Hi, everyone. I'm just starting my first ever reef tank and it's a beaut - a Red Sea Reefer 250 (54 gallons in display). I set it up in December and am still in the process of cycling so I don't have much to share... yet! But I'm sure I'll have a LOT of questions.
My equipment:
Red Sea Reefer 250
Return pump: Sicce Syncra 714 gph
Protein Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 150
Power Heads: Hydro smartwave wavemaker kit with 2 Koralia power heads
Heater: Eheim Jager 150
Light: Aquatic Life edge LED
My fish stocking plan:
Ocellaris clowns - not sure which strain yet, probably a more traditional color, maybe misbar
Cardinals - captive bred Banggai or Pajama
Neon goby - captive bred
Watchman goby - probably yellow since I can get them captive bred.
Sense a theme so far? Yes, that's right, I'm trying to get all my fish as captive bred, although I may add (or substitute) a flasher or fairy wrasse to that list
My invertebrate plan:
Cleaner shrimp
Sexy shrimp
small urchin
Brittle star (1 medium size or a group of tiny ones)
Pistol Shrimp
possibly a small sea cucumber, dwarf hermit crabs
Mix of cleaner snails: cerith, nerite, nassarius
I added my first bit of clean up crew this weekend - Mexican turbo snails, 3 nassarius snails and one "fighting" conch
My coral plan (trying to get all maricultured or aquacultured or frags, none wild collected):
Starting with softies
Mushroom, toadstool, cabbage leather, St. Thomas mushroom, leather, photosynthetic gorgonian, cespitularia
Then add some LPS
Dendros, duncan, bubble, hammer, torch, brain, long tentacle plate
And maybe, next year, Plating montipora SPS
Whew.
Can you tell I've been researching and planning for a while? And, of course, all of these stocking lists are subject to change.
Next up: setting up quarantine for my first fish, a pair of clowns (obligatory first fish).
Looking forward to the new adventure. I welcome advice and suggestions!
My equipment:
Red Sea Reefer 250
Return pump: Sicce Syncra 714 gph
Protein Skimmer: Reef Octopus Classic 150
Power Heads: Hydro smartwave wavemaker kit with 2 Koralia power heads
Heater: Eheim Jager 150
Light: Aquatic Life edge LED
My fish stocking plan:
Ocellaris clowns - not sure which strain yet, probably a more traditional color, maybe misbar
Cardinals - captive bred Banggai or Pajama
Neon goby - captive bred
Watchman goby - probably yellow since I can get them captive bred.
Sense a theme so far? Yes, that's right, I'm trying to get all my fish as captive bred, although I may add (or substitute) a flasher or fairy wrasse to that list
My invertebrate plan:
Cleaner shrimp
Sexy shrimp
small urchin
Brittle star (1 medium size or a group of tiny ones)
Pistol Shrimp
possibly a small sea cucumber, dwarf hermit crabs
Mix of cleaner snails: cerith, nerite, nassarius
I added my first bit of clean up crew this weekend - Mexican turbo snails, 3 nassarius snails and one "fighting" conch
My coral plan (trying to get all maricultured or aquacultured or frags, none wild collected):
Starting with softies
Mushroom, toadstool, cabbage leather, St. Thomas mushroom, leather, photosynthetic gorgonian, cespitularia
Then add some LPS
Dendros, duncan, bubble, hammer, torch, brain, long tentacle plate
And maybe, next year, Plating montipora SPS
Whew.
Can you tell I've been researching and planning for a while? And, of course, all of these stocking lists are subject to change.
Next up: setting up quarantine for my first fish, a pair of clowns (obligatory first fish).
Looking forward to the new adventure. I welcome advice and suggestions!