Travie's Saltwater Tank(s)

**travie** · 10-02-2008, 05:22 PM

I have been in the process of acquiring the equipment for a saltwater tank over the past month. I finally started to set it up yesterday. It is going to start out as a 10 gallon tank. Then eventually go to a 29 gallon or 55 gallon with the 10 remaining to be a salt mixing, QT, and hospital tank.

Equipment:
Around 17 pounds of live rock
100 watt Hydro Heater
RO water
Coralife Marine Salt(Will probably change to Red Sea Coral Pro Salt)
Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand
No Protein Skimmer for now(Will get one eventually)
Maxi-Jet 900 Powerhead(Will get Hydro Koralia wavemaker eventually)

Plans for Livestock in the 10 gallon:
Goby of some kind
Snails
Hermit Crabs

Tonight I plan to get the tank full of saltwater. Get it to the desirable salinity and get the temperature set where I would like.

Please offer suggestions and comments as I go along.

**oldhead** · 10-02-2008, 05:45 PM

Looking good so far. Nice to see so many SW tanks popping up on here lately. You're off to a good start just remember to take things slowly as you set up. It'll pay off plenty in the long run. Post lots of pictures in this thread too, people here love that. Keeping any corals or fish only?

**Lowflyer** · 10-02-2008, 05:55 PM

Hey hey, I agree, good start.

As oldhead said, take it slow, nothing good in marines ever happens quickly. Just make sure to make regular water changes since you don't have a sump or a skimmer, I'd say 20% per week should do. Otherwise looking good. And what lighting are you planning on puttin in? Corals like and need good light.

Another fish you could consider is a blenny, maybe a bicolor blenny, they're very cool fish.

**travie** · 10-03-2008, 01:55 AM

Originally Posted by oldhead

Looking good so far. Nice to see so many SW tanks popping up on here lately. You're off to a good start just remember to take things slowly as you set up. It'll pay off plenty in the long run. Post lots of pictures in this thread too, people here love that. Keeping any corals or fish only?

It is going to start out FOWLR. Eventually, I may go with corals.

Originally Posted by Lowflyer

As oldhead said, take it slow, nothing good in marines ever happens quickly. Just make sure to make regular water changes since you don't have a sump or a skimmer, I'd say 20% per week should do. Otherwise looking good. And what lighting are you planning on puttin in? Corals like and need good light.

Another fish you could consider is a blenny, maybe a bicolor blenny, they're very cool fish.

Its a power compact light. Its a 65 watt bulb that is 50/50.

I'll plan to post another picture tonight with the the tank light on. My powerhead is way too big for my tank as you will see in the picture. I'll have to look into getting a smaller one real soon.

**travie** · 10-03-2008, 03:09 AM

Pretty much the same pictures. I told you the powerhead was too big for my tank. By Christmas, I'll attempt to upgrade to Koralia wavemakers. I will lower my heater down once I get the temperature set.

**ILuvMyGoldBarb** · 10-03-2008, 03:13 AM

If you took that "wave maker" off the end of the powerhead you'd be a lot better off. They really don't help that much. You could run the MaxiJet just as it is without that thing and it would do just fine, just move it to the back and point it at the front glass.

**travie** · 11-11-2008, 03:18 PM

I've altered my stocking list plan for the 29g. Opinions are welcomed and will be considered.

Stocking list in order to be introduced:

Assort Snails(Hermits and cleaner shrimp if no Hawk)
5 Pajama Cardinals
2 Ocellaris Clowns
1 Royal Gramma
1 Scarlet Hawk(Maybe not, so I could get a better CUC)

I will post pictures of the tank Wednesday. I'm still cycling it, so no livestock will be present.

Travis

**travie** · 03-25-2013, 01:21 PM

Thank you for your experience. I've been researching most of the major LED brands. AI Sol and Vega, GHL Mitras, and Reef Builders Photon, are among the top in consideration.

**travie** · 03-25-2013, 04:30 PM

I think I'm going with AI Vega Color. I need to research a little more to finalize it. It looks like in April customizable color pucks will be available to order, and Bulk Reef Supply has a bonus point offer right now. I need to look into how the controller works with two units. Whether I can program both fixtures at the same time or individual programming of each fixture is required.

**travie** · 03-25-2013, 11:11 PM

Well, I did it. I bought two AI Vega Colors. I didn't buy any of the hanging kits or mounting brackets with the initial purchase. I received enough reward points from BRS to pay for half to three-fourths of whichever route I plan to go.

My RO water situation. I won a Seachem Pinnacle RO unit in a raffle years ago, but never hooked it up. It is only RO and not RODI. I'm curious if there is anyway to hook an DI unit up to the RO unit, but I don't think I will get that lucky. I need to research a new quality RODI unit now then try to sell my RO unit.