First salt water build. Fluval Spec 2 gallon!

[cockroach]

Interested to see how this turns out.

 

[studd muffin]

Very cool. Post some pics...

BTW I didn't mean to attack you, hope it didn't come off that way. I was just stating that there are a certain ways things should be done.

Also did those links look like the fish you have?

Ohh no I didnt take it like that haha.

 

[TMartinez]

Cool... well get some pics up here with sand and LR...

 

[FLESHY]

What heater is he using?

He is using the little hydor plastic one...sorry I havent been on in a couple days to see this thread go wild.

No, with reef tanks, you generally want RO/DI water. That means absolutely ZERO TDS! Tap water can be used in a FOWLR tank but not in a reef tank. Corals are sensitive to stuffs like heavy metals (even in trace amount) and im pretty sure tap water has them.

Agreed, but I have been reefing now for nine years. And I have only used tap water. I keep some higher end corals, and intend on going higher. Professional testing can tell you if you have heavy metals. This can, and is being done by a lot of folks out there.

It is I, the original 2 gallon reef pioneer. I've been gradually adding things to the tank since January and I will continue to do so until things start to die. I'm using a 7.5 watt hydor heater and Aquatic Nature LED's. They have better color but are a little weaker than the stock lights that come with the Fluval. I let the tank cycle with live rock, sand and a couple snails. Dropped a blue velvet damsel in about a week after setting it up. Added some plates, zoas, crabs, and some palythoas a week after that. Nothing has died, everything is showing growth. I just added a six-line from my friends tank just for the heck of it and will soon add another batch of corals. I will keep you posted on my mad scheme.

Oh boy.

This is pretty sweet in person, he will have to load some pictures.

The six line is about an inch...and the velvet damsel is about the size of a finger nail. Right now they appear to be getting along well actually.

I am interested to see how this new batch of corals go, its a Mr Coral order everyone, so we will have a review of that site on my 125g thread, and maybe majorbs will mention something about them on here sooner or later as well.

well here's the thing. I'm no SW expert (yet) but I know that corals will only survive in a very narrow range of temperatures, somewhere between 76-77F, so when you get even the smallest change in temperatures, that small amount of water is going to react very fast and adjust to the temperature. True, a heater will probably keep it above 76F if its a very accurate one, but on a hot summers day, my FW tanks reach 86-87F, and I know that any corals i try to keep will end up dead because they're so sensitive. temps in the coral reefs do not change more than a single degree all throughout the year because there is so much water volume that water is constantly being cooled and warmed and rotated by the currents. I really hope that your plan works out because Im faced with the space problem all the time and for the past year or so been trying to plan a fool proof way of setting up a nano-reef in my house, but i always run into roadblocks, esp temperature management. But if your house is super well insulated, and you can maintain a steady temperature all the time and don't mind having to leave the AC on in the summer, even when you're not home, then by all means, keep going! I just did a cursory glance through this thread and didn't see anything about temperature, so I just thought i'd throw this in. GL

Heaters at this size will always be questionable. H2o change water has to be done carefully to try not to shock stuff. All in all, LED's have to be the lighting of choice, no other way to get light like that without heating your tank.

If anything, majorbs's tank runs a little cool.

 

[TMartinez]

I am interested to see how this new batch of corals go, its a Mr Coral order everyone, so we will have a review of that site on my 125g thread, and maybe majorbs will mention something about them on here sooner or later as well.

I was just on mr. coral's site and like the fact they do free shipping on orders of 125 but they seem to have a very limited selection

 

[FLESHY]

I was just on mr. coral's site and like the fact they do free shipping on orders of 125 but they seem to have a very limited selection

You gotta hit them at the right time. Unfortunately, we didnt really do that.

A couple other friends went in on it, and got some stuff they wanted. The $10 was only restocked with some frags I wanted (chalices, tequilla mille, acans) after we has placed the order.

I got a superman chalice...hoping to see it comes in with good color.

They are also kinda low right now because they are having a "flood" sale...everything was like 50% off.

 

[MajorBS]

Finally, here's some pics of the tank. There's not much in the way of corals, but that should all change in a couple of days. Plus I'm adding a small carpet anemone for some additional shock value. Will post pics of that ridiculousness once it happens.

 

[studd muffin]

Awesome! What kind of lighting are you using?

 

[MajorBS]

I'm using one of these right now. http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190461841196&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT ... It's a little less powerful than I would like it to be but I like the light quality that it gives over the stock fixture. The major drawback that it has it that it can't be used with a timer. Whenever it's turned off or its power supply is disrupted it turns off and requires you to manually turn the master switch back on. I will be replacing it with a couple different fixtures when the other corals come so I can get more light in there.

 

[studd muffin]

How about heating? How do you heat your tank?