# Tibs' 29g Build



## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Hey guys. I've been out of the hobby for a long time now, but I finally found the time to get it started again. I got rid of my old tanks, loaning them to my brother, and I started a 29g with hopes of a reef. Here are the specs to start with;

29G 30x12x18
130w PC-1 10000k 1 Actinic
AC500
MJ600
Seio 620
20lbs Caribsea Oolite

My goal with this tank is to try a new type of tank and go in a direction that I haven't gone before. With that said, I have little time to spare with college and other hobbies, so a easy tank is what I'm shooting for. I really don't care if it becomes the most noobish, easy, common reef tank one can setup with non-exotic livestock as long as there are no problems. Thats alot to aim for though, lol. Heres the pic for now, I have a small peice of live rock just to get it going. Theres a little red hermit in there too, pretty shy little fellow.


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

Looking good man, great start... as for the no problems thing, if you consider spending every spare dollar you have, and being broke a problem i would avoid saltwater







i started with a 55 gal, and i am into more saltwater now than i can almost handle and maintain a social life (not to mention the money to fund it)
Anyways man, read read read and it can be _relatively_ painless


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Skunkbudfour20 said:


> Looking good man, great start... as for the no problems thing, if you consider spending every spare dollar you have, and being broke a problem i would avoid saltwater
> 
> 
> 
> ...


Lol, thanks dude. I'm trying to take this verry slowly, so hopefully that'll save me some. I'm going to be picking up the light and about 15lbs more rock here in a few weeks when I head to the city. I don't plan on adding much livestock for another month or two. I have so many other things going on right now I think I'm crazy to attempt something like this, but already its very enjoyable. Luckily almost all the equipment except for the lights I already have, so I have a head start.

Any tips on the hermit guys? I think its a scarlet reef hermit, but I'm not sure it has a shell. It hides in the caves of the rock and sticks its head out when I'm not looking. Considering my tank is clean and new should I try giving him a little bit of food? Or will he do alright?


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## Ægir (Jan 21, 2006)

I would advise you feed him once in a while until he has scraps to feed on, and make sure he has a few extra shells to change into need be...


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Yeah, I've fed him a bit. I throw a sinking carnivore and kinda mush it into his little cave. I'm not so sure he's a hermit though anymore, I really don't know what he is. Its a red crab and thats about all I can tell.

On a non-crab related subject, I picked up a 250w HQI on eBay for cheap. Hopefully its not too much light. Either way, I should be able to get a crocea with a light like that, something I've really wanted.

Does anybody have any advice for live stock? I'm really leaving it quite open, but I'd like it to be zoa dominated, with some softies like leathers and Xenia and perhaps an LPS or two (I really dig bubble corals). As far as the fish I would really like to get something like a flame angel but I'm worried they'd pick on the softies I'd want, so I'm thinking more along the lines of a pair of clowns.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

that is alot of light for a 29 gallon, good for the clam but way over kill for the softies and lps... you will definately have to practice careful procedures to acclimate any new coral added..

have you seen the claws of the crab? are they pointy? if so you should definately get it out of the tank before you add other living things to it.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

nismo driver said:


> that is alot of light for a 29 gallon, good for the clam but way over kill for the softies and lps... you will definately have to practice careful procedures to acclimate any new coral added..
> 
> have you seen the claws of the crab? are they pointy? if so you should definately get it out of the tank before you add other living things to it.


The light was the same price as the 130w PC that my LFS was offering me, so I went for it. What type of procedures do you recommend for adding corals, like put them in in a darker area and ease the light on them? I'm going to be hanging the light like 18" off the top of the tank I think though, I don't want it to add any heat to the system. I don't really want any Sps's so perhaps that was a bad move, but considering its the same price I think it'll be easier trying to dim the HQI than it would be trying to crank up the PC to work for a clam. I don't think I would be able to keep a crocea under PC's, no matter how high I put them up.

I haven't quite got a good look at the crab, but yeah I think they are pointy, they look kind of like needlenose pliers, if you know what I mean. Its about 1" in diameter with the legs, and its bright red. Why do you say get it out? Would it be something that would nip at corals?


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

Tibs said:


> that is alot of light for a 29 gallon, good for the clam but way over kill for the softies and lps... you will definately have to practice careful procedures to acclimate any new coral added..
> 
> have you seen the claws of the crab? are they pointy? if so you should definately get it out of the tank before you add other living things to it.


The light was the same price as the 130w PC that my LFS was offering me, so I went for it. What type of procedures do you recommend for adding corals, like put them in in a darker area and ease the light on them? I'm going to be hanging the light like 18" off the top of the tank I think though, I don't want it to add any heat to the system. I don't really want any Sps's so perhaps that was a bad move, but considering its the same price I think it'll be easier trying to dim the HQI than it would be trying to crank up the PC to work for a clam. I don't think I would be able to keep a crocea under PC's, no matter how high I put them up.

I haven't quite got a good look at the crab, but yeah I think they are pointy, they look kind of like needlenose pliers, if you know what I mean. Its about 1" in diameter with the legs, and its bright red. Why do you say get it out? Would it be something that would nip at corals?
[/quote]

typical lighting acclimation procedure would be to place new corals low in the tank possibly in the shade of rocks and gradually move it out of the shadows and up the rock work over the course of weeks. keep an eye on things like color and polyp extension but usually if you see any drastic negative change in color the coral has already sufffered some over exposure.

another option is to get a stack of window screen sheets, like 6 - 10 of them and put them over the tank to diffuse the light, take a screen off every 4-6 days until there are none left and that should be enough to acclimate the corals. the reduced intensity during this time will not cause much negative effects on the corals that were acclimated, maybe reduced growth rates.

crabs with pointy claws are carnivorus so they will mosre then likely kill and eat anything they can get their claws on that you put in there like shrimp hermits or even slow fish. shrimp, hermits and snails will provide much more bennifit to the tanks diversity then one greedy evil crab.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Hey dudes. I picked up some live rock the other day and got my HQI over the tank. I'm up to about 20-21 pounds and as much as I'd love to fill the tank up this is all I can afford to get. I might get another pound or two of small peices but theres not much more I can scrape together. I also found a fabulous looking Clarkii clown so I think I might get her in a few weeks if she's still there. Pics!


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## Wide_Eyed_Wanderer (Aug 22, 2006)

I would put a fuzzy dwarf lionfish in there those things look so awesome.


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## nismo driver (Jan 27, 2004)

if you cant afford live rock then look for base rock its half the price and you have enough live rock to seed the base rock.

another option to make the tank look fuller is to build some frame work out of pvc and egg crate like a series of shelves but the base rock is a better way to go. your better off taking your time and getting the rock with the money you have then movign on to fish or coral because it will be risky adding more rock later on. do a web search for marco rocks


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Eh, I'm happy with the amount of rock I have. I figure I'll get a bit more small peices of rock and maybe a bit of base rock like ya said. I think the tank looks pretty good though. Another FTS.


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## Grosse Gurke (Jan 3, 2003)

Coming along nicely


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## Guest (Aug 11, 2008)

Very nice "Tibs".

It looks to be progressing well. Good on ya man! Exciting stuff.


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## benJii (Feb 17, 2005)

Hey guys. Its been a while since I've posted some new pics, and its a bummer cuz its changed quite a bit. I changed up the rockwork here, moved the powerheads towards the surface and created a better, more filling rock layout. I wasn't getting good flow at all with that setup. I dunno what I was thinking there. Anyways. I was having a bit of algae problems (just simple brown algae blooms) and boy a handful of Chaeto cured that right up. I also got a pretty frogspawn frag, some zoas, a CUC and a pair of Sebaes. I'll throw in pics as I collect them, but heres the FTS for now.


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## wally43 (Feb 23, 2007)

nice looking setup man i really like it, like nimso said 250w MH is a lot of light for a 29g, i've been looking for a 150w or 70w for my 29g, i hope u've done ur reading and know about RO uints and have one or at least buy RO/DI water and dont just use tap water, but if its been set up this long and u dont have algae cover ur whole tank then u must be doing something right, again with that light ur gunna wanna keep low light corals either close to the bottom or kinda under something and look in get SPS corals they are a lil more expensive and a lil more demanding but the look awesome and u already have the light for them. again nice tank and keep reading whatever u do
wally


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## Guest (Dec 12, 2008)

Update Tibs


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