Hey everyone, So I have been lurking for years from site to site from reefsactuary, reef2reef, manhattanreefs, reefcentral, reefbuilders, 3reef, and thereeftank and I have finally decided to share some tank shots and experiences for all its worth. But first a little bit about myself: my name is Moe and I have been a freshwater keeper for about 7 years prior to taking the dive to saltwater. My first purchase to startup salt was a 150 tank used (tank was made in 2008). I made this purchase about a year and a half ago and kept it running at the bare minimum as it originally came with a fx5 canister filter squigglemouth:bleh) and seaclone skimmer squigglemouth:double bleh). I instantly made a makeshift DIY 20 gallon sump and ran it that way with the 2 fish that came with the tank in it. These 2 fish are still alive and are in my tank till this day, they are a Convict Tang name Mike which I love and a Domino Damsel name Martin. Name after my friends who helped me move the established tank. I kept wondering when will I upgrade and about a year later I did. and here is a list from what I had, to what it became:
Metal rusted stand-AGA wooden cabinet.
FX5-20 gallon sump- Trigger systems RUBY39S (custom sump about 45 gallons).
No return-mag3-mag5-mag12.
2 hamilton T8 Fixtures-72" Nova extreme Pro ATI and KZ bulbs
Seaclone-unknown brand with mag5 fractioning pump which pulls about 1 liter of dark thick skimmate every week (still need to upgrade to a custom EV240 to fit my stand with mag18).
Random powerheads- 2 koralia 4's- 2 Vortech MP40WES.
Old sand bed which i kept for a year (big mistake ill probably tell you all about it later in this thread,boy it was a hassle breakdown and 2 months of waiting)-280 lbs of clean pink samoa sand which is establishing itself from the live rock.
So far I've only spent 1700 dollars on my saltwater hobby and as you can see these upgrade were significant. After all of this I recently felt about a month ago that everything is stable enough to add fish/corals. So recently I made some additions but first a pic of Mike the survivor
All pics do not do my fish justice as they are taken with a blackberry phone and my photography skills are mediocre at best:wink:. This guy was living in 300 trates:crossedlips: when i first got him from his tank wipe out from the previous owner. sadly I have yet to get a picture of Martin but hes an ordinary healthy Domino Damsel use your imagination. The Paracanthurus tang named Dory (sorry couldn't resist, its behavior was too quirky not to name it that) was received about 2 months ago from a tank breakdown from my job. Oh did I forget to mention I maintain tanks as a job. So my first recent pickup from my supplier was a beautiful Sailfin Tang and heres his pic:
I guess its time for some tank shots and please let me know what you think of the rockwork as I have limited Live rock:neutral:
That was a Phone pic now here is a camera pic. please excuse the flash.
With the Sailfin added I decided to try my hand at Zoos as the starter coral and from my wholesale supplier I got an unidentified colony fresh from Austrailia, so if anyone has an ID please let me know. Once again sorry for bad pics.
And the zoa island Rockwork as a whole with a frag of Magicians at the top
I guess I can share sump Pics later and elaborate on what I did for that minimal year and a half. Let me know what you guys think and please be nice as this is my first write up of anything. And feel free to shoot me a PM or ask me any questions...Peace.
Metal rusted stand-AGA wooden cabinet.
FX5-20 gallon sump- Trigger systems RUBY39S (custom sump about 45 gallons).
No return-mag3-mag5-mag12.
2 hamilton T8 Fixtures-72" Nova extreme Pro ATI and KZ bulbs
Seaclone-unknown brand with mag5 fractioning pump which pulls about 1 liter of dark thick skimmate every week (still need to upgrade to a custom EV240 to fit my stand with mag18).
Random powerheads- 2 koralia 4's- 2 Vortech MP40WES.
Old sand bed which i kept for a year (big mistake ill probably tell you all about it later in this thread,boy it was a hassle breakdown and 2 months of waiting)-280 lbs of clean pink samoa sand which is establishing itself from the live rock.
So far I've only spent 1700 dollars on my saltwater hobby and as you can see these upgrade were significant. After all of this I recently felt about a month ago that everything is stable enough to add fish/corals. So recently I made some additions but first a pic of Mike the survivor
All pics do not do my fish justice as they are taken with a blackberry phone and my photography skills are mediocre at best:wink:. This guy was living in 300 trates:crossedlips: when i first got him from his tank wipe out from the previous owner. sadly I have yet to get a picture of Martin but hes an ordinary healthy Domino Damsel use your imagination. The Paracanthurus tang named Dory (sorry couldn't resist, its behavior was too quirky not to name it that) was received about 2 months ago from a tank breakdown from my job. Oh did I forget to mention I maintain tanks as a job. So my first recent pickup from my supplier was a beautiful Sailfin Tang and heres his pic:
I guess its time for some tank shots and please let me know what you think of the rockwork as I have limited Live rock:neutral:
That was a Phone pic now here is a camera pic. please excuse the flash.
With the Sailfin added I decided to try my hand at Zoos as the starter coral and from my wholesale supplier I got an unidentified colony fresh from Austrailia, so if anyone has an ID please let me know. Once again sorry for bad pics.
And the zoa island Rockwork as a whole with a frag of Magicians at the top
I guess I can share sump Pics later and elaborate on what I did for that minimal year and a half. Let me know what you guys think and please be nice as this is my first write up of anything. And feel free to shoot me a PM or ask me any questions...Peace.