New to reef and reef frontiers

[DBM Reef]

Just wanted to say hi and introduce myself my
name is jess and This is the first reef tank that i have done.
It started out as a rescued tank from a apartment
where it was left behind. It had a few fish in it and was
full of rock that looked like it once was live. someone had also
tried to (help) and poured a bunch of fish flakes in it that were
all over the bottom. So ive been through a fair share of problems
whille trying to clean it up and add a few things. The good news
is that we only lost 2 of the 6 fish that were in it when i rescued it.
I just got some snails that are starting to clean up the back wall.

 

[ErikAnderson]

dude, jackpot.

i wish i could rescue a tank like that.

How big? what kind of lighting? What are your plans? And LOL @ fish flakes!

 

[DBM Reef]

the lighting it has now is a compact flourescent one i picked up i think it is 210 watt current one. the tank is 30in wide 18in deep and 24 in tall. it has a
back pack skimmer and a fluval filter. but i wanna try to make a refuge for this tank to help it along until i can get the big one ready.
I have a 265 that has some freshwater big fish in it and im gonna start gathering equip for it to be switched

 

[ErikAnderson]

i run a back pack skimmer on my tank, it works just fine for the price (used) that i payed for it. Pulls junk out of the water like crazy.
I had a fluval 404 on my tank for a while, ended up turning in to more of a problem than i wanted and sent it to my buddy and his FW tank in the end.

Sumps are easy to build, and so are fuges if you want to have two that are apart.
I bought a little 5 gal plastic walmart, placed it above my system, hooked up a wimpy power head, added 5lbs of garf grunge, and drilled a over flow for my fuge long before i had a sump.

In the long run, i would consider moving away from the 404, its not the end of the world right now, but something to possibly consider.

 

[DBM Reef]

the corals and the anenome were all added by me and the wife
i used some of the existing stuff such as the sand and the bigger
rock and the bio media in the fluval but it has been tough to had
a huge cyano bacteria outbreak after i started to try to get it back
running which i think was due to the phosphates being high.

 

[ErikAnderson]

well yeah, as this tank comes back online you can pretty much plan for it to cycle and give you some issues.
between you and me, i would not be adding much until you get it nailed down. Not to mention there are already all kinds of wild things running around in that tank for you to check out before adding corals.
Your money, but in reality i bet that when you are ready for corals you will find plenty of people who will be happy to pass on some clippings to you on the cheap. I love watching tiny frags grow.

 

[tri_pod_rod]

hello jess the names rod welcome to RF, youll find friendly people here and nothing but help and as always hit me up i might have a present for you

 

[DBM Reef]

ya we had a piece of live rock that started growing
a piece of coral out of it and it is about 2 in tall now that one even though its not the pretiest is our favorite cause we feel like we grew it so it is cooler than the other ones but so far they are all getting bigger.
I will probably be letting this one be for a bit like you said
and be putting my money into the lighting and skimmer for the 265 it is 7ft long x 30 in deep x 24 in tall so i figure ill probably need 4 halides for it ?
but still researching it

 

[DBM Reef]

Thanks rod

 

[tri_pod_rod]

hey no problem im always willing to help a fellow reeffer

 

[DBM Reef]

How much is that garf grunge? and does it speed up the coralline algae growth? and pod growth?

 

[ErikAnderson]

i bought it years ago
something like 6 or 7 bucks a pound? maybe less, its on their website.

I like what they do, and i like how they build reefs. However looking back i don't know if i would have bought it again. Its expensive. It surely did not hurt anything though.