1 Year In

Happy 1 year be-lated-ish birthday...  Its so hard to keep track of these things.  Many amazing things have happened with the tank and I have learned so much.  Changes in hardware, Livestock and even location.  The tank is doing better than it ever has been.  The corals, fish and all the other live stuff is really moving into full gear and I notice daily changes in the tank.

Everything started off seemingly pretty slow.  Adding sand & rock, letting it "cure" and stabilize the tank, adding a few corals here and there. Getting my first pair of fish a pair of domino clowns.  Trying to keep up with water maintenance and flooding my house a few times.  Thanking my wife for putting up with my addiction and I think if she hears the words "making water" one more time she will FLIP!  Adding a anemone, maxima clam and sps corals are so exciting.(having them live and flourish is even better)

For those interested in the hobby here are my 4 lessons I learned.

1. When they say its all about keeping your water parameters consistent, they aren't joking.  EVERYTHING  in the tank benefits from it in a visual and almost seemingly instantaneous way.  To add to that the smaller the tank the harder keeping those parameters in check is.  I will say I think I have finally come up with a system that fully supplies the tank with everything it needs for success, and my method for doing so unfortunately is to incorporate lots of hardware.  4 items that have helped in my success here lately are chiller, calcium reactor, kalk reactor and biopellet reactor.  The combination of all 4 of those has made the tank so much happier.  All of those enable me to do less day to day task and sit back more and enjoy.

2. The amount of "energy" that goes into the display tank to make things thrive is truly amazing.  I don't mean my energy I am referring to the food & minerals that all of those things in the tank need to flourish.  It gives me a whole new perspective on our oceans and how much of an energy producing/consuming engine it is.  Alkalinity, Calcium, Magnesium, Phytoplankton, Zooplankton, Amino Acids, Carbon, Bacteria, the list goes on about what you need to add almost on a daily basis, not just to be successful but to create a similar habitat to what these animals have in our oceans.  They all need to be in balance.

3. Patience... I wish I had more... nough said.

4. Moving a reef tank is scary and something I don't wish for anyone.  You need experience because it is unlike anything as far as just building it.  Hire a professional, I did.  Mason the Fish Whisperer is the man.  I had zero fatalities.

I have 4 fish now which I so love.  For a while there I had none, as the 3 I had over time had jumped out.  I really think in hindsight that my water quality was bad and I was making some rookie mistakes.  Don't by an expensive pair of fish when you are just starting out.  Start small and buy the expensive ones later.

Anyways I have the ubiquitous clown fish, & a chromis,

A 6 line wrasse & a Maxima clam

A orange stripe prawn goby.

1 Rose bubble tip anemone & a Poreclain Crab

2 Peppermint Shrimp
1 Fighting Conch
All different kinds of snails
A few hermit crabs
& many different types of corals.

Just wanted everyone who hadn't had a chance to see it to have a look and enjoy.

Cheers
-M

Let There Be Water!

So I finally got water into the tank. Its been a long arduous learning experience. I just wanted to share a few pictures I took last night. I rigged the electrical for the pictures as the cabinet was not ready to house my 2 switches. I also have to remedy the stand pipes, I think I drilled the air holes too big and they are making an awful racket. I also need to add some foam to my baffles as some micro-bubbles are making it into the display tank from the sump. Major thing I have learned about this process/hobby (ITS ALL ABOUT PATIENCE).

Here is the link to the other pictures:

My fish tanks

Death and Revival

Hello! I know its been forever but I wanted to revive this bit of fun and tell all of you whats going on. The previous 55G freshwater got torn down and returned to Brian (a buddy of mine who lent me the tank). It's inhabitants where given to Heather who is taking wonderful care of them. I decided that I did not want to take care of 55G fresh and a saltwater reef at the same time. That being said a bit of my frustration with the Freshwater was the once a week trips to Academy to fill my Co2 tanks. Only now after reassembling the Co2 system on a much smaller 5G tank did I realize I had a leak in the old setup. The same 2 Co2 tanks last 6 months now.

Tanks I currently have include a 5G ada freshwater. It has 4 Sparkling Gouramis, live plants and a few snails. It sits in my bedroom and provides me with a great view to sit and veg out. I will be taking some pictures here shortly for everyone to see.

I also have a little 1G with a Betta named Plava, who sits in our living room with some bamboo. I know high maintenance right.

And the reason for the revival.... drum roll please. The Saltwater water reef is days away from having water in it. I know it only took me 3 years, but hey patience is a virtue. I wanted to use this as a hub to document and post pictures. I want to do a post of the equipment here shortly to get everyone acquainted with the setup and what it does.

New full tank shot

I took a few new pictures, playing with iso settings and exposure levels. I think this one turned out pretty good, as it doesn't have near as many hot spots. Also I took out the blue air hose and the yellow ph tester, which for me were a bit of an eye soar. All is well and looking good.

Just an Update!

Here is a new full tank shot, I am very happy with how all the plants have filled in. I really think this is probably the fullest it has ever been and this is after a pretty drastic pruning. There are a few things I still want to change. I want to swap out some of the really fast growing plants for some slower growing. Other than that just upgrading some of the component as far as the hardware is concerned and then it will be really done.Here is one of my new fish. He is a Checkerboard Cichlid. He is one of the most peculiar fish in the aquarium just by the way he swims and his feeding habits. He is alot of fun to watch.

Prego Shrimp, Clam Foot, and Nerita snail

This guy is called a nerita snail I just thought up close his stripes were pretty darn cool looking. He is about the size of a nickel.

Here she is my female prego amano shrimp. According to everyone on the internet these girls will get pregnant all the time but none of their offspring ever make it. The little guys need salt water to make it and can't handle the current of most modern day filters. If you click on the picture you will see a bunch of little eggs below her back legs.
Last but not least this is my little frest water clam trying to bury himself. He decided to stick this thing out directly after I was messing around in the water for a while. Think I finally turned him on the "right side".
Everything is going great plants are doing really well. Keep up with my dosing regime and water changes I will have a crazy planted tank here in about 3-4 weeks.

Weekly Maintenance

Thought I would take an overall picture. Did some pruning, water change and some dry dosing. I found a site that sells dry fertilizers for ALOT cheaper than the liquid fertilizers you get at the store. According to a few websites my plants should really take off now. We will see.