fish farmer
2500 Club Member
Here's one...
Spring semester college tank 1990, my third attempt at saltwater.
38 gallon tank, under gravel filter, HOB Hagen Aquaclear....looks like the same filter I got around 1981. The conch shell and knobby coral piece were picked up in the Bahamas and I still have them. Sadly this tank was short lived, it busted a seam and leaked quickly when I was on spring break, my roommate rescued the fish but they perished at the LFS.
I upgraded to another 38 gallon in the summer of 1990, made a trickle filter out of a 10 gallon tank with supplies from a company called Scott's Tru Reef, return pump was a Rena, overflow box was the case for a Supreme HOB filter. I had the stock Pen Plax hood light and an additional grow light.
I still ran a UG filter. I didn't have any real live rock but did seed the tank with a couple of stones from the Rhode Island shoreline. I had lots of various pods and algae from that seeding. I had way to many juvenile fish in that tank, rainbow wrasse, picasso trigger, blue damsel, panther grouper, American eel, mandarin and yes....a yellow tang. I even used the tank for a behavior study for one of my classes. I don't remember any fish losses except for maybe a delicate fish or two when I was setting it up over the summer. I would do testing every week and WC's every other week I believe....tap water with declorinator. I don't remember any high ammonia spikes, I don't think I tested nitrates. During the winter break I kept the tank running without the fish (I was in a house with roommates). I packed up the fish and some of the rocks/bioballs and setup multiple tanks for housing at my parent's home. I shut the tank down in the spring of 1992 after moving it twice and brought all the fish to a LFS for credit.
Spring semester college tank 1990, my third attempt at saltwater.
38 gallon tank, under gravel filter, HOB Hagen Aquaclear....looks like the same filter I got around 1981. The conch shell and knobby coral piece were picked up in the Bahamas and I still have them. Sadly this tank was short lived, it busted a seam and leaked quickly when I was on spring break, my roommate rescued the fish but they perished at the LFS.
I upgraded to another 38 gallon in the summer of 1990, made a trickle filter out of a 10 gallon tank with supplies from a company called Scott's Tru Reef, return pump was a Rena, overflow box was the case for a Supreme HOB filter. I had the stock Pen Plax hood light and an additional grow light.
I still ran a UG filter. I didn't have any real live rock but did seed the tank with a couple of stones from the Rhode Island shoreline. I had lots of various pods and algae from that seeding. I had way to many juvenile fish in that tank, rainbow wrasse, picasso trigger, blue damsel, panther grouper, American eel, mandarin and yes....a yellow tang. I even used the tank for a behavior study for one of my classes. I don't remember any fish losses except for maybe a delicate fish or two when I was setting it up over the summer. I would do testing every week and WC's every other week I believe....tap water with declorinator. I don't remember any high ammonia spikes, I don't think I tested nitrates. During the winter break I kept the tank running without the fish (I was in a house with roommates). I packed up the fish and some of the rocks/bioballs and setup multiple tanks for housing at my parent's home. I shut the tank down in the spring of 1992 after moving it twice and brought all the fish to a LFS for credit.
