Hello and welcome to the Marine Aquarium Club of SW Florida.

[Ron Reefman]

Hello and welcome to the Marine Aquarium Club of SW Florida. We have started this user forum because the Southwest Florida Marine Aquarium Society has basically gone out of business. Their FB page still exists, but that's about it.

My last tank:

I'm now in the process of setting up a couple of 40g tanks that are aio (All In One) systems. One is a 40g Breeder with a Fuji insert and the other is a diy built by me, 40g cube and it's waiting for a custom made insert from Tenecor. I can't wait to get that one moving!

 

[Ron Reefman]

Well, 4 months in and there is finally somebody wanting to join in!

 

[drawman]

Hey @Ron Reefman I moved to Naples last Summer. Would love to meet people in SW Florida not sure how many reefers are out there. Is it just you and me for now?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hey @Ron Reefman I moved to Naples last Summer. Would love to meet people in SW Florida not sure how many reefers are out there. Is it just you and me for now?

There are quite a few reefers in the Area. There used to be a club called Southwest Florida Marine Aquarium Society (SWFMAS for short), but it went under, more or less from lack of interest except from a few hardcore members (like me). That's why I tried to start this up, but it hasn't gone anywhere either. SWFMAS still has a few people who visit the FaceBook page, but not many.

So tell me about yourself.

I've been in the hobby for about 25 years. I currently I have 2 tanks, a 40g breeder aio and a 40g cube aio. I've had a lot of bigger and more sophisticated tanks, but I've downsized and switched to aio tanks to make life simpler. The 40 breeder is kind of a catch all tank with 2 clowns, a Black Widow BTA, a RFA, some soft coral, a rock boring urchin, a small sea star, a small sea cucumber and a small mantis shrimp. The 40g cube is a DIY tank I made a few years ago and it's all coral, a couple of tiny feather dusters half a dozen RFAs and a couple of maxi-mini anemones.

I do go to the Keys 2 to 4 times a year and go snorkeling and collecting. A lot of my CUC get collected in the Keys. I had a 11' Zodiac... but it just blew out a tube. So we are now considering if we want to get another one or sell the 20hp outboard and trailer. I think we'll get another inflatable. We find snorkeling in the Middle Keys on some shallow reef flats to be a lot of fun and very peaceful.

 

[drawman]

There are quite a few reefers in the Area. There used to be a club called Southwest Florida Marine Aquarium Society (SWFMAS for short), but it went under, more or less from lack of interest except from a few hardcore members (like me). That's why I tried to start this up, but it hasn't gone anywhere either. SWFMAS still has a few people who visit the FaceBook page, but not many.

So tell me about yourself.

I've been in the hobby for about 25 years. I currently I have 2 tanks, a 40g breeder aio and a 40g cube aio. I've had a lot of bigger and more sophisticated tanks, but I've downsized and switched to aio tanks to make life simpler. The 40 breeder is kind of a catch all tank with 2 clowns, a Black Widow BTA, a RFA, some soft coral, a rock boring urchin, a small sea star, a small sea cucumber and a small mantis shrimp. The 40g cube is a DIY tank I made a few years ago and it's all coral, a couple of tiny feather dusters half a dozen RFAs and a couple of maxi-mini anemones.

I do go to the Keys 2 to 4 times a year and go snorkeling and collecting. A lot of my CUC get collected in the Keys. I had a 11' Zodiac... but it just blew out a tube. So we are now considering if we want to get another one or sell the 20hp outboard and trailer. I think we'll get another inflatable. We find snorkeling in the Middle Keys on some shallow reef flats to be a lot of fun and very peaceful.

I've had reef tanks on and off since college about 2005 so I guess I'm coming up on about 18 years.

I've been slowly setting my RSR250 back up but with work it's been a slow process. I have coral scheduled to ship out early May so it will officially be a reef again. I'm starting with LPS but once they settle in I'll make it a mixed reef with SPS and LPS. I may end up upgrading the tank but I'm in an apartment now so I need to keep it reasonable...would be nice to go to a 4 foot tank.

That's awesome that you go to the keys would love to hear what the good spots are for snorkeling. I haven't been there yet but want to take a long weekend trip at some point. I'm actually in the Caribbean right now on vacation so I'm getting my snorkeling fix.

It's too bad there isn't much more interest in a local club. Maybe I should join the FB page?

 

[Ron Reefman]

Joining the FB page certainly can't hurt.

As for snorkeling sites in the Keys... it kind of depends on what you are looking for.

Big reefs: IMHO the big reefs out from the Middle Keys are really the best. Out from the Upper Keys are OK, but I've only done that are twice. And I've never gone out from the Lower Keys. To be honest, I don't find looking a coral reefs from the surface (snorkeling) where most of the cool views are deeper as being worth more than a trip or two. If you are scuba diving, that's probably a whole different story. But either way, the big reefs are protected and there is no collecting of anything. In fact, they don't want you to even touch anything!

Shallow reefs (or reef flats): I enjoy being able to get 'up close and personal' when snorkeling. My wife and I started doing 'off the beach' snorkeling back around 2000. We found a number of good places. Bahia Honda State Park is really good and a site commonly know as 'The Horseshoe' is also good (especially if you are doing any collecting). Eventually we got a Zodiac and started exploring some of the near shore islands. Little Money Key, Money Key, Molasses Key and Little Bahia Honda Key are all great fun.

Being able to pick up rocks and search for all kinds of animals has always been my interest. We find a variety of snails and hermit crabs, emerald crabs, sea stars, sea cucumbers, anemones, feather dusters, clams, urchins, shrimp and more. Most would be OK in an aquarium, but some can be troublesome. I even have a 2-3" mantis shrimp in my 40g breeder. Over the last year it has not been a problem at all.

Here is a thread you may find useful:

Snorkeling & Collecting Discussion Group

Hello and welcome to what I hope will be an interesting and useful forum for talking about snorkeling and collecting of wild marine animals. I live in Florida and I’m able to go snorkeling in the Florida Keys several times a year. But I by no means want to limit this to just my snorkeling here...

www.reef2reef.com

If you are ever considering collecting in the Keys and want to talk, I'm available... maybe we could even meet for lunch sometime?

 

[mryan04290]

Hi there! I’m local to fort Myers I’d love to talk reefing since I’m fairly new to the area! I definitely am looking to trade with folks as well as collect from the wild (which I already do with my university) I recently got a 90 gallon and have a 14 cube as well!

 

[drawman]

Hi there! I’m local to fort Myers I’d love to talk reefing since I’m fairly new to the area! I definitely am looking to trade with folks as well as collect from the wild (which I already do with my university) I recently got a 90 gallon and have a 14 cube as well!

That's great! I don't have much to trade at the moment but always up for talking reefing. Are you running a mixed reef?

 

[mryan04290]

That's great! I don't have much to trade at the moment but always up for talking reefing. Are you running a mixed reef?

Yes mixed reef in both so far definitely hesitant to get into SPS since it’s not only an investment but also difficult but I managed to snag a good deal on an Acro and a Monti frag from the LFS

 

[Ron Reefman]

Wow! It's nice that at last we have a couple of people here who are willing to talk. I started this forum after the SWFMAS (SW Florida Marine Aquarium Society) collapsed. I've been in the hobby for 20+ years, since shortly after I moved here for Ohio. I currently have two 40g tanks. One in a 40 breeder Fuji AIO (All In One) insert with some unusual critters (a small manyis shrimp and a couple of Rock Boring Urchins), a couple of clownfish (rescues) and some coral. The other is a 40g cube that I build myself and it's also an AIO. It has a lot of young corals and some clean up crew, but no fish.

mryan04290, you say you are new to the area. Are you here in SW Florida? I'm in Cape Coral. Based on your avatar, it looks like you might be a diver? I don't dive, but I've spent a lot of time snorkeling in the Keys. We used to go 3 to 5 times a year for a few days. Now we have backed off and only do 2 or 3 trips a year. I do some collecting and my wife does some photography. There is a link below to a pretty big thread about snorkeling and collecting in the Keys.

How long have you been in the aquarium hobby?

 

[mryan04290]

Wow! It's nice that at last we have a couple of people here who are willing to talk. I started this forum after the SWFMAS (SW Florida Marine Aquarium Society) collapsed. I've been in the hobby for 20+ years, since shortly after I moved here for Ohio. I currently have two 40g tanks. One in a 40 breeder Fuji AIO (All In One) insert with some unusual critters (a small manyis shrimp and a couple of Rock Boring Urchins), a couple of clownfish (rescues) and some coral. The other is a 40g cube that I build myself and it's also an AIO. It has a lot of young corals and some clean up crew, but no fish.

mryan04290, you say you are new to the area. Are you here in SW Florida? I'm in Cape Coral. Based on your avatar, it looks like you might be a diver? I don't dive, but I've spent a lot of time snorkeling in the Keys. We used to go 3 to 5 times a year for a few days. Now we have backed off and only do 2 or 3 trips a year. I do some collecting and my wife does some photography. There is a link below to a pretty big thread about snorkeling and collecting in the Keys.

How long have you been in the aquarium hobby?

I’m not that new to the area I moved from Chicago to fort Myers for school in 2018 and yes I’m a very active diver in the area I dive with my school for research on red tide as well as benthic surveys here in the gulf and I’ve definitely found some one of a kind things for my tank! I spend most of my fun diving up in Venice collecting shark teeth which I have WAY too many of! I’ve been into aquariums my whole life and worked at one of the LFS’s before it closed down a year or 2 ago but this year was my first attempt at a reef tank and so far so good!

 

[Ron Reefman]

I’m not that new to the area I moved from Chicago to fort Myers for school in 2018 and yes I’m a very active diver in the area I dive with my school for research on red tide as well as benthic surveys here in the gulf and I’ve definitely found some one of a kind things for my tank! I spend most of my fun diving up in Venice collecting shark teeth which I have WAY too many of! I’ve been into aquariums my whole life and worked at one of the LFS’s before it closed down a year or 2 ago but this year was my first attempt at a reef tank and so far so good!

That's super interesting. We've done the shark's tooth search on the beach. It must be fun to do it out where they originate from. My connection to the Venice beach is a photo. Only for a day or two in the late Fall or early Spring does the sun set directly out under the Pier at Sharky's. Someday, a full moon will set at this exact direction and the sun will be just lighting up the sky to the east and I'll get this photo with the moon instead!

I worked for a couple of years with Ocean Revive (Portland OR.). They sold led light fixtures. I worked as the answer guy on a few websites where they advertised and worker the MACNA booth with the owner.

What kind of unusual critters do you have?

I thought about a tank for small predators or dangerous critters like the mantis shrimp, upside down jellyfish, fire worm, small lionfish, etc. But they all like such different environments that it would be VERY difficult to keep.

Having been in the area for about 5 years, I'd wager that you've done some diving in the Keys?

 

[mryan04290]

That's super interesting. We've done the shark's tooth search on the beach. It must be fun to do it out where they originate from. My connection to the Venice beach is a photo. Only for a day or two in the late Fall or early Spring does the sun set directly out under the Pier at Sharky's. Someday, a full moon will set at this exact direction and the sun will be just lighting up the sky to the east and I'll get this photo with the moon instead!

I worked for a couple of years with Ocean Revive (Portland OR.). They sold led light fixtures. I worked as the answer guy on a few websites where they advertised and worker the MACNA booth with the owner.

What kind of unusual critters do you have?

I thought about a tank for small predators or dangerous critters like the mantis shrimp, upside down jellyfish, fire worm, small lionfish, etc. But they all like such different environments that it would be VERY difficult to keep.

Having been in the area for about 5 years, I'd wager that you've done some diving in the Keys?

That’s an awesome picture!

I have a few things from diving in the gulf I haven’t seen anywhere else like my one of a kind gulf zoas that I collected from 70 feet

I also have an anemone shrimp that I think is a Pendersons cleaner shrimp also from the gulf. And I recently caught an Atlantic doctor fish for my 90 gallon!

 

[kmccloud8128]

Hey Ron,

This is Ken McCloud, I lived in Fort Myers and we got to know each other while involved in SWFMAS. In fact, you built a 40gal glass tank for me some 10 plus years ago. I moved to Memphis about 7 years ago and have been out of the hobby since then. But, I can't wait to get back into it. I am giving serious thought to starting up a nano tank just to give me something to look at and work on. I plan on retiring back to SWFL in a few years and at that time, will most certainly get back involved. It was great to see you are still active in the hobby and look forward to getting together again in the future.

 

[Ron Reefman]

Hey Ron,

This is Ken McCloud, I lived in Fort Myers and we got to know each other while involved in SWFMAS. In fact, you built a 40gal glass tank for me some 10 plus years ago. I moved to Memphis about 7 years ago and have been out of the hobby since then. But, I can't wait to get back into it. I am giving serious thought to starting up a nano tank just to give me something to look at and work on. I plan on retiring back to SWFL in a few years and at that time, will most certainly get back involved. It was great to see you are still active in the hobby and look forward to getting together again in the future.

Hi Ken, I remember you very well! It's great to hear from you! Yes, I'm still active in the aquarium world, but I've slowed down a lot. I have two tanks that are both 40g. One is a 40 breeder AIO (all-in-one) and the other is a 40g cube that I built and it's got a custom AIO insert.

They are both so easy to take care of because of the small number of fish and therefore so little food being added. Both run filter socks and heaters (for those cool winter days). No sumps, no skimmers and I dose by hand every morning. They both have Reef Breeders led fixtures.

The breeder is mostly for the things we (my wife & I) collect locally and in the Keys. It has a mantis shrimp that is approaching 3" long now. I collected it about 18 months ago when it was about 1 1/2" long. I also have 5 rock flower anemones, a few small rock boring urchins, an emerald crab, some gorgonians and lots of various snails (all collected). There are also 2 clowns given to me as rescues.

The cube is mostly coral (50% sps, 35% lps & 15% softies). There are also 5 rock flowers (bought) and 3 maxi-mini anemones. No fish but lots of clean up crew. It's only been running for about 10 months and the corals are just starting to take off.

I'd highly recommend a small tank with an AIO system as a easy way to get back in. If you are interested in staying in touch here, I'd be happy to carry on a conversation. SWFMAS is mostly gone away except for a small presence on FaceBook.

 

[kmccloud8128]

Hi Ken, I remember you very well! It's great to hear from you! Yes, I'm still active in the aquarium world, but I've slowed down a lot. I have two tanks that are both 40g. One is a 40 breeder AIO (all-in-one) and the other is a 40g cube that I built and it's got a custom AIO insert.

They are both so easy to take care of because of the small number of fish and therefore so little food being added. Both run filter socks and heaters (for those cool winter days). No sumps, no skimmers and I dose by hand every morning. They both have Reef Breeders led fixtures.

The breeder is mostly for the things we (my wife & I) collect locally and in the Keys. It has a mantis shrimp that is approaching 3" long now. I collected it about 18 months ago when it was about 1 1/2" long. I also have 5 rock flower anemones, a few small rock boring urchins, an emerald crab, some gorgonians and lots of various snails (all collected). There are also 2 clowns given to me as rescues.

The cube is mostly coral (50% sps, 35% lps & 15% softies). There are also 5 rock flowers (bought) and 3 maxi-mini anemones. No fish but lots of clean up crew. It's only been running for about 10 months and the corals are just starting to take off.

I'd highly recommend a small tank with an AIO system as an easy way to get back in. If you are interested in staying in touch here, I'd be happy to carry on a conversation. SWFMAS is mostly gone away except for a small presence on FaceBook.

It’s funny. I may start up a very simple nano with pretty much just some LPS corals and a critter or two while we are still up here. But, I can’t wait till I get down to Florida and setup maybe a 40 gallon on a custom built oversized stand (my son and I will build) My idea is that I will run a large sump with decent skimmer but large refugium.

My first tank was by far my best one over the years. It was a used 75 gal tank with a very large sump with much of it dedicated to a refugium. I had no nuisance algae, and only did water changes every 3 weeks. A ton of macro algae kept the tank pretty stable. I remember that a small half inch piece of montipora that I got from Jeff became as big as a basket ball. I also grew out one of the prettiest birds nest corals I have ever seen in a tank.

I am hoping to replicate that with a smaller tank but maybe even larger refugium. Plus this time also add an ATO. My goal will be to create the most stable aquarium that I can.

I was thinking of something around 40 gal, with three holes drilled with a corner overflow. Then have as big a sump as I can fit in the stand that we build

 

[Ron Reefman]

I like your plans. I went the other direction.

The All-In-One tanks are becoming more and more popular, so I thought I'd give that a try. I can't believe how easy it's been. I have an ATO on each tank. but it only gets to work when I dose each morning and shut the pumps down so the ATO gets to run. Every Monday I do a SG test with a cheap hydrometer, then test Ca and alk with Salifert test kits. Tuesdays I clean or change the filter socks and top off the ATO reservoirs.

I do a 20g water change in the cube about once every couple of months and once every 6 months in the breeder tank. I try to just keep heartier corals and it's very rare that anything dies other than snails. And I get a regular restock of as many snails as I need when we go snorkeling in the Keys or go to Bunche Beach at low tide. Just last night I picked up 30+ small stomatella snails because it was low tide when I was there to photograph the sunset behind the Sanibel Lighthouse! I just looked to check my spelling of stomatella and saw that they are being sold for $2 each or more! Boy I love living in Florida!

 

[kmccloud8128]

Yea, from what I see, the AIO tanks are pretty nice. But, I've just had too many issues over the years with nuisance algae and really want to make sure that a nicely stocked refugium with different types of macro algae can keep that from happening.

I am looking forward to hitting the inlets and such to see what critters can be collected. I'll need to get back up to speed on what's legal and what isn't.

 

[Ron Reefman]

My AIO tanks are doing well enough that for the first time since I switched to downsize with two 40g tanks, I now have coral to sell! But it's just simple stuff. A small colony of hammer coral I got from Jeff has been fragged down and I have encrusting gorgonians and green zoas both from the Keys that are taking over the 40g breeder.

I had some algae issues with the 40g cube. It came into the tank with Jeff's hammer corals, which it partially why I fragged them. But API's Algaefix cured the problem (along with some serious harvesting by me) in just a couple of weeks. Actually, I saw the issue start with the Hammer, but let it get out of control.

I have some new frags coming on Wednesday from AquaSD. I'm just trying to color up the cube and add a Coral Banded Shrimp. I'm pretty firm on not adding any fish to the cube. I could see my way clear to add something to the 40g breeder... maybe a dwarf angel?

 

[kmccloud8128]

So how did the new frags do? Did you get the shrimp?

I’m starting my research to plan out the build. I am really hoping that I can find a 40 to 60 gallon drilled tank (hopefully 32” or so long), very similar to the one you built for me years ago. I’m thinking that my son and I will build a 48” wide stand to accommodate a larger sump.

I posted some questions concerning seeding dry rock to get that going before I start the tank build. I am going to take it very slow and make sure that I do the best I can to make this the best build I have had.