CADlight's 45g Shallow

[FISHnChix]

45 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

 

It's settled. I think I'm going to go with the two gyres. After watching a bunch of videos on the power of these things. I've decided to go with two Jecod CP-25 crossflows. It looks like they are going to give me all the flow i'll need along with having the MP-10 on reef crest 100% on the back wall. Plus they're only 68 bucks. That made me very happy lol. 

Lol yea the price is cheap!! Hope it work out for ya.  

[ReefGoat]

5 hours ago, Kellie in CA said:

If my living situation was different, I'd be all over this tank.  The dimensions are awesome! Cadlights is actually located just a few miles from me.

 

I can't wait to see what you do with it! 

Yeah I'm pretty excited!!!  I'm still a noob and over estimated my abilities in my 10g. After battling Monti nudis, Red Planeria and Hydroids. I had a bout of algae settle in right after a 1 week vacation out of town and coral health started declining quickly. It was really just the excuse I needed to upgrade. I had slowly started regretting the 10 gallon because.......FISH!!! I'm hitting this tank with an entire new outlook and new found patience. I'm going for a high input/high output setup with a pretty decent stock of fish. I've got 40lbs of rock and 30 lbs of sand and I'm going to have the 8"x 8"x 4" block of marine pure in the sump with Chaeto. So I should have the makings of a powerful bio filter and then the 10% weekly water changes along with the future roller mat upgrade and the large skimmer. I'm hoping to be golden water quality wise......... I'm going to start the stocking with 2 clowns in about 3 weeks (which makes the tanks 2 month bday pretty much). Then add 1 fish per month after that until i'm fully stocked. The fish list is going to be 2 clowns, 1 melenarus wrasse, 1 yellow clown goby, 1 tanaka pygmy wrasse that hopefully the melenarus wrasse doesn't bully and one Helfrichi Firefish. That will make the tank 6-7 months old once the last fish is added. I'm going to skip 2 months after the last fish and then start adding corals. That will leave the tank close to one year old when the first fuzzy stick is added. To address the pest issue I will only be using ONE trusted source to stock the corals and I think this will pay off. It won't be nearly as affordable as buying frags locally from people. But I got burned BAD on my 10g and that's not happening again. I'm feeling good about this one and hope it's a solid plan. 

[ReefGoat]

Today makes 1 month. That went by pretty quick! I guess whenever you have to make a 4 hour round trip just to go pick up quality fish it makes you a little more patient. I'm pretty sure that I'm done cycling as it's been like 30 days since adding the bottled bac and ammonia. So i'm going to go ahead and do a 30 gallon water change. That should bring all the levels of the cycle water down to what I want to see. It'll probably still be another two weeks before I add fish because that's just the next time it looks like i'm going to be able to make it to Baton Rouge. That puts the tank at 45 days old before the first live stock was added. Not too bad I don't think lol. I'll update with a FTS when I get home celebrating 1 month and completion of cycle. 

[ReefGoat]

[ReefGoat]

Got the water change done and tested this morning. Got the nitrates down to 5. Looks like we are ready for the first fish! I did notice one alarming thing though. It appears the phosphates are finally starting to rise. That's what I was afraid of with the dry rock. I'm not going to let it intimidate me though. I've got plenty of time to sort it out as I'm not planning on adding corals until well into the summer. I've got some phosguard on the way and the plan for now is to just change it out every 4-5 days until further notice. Let's do this

[ReefGoat]

I ended up buying one of those filter media cups that Marine Depot sells to replace my filter sock. The filter socks are kind of a pain in the butt and I needed a way to run the carbon and Phosguard. So my plan is to just stack the filter floss, carbon and Phosguard in it just like a media rack in an A.I.O. I think this will be way easier to maintain than washing a filter sock every couple days. This should hold me off until the roller mat upgrade. 

[ReefGoat]

Celebratory cycling completion FTS lol. I promise sooner or later there's going to be something in here 

[ReefGoat]

Okay so maybe I'm wrong about waiting so long to add the first corals . Perhaps i'll just stick that that 8 month rule for Acropora? There is a Mummy's eye Chalice screaming my name on Legendary corals website. I would also have to break my "one vendor" rule. But I think ordering straight from Legendary Corals should be just as safe of ordering from WWC, Battle Corals etc. I'm still a little ways from even that as I really need to sort out that phosphate issue and let things stabilize post cycle and I'll still be doing a coral Rx and Bayer dips................I have some tough decisions to sort out. 

 

 

For some clarity. The reason that I am so timid about adding corals so quickly is that I made that mistake in my 10 gallon about putting the hammer down and just stocking the crap out of the tank with corals right when cycle was complete. Most of them SPS.............Then around month 4-5 when I hit rough times. I had a tank with a lot of young SPS in it and it was a disaster........utter disaster. 

 

 

 

[WV Reefer]

Looks good so far. 🙂. 

 

Dont overthink the corals too much, just go slow and get the damn chalice!! 😁

[ReefGoat]

2 minutes ago, WV Reefer said:

Looks good so far. 🙂. 

 

Dont overthink the corals too much, just go slow and get the damn chalice!! 😁

AHHHHH I know!! I'm probably going to. I'm just so gun shy from the last tank. Disaster is an understatement. 

[BOMBreef]

Nice setup! I think I'm going to mimic your cycle once I get my tank wet. I used a combo of MB7 and Dr. Tim's for my previous tank and it did the trick. I'm going for a longer cycle this time and will probably run lightless for the first two months. 

 

Where did you find the gyres for $68? Everywhere I checked said they were unavailable. It's crazy how much changes in 4 years - I take a break from the hobby and there's all this new tech and gadgets. 

[ReefGoat]

Wow you're right I just went back to eBay and they're up to 95 now! I know I'm not not crazy. I even went and checked my amazon list that I had it added to and it's not even available anymore. That's super sketchy. Maybe I'll just get another MP-10 if I can't find a trustful source that doesn't change price with the wind. That's a bummer because I was excited about the gyre setup. 

[ReefGoat]

43 minutes ago, BOMBreef said:

Nice setup! I think I'm going to mimic your cycle once I get my tank wet. I used a combo of MB7 and Dr. Tim's for my previous tank and it did the trick. I'm going for a longer cycle this time and will probably run lightless for the first two months. 

 

Where did you find the gyres for $68? Everywhere I checked said they were unavailable. It's crazy how much changes in 4 years - I take a break from the hobby and there's all this new tech and gadgets. 

Yeah it took me right at 4 weeks to cycle with dry rock, dry sand and MB7 plus Dr Tim's ammonia. Just add the 2ppm of ammonia and follow the directions on the MB7 bottle and forget about the tank for a month. Don't test anything. At around week 3 and a half I also dumped in a bottle of Dr Tim's one and only just because lol. At the 4 week mark I did about a 80 percent water change and then I did a digestion test of 2ppm ammonia and it took it out in 24 hours plus or minus.

[StinkyBunny]

Buy your gyre generators direct from Eric at www.fish-street.com . He's the factory outlet for them in China and if they're in stock here in the USA, you'll have them in a few days.

 

Here's the link for the US warehouse:

 

https://www.fish-street.com/jebao_wifi_cross_flow_pump_cp-25_duplicate

[ReefGoat]

Man thanks! That looks so much more legit than the sketchy eBay and Amazon sellers. I'd be comfortable buying these. 

[vlangel]

Reefgoat, I really like your aquascape but I am ready to see some coral.  I understand being gun shy but add a few coral after dipping and removing pest.  Then give those a chance to settle and establish.  Then add a few more.  Be vigilant about watching for algae to start.  Catching it early is the key.

[ReefGoat]

11 minutes ago, vlangel said:

Reefgoat, I really like your aquascape but I am ready to see some coral.  I understand being gun shy but add a few coral after dipping and removing pest.  Then give those a chance to settle and establish.  Then add a few more.  Be vigilant about watching for algae to start.  Catching it early is the key.

You will very soon see some. With the encouragement from people here on the forum I am going to start adding corals just not Acropora yet. I'm going to start with some easier ones bought from a trusted source and then dipped. The first one I will be ordering soon is the mummy eye chalice. I just hate that the shipping is more than the coral lol. First world problems. 

[vlangel]

37 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

You will very soon see some. With the encouragement from people here on the forum I am going to start adding corals just not Acropora yet. I'm going to start with some easier ones bought from a trusted source and then dipped. The first one I will be ordering soon is the mummy eye chalice. I just hate that the shipping is more than the coral lol. First world problems. 

Good for you!  I have been keeping reef tanks since 2004 and actually have nevet kept acros! HA HA!  So in my opinion there is no shame in starting out with some easier coral.😉

[thecoralbeauty]

54 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

You will very soon see some. With the encouragement from people here on the forum I am going to start adding corals just not Acropora yet. I'm going to start with some easier ones bought from a trusted source and then dipped. The first one I will be ordering soon is the mummy eye chalice. I just hate that the shipping is more than the coral lol. First world problems. 

Same. I don't blink at a 70$ frag, but 40$ shipping makes me gag.... Psychology is weird hahaha.

 

ive tried to keep spS, and can, but it requires more fuss from me and after this tank being running for three years, I've learned to only buy things that will be ok if I miss a few WC here or there. (Admitting to myself that I get lazy was the real victory hahaha) I think you're being wise holding off on the sticks for now, but others are right- it's time to see some corals! Excited to see what you pick!

[mitten_reef]

56 minutes ago, ReefGoat said:

You will very soon see some. With the encouragement from people here on the forum I am going to start adding corals just not Acropora yet. I'm going to start with some easier ones bought from a trusted source and then dipped. The first one I will be ordering soon is the mummy eye chalice. I just hate that the shipping is more than the coral lol. First world problems. 

you still got a few more days of free shipping at $99 over at cultivated reef....just saying.  you can get a few starter pieces in, or even a handful, without getting dinged by the shipping costs.  Holly @Cultivated Reef is super good with email communication. 

[ReefGoat]

[ReefGoat]

Very exciting update. Not only did I win 250 bucks this weekend on football squares but I also got two new perc clowns for the tank. Bonnie and Clyde. Also did a water change today and the pump is making a strange noise. It did it last time and I had to disassemble it and then put it back together and the noise stopped. I'll be damn if I'm going to disassemble the pump once a week for water changes. So I'm going to use my winnings to buy one of those sweet Reef octopus DC pumps. 

[ReefGoat]

Stay tuned for a 3 piece legendary corals shipment next week

[thecoralbeauty]

I've never been a clownfish fan.... but I have to admit, those two are cute.

[ReefGoat]

49 minutes ago, mwhitelock said:

I've never been a clownfish fan.... but I have to admit, those two are cute.

Yeah I really like this pair. I was glad they had a bonded pair. Only bad thing was the rather long drive.