Stevefromtpsfld's 29 gallon reef build

Names Steve, from Topsfield Massachusetts, north of Baahston. I get bored easily over the winter with no bass fishing available, so I decided to pull my old 29 gallon 30" wide tank out of storage and do things right this time. As an upfront warning I like to write so this will be wordy and pic heavy, so sit back and enjoy. Any feedback or comments are always welcome, that's why I came to 3reef. Searched a bunch of forums and landed here. I'll also have a few questions at the end that I'd really appreciate some help with.

On to the build:

Day 1: 10 days ago

I bought the tank and had it running about ten years ago. I had way too many fish. Without getting into too many details, my lfs at the time was just pumping out fish along with BS advice and I had a lot of problems, got discouraged, and shut down. When my interest re-peaked this time around I started by doing a lot of research, including finding a newer much better lfs. Unique Aquaria in Woburn Ma. specializes in saltwater aquariums and reef setups. From them I learned many helpful tips to do things the right way this time. My plan is to have a living reef system with hard and soft corals polyps the works, with a few smaller fish. A 29 gallon nano tank I guess.

Got the tank cleaned up and up on it's new stand.


Nothing fancy but strong and sturdy and level. I'm doing all of this on a building budget, so I figured saving slowly will help me go slowly. Nothing good happens fast in a saltwater tank. Best lesson I've learned. At my lfs I purchased 20lbs of live rock, a couple of which came out of one of their tanks. Clean the said of anything bad. I put my two base stones directly to the glass in line with my aquascaping plans. I want a goby/ pistol shrimp pair sometime and don't want any rockslides. Again, doing my research. 40 lbs. of Natures Ocean live sand went in, one super fine on the bottom, and pink crushed fine on top. In went about 23-24 gallons of water I purchased also from the lfs along with 5 gallons of ro water for topoffs. Lastly went Dr. Tims One and Only to speed up my cycling. I won't rush things, and I won't use a fish to cycle, but I will spend the extra $$$ on the good rock and sand and chems to speed things up safetly. Was pretty cloudy at first of course:



Day 3:



Cleared up nicely. I knew that I needed to change the lamp in my PC lighting. It's a single twin tube 4 square pin 65 watt white/blue whatever lamp. It's good, but not great, and I plan to upgrade to a programmable t5 system with LED night lights sometime, maybe with tax returns. SO during my cycle process I just left the lamp off, and also not using the HOB protein skimmer. just using my filter with no cartridge for circulation along with a single powerhead, both working to get a nice flow going. I also plan on upgrading to a single vortech mp10 sometime after the light.

Day 8:

brought a water sample down to my lfs (buying my own tomorrow) and they said I was all done with my cycle, slight nitrates but no ammonia at all. Looking good, so I decided to get some tankmates to get things moving.





3 small blue/green chromis
2 small sexy anemone shrimp
2 blue legged hermits
2 astraea turbo snails
another 6 lbs. of live rock

I'd say my sand bed is about 2 inches deep, and I'm really liking my aquascaping. the rounded rock on the far left is going to be perfect for some polyps or mushrooms, and I've got some height, good caves, and stability with my foundation rocks on the glass. All the rocks are at least an inch off the glass on all sides for easy cleaning. 10 days in now and it's still looking good. Feeding my friends frozen shrimp 1/4 cube twice a day and they're devouring it. Love watching the sexy shrimp grab a piece out of the current and start munching. Though only a few days in it's been very rewarding. Not sure I plan on keeping the chromis in there. The store will gladly take them back down the road if I change my mind. I was thinking of getting 3 Acares Midget Reef Chromis instead. I started the tank last time with the same three fish and want to try something different. My fish wish list is always changing, but looks like this:

3 Acares Midget Reef Chromis
Red strip goby, so small cool fish
coral something goby I saw at lfs, another tiny fish 1"
some goby/pistol shrimp pair
clown fish, smaller breed something misbarred or fancy
blue eye royal dottyback, I like the royal gramma but might be nasty towards the small nano fish I want, so this dottyback has similar colors
Orangethroat pikeblenny - I love the snowflake moray, but too big, this is a close lookalike and a cool fish!

Not gonna have them all, just a wish list. Probably too much fish for this size tank. I plan on working on building my own 10-20 gallon refugium with a replacement protein skimmer for my HOB model, but the HOB ill work for now. Again, saving money for the good stuff will help me go slowly and take my time and do things right the first time. I'll have to do a hang on back overflow box, but I've been reading up on things and think I'm ready to get startd on my refugium.

So any comments, or suggestions are great. Thanks for reading all this if you sat this long. I do have a few questions I'd love some help with:

With my 3 chromis swimming and crapping now, when should I start my skimmer?

I have my lights set to run 8 hours a day, is that a good amount?

With my 65 watt PC light, and 10 days into my setup, when is a good time to add maybe a mushroom, or some other good starter coral? I am going to get a test kit tomorrow and run all my numbers, so I know that will help your advice.

Long first post, with hopefully many great updates to follow as I upgrade equipment and livestock.

 

Well First off welcome to 3reef

Yea that fish list is way to many as you said you need to cut it down at least in half

As for the skimmer I would turn it on now

And you probably need to replace the PC bulbs old bulbs with promote algae grow and make things really nasty.

Also how do you plan on setting up your future refugium in the future? what kind of overflow?

I think thats all your questions if not let me know but really nice start and keep up the great work man

 

welcome!
i would recommend you cycle for a longer time.

 

Welcome to 3reef Steve.

Go slow and let it grow.

 

Thanks for sharing the build thread.

If you have to make a choice, I would upgrade the light before the sump/fuge.

If you're working on a budget and looking at upgrades, using a plastic storage tote from WalMart/Target as your sump is a great way to get extra volume and live rock in the system with little expense. They're tough to put dividers in because of the non straight sides, but make a great wide spot in the line to add some rock.

Good luck with the tank as it progresses!

 

Bought my first test kit for the tank today, day 13. Here are my results:

PH 8.4
Ammonia 0 ppm
Nitrite 0 ppm
Nitrate 10 ppm

I just started running my HOB protein skimmer three days ago. Still just have my three small green chromis swimming and eating 1/4 cube twice a day. Lights running about 9 hours a day.

I noticed yesterday for the first time that my sand bed and the rocks with less growth on them have a very light brown light layer of algae growing. First signs of anything. Doing a 10 gallon water change this Sunday. Otherwise things are great and I'm loving my tank. Slow and steady.

 

Here's a closeup shot from the iphone5 of the algae that's growing. You can see where my snail dozed a drunken path through the sand and cleared a spot so you can tell the contrast, and you can see it on the rock too. And that's my cat trying to eat's the fishes.





Hoping this is the uglies I heard about beginning?

 

LOL yes that appears to be diatoms.

 

Love what you've done so far and welcome to 3 reef....I myself enjoy long written posts with pics so will be tagging along! The cat pic is too cute! Oh, and I learned something new from you - I didn't know about the midget reef chromis, they are very colorful.....albeit expensive though..

 

I like your aquascpae, nice and simple.
It's fun to watch stuff change in your tank as time goes by.
Welcome to 3reef!