Nick's IM 14g (1st Reeftank)

[Hella_Salty650]

Previous mixed reef 3 gal pico crashed with a kalk overload so opted to get a tank that would be large enough to withstand crazy spikes. Had that tank for 2 years with lps and softies :-(

What made me get this tank: The tank I was using was supposed to be a Betta tank for my siblings so I needed to get my own. Tank is in my room, so I wanted it to be larger but still small enough so it would still feel like a bedroom with a nice showpiece. Peninsula tanks are super cool and I thought the 14gal was a perfect little temp set up (I found a killer deal)
IG: salty_taste650

03/29/2022 SETUP

Tank: Innovative Marine 14gal Peninsula
Pump: MightyJet Pump 326 Gph
Light: Kessil a360x with controller
Heater: Cobalt Neotherm 75w
ATO: Hydrofil Controller and pump
Reservoir: Icecap 1 gallon
Media basket: Filter floss, carbon, filter floss

(UPDATED) Inhabitants:
Wild Green/ Blue Mandarin pair
Tanaka Pygmy Wrasse
Asterina Starfish
Astrea Snail

Hawaiian Black Sand
Live Rock from Dad's tank

Update: Tank parameters
Temp: 76
Salinity: 34
PH: 8.1
Phosphate: HIGH
Nitrate: 20
Magnesium 1500

Corals:
- Japanese Deepwater Toadstool
- WWC OG bounce
- Green Nepthea
- Golden Bounce Gonzo
- Bleeding Apple SColy
- Blasto Merletti
- Rainbow Acan
- Incredible Hulk Can
- GSP


Before the community gets on me for putting all of these corals into a new tank, the water / sand / rock / filter is coming from existing mixed reef tanks. I know still not right but new reefer syndrome... Plus if anything goes wrong, I'm very fortunate that my dad has quite a bit of back up mixed reef tanks I can throw the corals in haha. But tank so far has been seeded with 2 bottle of pods along with my very own culture of phytoplankton every 2 days!

What I feed:
- Coral Frenzy
- Rods Food
- Frozen Brine Shrimp
- Live Brine Shrimp
- Home Cultured White worms
- clams (Supermarket)
- TDO Pellets X Small
-Ocean Nutrition Baby Brine Shrimp

Plans for the future:
-Find a way to obtain Dragons Breath Macro
- increase amount of phytoplankton production for educational purposes and because we have 5 tanks running at home which means a lot of phytoplankton needed.
- begin culturing copepods and seed tank for about 3 months
- begin culturing baby brine shrimp
- find a way to get a captive bred mandarin pair.
- wait until Asterina starfish population explodes and throw in Harlequin Shrimp (Once population dies down, can always steal a leg of a starfish from my dads tank)

I'm opting not to share pictures at this point in time because Im still trying to figure out exact rock work that I like. So until then: All positivity over here! Hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for what is to come

​

 

[Hella_Salty650]

Quick phytoplankton update!

Been attempting to culture phytoplankton over the past month and wanted to share my experience in the case anyone was ever interested in diy!

-Truthfully my first culture crashed… used gallon plastic bottles and maybe dosed too much f2 fertilizer initially.
-follow up was to substitute plastic for glass along with further research on correct amounts to dose
-3 cultures later I think we are making good progress! Corals love it and the pods are everywhere

PSA: I did say this is a diy set up. The goal was make it as simple as possible and use materials around the house aka GHETTO LOL
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
UPDATED: 4 cultures of phytoplankton in! Changed set up from culturing every 5 days to each week (7 days) because it’s easier for scheduling. About 1 month into my journey culturing phyto and only contamination was my first culture which I used plastic and maybe doses too much f2 initially.

Truthfully, I thought 2 cultures at 1 gallon each would be enough to handle 4 tanks total (14gal, 150 gal, 180 gal, 35 gal). On this last culture, I have so much excess lol I’m still trying to use up from my second week and here we are almost on the 4th week. I’m over here using any bottle I can find including this nacho cheese glass bottle haha…

My takeaway was that on the 3rd culture the color has seriously darken and I’m starting to get a hand of it. In terms of cleaning… well I filter the phyto out each time completely but cleaning the bottles and tubes could be better. I am kinda half butt as all I really do for the bottle is Rinse with hot water 3 times and uhm yea that’s it…

my next plan is to start my copepod culture

If I can do it, you can too

 

[Hella_Salty650]

Recently did a 5gal water change on 05/31 and 06/01 my purple Firefish randomly passed away. SWIM IN PEACE :-(

(No clue how it may have passed away, only inhabitant with decently stable parameters, fed twice a day, pods roaming all around tank)

Was eating tdo pellets, white worms, brine shrimp, Rods Food, mysis shrimp literally the night before.

Current inhabitants:
Asterina starfish
Astrea snail

Potential inhabitant ideas:
- Mandarin pair (2)
- Tanaka Pygmy wrasse
-helfrichi Firefish

 

[rdriggett]

Update: Tank parameters
Temp: 76
Salinity: 34
PH: 7.8
Phosphate: 0.1
Nitrate: 8
Magnesium 1380 (slightly low, attempting to raise)

Recently did a 5gal water change on 05/31 and 06/01 my purple Firefish randomly passed away. :-(… Rest

(No clue how it may have passed away, only inhabitant with decently stable parameters, fed twice a day, pods roaming all around tank)

Was eating tdo pellets, white worms, brine shrimp, Rods Food, mysis shrimp literally the night before.

Current inhabitants:
Asterina starfish
Astrea snail

Sorry about your loss.

 

[Reefinglens]

Previous mixed reef 3 gal pico crashed with a kalk overload so opted to get a tank that would be large enough to withstand crazy spikes. Had that tank for 2 years with lps and softies :-(

What made me get this tank: The tank I was using was supposed to be a Betta tank for my siblings so I needed to get my own. Tank is in my room, so I wanted it to be larger but still small enough so it would still feel like a bedroom with a nice showpiece. Peninsula tanks are super cool and I thought the 14gal was a perfect little temp set up (I found a killer deal)
IG: salty_taste650

03/29/2022 SETUP

Tank: Innovative Marine 14gal Peninsula
Pump: MightyJet Pump 326 Gph
Light: Kessil a360x with controller
Heater: Cobalt Neotherm 75w
ATO: Hydrofil Controller and pump
Reservoir: Icecap 1 gallon
Media basket: Filter floss, carbon, filter floss

Inhabitants:
Purple Firefish
Asterina Starfish
Astrea Snail

Hawaiian Black Sand
Live Rock from Dad's tank

Vitamins:
Salinity - 35
Temp - 76
PH - 8
Phosphate - 0.1
Nitrate - 8
Magnesium - 1500

Corals:
- Japanese Deepwater Toadstool
- WWC OG bounce
- Green Nepthea
- Golden Bounce Gonzo
- Bleeding Apple SColy
- Branching ASD Holygrail Hammer
- GSP

Before the community gets on me for putting all of these corals into a new tank, the water / sand / rock / filter is coming from existing mixed reef tanks. I know still not right but new reefer syndrome... Plus if anything goes wrong, I'm very fortunate that my dad has quite a bit of back up mixed reef tanks I can throw the corals in haha. But tank so far has been seeded with 2 bottle of pods along with my very own culture of phytoplankton every 2 days!

What I feed:
- Coral Frenzy
- Rods Food
- Frozen Brine Shrimp
- Live Brine Shrimp
- Home Cultured White worms
- clams (Supermarket)
- TDO Pellets X Small

Plans for the future:
-Find a way to obtain Dragons Breath Macro
- increase amount of phytoplankton production for educational purposes and because we have 5 tanks running at home which means a lot of phytoplankton needed.
- begin culturing copepods and seed tank for about 3 months
- begin culturing baby brine shrimp
- find a way to get a captive bred red mandarin pair. (IF ANYONE CAN CAN REFER A PLACE I CAN GET IT FROM.... THANK YOU)
- wait until Asterina starfish population explodes and throw in Harlequin Shrimp (Once population dies down, can always steal a leg of a starfish from my dads tank)

I'm opting not to share pictures at this point in time because Im still trying to figure out exact rock work that I like. So until then: All positivity over here! Hope you enjoyed this post and stay tuned for what is to come

​

Biota has captive bred mandarin pairs in stock

 

[Hella_Salty650]

Sorry about your loss.

Thanks! Super frustrating because I can’t figure out what went wrong… comes with the hobby I guess.

 

[Arvin R]

Have you been testing for ammonia, nitrites since the tank has been started and when you had the firefish in it?

 

[Hella_Salty650]

Have you been testing for ammonia, nitrites since the tank has been started and when you had the firefish in it?

Have not, I don't think I feed enough to really make it increase that drastically but I guess we will never know. Taking a break on fish right now as I'm attempting to culture copepods and looking for a good deal on specific fish!

Potential options for the future:
- Mandarin Dragonet Pair
- Tanaka Pygmy Wrasse
- Helfrichi Firefish

 

[Hella_Salty650]

Momma OG bounce just went to the Board! Here’s a throwback when I first got it!

 

[Hella_Salty650]

So quick update!
July 6: Rehome (2) Wild Mandarin Dragonet
July 16: Rehome Tanaka Pygmy Wrasse

Mandarins:
Aggressively eating cultured baby brine shrimp, cultured white worms, cultured copepods, live + frozen brine with no issues!

The male was chasing the female in the beginning but over the last week, seems like it’s more like attempting to court the female or get her to notice him haha

Tanaka:
Aggressively goes after live brine
Frozen brine and white worms it picks at but still needs some adjustment time. Still very shy, very interesting personality!

Love my fish!

 

[Hella_Salty650]

08/02/2022 Update

 

[Hella_Salty650]

What life has been like the past couple of days… Hazel the Stinky Doodle!

 

[Coral reefer]

I love doodles. Whered you get it from?