New to SW, new to reefing, new tank up for opinions

[Apexlaxfrog]

Hey guys, my name is Wes and I am a BRAND NEW NooB to saltwater and reefing. I've always been intrigued by reefs, but only recently had the balls to start one up. Unfortunately, my animal room is quite stuft with things like 3 adult bearded dragons, 2 adult leopard geckos, a 20g freshwater planted tank, a 29 gallon cichlid tank, hamsters, 6 corn snakes, 3 kingsnakes and now a SW tank. Thats why i have decided on the pico-reef to 'get my feet wet'.

 

I've been hovering around these forums and RC forums for quite a while now and will have to say that without these forums, i dont think i would ever have attempted what i have. So, thank you guys for your experiences, expertise and willingness to share.

 

On to my new tank:

-2.5g AGA w/ a width-wise false wall

-2 chamber in-tank refugium

-mechanical filter

-LR rubble, LS, chaeto, codium

-2-3 lbs of atlantic LR from a well established SW aquarium at Duke University Hospital (you guys know Duke - with the lacrosse players )

- Cascade 300 powerfilter with mod'd impellor (now about 50-60 gph flowrate) and a nice spray bar that creates a nice flow in the display.

- 2 13-watt 50/50 PC's from hellolights on the display and a 13-watt 5500K PC on my .3 gallon fuge.

 

Pic of my tank after construction and water:

 

suggestions, opinions/comments appreciated, TIA

 

WES

[Apexlaxfrog]

the previous pic is old, my tank has actually come quite a way since then. That was 4 days ago, on August 6th. I also aquascaped my LR 4 days ago, let it settle and run for a couple days.

 

My aquascaping:

 

Then yesterday, I added my first inverts, 2 turbos, a scarlet legged hermit and bought my first coral ever! A green mushroom polyp from my LFS:

 

It wasn't until today that I found out the turbos will probably starve in such a small tank because i went to a different LFS that i had never been to b4. Very nice place, got 4 more frags for 3$... for all 4:

 

sold to me as a kenya tree... true or false? got two of these:

 

and i got a couple zoanthid frags. here's one:

 

but all of the polyps didnt open today and i had them under light for a good 8 hours... any ideas? do you guys think they will eventually adapt and open up?

[NanoClown]

nice setup! but slown down a bit. good job on the coral finds that is usual zoa behavion when you first buy but eventually they will get used to it. good job!

[tinyreef]

i assume you're already cycled (you used cured rock from that duke place) as you're putting in livestock already.

 

the zoos should open eventually. if they stay closed after another couple of days i would look into water readings and supplementing filtration.

 

that coral looks like a capnella, aka kenya tree.

 

i'd stack some of the rock toward the rear wall to open it up a little viewing-wise, i.e. more view for the front three panels.

 

i'm curious, why did you opt for codium? it's more popular with seahorse peeps than reef peeps usually. are you thinking of seahorses or some of the advice came from such people? just curious.

[Apexlaxfrog]

Thanks NanoClown, i am going to slow down now. I just wanted a few polyps to start growing so that i have something to watch. I had a 5 gal hex holding tank for my LR and scarlet leg hermit for about a month before i acutally set this up. It was during that time i did almost all of my research and planning. Eclipse 5 with a ###y-poor water flow and lighting, so i had to upgrade.

 

Tiny - cI am cycled, the LR was cycled when i got it and plus, as i was telling nanoclown, i had it cycling in a seperate tank in order to make sure it was fully cycled and to spot any hitchhikers before they cropped up in my pico. My water quality is pretty good IMO:

 

pH 8.3

dKH 9.5

Calcium 440

temps 80-82

Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate all 0

PO4 0

Spec. Grav. 1.024-1.025

 

and as far as the codium goes, i took a trip to wilmington beach in NC recently, found some of this macro and decided to bring some home to do some research. found out alot about it and decided to use it in addition to my chaetomorpha for nutrient export. no plans for a seahorse; strictly corals, mostly softies. i'm not sure about stonies yet, prolly need more lighting huh? and i agree with you about my viewable area, i dont really like my aquascaping, but i sure i'm glad that i have it up and running!

 

 

Couple more pics since i can't seem to get enough of this tank!

 

i have a pic of the kenya tree (capnella that tiny ID'd for me - thanks) and a peice of codium in one pic and the other is of my fuge.

 

i dont have any sand in my fuge because i was afraid that i would go into my pump, so i just put some LR rubble, chaeto and a peice of codium in there. seems to be doing okay, but the chaeto is starting to get pale. i think there is something wrong with my lighting, so i am working on an LED array with 5 series of 5 yellow 3mm and 1 blue 3mm.

 

i was looking at doncb's thread and NYCJoe's interesting link to Linear1.org on LED arrays and decided to get some PCB board, 100ohm 20mA resistors and LED's from besthongkong.com. Awesome reading material, learned alot about light chromaticity and mixing lights to get a certain color temp. i think so many ppl are burning out their LED's because they have been using the wron resistors (?). I'm just hoping that i my will last longer; i think they will as long as i keep them cool. we'll see...

 

i'll keep you guys updated (if you care); however, im using this thread as a pico-journal of sorts so that i can record everything as it happens. those of you that are still reading with me, thanks for reading, and again, all comments and suggestions appreciated.

 

^WOW, i type alot! never realized it was that long... sorry

[Tangman1218]

Looking good Apex

 

Remember the SPS/lighting question you asked me about on my pico thread? Your lighting would be more than fine to handle SPS, however, let your tank mature a bit more before adding the SPS. I would'nt have added the SPS into mine if I didnt add the water, LR and sand from my main tank first. This helped to stabalize the pico much quicker making it easier for my SPS frags to transition because it was basically the same water system they came from. Good luck, its looking great so far! Love the shroom BTW

[SuperPuffer]

Looking good Apex

 

Remember the SPS/lighting question you asked me about on my pico thread? Your lighting would be more than fine to handle SPS, however, let your tank mature a bit more before adding the SPS. I would'nt have added the SPS into mine if I didnt add the water, LR and sand from my main tank first. This helped to stabalize the pico much quicker making it easier for my SPS frags to transition because it was basically the same water system they came from. Good luck, its looking great so far! Love the shroom BTW

yes lighting for sps looks fine but make sure you have a strong flow coming from two different outputs or sources...

[Apexlaxfrog]

Yeah Tangman, i think i will wait until my tank is very stable and readily keeping/producing softies before i will tackle anykind of hard coral.

 

So superpuffer, you are saying that i need two different outputs and a good current in order to house any SPS? Would you recommend another powerhead or do you think i could just split the output from my existing pump and plumb another output rom the opposite angle?

 

Again, its going to be awhile before i am even going to feel comfortable housing SPS, but i would definetly like to get to that level! thanks for your inputs.

 

Froggy