• Folks, if you've recently upgraded or renewed your annual club membership but it's still not active, please reach out to the BOD or a moderator. The PayPal system has a slight bug which it doesn't allow it to activate the account on it's own.

First Reefing Adventure... 30 Gal Tank for a New Hobbyist

K

Kstar86

Hi Everybody!

My name Kris born and raised in West New York, NJ.

I'm a 6th Science Teacher at local elementary school.

Just got into the Hobby (Newbie). Always wanted to as a kid and just made it into a reality. A good friend of mine recommended me to the forum. (DelxCMB) Thanks!

I'm excited to start this new hobby, and hopefully one day incorporate it into my Science Class for my students.

Currently have a 30 Gallon Tank with 5 Gallon Sump. Overflow Box, Running 2 PowerHeads 1000 gal and 500 gal, Sicce 1.5 return pump, and Heater.

I'm on my 3rd week of Cycling with 30 lbs Live Rock from (LFS), 30 lbs Live Sand Caribsea (20 lbs Bahamas and 10 lbs Black), and 2 Clown Fish.

Any Help or Suggestions are greatly appreciated!
 

Attachments

  • IMG_6740.jpg
    IMG_6740.jpg
    381.8 KB · Views: 16
  • IMG_6857.jpg
    IMG_6857.jpg
    839.3 KB · Views: 16
  • IMG_6859.jpg
    IMG_6859.jpg
    802.2 KB · Views: 18
nano1908

nano1908

Welcome Kris! Congrats on getting into the hobby. Del's a good friend? Sorry to here that, no one likes that guy. Lol (of course I'm kidding) great guy.

Do you have an automatic top off (A.T.O.) system? If not I really suggest you get one & remember to be patient.

You'll meet a great group of people on here, very helpful. Welcome once again!20191116_074056.gif
 
Sponge

Sponge

Welcome welcome welcome. First off your off to great start. I think your sand mix is interesting. I haven’t seen a 30% mix of black and white sand and have to admit its pretty cool. I completely agree with @nano1908 that auto top off is great and super helpful, it will go a long way towards helping maintain stability. You make no mention of what live stock you intend to keep. So can’t really make a lighting suggestion except to say I personally like a t-5 / LED combo. But there are a bunch of options that work fine. I would suggest you implement two smaller heaters instead of one. And move them to your sump. Again it would be helpful to know what you intend to put in the tank. I.e. soft corals, LPS, SPS. Etc. keeping in mind that it is NOT a requirement, I strongly suggest a protein skimmer. They remove an incredible amount of organic waste. And really help to reduce things like phosphates. As a small side note I recommend lots of flow. This does not have to be in the form of your return pump. There are lots of ways to accomplish this. The most common is several small power heads in the display.
 
Paulie 069

Paulie 069

Sponge said:
Welcome welcome welcome. First off your off to great start. I think your sand mix is interesting. I haven’t seen a 30% mix of black and white sand and have to admit its pretty cool. I completely agree with @nano1908 that auto top off is great and super helpful, it will go a long way towards helping maintain stability. You make no mention of what live stock you intend to keep. So can’t really make a lighting suggestion except to say I personally like a t-5 / LED combo. But there are a bunch of options that work fine. I would suggest you implement two smaller heaters instead of one. And move them to your sump. Again it would be helpful to know what you intend to put in the tank. I.e. soft corals, LPS, SPS. Etc. keeping in mind that it is NOT a requirement, I strongly suggest a protein skimmer. They remove an incredible amount of organic waste. And really help to reduce things like phosphates. As a small side note I recommend lots of flow. This does not have to be in the form of your return pump. There are lots of ways to accomplish this. The most common is several small power heads in the display.
Click to expand...
Hey Kris I have a protein skimmer that would work perfectly for your tank size, you are more than welcome to have it FREE of charge,,all you gotta do is hit me up and ask and I’d be happy to hook you up
 
Rossim2i2

Rossim2i2

Welcome! I like your aquascaping! Is that the RS-100 sump? If so, I have the same one and it holds a good 10 gallons with my skimmer on. As others have mentioned, the sump is great for hiding equipment. If the heater fits down there, you can move it to get it out if the display tank. This is an awesome hobby and even better community.
 
K

Kstar86

nano1908 said:
Welcome Kris! Congrats on getting into the hobby. Del's a good friend? Sorry to here that, no one likes that guy. Lol (of course I'm kidding) great guy.

Do you have an automatic top off (A.T.O.) system? If not I really suggest you get one & remember to be patient.

You'll meet a great group of people on here, very helpful. Welcome once again!View attachment 30479

Thanks Nano, Yea he really is a good friend lol.. That's one of the first things he mentioned to me after I joined the forum was getting an A.T.O. Currently I have a glass top so for time being to limit evaporation. However Del mentioned I'm also keeping in the heat. As for the time being checking my salinity levels daily (keeping it between 1.024-1.025) and every 3-4 adding fresh water from the LFS. Thank you for you input., and yes I see patience is key in this hobby. So I'm just going slowly and getting my feet wet in this great big ocean... lol
Click to expand...
 
amado

amado

Dal
Staff member
Board of Directors
NJRC Member
Hey welcome to the reef club.
I would run a magnet over the black sand to make sure you don’t have any metals.
 
K

Kstar86

Sponge said:
Welcome welcome welcome. First off your off to great start. I think your sand mix is interesting. I haven’t seen a 30% mix of black and white sand and have to admit its pretty cool. I completely agree with @nano1908 that auto top off is great and super helpful, it will go a long way towards helping maintain stability. You make no mention of what live stock you intend to keep. So can’t really make a lighting suggestion except to say I personally like a t-5 / LED combo. But there are a bunch of options that work fine. I would suggest you implement two smaller heaters instead of one. And move them to your sump. Again it would be helpful to know what you intend to put in the tank. I.e. soft corals, LPS, SPS. Etc. keeping in mind that it is NOT a requirement, I strongly suggest a protein skimmer. They remove an incredible amount of organic waste. And really help to reduce things like phosphates. As a small side note I recommend lots of flow. This does not have to be in the form of your return pump. There are lots of ways to accomplish this. The most common is several small power heads in the display.
Click to expand...

Hey Sponge,

Thanks so much for the advice. My current lighting is Fluval Sea Marine Spectrum Led.. (Keeping them off during cycling except when to feed the fish) As for coral going to start with Soft, since they are beginner friendly and as I look towards to do more research on that end. Great idea on the 2 smaller heaters in the sump, will look into doing that. Looking to get a protein skimmer next. In the middle of cycling (On Start of 4th week) and I read that while cycling a protein skimmer was not necessary. So within this week or next I will be getting a skimmer. Yea also read about flow, I currently have 2 power heads 500 gal and 1000 gal. Thanks again for the helpful advice greatly appreciate it!
 
Rossim2i2

Rossim2i2

@Kstar86 have you been checking for ammonia? Having patience is the biggest thing in this hobby and it seems you are doing a great job there. As you used live rock and live sand, you very well may have insta-cycled the tank. That being said, no harm can come from taking it slow
 
K

Kstar86

Rossim2i2 said:
Welcome! I like your aquascaping! Is that the RS-100 sump? If so, I have the same one and it holds a good 10 gallons with my skimmer on. As others have mentioned, the sump is great for hiding equipment. If the heater fits down there, you can move it to get it out if the display tank. This is an awesome hobby and even better community.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the compliments Ross! Yep it's a RS-100. I'm already excited and its only been 3 weeks in to the hobby. The community is already great with all its friendly members and expert suggestions!
 
K

Kstar86

Rossim2i2 said:
@Kstar86 have you been checking for ammonia? Having patience is the biggest thing in this hobby and it seems you are doing a great job there. As you used live rock and live sand, you very well may have insta-cycled the tank. That being said, no harm can come from taking it slow
Click to expand...

I have been checking the Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrates. After 3 full weeks the Ammonia rose (Week 1-2 0.25) to (Week 3 - Currently 0.50) and the Nitrites 0 all 3 weeks and Nitrates 0 all 3 weeks. I also been adding Stability everyday and Prime every 3 days. Feel like something is wrong since I have not seen any spikes yet so... Maybe insta-cycled? Not quite sure... Just taking it slow to be careful and on the safe side.
 
K

Kstar86

Rossim2i2 said:
Welcome! I like your aquascaping! Is that the RS-100 sump? If so, I have the same one and it holds a good 10 gallons with my skimmer on. As others have mentioned, the sump is great for hiding equipment. If the heater fits down there, you can move it to get it out if the display tank. This is an awesome hobby and even better community.
Click to expand...


Thanks for the compliments Ross! Yep it's a RS-100. I'm already excited and its only been 3 weeks in to the hobby. The community is already great
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top