Seadragon's School 5g Reef 🍎

[ReefTaco]

Are we wet yet or we're still waiting for equipment?

[Seadragon]

2 hours ago, Instant_taco said:

Are we wet yet or we're still waiting for equipment?

It’ll be wet tomorrow.  They got me working all day this week so I’ll have just the weekend to create an aquascape and put it all together.  Hopefully gorilla super glue gel is enough for that.

[Seadragon]

Part 1: Setup

 

As time allows, I’ll try to post additional updates.  The plan is to get the tank running for a couple weeks before transferring it to the school.  Thank you @banasophia, @debbeach13 and Brian for your support!  Here are some of the initial pictures I took with more to come in the coming days.

 

Unboxing the donations:

 

What’s it look like?

 

 

 

The sand has since been smoothed over and more stuff has been added.  Stay tuned for another update coming soon!

[banasophia]

23 minutes ago, Seadragon said:

Part 1: Setup

 

As time allows, I’ll try to post additional updates.  The plan is to get the tank running for a couple weeks before transferring it to the school.  Thank you @banasophia, @debbeach13 and Brian for your support!  Here are some of the initial pictures I took with more to come in the coming days.

 

Unboxing the donations:

 

What’s it look like?

 

 

 

The sand has since been smoothed over and more stuff has been added.  Stay tuned for another update coming soon!

Looks great! So excited to follow along!!

[ReefTaco]

[Seadragon]

Part 2: Seeding

 

Part 1 pictures were taken on Saturday.  On Sunday, I used a combination of BIO-Spira, live rocks taken from my tank, and @banasophia’s CaribSea live aragonite sand.  I also added 5 frags of Pulsing Xenia, 1 GSP, and a pair of juvenile clownfish.

 

Part 2 pictures were taken today after feeding the clownfish some Hikari Marine-S.  Good to see that everything is open and lively a day later.

 

 

 

 

My plan for next weekend is to add a cleaner shrimp to eat any food that escapes the clownfish.  It will also add a pop of red to the tank.

[Seadragon]

Part 3: Relocation

 

Since my last post, we’ve taken the smaller of the two Tiger Sand Conchs from my tank, as well as one of the two Turbo snails, and a single Cerith snail to help handle the brown diatoms and algae growing in the School Reef.  I really like how hard the Tiger Sand Conch works as well as the Turbo snail’s ability to keep the GHA in check.

 

Before adding all that, I also added a tiny Astraea snail which flipped upside-down once and I helped flipped it back over & it seemed to not do that again.

 

We transferred the tank to the school last weekend and it’s been a marvel for the students to see.  Here are some recent pictures I asked my wife to take so we can see the tank in its new location.

 

 

 

 

 

[banasophia]

Wow, so great! I wish I’d been introduced to the hobby at that age… think of all the future reefers!! And there’s so much science you can teach around reefing!

[ReefTaco]

Pretty dope aquascape. How's that powerhead

[Seadragon]

On 10/23/2021 at 12:14 PM, Instant_taco said:

Pretty dope aquascape. How's that powerhead

Thanks!  The Jebao OW-10 Wavemaker is a bit too powerful for a 5g imo, but I was able mess with the settings and placement so it was somewhat bearable for the Pulsing Xenia.  The clownfish seem to like the current though and tend to swim in it occasionally as some sort of game.

 

It sort of balances out the stock return pump in a way.  Can’t beat free. 😉