happityLogan
Wed, 3rd Aug 2011, 10:14 AM
My tank is cycled! Been out of the hobby for about a year but recently got the itch to start something new. It was a lot more difficult for me to be a reefer living an hour and a half away from the closest lfs, so now that I only have to drive a few miles down the road to feed my addiction (Muahahahahaha) I feel it is time again, living in Austin is the best! I've been reefkeeping since 2006, my original tank was a 24g stock aquapod with a pair of grade b picassos and mainly softies. I got lazy with it though and eventually ended up selling it. Now that I can get my sw premixed at the lfs I have been keeping up with weekly water changes of 2.5 gallons and am setting a routine that I've been sticking with. I am a college student up to my neck in dept so this is definately on a budget, I'd like to show people this can be done with a minimal budget. (thank you Maast and Craigslist!)
A little about the tank: found the 14g with burnt out bulbs on craiglist for $100, offered them $80 and they accepted, it also came with a 150watt heater and a small mag float as well. I found two 50/50 24,000k bulbs off of cl for $15 and picked them up the same day. I got my tank for a mere $95! I'm running everything stock in terms of light and return pump, but I took out all the bio balls, sponge and random pieces of plastic in the back chamber. I got 11 gallons of premixed water ($1 a gallon, aquadome) and started my cycle. I filled the middle part of the back chamber with about 3lbs lr rubble ($2.99 a lbs, aquatek), and the heater is in the first compartment.
I then listed in the wanted to buy section for my lr and ls and soon heard from ryanmoorman. I got 10 lbs lr, 10 lbs ls, a refractometer, and a korallia nano from him for a great deal. My tank was officially set up! I waited about three weeks and had my diatom and hair algae spikes and everything finally cleared off before i got the first member of my c.u.c., an electric blue hermit (7.99, aquadome) whom ive named Harriot, she's been the sole inhabitants for the last couple weeks and is doing great. My best friend gave me a couple ricordea and red shrooms she fragged so id have something else to look at too. I plan on going today to get a few scarlet hermits and to do a water change... I feel like I am well on my way to an awesome nano reef, pics soon!
A little about the tank: found the 14g with burnt out bulbs on craiglist for $100, offered them $80 and they accepted, it also came with a 150watt heater and a small mag float as well. I found two 50/50 24,000k bulbs off of cl for $15 and picked them up the same day. I got my tank for a mere $95! I'm running everything stock in terms of light and return pump, but I took out all the bio balls, sponge and random pieces of plastic in the back chamber. I got 11 gallons of premixed water ($1 a gallon, aquadome) and started my cycle. I filled the middle part of the back chamber with about 3lbs lr rubble ($2.99 a lbs, aquatek), and the heater is in the first compartment.
I then listed in the wanted to buy section for my lr and ls and soon heard from ryanmoorman. I got 10 lbs lr, 10 lbs ls, a refractometer, and a korallia nano from him for a great deal. My tank was officially set up! I waited about three weeks and had my diatom and hair algae spikes and everything finally cleared off before i got the first member of my c.u.c., an electric blue hermit (7.99, aquadome) whom ive named Harriot, she's been the sole inhabitants for the last couple weeks and is doing great. My best friend gave me a couple ricordea and red shrooms she fragged so id have something else to look at too. I plan on going today to get a few scarlet hermits and to do a water change... I feel like I am well on my way to an awesome nano reef, pics soon!