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Getting back into the hobby! 65 Gallon Reef


GarrettRiing
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I had mixed feeling about it but I used Seachem Stability to jumpstart the cycle of my tank with. We went to the LFS and got 3 engineer gobies and we spotted a gem. A purple firefish for $14.99. He was listed as TLC and when we asked why. They said they actually found him in a Neon Tetra tank. He's been in the tank for about 3 weeks and they've been thriving. The firefish was shy for the first few days, but he ventured further and further from his cave every day. His fins are healing nicely. 

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  • 3 weeks later...

Tank update! Finally! After grabbing up ALMOST all of the Salifert test kits and a fair amount of snails I have some questions! 

Right now I have 5 turbos, 4 astera snails and 4 nerite snails. Some guides say i should have what I think are an outrageous number of snails. Some of the online kits have about 20 of each type. So my question is, how many should I have for this 65 build?

Also we made an impulse buy the other day (shocker) but nevertheless we came home with a trumpet coral. I had one in the past and it was one of the only corals to just not work out. It ended up bleaching so I figured this would be my redemption. I found a great spot on the rock work, my girlfriend thought she had a better spot for it but my hard headedness just wasnt having it (you know how it is when you just have that vision). Long story short, I was wrong. 2 days later it looked awful. I think we had our LED on too high and i think it began to fry it so we moved it to her spot and it seems.... stable? It hasn't had any loss in color in the last few days so we are thinking that it is on a come back. What do you guys recommend for bringing a coral back from a bad spot? 

Pictured have been included as to when we first got it and then now. Also my parameters are listed below. Like I said i only have some test kits, if I'm missing something dire feel free to let me know! 

Thanks all! Happy reefing!

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Edited by GarrettRiing
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I think the online places recommend too many, but what they ship are tiny so maybe it works out.  My guess is you are about right on the turbos and a little shy on the other two, however your tank is pretty clean and I wouldn't add more right now unless you think they aren't getting the job done. On the trumpet I'd just leave it be, they are a pretty resilient coral in my experience.

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I agree to the statement that many online CUC packs are way overpriced and they recommend way to many for the tank size. Some people like snails over crabs and vice versa. It all comes down to personal preference. I would pick up a few every time you go to the LFS, until you notice that everyone is getting the job done. It is something that you will continually have to top off every couple months. 

Trumpet corals are pretty hardy. With the lower placement and some time, I think you will be rocking and rolling.

Are you planning on picking up a Nitrate test kit? This is something you will definitely want on the shelf. 

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1 hour ago, Jon Fishman said:

Where are you located?   I have a 48” LED (I think it’s a Current UsA Pro) that you may want.....    3 lights over the top should give you edge-to-edge coverage, and up your Par.    Corals should do great.

 

I’m in the CLE area

I actually have a really nice t5 light that I'm going to be setting up possibly today or this weekend. The current USA I have on there now is just a placeholder until I get this one on thank you though! Also I'm in the Dayton area 

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Through sheer will and a little bit of frustration me and my girlfriend were able to get thos T5 light up! We used plant hangers and metal wire to hang the light from the wall since we have a drop ceiling. I'm really excited to get thos up. It has 3 blue bulbs and one white. It's a 48 inch fixture 2 feet off of the tank! 

What are your opinions on T5's? I love them!

Also big thanks to @castlet67 for the fixture! 

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Edited by GarrettRiing
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Pretty big update! Yesterday my girlfriend and I headed down to Monroe Ohio to head to a new fish store called A Little Bit Fishy, the store was pretty small with a fairly small saltwater selection but what they had was listed for crazy low prices! The first thing we saw when we walked in was a black snowflake clown for 19.99 and we had basically decided right away he was going home with us. But a few tanks down they had a black ice pair of clowns for 39.99 and we were sold. We snagged up the Black Ice Pair and were going to call it a day until we saw their saltwater sale tanks near the freshwater section. Royal Gramma for 5 bucks, don't mind if I do. And since we didn't spend as much as we were expecting, my girlfriend picked out a fairly large frag (10 heads) of rasta zoas for $20! 

If you live in the Dayton/Cincinnati area I would definitely recommend checking this place out! 

I will get a picture of the zoas once they open, I just turned the lights on in the tank 

 

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I'm having a slight issue, the Zoanthids that I had purchased a week ago are really not wanting to open. When we first brought them home, they opened enough to see some of the color but their polyps were far from out. We left them in that spot for a few days but they began to close shortly after. 

I figured they may be getting too much light so I placed them down on the substrate. For some reason the hermits and snails covered the frag plug. But I chalked that up to them cleaning off the frag plug. 

3 days later, no change, closed up and despite the constant knocking and doorbells, they won't open their door. So then I figured, "hey maybe it's too little light" so what do I do? I out em up top. And to no surprise, they gave me the middle finger. 

Today I put them where I first placed them and called it done. I figured it was something with my chemistry but my water test showed no immediate problems except for high calcium, could that be the issue? (Picture of Parameters included, I also did a 10 gallon water change last weekend)

The trumpets they bleached have regained their meat and are gaining some color back. So there is some good news! 

I will grab pictures of the zoas when the light are on tomorrow. 

 

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Parameters are fine,and heavy calcium shouldn't be an issue. I believe your right with lighting. Place them low and out of the way. If there is to little light,they will stretch up toward the light. If that happens,then slowly move them closer. What type are they?  Some varieties love low light,others high light

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