What the hell am I getting myself back into? A Journal on Saltwater Reef Tanks(Don't do it dummy)

[Shadow]

My good friend thought he wanted to get into the hobby again, but on the saltwater side. Bought 2x Waterbox AIO 15 Peninsulas, set them up...bought EVERYTHING needed and then realized how much work fish keeping is, how he needed to go buy RO water, prep water, clean, etc. Long story short he couldn't keep the parameters in check until it cycled, ended up killing the coral and fish. Pulled them, shut them off and just left the water and live rock in it nothing else. Well, now he wants them gone. So, asks me...you want em, for free? About 3 month old $200 each aquariums plus everything you need to set them up and take care of them(even though he didnt use any of it really lol). I have decided to bookcase them back to back on stands from Waterbox behind my desk in the fish room. Figured I would start a journal on it, I have had a previous salt reef tank almost 2 decades ago but family life and my kiddo took every minute of my time, so I sold it and my livestock inside. Guess with the time I have free, I will start to set these up. Will be a long haul, I plan to break them down, clean them fully then get new live rock as I am not sure how well the stuff in there is given he didn't really take great care of them. Once I get them running and set up, it will be a while before I get all the corals, anemones, fish, etc that I will put in there. I have an idea on the first tank. Will drop pics and names of what I plan to add. This is expensive to get into, but as I have an RO system and everything I need to take care of it, might as well give it a go. 

[JE47]

Wow! I am very excited to see this journal! I couldn't helped but be amazed as I read this entire story unfold. I am glad you where able to take the tank and I know you will give these animals the best life possible.

[Shadow]

On 12/18/2023 at 7:31 PM, JE47 said:

Wow! I am very excited to see this journal! I couldn't helped but be amazed as I read this entire story unfold. I am glad you where able to take the tank and I know you will give these animals the best life possible.

Well, lets not get too carried away yet...lol. I got the tanks and such, now the cleanup then resetting the first and getting it going. I have an idea of how I want the live rock to look and what I want to do with it. Already making notes of types of coral and anemones that I want to purchase first. Also didn't realize the vast amount of clownfish that are out there. 

[Odd Duck]

Wow!!!  That’s a gift and a curse and if you’ve had reef tanks previously I know you know exactly what I mean. 😆 

You don’t need to get all new live rock.  Even if there was fancy live rock that no longer has polyps, etc, you can still use it as base rock for your structure. Just keep it wet and let it cycle again.

Then you only have to get whatever fancy rock and frags you want to add to it.  Live rock is the biggest part of your biofiltration with the way reefs are set up now.  It will save you a ton to just let that rock cycle again vs. buying all new. Fresh, new rock stinks sooooo bad anyway.  Your cycled rock will be waaaaayyy less stinky and will cycle way faster. It’s like getting a jump on the cycle by using an already cycled filter.

[Shadow]

On 12/19/2023 at 9:07 PM, Odd Duck said:

Wow!!!  That’s a gift and a curse and if you’ve had reef tanks previously I know you know exactly what I mean. 😆 

You don’t need to get all new live rock.  Even if there was fancy live rock that no longer has polyps, etc, you can still use it as base rock for your structure. Just keep it wet and let it cycle again.

Then you only have to get whatever fancy rock and frags you want to add to it.  Live rock is the biggest part of your biofiltration with the way reefs are set up now.  It will save you a ton to just let that rock cycle again vs. buying all new. Fresh, new rock stinks sooooo bad anyway.  Your cycled rock will be waaaaayyy less stinky and will cycle way faster. It’s like getting a jump on the cycle by using an already cycled filter.

Nice! Yea thanks for that heads up, its been immersed but def had the tank off for a while since losing all the livestock and frags I think he had going in there. My plan is to put the live rock from the one tank I am not setting up in clean marine water and close it inside a clean bucket until I get ready to set up the 2nd one. First one will be the tester on whether or not I do another or hold onto it for a rainy day or re-gift it...lol! Its been 20 years I bet since I had a marine tank, so this is going to be some fun to say the least! 😂

[Shadow]

I just gotta say that there are far too many coral frags out there to choose from...lol. This is gonna be a problem. How many is too many? The world may never know. 

[Odd Duck]

On 12/19/2023 at 9:14 PM, Shadow said:

Nice! Yea thanks for that heads up, its been immersed but def had the tank off for a while since losing all the livestock and frags I think he had going in there. My plan is to put the live rock from the one tank I am not setting up in clean marine water and close it inside a clean bucket until I get ready to set up the 2nd one. First one will be the tester on whether or not I do another or hold onto it for a rainy day or re-gift it...lol! Its been 20 years I bet since I had a marine tank, so this is going to be some fun to say the least! 😂

You’ll want to have water circulating in there.  If you do some lights, you’ll get a jump start on coralline algae.

On 12/19/2023 at 10:18 PM, Shadow said:

I just gotta say that there are far too many coral frags out there to choose from...lol. This is gonna be a problem. How many is too many? The world may never know. 

Fragging was barely heard of when hubs and I first started a reef tank.  Keeping SPS was an almost mythical achievement back in the early 80’s when we set up our first reef.  LED lights have MASSIVELY changed reefkeeping from way back then.  It was all about LPS and macroalgae.  Getting good coralline growth was a big deal!  Now tons of people frag and SPS is a standard thing.  Now the LPS is hard to get.

[Shadow]

On 12/19/2023 at 11:56 PM, Odd Duck said:

You’ll want to have water circulating in there.  If you do some lights, you’ll get a jump start on coralline algae.

Fragging was barely heard of when hubs and I first started a reef tank.  Keeping SPS was an almost mythical achievement back in the early 80’s when we set up our first reef.  LED lights have MASSIVELY changed reefkeeping from way back then.  It was all about LPS and macroalgae.  Getting good coralline growth was a big deal!  Now tons of people frag and SPS is a standard thing.  Now the LPS is hard to get.

As he hasn't ran these tanks, just had them sitting full of water with live rock and sand in them...should they be ok? I know you are saying they need to be in circulating water, but if they haven't already...would that just mean I need to wash them fairly well and start the cycling process to complete again post setting up or do I need to think about new live rock? Just curious. 

[madmark285]

On 12/18/2023 at 3:09 PM, Shadow said:

clean them fully then get new live rock

The live rock may be dead rock by now but... can't you just re-establish the bacteria colonies in the rock? Not sure why buy any more.

[Shadow]

On 12/20/2023 at 5:13 PM, madmark285 said:

The live rock may be dead rock by now but... can't you just re-establish the bacteria colonies in the rock? Not sure why buy any more.

Yea after speaking with @Odd Duck I realize that is possible, but depending on what the rock looks like and how I want the reef to look, I might get new. Dunno. 

[Littlefish]

I got mine from KP aquatics, no aiptasia where they have their tract.  Also odd duck is right, you could re-seed dead rock with just 20% live rock.

There are journals on nano-reef and r2r of tanks run with 0 filtration, high flow, and just live rock that show how easy it can be.  Check out WVreefer's 12g and 75g tanks.  

My lil Nuvo 10 runs with just pillow floss and 30% natural sw changes bi-weekly, no dosing.

Looking forward to following.  Also, personal opinion, many different colored frags looks Disny World unnatural.  3 good corals types filling a tank looks awesome and natural.

[Shadow]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:33 PM, Littlefish said:

I got mine from KP aquatics, no aiptasia where they have their tract.  Also odd duck is right, you could re-seed dead rock with just 20% live rock.

There are journals on nano-reef and r2r of tanks run with 0 filtration, high flow, and just live rock that show how easy it can be.  Check out WVreefer's 12g and 75g tanks.  

My lil Nuvo 10 runs with just pillow floss and 30% natural sw changes bi-weekly, no dosing.

Looking forward to following.  Also, personal opinion, many different colored frags looks Disny World unnatural.  3 good corals types filling a tank looks awesome and natural.

Yea for sure, but I am super natural with all my freshwater tanks. Honestly, I just want a few clusters of really cool corals and then a few anemone. Once all seems well I plan to get some super cool looking clowns, as there a plenty of different bandings. Then will prob get a Peppermint Pistol Shrimp and maybe a Watcher Goby since they have a very symbiotic relationship I have read. I will check into WVreefer tonight and watch those...appreciate the shout!

[Shadow]

On 12/20/2023 at 9:33 PM, Littlefish said:

I got mine from KP aquatics, no aiptasia where they have their tract.  Also odd duck is right, you could re-seed dead rock with just 20% live rock.

There are journals on nano-reef and r2r of tanks run with 0 filtration, high flow, and just live rock that show how easy it can be.  Check out WVreefer's 12g and 75g tanks.  

My lil Nuvo 10 runs with just pillow floss and 30% natural sw changes bi-weekly, no dosing.

Looking forward to following.  Also, personal opinion, many different colored frags looks Disny World unnatural.  3 good corals types filling a tank looks awesome and natural.

For anyone else following along here...I believe these are what they are referring to:

12 gal

75 gal

 

[nabokovfan87]

On 12/21/2023 at 1:36 PM, Shadow said:

Yea for sure, but I am super natural with all my freshwater tanks. Honestly, I just want a few clusters of really cool corals and then a few anemone. Once all seems well I plan to get some super cool looking clowns, as there a plenty of different bandings. Then will prob get a Peppermint Pistol Shrimp and maybe a Watcher Goby since they have a very symbiotic relationship I have read. I will check into WVreefer tonight and watch those...appreciate the shout!

I've been watching the "newbie reefer" series on youtube. There's also the obligatory (salt or freshwater hobbyist I'm talking to you) viewing of chasing coral as an inspiration for the enjoyment of all things nature in our care....

This was one that they had, I really thought was easy and they did awesome with it.  It's a white hammer coral I believe. May also have been a white bubble coral.

[Shadow]

On 12/21/2023 at 9:30 PM, nabokovfan87 said:

I've been watching the "newbie reefer" series on youtube. There's also the obligatory (salt or freshwater hobbyist I'm talking to you) viewing of chasing coral as an inspiration for the enjoyment of all things nature in our care....

This was one that they had, I really thought was easy and they did awesome with it.  It's a white hammer coral I believe. May also have been a white bubble coral.

Oh WOW! Those are super cool grown in, I have looked at a couple other colorizations of it already. I am trying to stick to slower growing corals which I heard brain types are as well as others like Zoanthids. Finger corals I heard take over nano reef tanks very quick, so to limit them in that set up, especially if you are planning to house anemone. I think to start I will concentrate on corals and anemone, adding "critters" at first. Then once the tank is settled and I am on a good schedule with parameters, water top offs or changes, I can add a couple or 3 fish. First part will be cleaning it up and resetting the live rock. I should be picking the tanks up this week from my friend, been playing tag on getting up all week, but we are meeting friends for dinner tonight, so should pick it up today. Need a stand first though, so trying to find one that will suffice for the first build. 

I also need to get to work on installing my RO system outside where I am making my water preparation station. As of right now I am forced to drive 30 mins away to the best LFS in our area for their water.