The Beginning!

[iechy]

Here is a pic of the beginning of my reef. Just LR and decorative corals right now. I plan to add my first living coral this weekend if ecerything still tests good. I have tested through the cycle and it has been stable for the last two weeks so by saturday I am going to give it a shot. Any suggestions on an easy beginner coral or anything else?

 

[sinner's girl]

nice tank...you're the first i've seen that also has barnical in thier tank...

 

[bab]

wow looks really good

 

[iechy]

Thanks! I had the barnacles from when I used to have a fish only with no LR. It wa there for the fish like royal grammas to hide out in. Now I have little caves in the LR but the barnacle can't hurt I guess.

 

[sinner's girl]

when the clowns were little they used to hide in the barnacle, as did the damsels. now a crabs lives in it....

 

[blennybabe]

I also have barnicals in my tank. I brought them home from work because the prettiest feather duster I have ever seen was stuck in it. Once I get some more I am going to use the barnicals as a holder for my feather duster colony. I cant wait.

 

[joe's reefer]

if u want to ur reef to be purfect let me give u some hints.get rid of the barnacles they look tacky and the false coral they will take away attention from the real ones.o and dont think im trying to be mean or anything i just want u to be as sucessful as possible. u first beginner coral should be a mushroom of any type or a ricordia.if u dont want to be limited i ur selection of corals get at leasdt 2 powerheads,powercompacts or metal halides,a deep sand bed and a clean up crew thats reef save.talking about loive stock, get rid of the damsels and coral banded the are aggressive and during a chase knock down corals.

 

[joe's reefer]

also get rid of the brittle because they get extremly large in a short period of time,the chocolate chip basically because it eats coral and the emeralds claw at corals and try to catch small reef fish.oh and the vho's are fine sorry i could remeber all of ur signature info

 

[iechy]

thanks Joe,
Most of what you suggested is already planned. The damsels and chocolate chip are probably history this weekend when I try to go get a mushroom of some sort. The barnacles and false coral also will be gone when I get more rock to fill in the spaces. I am waiting on two more powerheads to be shipped and I already have a mini cleanup crew which I will add to slowly each time I visit the LFS to keep up with the need. I really like the coral banded and emeralds so I am going to try and keep them under close watch and get rid of them then if I need to. I really appreciate the advice. Since it is my first experience with a reef I'd rather be set straight before I throw money down the toilet.
Rich

 

[angelofish]

NICE The layout of the rock looks like my 55g. I want to get some mushrooms too because theres not much I can get without changing the lighting that came with the hoods. I asked alot of people if a 55g really hold 50# of rock.Hows your tank doin? My stand is open underneath and theres no support. I have 38# in there now and Im nervous about adding more. Am I worried for nothing?

 

[iechy]

I think you're worried about nothing. i'm sure others can tell you how much weight they have on their stands and have no problems. Most stands are made pretty mush the same and if you have a glass aquarium (some acrylic ones have different wight distribution) the weight is mostly on the edges so your stand should be fine. Of course if you built your own stand all bets are off

 

[angelofish]

I wouldn't trust anything I built myself!! LOL! I was mostly worried about the glass giving out.

 

[irishstout]

My 55 has close to 60lbs of LR with no problems. I was planning on adding about 20 more without any hesitation. Iechy, If you ever plan on cruising through Baton Rouge, I can probably hook you up with a couple shrooms out of my tank to help get you started. Drop me a mail at Irish_Stout_@msn.com