ReefAddictionAnonymous
New Member
Hello All. Firstly, I've always wanted a SW aquarium, never had the "guts" to do it. Always heard, "oh, it's so complicated." Well. Here at 45. My 10yo son, wants a fish tank. Flashing in my mind is a bright orange neon sign "reef tank!"
Quickly read articles about saltwater beginn
ers; then a visit to my LFS. Get sold a 13.5 all in one Evo. Sounds great. Cycling? Nah, I'm going old school, fish in tank cycling. Can't wait to get it going. So I buy 2 damsels, a blue spot goby, 5 hermits, 5 snails (not even sure which hermits or snails! Lol). Bought 4 pieces of rock, a bag of sand. And walla! Were up and running.
A humble set up. Now, the snails and hermits were an overkill. But. That's hindsight.
Fritz master kit and were off test. Amazing, it was like chem labs from years before. So much fun. Checking ammonia, nitrites. Waiting for the nitrites to zero out.
And that was my start. It cycled in 10 days. The tank is 6 months old now. It only took 3 weeks for me to buy a 75gal and begin that setup. Keeping this 13.5 active as a quarantine setup. ;) here it is today. With 2 bicolor Royal grammas, a red firefish, 5 green/blue chromis. Soft corals include a Duncan, indigo gold torch (my absolute favorite), a couple zoas, and some isolated GSP (isolated being the key word)
Oh yea. I ditched the original filtration and made a 3D printed design using filter floss, bio pellets, and carbon. Ditched the light and "customized" the canopy for an amazon light. The tank is going to be absolutely amazing as it matures. And for a quarantine tank. Not too shabby.
Quickly read articles about saltwater beginn
ers; then a visit to my LFS. Get sold a 13.5 all in one Evo. Sounds great. Cycling? Nah, I'm going old school, fish in tank cycling. Can't wait to get it going. So I buy 2 damsels, a blue spot goby, 5 hermits, 5 snails (not even sure which hermits or snails! Lol). Bought 4 pieces of rock, a bag of sand. And walla! Were up and running.
A humble set up. Now, the snails and hermits were an overkill. But. That's hindsight.
Fritz master kit and were off test. Amazing, it was like chem labs from years before. So much fun. Checking ammonia, nitrites. Waiting for the nitrites to zero out.
And that was my start. It cycled in 10 days. The tank is 6 months old now. It only took 3 weeks for me to buy a 75gal and begin that setup. Keeping this 13.5 active as a quarantine setup. ;) here it is today. With 2 bicolor Royal grammas, a red firefish, 5 green/blue chromis. Soft corals include a Duncan, indigo gold torch (my absolute favorite), a couple zoas, and some isolated GSP (isolated being the key word)
Oh yea. I ditched the original filtration and made a 3D printed design using filter floss, bio pellets, and carbon. Ditched the light and "customized" the canopy for an amazon light. The tank is going to be absolutely amazing as it matures. And for a quarantine tank. Not too shabby.
