Fish selection stage.

I am researching coral/reef friendly nano fish. Here is a list of my faves so far.
Yellow assessor.
Yasha Hasha Goby or Randall's Goby
Red Scooter Blenny
Tail Spot Blenny

I like this combo of fish and may also add a couple of trimma gobies. Probably a total of six pretty small fish.

I will probably get my first fish this week if available.

Gentle Cycle

I have not had a very intense nitrogen cycle in my new tank. I never got a spike of ammonia and have not detected any nitrites or nitrates to date. My live rock was quite cured being that it has cooked for over 6 months. I am going to add a hardy fish near the end of next week. I know I am not in much of a hurry but hey I want to make sure things go well on this tank. Patience is key. I figure adding a fish will probably cause a small nitrogen cycle spike. We will see.

The temps in the garage are high. It will be 100 this week. Not adding a fish til the temps get back to 90 or so. I have managed to keep the tank at about 83.5 with the metal halide lamp on. My light cycle is only 4 hours these days but there are no corals in there so no rush.

Adding sand.

Today, I added sand.It is aragalive black sand. I think it is very attractive and matches the tank. We will see if it does it's job of buffering the tank and adding space for a live sand bed.
I also checked water parameters. There does not appear to be a large ammonia spike so far. I did notice a few copepods and worms beginning to colonize the glass. I have not had a diatom bloom either. I am thinking I will get a smaller nitrogen cycle as I add fish. I plan on adding fish slowly but I predict that my diatom bloom will happen after the fish beging to populate the tank. We will see. Sorry, no pics yet.

Aquascaping. Aquascaping.

I have been working on my solana a bit more. I am researching different pumps for flow. Most people seem pretty happy with the Vortch MP20 in this tank. Also, many seem to like the Tunze 6025 and even Koralia 2's. I have a Koralia one in there right now but know that at least K2's will be necessary for SPS in this tank. I have been rearranging some large rock quite a bit. My rock is large which is nce for some things but also limts me in what I can do. I think my current aquascape is pretty cool. If I stick with t I will post a picture tomorrow. BFN

Starting a reef tank at home.

So, I finally got a tank going in my own home. I have three saltwater tanks going in my classroom. That is perhaps a bit much. Well, I think I will be downsizing that soon. Anyways, I am happy to enjoy it in my own home.

I started this tank up on July 9th. It is a Current USA Solana All-In-One Tank. I think it looks nice because it does not have a rim. The tank sits in the garage. This is because I am a bit of a messy guy with aquariums and do not want to have to worry about water on the floor.

So far, I have added live rock and two hermits. More details to come.