Hello everyone! So I am a kid who has been keeping fresh water fish for over 5 years now and has decided to take the jump into saltwater! I didn't really want just a fowlr tank as it didn't seem that pretty and full as life as a reef would be, so I wound off starting with the reef . Anyways I have had this thing going for almost two months now, as it was purchased and started on October 19th.
I got the tank off of a guy on craigslist and it came with a small amount of live rock, some clean up crew members (snails, emerald crabs, hermit crabs, and a skunk cleaner shrimp), a pair of maroon clownfish (don't flame just yet they're small ), and then an RBTA and a pink tipped condy anemone. I also got the tank with a lot of extra stuff as well.
Here is when I first got it...
There is a full shot of the tank. I know not much to look at haha.
This is the RBTA and the small Maroon clownfish named...you guessed it, Nemo!.
Here are the brown palys or brown button polyps which came with the tank on the rock. I also had 1 green button polyp as well.
After that I slowly added some more rock to the tank and built it up...
Here is the bigger maroon named Marlin (What original naming right?) , the pink condy, which was still looking a bit weird, and the tuxedo sea urchin.
Here is a little better photo and algae has started growing on the rocks.
So time passed and went by, I got a six line wrasse and some hermits and some new rock, and met up with Dong, a member on here who was very kind knowledgeable and interesting and sold me some corals and a new seio 530 GPH circulation pump for more flow. I also got a piece of GSP for $15 at Krystal Clear Aquatics in Auburn. I wound up with the tank looking like this...
Actinic shot with the stock biocube lighting
Shot with both 10,000k and actinic lights on. It isn't near done, but still a lot better than what it was.
So that leaves us where we are now. If you haven't noticed from the shots, the tank is fairly scratched up and therefore I am thinking about taking it down and either getting a new one or changing out the tank for something different. I was thinking about getting something similar in size in cube shape and we will see what I find. I have something I am looking into right now, but it may not pan out depending on what my dad thinks of it.
Current Setup:
Lights: Stock Oceanic Biocube Lights (Bulbs changed approximately 1-2 months ago)
Fish: 2 Maroon Clownfish, 1 Six line Wrasse
Inverts: Emerald Crabs, Hermit Crabs, Sand Sifting starfish, britte starfish, skunk cleaner shrimp, etc.
Corals!: Hammer, Frogspawn, Montipora cap, Birdsnest, Zoanthids, Duncan, Zenia, Pulsing Zenia, GSP, Leather, Green Button polyps, and of course, the brown palys.
I have a 120 watt Taotronics LED light with 55, 2 watt leds and I plan to either do a retrofit setup with this and the regular hood, or if I get a new tank, I may make a canopy to conceal it as the light bleeds into the room and it is not ideal.
Thanks for looking and I will be sure to keep this thing updated!
Braden, The Newbie Reefer
I got the tank off of a guy on craigslist and it came with a small amount of live rock, some clean up crew members (snails, emerald crabs, hermit crabs, and a skunk cleaner shrimp), a pair of maroon clownfish (don't flame just yet they're small ), and then an RBTA and a pink tipped condy anemone. I also got the tank with a lot of extra stuff as well.
Here is when I first got it...
There is a full shot of the tank. I know not much to look at haha.
This is the RBTA and the small Maroon clownfish named...you guessed it, Nemo!.
Here are the brown palys or brown button polyps which came with the tank on the rock. I also had 1 green button polyp as well.
After that I slowly added some more rock to the tank and built it up...
Here is the bigger maroon named Marlin (What original naming right?) , the pink condy, which was still looking a bit weird, and the tuxedo sea urchin.
Here is a little better photo and algae has started growing on the rocks.
So time passed and went by, I got a six line wrasse and some hermits and some new rock, and met up with Dong, a member on here who was very kind knowledgeable and interesting and sold me some corals and a new seio 530 GPH circulation pump for more flow. I also got a piece of GSP for $15 at Krystal Clear Aquatics in Auburn. I wound up with the tank looking like this...
Actinic shot with the stock biocube lighting
Shot with both 10,000k and actinic lights on. It isn't near done, but still a lot better than what it was.
So that leaves us where we are now. If you haven't noticed from the shots, the tank is fairly scratched up and therefore I am thinking about taking it down and either getting a new one or changing out the tank for something different. I was thinking about getting something similar in size in cube shape and we will see what I find. I have something I am looking into right now, but it may not pan out depending on what my dad thinks of it.
Current Setup:
Lights: Stock Oceanic Biocube Lights (Bulbs changed approximately 1-2 months ago)
Fish: 2 Maroon Clownfish, 1 Six line Wrasse
Inverts: Emerald Crabs, Hermit Crabs, Sand Sifting starfish, britte starfish, skunk cleaner shrimp, etc.
Corals!: Hammer, Frogspawn, Montipora cap, Birdsnest, Zoanthids, Duncan, Zenia, Pulsing Zenia, GSP, Leather, Green Button polyps, and of course, the brown palys.
I have a 120 watt Taotronics LED light with 55, 2 watt leds and I plan to either do a retrofit setup with this and the regular hood, or if I get a new tank, I may make a canopy to conceal it as the light bleeds into the room and it is not ideal.
Thanks for looking and I will be sure to keep this thing updated!
Braden, The Newbie Reefer
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