[jhj0112]

No! I haven't given up on apistos I got a great deal on a Biocube 14 that I couldn't resist.. Also like so many kids, my girls always want nemos.. lol I have been reading a lot of journals, books, threads for a month but am still nervous as I'm a newbie on saltwater.. I'm ready for a weekly water change..




My plan is

about 20lbs of live rock.
~10lb sand

A pair of purcular clown fish
A small goby that can be paired with a small shrimp( can't remember the name of them but we saw at J&L)
A cleaner shrimp or fire shrimp
clean up crews
some corals ( hammer, maybe some easy zoas...)

what do you think guys?? any input would be appriciated..

I will pick up live rock, sand, and a refractometer tomorrow

 

[jinsen]

Nice and good luck!
I started @ 15 gallon before and i got bunch of stuffs that i really wanted to add..sOoo i ended up upgrading onto 80 gallon lol

 

[m_class2g]

Good pickup. I have a 14 gallon right now and it barely requires any maintenance. I basically have the stock you posted above. I do my water changes every 2 weeks. 20%. Everything seems to be quite happy and growing!

 

[jhj0112]

thank you jinsen!! I have read your journal as well.. I'm almost afraid that I'm going into saltwater side lol

 

[jhj0112]

m_class2g, actually your tank journal is the reason that I picked up biocube 14 lol I love your set up your tank is like my guide for the set up lol

 

[m_class2g]

m_class2g, actually your tank journal is the reason that I picked up biocube 14 lol I love your set up your tank is like my guide for the set up lol

Oh great! My tank is nothing fancy but its enough to keep me entertained without spending a lot of money on the setup! Nothing fancy… Just water change every 2 weeks. That's about it!

 

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

I have a goby/pistol shrimp pair for sale if you're interested.

The goby is about 3" and the shrimp is about 1.5".

Can hold for you if you want.

If you want to talk sw, bring the family over for a visit. I'm in Burnaby.

 

[effox]

Take up Anthony on his offer, especially the SW chat. He's an insane reefer.

 

[scott tang]

yay another one to the bright side if you waant i have some easy zoos and palys you can have

 

[jhj0112]

Anthony, thank you so much for the offer. We will visit your place for sure very soon. as for the goby and shrimp, We will have to wait until tank is cycled. If someone wants to buy them before me then it's all good but I will pick them up if they are available when the tank is ready

scott.. I will PM you for sure when everything is ready

 

[jhj0112]

So I picked up 22+ pound of live rock and 10lb of live sand.. I got a good deal from another forum member.. He told me that a pom pom crab is hiding in one of the big rocks.. I don't know if it will survive from transport/cycling though..

well, I put the sand and rock.. here is the picture... lol



I got live sand from local LFS.. I did not think of washing them and the above is the result... I could not even put live rock properly as it was so cloudy.. I also did not want to leave live rock out of water for too long. I hope it will clear up in 24 hours..

I had bit of newbie mistake on water pump.. By adding bit more water to the second chamber cleared the problem.

 

[The Guy]

You will glad you went to Anthony's and check out his set ups and of course he's the guy to go to for SW reefing advice. He has never steered me wrong even once. Good guy!

 

[jhj0112]

We will visit anthony's place after our deserved Disneyland trip (the week of Feb 24th).. I will PM you Anthony I will not add anything until the trip is over.

While I tried to place the rocks, something fell on my feet and I almost stepped on it.. here is the picture..



I believe this is a Pom Pom crab:bigsmile: I put him back in the tank.. I hope he can survive during the cycling..

I also found a couple of hitchhikers..




I think the first one is aiptasia so I burnt them with soldering gun.. I think the second one is some kind of leather coral.. maybe finger coral or cactus coral??

I think I got too much rock for my tank.. I may break big pieces into small ones and put them in the tank... because I disturbed the sand.. water is cloudy again agrrrr.. heavy price for not washing them I guess..

 

[jhj0112]

Water finally cleared and this is the picture of my rockscape..

I wasn't sure if this is good so I changed it to the below

Do you think this is too much rock to put some corals?? Should I break the big rocks into smaller pieces??

Any suggestion is greatly appriciated!!

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Steve]

Edit.. I only read the second page LOL. I see your stock now xD I hope that tank goes well! I really want to get into saltwater but am not allowed any more tanks =P

 

[jhj0112]

Thanks Steve I don't know if my setup is good for corals. I'm thinking of breaking the left one into smaller pieces....

 

[dino]

Setup looks good remember to have lots of flow if possible with all that rock

 

[scott tang]

Don't place your rocks against your back wall you will regret it its extremely hard to clean you gamet detryus and algea build ups also you might want to make more of a slope for corals but looks good I like the amount of rock in the tank

 

[jhj0112]

Thank you Dino and Scott.. I'm thinking of adding a maxijet1200 that i already have if that will help.. Scott, I will move rocks again after work.. Thank you so much for your suggestion!!

 

[jhj0112]

As per dino and scott's suggestion, I moved the rocks again and here is what it looks like now.



What do you guys think?? I think this is the best set up so far. I moved rocks away from the back wall and made the slope.

First water test done.
PH 8.0
ammonia 0.25
nitrite 0
nitrate 10
sa 1.026
temp 78F

As far as I understand the only difference between saltwater test kit and freshwater test kit on API is the color chart..
so I used freshwater test kit and compared it with the saltwater chart from the web..

So the waiting game begins!