This will be a lot of copy over from my intro thread but I will use this to update any major changes to the tank as I go.
My original plan was to have an aggressive tank so I set up a little 30 gallon with some fish but on the upgrade to the 75 I apparently didn't keep a close enough eye on things and lost pretty much all my fish so I decided I would just go with a peaceful, soft coral tank.
Started out with a 75 gallon tank that my wife bought off marketplace and used as our main tank for 9 months, LFS owner was upgrading to a 180 drilled so we got her 150 with overflow boxes and sump for too good of a deal. Once her tank was switched over and running good I decided to make a tank of my own in the basement. We had a stand custom made by a local guy who has done a few pieces of furniture for us.
Equipment:
18" CurrentUSA lights (x2)
Aquatop 500uv Canister Filter
Sicce powerheads (x2)
hob refugium with an old kessil 160 tuna blue for a light(set to full white)
I went with Caribsea Hawaiian Black sand to be different from the normal look. Between that and the black vinyl on the backwall it has made fish choices require a little more consideration. I also found out that these CurrentUSA lights are not great for growing coral, except apparently disco and rhodactis mushrooms, for some reason ricordeas don't fair too well. I haven't figured out what is up with that.
I read about this lights being good for only some soft corals when I was researching them. I went with them anyway due to budget at the time considering we just bought all new stuff for the wife's 150. I may eventually upgrade them but this tank is supposed to be a stress-free(ya right), low maintenance tank so I am not rushing out to spend a bunch of money on it all the time.(plus I have two other hobbies to support)
My current stocklist is:
Mocha Ocellaris Clown
Ocellaris Clown
Green Chromis
Royal Gramma
Bar Goby (x4)
Flametail Blenny
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
Blood Shrimp
PJ Cardinals (x2) (added 12.10.24)
Blue Eye Kole Tang (added 2.11.24)
Still planning either a dwarf angel or tang but haven't settled on anything just yet.
Corals:
As I stated above mushrooms seem to be about the only thing that lives under these lights so I have a fair selection of discos and rhodactis mushrooms and a newly added rock covered in GSP from my wife's tank.
I attached some pictures of the tank as we were setting it up and after it was up and running. The last picture was from tonight. I have kind of let the glass get away from me so it's not spotless like it used to be but like I said, this is supposed to be a low maintenance, stress free style tank so I don't spend a whole lot of time scrubbing it down constantly.
My original plan was to have an aggressive tank so I set up a little 30 gallon with some fish but on the upgrade to the 75 I apparently didn't keep a close enough eye on things and lost pretty much all my fish so I decided I would just go with a peaceful, soft coral tank.
Started out with a 75 gallon tank that my wife bought off marketplace and used as our main tank for 9 months, LFS owner was upgrading to a 180 drilled so we got her 150 with overflow boxes and sump for too good of a deal. Once her tank was switched over and running good I decided to make a tank of my own in the basement. We had a stand custom made by a local guy who has done a few pieces of furniture for us.
Equipment:
18" CurrentUSA lights (x2)
Aquatop 500uv Canister Filter
Sicce powerheads (x2)
hob refugium with an old kessil 160 tuna blue for a light(set to full white)
I went with Caribsea Hawaiian Black sand to be different from the normal look. Between that and the black vinyl on the backwall it has made fish choices require a little more consideration. I also found out that these CurrentUSA lights are not great for growing coral, except apparently disco and rhodactis mushrooms, for some reason ricordeas don't fair too well. I haven't figured out what is up with that.
I read about this lights being good for only some soft corals when I was researching them. I went with them anyway due to budget at the time considering we just bought all new stuff for the wife's 150. I may eventually upgrade them but this tank is supposed to be a stress-free(ya right), low maintenance tank so I am not rushing out to spend a bunch of money on it all the time.(plus I have two other hobbies to support)
My current stocklist is:
Mocha Ocellaris Clown
Ocellaris Clown
Green Chromis
Royal Gramma
Bar Goby (x4)
Flametail Blenny
McCosker's Flasher Wrasse
Blood Shrimp
PJ Cardinals (x2) (added 12.10.24)
Blue Eye Kole Tang (added 2.11.24)
Still planning either a dwarf angel or tang but haven't settled on anything just yet.
Corals:
As I stated above mushrooms seem to be about the only thing that lives under these lights so I have a fair selection of discos and rhodactis mushrooms and a newly added rock covered in GSP from my wife's tank.
I attached some pictures of the tank as we were setting it up and after it was up and running. The last picture was from tonight. I have kind of let the glass get away from me so it's not spotless like it used to be but like I said, this is supposed to be a low maintenance, stress free style tank so I don't spend a whole lot of time scrubbing it down constantly.
Last edited: