First Saltwater Tank.

Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
I've had freshwater aquariums for a while and I've always wanted to have a saltwater tank. This is my first tank, I built the stand myself, and it's been cycled and I finally for my first saltwater fish last week. Might sound cheesy to those who've been reefing for years but I'm pretty excited about it.
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I have 2 clowns and a cromie in the tank. The levels are doing well (ammonia/nitrates/nitrite) and I'm happy with how things have been turning out. I wish I could add corals in but this patience thing is going to be rough haha I will be posting updates as the tank progresses :)
 
Poseidon

Poseidon

Distinguished Member
Joined
May 15, 2012
Location
SW Ontario
Doesn't sound cheesy, I've owned 100's of fish over the years and now that I'm
Finally getting back into it I'm so excited for my first fish. I'm actually going to try track down some of the fish I sold :)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
Thanks everyone for the warm welcome. I'm trying hard not to skip ahead and rush into getting corals. I'm just curious about what kinds are the best "beginner" corals (using the term loosely) I'm aiming for a torch/hammer filled tank but I (and most importantly ) my wife, love the look of zoas. There's so many different kinds out there and I'm wondering if some are less sensitive than others. Seeing as this is my first tank I don't want to harm any of the corals if for some reason I'm not 100% accurate on my levels in the beginning .

Also my tank came without a lid so I built a lid for it, thought I'd share that too.
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Aquatic Dreams

Aquatic Dreams

Member
Joined
Apr 8, 2016
Location
London, ON
Welcome and nice little setup you have there. I just started a year ago and currently have a 46 gal. bowfront and 29 gal. Biocube. I would suggest starting with some Mushroom and Leather corals. Those seem to have been the hardiest for me. Xenia and Green Star Polyps are also good starter corals. The patience thing is difficult but you'll get the hang of it. I totally understand as I came from freshwater tanks as well. I was only semi-patient in the beginning and have gone through several corals over the last year. I'm just now starting to get some Zoas, Blastos and one purple SPS to grow.

There is a ton to learn and I'm not sure that you ever really stop learning. There is also a great group of knowledgeable and helpful members here. So if you have any questions don't be shy to ask them. But one thing is for sure ... once you start getting corals you'll be addicted in no time. ;)

Good luck and keep us updated with pics!! :D:cool:
 
Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
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Here's an updated photo of the tank so far. I wish I had a better camera than just my phone. Pic doesn't do the tank justice :(. I rearranged the rock work a bit and added some more to it so there's some nice cave-like structures now. I'll try and get a video or some more pics for a complete view soon!

Coral update:
I've added some corals; one medium paly colony in the in the front right, a small fire and ice zoa in the med left, a purple/green torch and a green hammer coral. All are doing well and their polyps are looking fantastic.

Fish update :
The clowns are doing amazing and I can't believe how much personality they have. I picked up a couple emerald crabs and one molted and doubled in size in under 2 weeks so I'm pretty excited about that! I also got a star fish (reef friendly) to go along with my nassarius snails to help keep the substrate nice and clean.


I'm letting the tank sit for a little until I add any more fish but I'm in the market for some more corals. It's been hard adding them slowly but I've kept on track so far haha.

Let me know if you have any suggestions as I am always open to feedback :)
 
C

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
Look awesome I agree! I also have the same tank IM Fusion 40. I believe that is what you have? I created a build thread here as well. It is still cycling since Oct 29 :)
 
Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
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Here's another updated photo of the tank. I'm happy with how the tank is running. The auto top off is giving me some trouble every now and then but we'll worth it for the extra piece of mind.
The torch and hammer are doing much better than I had anticipated which is always nice
 
C

Canadianeh

Active Member
Joined
Sep 20, 2016
Location
T-dot
Thion said:
View attachment 11263

Here's another updated photo of the tank. I'm happy with how the tank is running. The auto top off is giving me some trouble every now and then but we'll worth it for the extra piece of mind.
The torch and hammer are doing much better than I had anticipated which is always nice
Click to expand...

How long your tank cycled before you added the corals?
 
Salty Cracker

Salty Cracker

Administrator
Staff member
Website Admin
Joined
Mar 10, 2012
Location
Rocky Mountains BC
Welcome to the fragtank!

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but palys and zoas are EXTREMELY toxic, and can kill you if mishandled. Google "palytoxin" and be sure that if you're ever found anconscious by the tank, that your loved ones know to tell the hospital that exposure to palytoxin is a possibility. No joke.

That said, and this is my own personal experience here... I would 100% get rid of those brown/green palys. They were one of the first corals I ever got (almost 20 years ago) and I am still plagued with them today. They spread like the plague, and kill off more desirable corals. At the very least don't let them grow onto your main rockwork. Zoos are similar, but at least they are attractive and usually less invasive. There are a bunch of guys on here that likely can set you up with very nice zoas.

Lastly, don't rush things... too many get frustrated and quit this hobby (I also came from long time freshwater tanks), but the reason we run the fragtank is so you can get advice from real reefers, not just stores trying to get money out of your pockets. You can have a hell of a nice tank if you listen to the advice offered here. Not saying stores are bad, but they are not all created equal.
 
Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
Salty Cracker said:
Welcome to the fragtank!

Not sure if anyone has mentioned this before, but palys and zoas are EXTREMELY toxic, and can kill you if mishandled. Google "palytoxin" and be sure that if you're ever found anconscious by the tank, that your loved ones know to tell the hospital that exposure to palytoxin is a possibility. No joke.

That said, and this is my own personal experience here... I would 100% get rid of those brown/green palys. They were one of the first corals I ever got (almost 20 years ago) and I am still plagued with them today. They spread like the plague, and kill off more desirable corals. At the very least don't let them grow onto your main rockwork. Zoos are similar, but at least they are attractive and usually less invasive. There are a bunch of guys on here that likely can set you up with very nice zoas.

Lastly, don't rush things... too many get frustrated and quit this hobby (I also came from long time freshwater tanks), but the reason we run the fragtank is so you can get advice from real reefers, not just stores trying to get money out of your pockets. You can have a hell of a nice tank if you listen to the advice offered here. Not saying stores are bad, but they are not all created equal.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the advice! I'll be honest and say that I only added the paly as a starter coral, it's in the sand and not touching the rock work yet but if it does then I'll either trim it back or get rid of it. I've been careful with the paly toxins as well. I'm not one to impulse buy things so I did my research before handling them.

The zoas I have on a separate rock that isn't connected to the main piece and I'm hoping that they will stay there haha


I've been pretty patient with my purchases and adding new things to the tank. I've seen A LOT OF nice stuff on here but I've resisted temptations haha
 
Thion

Thion

New Member
Joined
Jul 20, 2016
Location
Dutton
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Here's another update pic. The tank has some changes due to a rogue emerald crab that destroyed my rodactid and hammer coral during the course of a night. There was plenty of food for him and the second crab was doing just fine... I didn't want to risk loosing any more corals so I swapped them out.
The tank now houses 2 snowflake clowns, one 6 lined wrasse, 1 watchman goby, 2 peppermint shrimp, 3 Trochus snails, 3 astrea snails and 3 hermit crabs.

The corals are doing great aside from the assassination of the two previously mentioned. I've added a few and I'm also making good use of my frag rack (finally).

All in all I'm excited to say that it's been a mostly successful journey so far and I couldn't be happier. Unfortunately I've started to get the itch for a much larger tank.... haha we will see
 
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