Freddie's 14 Gallon Reef

[frefal13]

Ok so I have decided that I am definitely going to start up reef at school. I think biocube is my best option for the tank. I really like how it basically comes with everything. I will also be adding a small heater, probably around 50watts, and a small powerhead, either koralia, or the new aqueon ones specifically for the biocube. I think I am going to go with about 20 pounds of rock, and 20 pounds of sand. That seems like a lot of sand so I might not use all of the second bag, I just want enough sand for a pistol shrimp and goby to be able to make their home.

Stocking Plans

Fish
Randall Goby
Firefish Goby

I absolutely love Randall gobies, they are such awesome looking little fish.

Inverts
Randall Pistol Shrimp
Cleaner Shrimp(either a skunk or a fire shrimp)
A feather Duster or two
A few snails(probably an astrea or two, a nassarius or two and maybe a cerith or two)
And a few hermits

Corals
Many Zoa's
Green Star Polyp
Daisy Polyp
Possibly some PomPom pulsing Xenia, depending on how it grows in my reef at home
Maybe down the road some LPS like a small open brain, or candy cane

Once this tank is up and running I may try my hand at fragging so I can get my first few corals for free from my tank at home

I think that is pretty much everything I wanted to cover in my first post. My one main question is what people suggest the koralia nano powerhead or the aqueon one. I have a 750gph Koralia and a 500gph aqueon and my 58g and it just seems to me like the koralia puts out a wider current than the aqueon.

Also another question, does anyone have any experience with getliverock.com I really like their prices at $3 a pound including shipping you really can't get any better. But I can't find any reviews of them online anywhere so I figured I'd ask =)

[Cliff]

I'm looking forwards to updates (ie.... Pics) as you go

The koralia nano is a really good power head. I have two that I use in my QT tank when needed. they do a really good job of gently moving all the water around in my 20 gallon QT

That's going to be a really full tank once your corals take off and start to grow. I've bought a 2" frag of green start polyp 4 or 5 months ago and now it is easily 10 to 20 X that size now.

You'll just have to find someone to sell your frags to

[genocidex]

ive seen other people on here talking about it.
http://www.aquaticcommunity.com/aqua...ht=getliverock

might be a thread to read for that :P

also looking forward to pics, hope everything works out

[smaug]

I have 2 koralia nanos in my 58 gal fowler.The one has been running for about 3 yrs now with no hiccups. For another fish consideration check out the green clow gobys,they are tiny and have loads of color and attitude for small tanks,mine is a real character. Colonial feather dusters would also be a great choice.

[frefal13]

Thanks for the link genocidex.
I will be posting lots of pictures as I go, I'm getting more excited now =). I'm probably going to start ordering stuff tomorrow. I sure hope I can find someone to buy coral if I need to I just love the way it looks so I want it =) I will probably go with the koralia nano since it seems like people like it.
Thanks for the idea smaug, they certainly do look like fun little fish!

[genocidex]

if you cant find some one to buy your coral off you try a local marine lfs im sure youll find one that will be more than willing to give you store credit.

[frefal13]

Unfortunately Boston does not have a lot of fish stores that are easy to get to by T, or honestly in general. The only one I really know of is a petco in Cambridge, and even that is a 45 minute T ride. There is a really good salt water store in Quincy(neighboring town) but I think the T ride ends up being 2 hours. 4 hours of travel to go to a pet store is a lot!. Im sure I can figure something out though, I do have plenty of time after all lol

[genocidex]

the t takes 30 mins (max 45) from lawrence to boston.... cambridge is alot closer :P i might be able to help you out with lfs places tho :P ill take a look into them for you if you need to start selling them :P you dont want a big chain store like petco cause they probaly arent selling corals any more and they most likely would say "we will take it off your hands but you wont get anything from us"

theres a place up the road from me that might take it. but unless you are getting a decent price i dont think the train ride would be worth it (i think its 25 round trip but that was a few years back so prices might have changed.)

[frefal13]

So I ordered the tank today, it should be here on Tuesday I believe. I am getting really excited I can't wait to start setting everything up. I think I am going to go with instant ocean reef crystals, because the price is only like $2 more than regular IO for a bag that does 50 gallons of water. I will continue to update as I start getting stuff =)

Thanks genocidex, I wont need to start worrying about getting rid of any coral frags for a long time, thank you though =)

[Cliff]

so....... pics on your next up-date ???