Ziks' 55g Reef!

Zik

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#1
Hey guys!
Just wanted to share my process for my first reef! 55g Set up:
55G Long/Narrow (48" long)
60lb Live Black Hawaiian Sand + 5LB Blue Fresh Water Gravel
35lb dry rock, seeded w/ Bio-Spira & Cycled w/ Dr Tims Ammonia Fishless Cycle
Live Mushroom Rock from fellow reefer to seed dry-rock w/ additional life
2x HOB Filters Rated @ 10x tank size
Unbranded Protein Skimmer (crazy.. this thing WORKS for how cheap it is. Did take patience to tune it + an air valve addition)
2x Power heads (soon adding in 1x more from Current USA hooked up to my programmable lights)
Current USA IC LEDS - on 6x hours peak (100% blue, 20% white) with 10% 'random cloud' effect weather forecast
200W Heater

Current Crew:
2x o-clowns & 1x baby blue tang in QT, coming in the main tank in 1x month
2x zebra turbo snails
2x narcissus snails
4x hermits (2 blue leg 2 red leg)

Current Coral & Frags:
Green Hairy Mushroom Rock (these guys GREW and split fastt, so I took a stab at literally stabbing some I peeled off to rock rubble, & they mounted! Giving away for free to some fellow reefers)
2 Headed Torch Coral
2 Headed Hammer
2x 2 Headed Frogspawn
Red Monti Cap
Green Birds Nest
Forest-fire
Unsure name - but looks like a 'blue' birds nest
Unknown Chalice
Toxic Green Goniastrea
Digitata
Some Common Red Zoa

Had a blast aquascaping this! I had my clowns in here for a few weeks who were loving it! But since I was QT'ing my tang, I found it stupid that I wouldn't QT the clowns...
So I decided to pull them, run fallow & QT all 3x together. If all goes well, they'll be in April 1st!

Will keep introducing coral in the meantime =)



Keeping an eye on new fish to consider & begin QT on after. I know a Royal Gramma is one, not sure on the rest.
LOVE the sailfin, but size.... :x. I know the tank can be considered too small for the blue tang, but by that point I may already be considering my next Tank, or can pass her on to my uncle who has a 160, we'll see how she enjoys mine for the meantime.


Any recommendations?! Fish/Coral/Etc

Cheers!
 

Zik

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Since my frogspawn wouldn't allow too much coral next to it (due to potential stinging), I decided to take that big rock & flip it / mount it above to make another cave! All the new rock that replaced it (near the mushrooms) are just temp rubble.
What do you guys think about the re-do to the scape? Figured it would add another cave for interest & allow for more high-light coral up top!

I do enjoy the simplicity of the previous version though :/
 
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#4
Since my frogspawn wouldn't allow too much coral next to it (due to potential stinging), I decided to take that big rock & flip it / mount it above to make another cave! All the new rock that replaced it (near the mushrooms) are just temp rubble.
What do you guys think about the re-do to the scape? Figured it would add another cave for interest & allow for more high-light coral up top!

I do enjoy the simplicity of the previous version though :/
The rockscape look good Matt.
What powerhead you plan to have?
 

Zik

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#5
The rockscape look good Matt.
What powerhead you plan to have?
Thanks!! Was really fun planning it out, but guess I still modified it a bit ahah

They're hard to see in this cloudy pic since sand was recently stirred up
But top left (impossible to see) and bottom right I have 2x cheapos
https://www.amazon.com/SunSun-JVP-1...1487917443&sr=8-4&keywords=aquarium+powerhead

& Today, in the middle top I added 1 current usa programmable Eflux:
https://www.amazon.com/Current-USA-...d=1487917466&sr=8-1&keywords=current+usa+wave

The 2 cheapos are on auto, and I have the current on 'stream' 50%

Will continue to play with wave / surge mode to find a nice pattern the LPS enjoy.
 

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