Tank Journal Archive

[pvancomp]

Hi guys, been lurking on here for a while reading lots of posts to refresh my memory on how to run a SW tank and not rely on the LFS too much like I used to. Seen lots of info on here and the forum seems really friendly as well.

Used to have a 200L mixed reef before but shut it down due to life changes and waited for everything to settle down before setting a new one up again.

Got ourselves an Aqua One Mini Reef 90 because it's had good reviews and has everything in one hit, which for the next few years will suffice.

It's currently running everything stock except the skimmer, I'm still deciding which one to use for this tank, about 7kg of save, 5kg dead rock and 2 kg live rock. Also have over 20 marine pure balls in the sump running with the filter sock as well. For increased flow, I also added a Sicce Voyager Nano powerhead. Using Red Sea Coral Pro salt mixed with water and manually topping up every few days.

Cycle started on Jan 20, and have started using Seachem's stability because had good experiences with it before. Not in a rush for the cycle to occur as want it to be stable before adding any fish or corals. Considering a CUC crew, but uncertain if I should wait for the cycle to finish or not, as well as which snails to get.

Willing to listen to feedback as well as any tips and advice on ensuring this tank runs smoothly and becomes a nice centrepiece in the living room. Here's a couple pics of the tank before getting wet with just dead rock and sand, then with the live rock added in.

 

[Ben Daley]

Hi, welcome to the reefuge; and welcome back to the hobby.
Look forward to seeing your new tank come along. I've never had an aqua one (it looks nice though) are you pleased you got it?

As for snails, how about some ceriths? I like that they don't knock things over or mob LPS at feeding time.

Happy reefing

 

[pvancomp]

Very happy with the Aqua One right now. Doesn't have the quality of a Red Sea or Cade, and was considering the Red Sea Nano, but liked how everything came with the Aqua One which was the main reason for the purchase. There's some noise from the overflow running into the sump, but with the cabinet close to the wall you hardly hear it as it is. Easy to set up and decent flow from the pump but added in the powerhead so there's no dead spots anywhere.

The skimmer was way too big for the sump though, I don't know how it would fit in there with the overflow pipe being where it was, and can't go with the HOB option either because of the design of the sump. Going to look into a smaller one, used to have a Turboflotor 500 that worked really well on my 200L before so might get it again.

Will look into Cerith snails, thanks for the idea, probably gonna wait another week or 2 for the cycle to go further before adding them in, don't want to stress them out more than necessary :p