a good shipper to make this light a better buy than buying a new one outright.  So that was too bad.  

 

BUT WAIT!  I then remembered my parents are heading to the Masters, and afterwards are visiting a family friend in South Carolina, so I call up my dad and ask if the friend would mind if I had something shipped to him.  I then frantically tried to reconnect with CuhRazy to see if it was still available (sorry for the harassment!)

 

We worked out a deal, and shortly my light will be on its Way!  If anyone ever gets a chance to work with @CuhRazy do it, he was very helpful and a pleasure to work with.

 

With that, I have all my starting equipment either on the way or already at home.  Next update won't be for a couple weeks, but it will be the first water update, with pictures!  

 

Until next time,

-Ceres

[vlangel]

Wow, I am excited for you!

[CuhRazy]

Hope you love the light ! 

[CeresReef]

I do love the light!  My tank is now officially a saltwater tank!  I put the rock and sand in a couple of days ago, it has been doing well.  Today I will be going to buy some RO water to top off as I have been losing more then I anticipated.  Without further ado, here are my FIRST EVER tank shots.  

 

After you finish admiring (or criticizing) my tank, I have a couple of questions.  I am able to grab a free handful of chaeto, is there any harm to adding it right away?  its free, I know it may not survive, but will it slow down the cycle or anything?  It is a limited time offer, so I was hoping I could just grab it and try not to completely kill it, so that once my tank is fully cycled I can add it to a back chamber.  

 

Second question is will the euphoria last forever?!?  haha I followed a piece of garbage floating around my tank for like 20 minutes,  then I monitored the 'growth' of my hair algae....  even after I became quite confident it was not hair algae but still more garbage. Lastly I surveys my copepod colony, the whole bottom corner was thriving!  I stared at them for a good 15 minutes, before scrapping the dust off the outside of my tank, this must have scared them because the whole colony disappeared when I wiped the glass.   Wait... the 'copepods' were just dust.... damn I need to get some real life in here!

 

More updates to follow now that I have skin in the game!

 

-Ceres

 

 

[CeresReef]

OK, so in addition to the questions from my above post, I have one more question.  I am looking at this pink streaked wrasse, and my LFS says he can probably get one or two for me if I want.   My original stocking says I am looking to have two occ clowns, a pink spotted goby, which I have downgraded to the smaller Yasha goby, and a firefish.   My quesiton is, can I switch out the firefish for TWO Pink Streaked Wrasse?  I know this makes for 5 fish total in a 20 gallon, but is there anything I can do to allow me to increase the bio-load?  space wise,  all the fish should be able to have their own neck-of-the-woods and not be too much of a hassle, but this is my first tank, with as of now, zero fish experience, any comments would be much appreciated!  

 

Let me know...

 

In terms of an update, still just the most expensive rocks I have ever owned, although next week, parameters and algae permitting, snails may become the first inhabitants to my tank.... as well as macro algae if previous question gets answered.

 

No change so no pics, thanks for hanging in there!

 

-Ceres

[CeresReef]

Hi Everyone!  (or at least someone I hope)

 

Some exciting news on the Ceres Reef, my pet rock has gained some new friends!  My tank no longer resembles its namesake planet, but instead, signs of life! although perhaps they are more similar than we realize (cue x files song)  After confirming my tank was ready to begin hosting some life, I moved it onto the new stand.  This was a LOT more difficult then I had realized, but the tank lived, my scape lived,  my overly 'helpful' dog and baby lived...   Overall a good result!   went to go buy some snails to start cleaning up my tank, when I saw a perfectly small Hammer, for only 10$!  Canadian!  that is like 75 cents USD, a steal!  

 

I fetched the employee to grab my coral, but as she puts it in the bag the thing basically vanishes.  This was my first experience, I had no idea how much these guys retract!  I was so excited to show my wife how great only spending $10 can be, but now when I show her this little brown nub I paid $10 for, she is going to shut down the tank IMMEDIATELY.... stupid LFS and their magnifying glass tanks.

 

After a couple of days, the coral is back to looking like itself, and I am once again super proud of my purchase.  As an added bonus, I put in a squirt of Reef Roids, to bribe the thing into revealing itself, and my snails went CRAZY.  Two Cerith and 4 very small Nassarius snails.   I had never imagined I would enjoy snails, but watching these guys go frantic is hilarious, and trying to find all 6 in my scape is proving to be an enjoyable pasttime.  

 

Anyways, more updates will be coming soon, as I am in full swing now!  Next purchase will be a fish and shrimp, as well as a macro algae, either Dragons Breath for the display, or chaeto for the back.  

 

Pictures below!

 

-Ceres 

[CeresReef]

WOW!  So I want to change EVERYTHING now, just was checking out my LFS, and they just got in some Flamboyant Cuttlefish!  These fish  are amazing, but way, WAY beyond my skill level, really brings up my appreciation for this store though, already thought they were fantastic, but now they are just ridiculous.

 

If anyone is ever in Burlington, Ontario, you have got to stop in at The Coral Reef Shop.  check out their twitter for vids of the cuttlefish.

 

Back down to Earth, my tank handled the first coral well, snails are doing great, got some brown stuff showing up, which is ok.  Time to get a fish!  I will be away for the weekend, and upon my return, will get a REALISTIC fish for my tank.  I

 

Enjoy the long weekend fellow Canadians!

 

Ceres

[Christopher Marks]

Great progress so far @CeresReef! That is so awesome you were able to acquire that nice light for your tank without all the trouble of shipping across the border! Nicely done 👏

 

The new hammer coral frag looks quite content in there! It's hard to beat $10 frags, what else do they have for $10? 😄 

[CeresReef]

Hi @Christopher Marks,

 

Thanks for the encouragement!  They had a few zoas and what looked to be a GSP and a bunch of things I did not recognize, none of them looked too good, but I could tell the hammer was just unhappy but healthy, I think it was there by mistake!  once I put it in my tank, after two days it looks way nicer then it did in store.

 

After shamelessly plugging this thread in another thread, I guess I better give an update...  unfortunately, nothing to report, BUT big things are coming up, going to Big Al's today to get water for my water change and water for my top offs, while there will hopefully grab a bunch more CUC to help with the brown algae taking over.  Also going to pop in to Dragon Aquariums next door to snag a bit of Dragon's Breath macro for my display as well.  This weekend I am visiting my parents in Burlington, so I will be going to The Coral Reef shop, where I will pick up a GSP, whatever CUC I couldn't get at Big Als, and my first fish!!!  I am very excited, picture overload coming on Monday!

 

Thanks to anyone tagging along, sorry for the slow progress CHECK BACK MONDAY

 

-Ceres

[TatorTaco]

Hi Ceres!  I found your thread looking through the Fusion 20 owners thread.  You started off with a lot of excitement but your thread never picked up an audience.  I'm sorry about that. 

 

How's the tank doing now?

[CeresReef]

Hi TatorTaco,

 

The summer has been difficult for my tank, as I am away for most weekends and I tried going too low tech, so my water never really was stable.  Now that it is fall, I am putting more time into keeping my water fairly consistent. 

 

To anyone who is on the fence about getting an ATO, I think it is pretty much a must have, I will not be going into next summer without one, hopefully christmas will see one coming my way.  Also need an algae scrubber, my glass is rather disgusting.  

 

Now on to the fun stuff, my livestock!  Sadly I lost a clownfish over one of my vacations... part of the reason an ATO will be a must before I take another trip.  I have replaced it with another one, as well as made sure it had a buddy, so two clowns in the tank right now.  Just plain occy until I trust myself for long term fish.   I have two brittle stars which i see at night, or random limbs during the day, they are so cool!  My snail population is doing well, can't really count what I have anymore, but at least 2 bumblebee snails, at least 4 Nassarius snails, and a large Cerith population.  I have two emerald grabs which I don't see for weeks at a time, and just when I give up on them they start dancing along the glass.  I have a blood shrimp, who molts almost weekly, and LOVES to be fed, grabs the tube and hangs on instead of letting me feed the rest.

 

Corals, I have the saddest GSP you have ever seen... in fact, I think it is just the skeleton of a GSP with some pest anemone on it, when I post pictures you can verify for me.  That hammer is doing terrific, I have added some Zoas along the top to hopefully spread all over, and I have a Fyrie toadstool in the sand, will this prevent it from growing?

 

I will post screenshots tomorrow after I take some when I get home tonight, thanks for reminding me to keep this thread up!

 

-Ceres