First Saltwater Tank

york3rdbase

york3rdbase

Premium member
Hi everyone,

Just wanna say that this forum is great, and I wish I knew about it before I started my tank. Anyways, just started a tank at the beginning of August. I went small due to space, originally was thinking about the Mr. Aqua 12 gallon long, but didn't have the long space for it so I went with the 17.1. Started with live sand, dry rock, reef crystals salt mix, Ray 2 LED light, protein skimmer, JVC- 110 powerhead (I think its a 110, which I actually think is a little too strong for the tank and I have a lower gph on the way) Added a pair of clownfish, cleaner shrimp and some hermit crabs at the beginning of September. Added a Talbot damsel a week or two later along with some corals, and have been adding corals along the way (added 6 new ones from the Aquatic Experience last weekend). I also grabbed an Emerald Crab about a month ago, however he kept hanging out on my torch coral causing it to close up, which I didn't like, so he had to go. Thanks to the folks at New Fish and Aquatic World for answering all of my questions and helping out along the way. Let me know what you guys think.

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IHaveCrabs

IHaveCrabs

Premium member
Welcome! The torch and lobo can be pretty tough to keep in new tanks so you are definitely doing something right!
 
york3rdbase

york3rdbase

Premium member
The torch has done great, I've been really happy with it and it adds great movement to the tank. The only thing that I have lost so far in the tank was a frogspawn frag, it was doing well and open for about a week after I got it, then it closed up and never opened again until it finally left the skeleton. I moved it around a few times but had no luck. Parameters have been good, at least everything that I have been testing with the reef master test kit. Are there any other parameters or test kits that I need to pay attention to with what I have in my tank?
 
york3rdbase

york3rdbase

Premium member
I have a water flow question. So my original powerhead was 800 gph, and I thought it was too much, so I just purchased a hydor 425 gph. I feel like it doesn't move a whole lot of water, especially compared to my original, but I am not sure if that is how my tank should be. Everything says 15x-50x water flow rate, which the 425 puts me at 25x, but I'm wondering if its enough for the corals.
 
IHaveCrabs

IHaveCrabs

Premium member
york3rdbase said:
The torch has done great, I've been really happy with it and it adds great movement to the tank. The only thing that I have lost so far in the tank was a frogspawn frag, it was doing well and open for about a week after I got it, then it closed up and never opened again until it finally left the skeleton. I moved it around a few times but had no luck. Parameters have been good, at least everything that I have been testing with the reef master test kit. Are there any other parameters or test kits that I need to pay attention to with what I have in my tank?
Click to expand...
KH / alkalinity is important along with calcium when you get to some harder LPS and most all SPS coral. Mg is something good to test also. Helps keep more usable Ca and KH in the water for the coral without precipitating out.


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fredfish13

fredfish13

Member
flow all depends on what type of corals you keep. as well as it doesn't blow all your sand around. most people with 20 or less gallons will use the 425 koralia, wp-10, mp10, or rw4. the last 3 you can adjust the speed. when i had my bc14, i just had the return pump and a 425, which worked fine. i had only zoas, softies, and a hammer and rbrta.
if you have mostly sps, you can run a stronger pump/current/powerhead. if you have mostly lps, some of them can be sensitive to stronger flow. just got to place the corals in spots where it is not getting blasted or adjust the powerhead direction.
 
Jep21

Jep21

Well-known member
Hello and welcome to the forum.. Great looking tank..

Regarding ur question regarding flow.. There are many ways to go about this..

My opinion which may differ from others would be.. Get the best wavemaker that u can afford that will be compatible with ur current tank and any future tank upgrades that u may eventually have..
That being said i would get an vortech mp10 which is a very versatile pump which is controllable and synch able with the apex controller or other vortech pumps.. Also offers multiple wave modes.

If money is the issue.. I would get the wp10. It is a controllable pump that packs a punch at the fraction of the cost compared to the mp10..

Hope this helps


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