Hello everyone,
A little about me.
I've been keeping FW aquariums for a good decade now, but never made the jump into saltwater for all the famous reasons: Too expensive, too difficult, not enough time, etc.
I'm extremely facetious and love a good joke, and I try to take things light hearted and have fun. What's the point of doing something if you can't enjoy it?
Recently my roommates old neighbor was throwing out a full SW setup, and my roommate being the ever-so-kind person he is took it off his hands and made the drive from California (where we grew up) to Wyoming (where we now live) with the tank, stand, and a box of supplies. A lot of the supplies were unusable or expired, but the tank itself just needed a little polish and it was good as new! The stand needed sanding, staining, and sealing so it wasn't good looking but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Plus when you get a saltwater setup for free you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
I spent ages researching what I wanted and finding the things I needed for it, and after a full five months of planning I set it up. It's been up for a good month and a half or so with everything doing well and looking very happy. It sure as hell was expensive (especially for a college budget) but I figure "Do it nice or do it twice" so I went and about the best I could afford.
I'm a huge zoa nut, that's literally the only reason I wanted to keep corals. Everything else is a bonus but I am in love with zoas.
A little about the tank:
I'm trying to keep it as low maintenance as physically possible. I kept freshwater walstad tanks for a while and took a bit of knowledge from that.
Dimensions: 36" Long x 14" wide x 16" deep, hex front acrylic, all in one. (91.5cm x 35.5 x 41 for those across the pond!)
Filtration: literally just activated carbon, a bunch of ceramic media, and some filter floss I change out every time it gets dirty
Powerhead: Icecap 1k gyre pump
I have no idea how much live rock or live sand, I just put in as much as I could afford and make it look good! Probably a good 50 lbs
Livestock Fish:
1 royal gramma
1 firefish (he's kicked the crud out of everything in the tank. I heard they were supposed to be friendly but the royal gramma is even scared of him)
1 true percula
2 banggai cardinalfish
1 Scarlet skunk cleaner
Corals:
3 unnamed zoas
1 hammer
1 toadstool
1 war coral (it was attached to the toadstools plug)
2 mushrooms (one ricordea and one actinodiscus)
(And a big box of named zoas on the way, arriving today!)
All the params are stable with 0ppm Amm, Nitrites, and nitrates. I don't have phosphate or alk/ calc testing but I don't really have anything that is absorbing it other than the coralline algae that's growing out the freaking wazoo. A little brown algae is growing but I'd rather have algae growing than not even being able to grow that!
A little about me.
I've been keeping FW aquariums for a good decade now, but never made the jump into saltwater for all the famous reasons: Too expensive, too difficult, not enough time, etc.
I'm extremely facetious and love a good joke, and I try to take things light hearted and have fun. What's the point of doing something if you can't enjoy it?
Recently my roommates old neighbor was throwing out a full SW setup, and my roommate being the ever-so-kind person he is took it off his hands and made the drive from California (where we grew up) to Wyoming (where we now live) with the tank, stand, and a box of supplies. A lot of the supplies were unusable or expired, but the tank itself just needed a little polish and it was good as new! The stand needed sanding, staining, and sealing so it wasn't good looking but hey, beggars can't be choosers. Plus when you get a saltwater setup for free you don't look a gift horse in the mouth.
I spent ages researching what I wanted and finding the things I needed for it, and after a full five months of planning I set it up. It's been up for a good month and a half or so with everything doing well and looking very happy. It sure as hell was expensive (especially for a college budget) but I figure "Do it nice or do it twice" so I went and about the best I could afford.
I'm a huge zoa nut, that's literally the only reason I wanted to keep corals. Everything else is a bonus but I am in love with zoas.
A little about the tank:
I'm trying to keep it as low maintenance as physically possible. I kept freshwater walstad tanks for a while and took a bit of knowledge from that.
Dimensions: 36" Long x 14" wide x 16" deep, hex front acrylic, all in one. (91.5cm x 35.5 x 41 for those across the pond!)
Filtration: literally just activated carbon, a bunch of ceramic media, and some filter floss I change out every time it gets dirty
Powerhead: Icecap 1k gyre pump
I have no idea how much live rock or live sand, I just put in as much as I could afford and make it look good! Probably a good 50 lbs
Livestock Fish:
1 royal gramma
1 firefish (he's kicked the crud out of everything in the tank. I heard they were supposed to be friendly but the royal gramma is even scared of him)
1 true percula
2 banggai cardinalfish
1 Scarlet skunk cleaner
Corals:
3 unnamed zoas
1 hammer
1 toadstool
1 war coral (it was attached to the toadstools plug)
2 mushrooms (one ricordea and one actinodiscus)
(And a big box of named zoas on the way, arriving today!)
All the params are stable with 0ppm Amm, Nitrites, and nitrates. I don't have phosphate or alk/ calc testing but I don't really have anything that is absorbing it other than the coralline algae that's growing out the freaking wazoo. A little brown algae is growing but I'd rather have algae growing than not even being able to grow that!
