NSW 29g Reef

[Steviereefs]

Hi y'all
My tank is just past 2 months old. I live on Cape Cod and have a kid now so my pursuit in the hobby is to keep it as affordable as possible. Lucky for me the ocean is just down the road so I chose to go all natural. I picked up buckets of ocean water and shoreline sand to get it started, this combo made for a short cycle approx 14 days. The rock I used was from my perished 75 gallon. The overflow is made from a black pencil box that I drilled and slotted for $3 and the plumbing is black push to connect irrigation lines and couplers for around $12. The sump is a CPR190, I ripped the skimmer out of the first chamber and put a 7" deep sand bed, rock, and a power head for light circulation the next chamber is filled with more rock for additional filtration. The light initially was a 212watt Apollo LED I just took off line the other day because it was starting to bleach the coral and the color temp is terrible around 10-12k. I'm in serious need of a new light you but generally very happy so far.
With out further adu here it is

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[Steviereefs]

Didn't mean to post it twice tapatalk said there was a error with the subject the first time and I thought it didn't post sorry about that


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[BigZ]

Very interesting concept of using natural seawater and natural sand from cape cod. I would watch out for various life forms appearing in your tank from plankton to visual form. Looks good though. I wish you the best of luck.

 

[Steviereefs]

I have to share this, my son is 16 months, he looks at the sea hare and thinks this... LOL https://vimeo.com/146341968


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[Steviereefs]

Very interesting concept of using natural seawater and natural sand from cape cod. I would watch out for various life forms appearing in your tank from plankton to visual form. Looks good though. I wish you the best of luck.

Im sorry to say it but it is not a concept LOL natural seawater has been used much longer than any method currently used in the hobby before it was even considered a hobby just to inform you. Look it up it's very cool how even in b.c times reefing was something

 

[CoralJunkie]

Great looking tank and that anemone is awesome

 

[Steviereefs]

Great looking tank and that anemone is awesome

Thank you very much I got the nem from a fellow reefer its doing real well now but when I put him in he was all over the tank then stopped between the two corals next to him. I moved them away now because he was stinging and I want him to have space and stay right there.

 

[Steviereefs]

I realize my corals are a bit brown now but it's because the light situation and may also be in part because of the NSW and nutrients, what's amazing to me and it seems the complete opposite of what I generally thought was larger tanks more stability smaller tanks less. But I think natural saltwater has made for very good stability in the Stoney variety coral and from a chemistry stand point in waters with higher tds they are saturated to the point of almost precipitating substances out of solution the main ones we love calcium and carbonate so if that's true Stoney corals should be able to build there skeletons easily in this water provided the right pH. Can someone who's a chemists confirm this maybe. The sps may not look like a million but for a 2 month old small volume tank the growth has been good with little dosing. Once I get a proper light I'll be on a fast track.

 

[CoralJunkie]

Well good luck and keep us updated with pics.

 

[Steviereefs]

Some close ups, a couple of clam hitchhikers came in from the ocean and I've been watching them grow from just about nothing, also the blue digi has a blue leg crab that has been hosting it , kinda strange I didn't know they would do that. ORA purple stylo should be way darker and deep blue (my light sucks).

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[Steviereefs]

My corals are quickly browning out from the pervious state since I took the LED off and put on the dual bulb t5 light on, hardly enough power but at least my tank doesn't look like the surface of the sun!!!

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[CoralJunkie]

Those clownfish are awesome

 

[Steviereefs]

Those clownfish are awesome

Thank you!!! Phantoms are great!!!

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[Steviereefs]

Please enjoy the photos!! I get a little crazy with the camera. Thanks to a great friend of mine and avid reefer I basically doubled my coral overnight. I placed them after lights out so they may not stay in their current position permanently because well 29 gallons restricts the natural element in trying to envelope.

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[Steviereefs]

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[Steviereefs]

I am truly enjoying posting these pics because I know some of you veteran reefers are cringing at the look and coloration of the coral. I know and get it but I want it as raw as possible so people can see the progress that will come and all of the coral will become much more beautiful with time and proper lighting and so forth. So everything starts from almost nothing, enjoy it 100%!!!


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[Steviereefs]

One more

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[Coalminer]

What's the orange shelf-like coral in the last photo in the 11:12 post? And what did you use to glue it on? I keep having glue issues...

 

[Steviereefs]

That is a orange montipora capricornis, in retrospect I would have used less glue but for less you need more patients because it's difficult to get the initial adhesion especially with less. I use a "Gel" super Glue , what I suggest is when you mount the coral you have to try to get the glue on the mounting surface in the process with a little agitation, it will usually never stick instantly with first contact. So apply a gob of the glue to the base of the coral, then when you submerge it and get ready to place it, put the base of the coral to the mounting spot, then contact the surface, swirl the base or the coral in a very, very small circle not much larger than the base at all and pull away very slightly, do this until you see or the glue stretch between the coral base and the mounting area or go by feel for the resistance , this will indicate the glue has adhered to the Rock, now at this point you should able to press the coral to the mounting location with light pressure and hold it there for roughly 30sec. Use light pressure almost as if you are going to pull your hand away so you can feel the glue set. Sometimes the coral will move slightly after the process and you may think it will fall but it will just shift.
This entire process takes under a minute once you get it down and you will figure it out fast, just one of those things not in the coral hand book !!!


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[Steviereefs]

Here's a quick Thanksgiving Day Reef video!!!! Happy Thanksgiving everyone!!
[video=youtube_share;TVJHNsUb9Kc]http://youtu.be/TVJHNsUb9Kc[/video]