Hey folks, new to the hobby and thought I'd document my progress on a 50 gallon community reef tank I'm working on. So far just rocks, fish, and some inverts, but I hope to eventually add some live coral and get a real reef tank going .
My future mother-in-law gave me this tank, stand, and lighting system as a gift. It sat in my kitchen for quite a while before I got got around to researching and financing its setup.
Bought the life support system, which then sat in my tank until I decided I could afford the live rock haha... Painted the stand to match my kitchen cabinets in the meantime.
Equipment:
Bak-Pak 2R+ skimmer
Pure-Flo II RO Unit
Ocean Pulse Wavemakers Duo
(2) Hydor Koralia Evolution Pumps Evolution 550
Jager Thermostat Heater 150W
(2) 175W 12,000K Metal Halide Lamps
Set everything up + added live rock and sand:
50 pounds of live sand
10 lbs of reef rubble
65 pounds of dry live rock, mostly reef saver, but some Pukani and Tonga
10 pounds of cured Carribean live rock from the LFS
Also added a bottle of new tank bacteria mix.
After letting everything cure for about a month, added my cleanup crew:
(20) Red-leg dwarf hermit crabs
(20) Yellow-tip dwarf hermit crabs
(11) Nassarius snails
(7) Astraea snails
(6) Mexican turbo snails
(5) Scarlet reef-hermit crabs
(5) Super Tongan Nassarius snails
(1) Blue tuxedo urchin
Next came some fishes! (Not a great photo, I need to get another one)
(3) Ocellaris Clwonfish
(1) Royal gramma
(1) Blue damselfish
My future mother-in-law gave me this tank, stand, and lighting system as a gift. It sat in my kitchen for quite a while before I got got around to researching and financing its setup.
Bought the life support system, which then sat in my tank until I decided I could afford the live rock haha... Painted the stand to match my kitchen cabinets in the meantime.
Equipment:
Bak-Pak 2R+ skimmer
Pure-Flo II RO Unit
Ocean Pulse Wavemakers Duo
(2) Hydor Koralia Evolution Pumps Evolution 550
Jager Thermostat Heater 150W
(2) 175W 12,000K Metal Halide Lamps
Set everything up + added live rock and sand:
50 pounds of live sand
10 lbs of reef rubble
65 pounds of dry live rock, mostly reef saver, but some Pukani and Tonga
10 pounds of cured Carribean live rock from the LFS
Also added a bottle of new tank bacteria mix.
After letting everything cure for about a month, added my cleanup crew:
(20) Red-leg dwarf hermit crabs
(20) Yellow-tip dwarf hermit crabs
(11) Nassarius snails
(7) Astraea snails
(6) Mexican turbo snails
(5) Scarlet reef-hermit crabs
(5) Super Tongan Nassarius snails
(1) Blue tuxedo urchin
Next came some fishes! (Not a great photo, I need to get another one)
(3) Ocellaris Clwonfish
(1) Royal gramma
(1) Blue damselfish