Dragyns 150g Reef Tank Adventure!

[Dragyn]

In early june I found an amazing deal on craigslist. a 150 g custom acrylic sw tank with everything it needs.

It was up and running when we went to check it out and it had a fish in it but the tank had crashed and to be honest im supprised the fish could live in such conditions but it looked like a goby of some sort. the light had fried itself and sparked everytime it was plugged in so the tank was in the dark. It looked as if they had brought anything they could find home.. there were bottles and cement blocks with barnacles and gunk all over them random shells and stones from the beach and well it was a mess but it was running.
So, Early birthday to me, we got it for 200 bucks. :xd:

After recruiting a buddy of ours we went back to get the now draining tank. buckets of rock and sand were loaded in the truck and the tank and custom stand were taken apart and loaded very carefully. The sump and skimmer and everything else was pieced and loaded and we took my new tank home!
Cleaning would begin the next day.
For some reason i didnt think to document any of this but, ill know for the next tank.

I decided that i would not risk using his rocks or sand or crap just in case so we dumped it all and scrubbed scrubbed scrubbed! The tank was a chore and my son had to climb inside to get all the previous sand out of the overflow. It was finally cleaned and we began bringing it all in the house...
The tank came in piece by piece and it was HEAVY!!! omg! but it fit thru the door and assembly was pretty straightforward... or so we thought. After we filled it with water we got from a secluded shoreline right around the corner from the house, we realized the bulk heads were leaking! A lot! easy fix... and finally after some finagling and fussing around the tank was filled and running.

The original lighting like i said was crap so i used a light hood from one of my ten gallon freshies. The tank was dark and dreary but The system worked and the skimmer was going crazy and YAY!!!

 

[Dragyn]

When I got home from work the next day the kids and their father had picked up some sand and some pin fish in the process. The sand had little snails and critters in it as well as an itty bitty little baby lobster, So cute and tiny about a half a centimeter in length. We figured using ocean water and truly live sand would help the tank cycle faster.
That first week was torture.. testing the parameters constantly and hoping that things would work out. I apparently am very impatient when it comes to my salt water tank.

Week two and we went skimming in town at a park on the water... we caught file fish and a seahorse or two, some shrimp and more pinfish. we even got a pipe fish or two. everything seemed to be doing great, the tank had fairly even readings and the fish thrived!I did get a large flourecent light from the garage we had lying around and used that in place of the ten gallon hood . it was much better for the time being.

 

[Dragyn]

Over the course of time I added various fish decorations i had lying around.. it looked so barren and anked but still full of fish and life. The Fish did amazing ly well and soon i noticed the life in the sand. Tiny snails and little seabed worms clear and safe after i researched. For the life of me i cant remember the name now.

The fish loved swimming thru the decorations but I wanted a tank to look all bright colorful and salt water redfish... Still trying to take things as slow as possible I bought an insert and some damsels.

The lighting from the flourescent was better than the hood so i thought well what can i get besides the damsels. Petco had a super cheap condy and I brought him home. We named him blobby. He was a nice condylactis and didnt sting us or the fish and the file fish were mean to him. so they had to go. Pin Fish too!
After a while I bought an Led unit from saltwater fish.com as well as a cleaner crew and some other stuff that came DOA... Grrr Oh and the Led... Was sooo tiny in comparison to my tank it was basically useless. I still have a credit with them that i will use someday soon.

 

[Dragyn]

I used the fluorescent in conjunction with the Led for a while and added some large shells we had at home. I quickly learned the difference between some of the damsels. The sergeant majors were Jerks and some of the others thought they could be. Blobby was doing well after the removal of the wild ocean fish. so well that we purchased another Condy and named her shelly. It wasn't until the sergeant majors reached nearly two inches that I decided to donate them to the kids school. It took me nearly a month to catch those stupid fish!

 

[Dragyn]

Time flew by and in the process i found a great deal on a light from Hamilton technology. The Fiji Sun HO t5 light kit with hanging kit for 120! Woot! I could see my Fishes and the colors and the critters, it wasn't until after i got the light that i picked up Matt (see above picture first) Matt was a very large Carpet anemone that was reduced at Petco. He is nearly 12 inches when fully open and well, I got him for 20 bucks! Badow! He instantly fell in love with the large shell (I regret his choice of living arrangement later)

 

[Dragyn]