Last October my husband bought me a used reef tank off craigslist. I had a FOWLR about 10 years ago, but with kids and such I didn't have time to keep up with it. So since the youngest was getting older my husband decided I needed a hobby
Well when we got the tank it was covered, COVERED in all kinds of algae. You couldn't even see in the tank. It came with compact lighting, two HOB filters, 100 lbs. live rock, three damsels, GSP, Kenya trees, and some candy cane coral. My original plan was to set it up temporarily, get rid of live stock and then sterilize and start over the tank. After a couple weeks my husband came home with a porcupine puffer, so the plan didn't take place. He happens to be the impatient one We ended up adding a watchman Goby, Coral Beauty Angle, Maroon Clownfish, Got rid of damsels, and a tiny blue hippo tang. So fast forward to a couple weeks ago I decided to get a mandarin Dragonet as well as a HOB protein skimmer. 4 days later mandarin is dead, followed by puffer, Goby, and tang. At first I was advised that what they had was ich, and given bad advice on how to treat from LFS. However I never saw spots on fish until day before they died, so I'm thinking it was velvet. All I had left was the corals/weeds, clownfish and angel. I took all corals to LFS, and set up a 20 gallon Quarentine tank for my survivors (which I needed to anyways). This thread will document my rebuild process. I have aquired a sump as well since.
I've decided to kill most of my live rock and I have purchased new sand. Pink Fiji Agronite. The sand currently in tank is from previous owner and has a ton of sediment all over it. I will keep updating this thread with my progress and ask for suggestions on anything you see. Thank you!
I will post pics asap.
Well when we got the tank it was covered, COVERED in all kinds of algae. You couldn't even see in the tank. It came with compact lighting, two HOB filters, 100 lbs. live rock, three damsels, GSP, Kenya trees, and some candy cane coral. My original plan was to set it up temporarily, get rid of live stock and then sterilize and start over the tank. After a couple weeks my husband came home with a porcupine puffer, so the plan didn't take place. He happens to be the impatient one We ended up adding a watchman Goby, Coral Beauty Angle, Maroon Clownfish, Got rid of damsels, and a tiny blue hippo tang. So fast forward to a couple weeks ago I decided to get a mandarin Dragonet as well as a HOB protein skimmer. 4 days later mandarin is dead, followed by puffer, Goby, and tang. At first I was advised that what they had was ich, and given bad advice on how to treat from LFS. However I never saw spots on fish until day before they died, so I'm thinking it was velvet. All I had left was the corals/weeds, clownfish and angel. I took all corals to LFS, and set up a 20 gallon Quarentine tank for my survivors (which I needed to anyways). This thread will document my rebuild process. I have aquired a sump as well since.I've decided to kill most of my live rock and I have purchased new sand. Pink Fiji Agronite. The sand currently in tank is from previous owner and has a ton of sediment all over it. I will keep updating this thread with my progress and ask for suggestions on anything you see. Thank you!
I will post pics asap.
