Dallaswinefan
03/27/2017, 09:00 AM
It occurs to me that doing one of these threads will be a terrific way for me to keep a longterm journal of what my tank is doing and what I'm doing with it. So here goes:
I've dreamed of saltwater for many years, but didn't have time, money, or space for a saltwater tank until now. I had a fw tank for many years and really liked it. I'm an airline pilot, so I'm gone a lot, and it was a small yet significant joy of being home to get up, turn the tank light on, and feed my fish. As a snorkeler and scuba diver, I always looked forward to a reef tank. Now I'm finally getting to put that dream together.
I prepped and prepped and prepped and prepped for this tank. I read volumes I and II of The Reef Aquarium, Borneman's Aquarium Corals, Sprung's Corals, lurked on here, The Reef Tank, and *********. However, like many things in life, reading about it can only get you so far. The real meat is when the aquarium is lighting your living room, there are critters depending on you to not bone it up, and walking through a big aquarium (like I did yesterday at the Dallas World Aquarium) and go from "that's a pretty critter" to "I wonder if that critter would fit into my aquarium?"
Enough soliloquizing. Now for some deets and pics. I got a RS650 with AI LEDs. We set it up on March 15, 2017. I've been working closely with my LFS guy, and prepaid for him to come every two weeks to monitor and maintain the tank for the first year. If, after that I am ready to do it all myself I will do so. If not I'll keep him coming every two weeks.
We used well-established purple live rock and Caribbean reef sand. We chose that because it supposedly gives my tank a head start on cycling. Sure enough, even after adding four fish I still haven't been able to detect any nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia.
So far my livestock consists of four clowns, two true percolas and two false percolas. They are awesome. The two false percolas cluster up in a corner, and the two true percolas hang out toward the bottom underneath the others. They go crazy at feeding time, although the littlest true percola hangs out near the bottom and barely gets any food. She doesn't need much, I guess but I hope she's getting enough. I use a feeding ring to keep the food localized to that part of the tank to help her get some.
I also bought a dozen snails (seven astrea snails and five round-shelled snails) and three very small hermit crabs. I don't know if I need to put shells in there for the hermits to move into later or not.
And now for some pics!
I've dreamed of saltwater for many years, but didn't have time, money, or space for a saltwater tank until now. I had a fw tank for many years and really liked it. I'm an airline pilot, so I'm gone a lot, and it was a small yet significant joy of being home to get up, turn the tank light on, and feed my fish. As a snorkeler and scuba diver, I always looked forward to a reef tank. Now I'm finally getting to put that dream together.
I prepped and prepped and prepped and prepped for this tank. I read volumes I and II of The Reef Aquarium, Borneman's Aquarium Corals, Sprung's Corals, lurked on here, The Reef Tank, and *********. However, like many things in life, reading about it can only get you so far. The real meat is when the aquarium is lighting your living room, there are critters depending on you to not bone it up, and walking through a big aquarium (like I did yesterday at the Dallas World Aquarium) and go from "that's a pretty critter" to "I wonder if that critter would fit into my aquarium?"
Enough soliloquizing. Now for some deets and pics. I got a RS650 with AI LEDs. We set it up on March 15, 2017. I've been working closely with my LFS guy, and prepaid for him to come every two weeks to monitor and maintain the tank for the first year. If, after that I am ready to do it all myself I will do so. If not I'll keep him coming every two weeks.
We used well-established purple live rock and Caribbean reef sand. We chose that because it supposedly gives my tank a head start on cycling. Sure enough, even after adding four fish I still haven't been able to detect any nitrates, nitrites, or ammonia.
So far my livestock consists of four clowns, two true percolas and two false percolas. They are awesome. The two false percolas cluster up in a corner, and the two true percolas hang out toward the bottom underneath the others. They go crazy at feeding time, although the littlest true percola hangs out near the bottom and barely gets any food. She doesn't need much, I guess but I hope she's getting enough. I use a feeding ring to keep the food localized to that part of the tank to help her get some.
I also bought a dozen snails (seven astrea snails and five round-shelled snails) and three very small hermit crabs. I don't know if I need to put shells in there for the hermits to move into later or not.
And now for some pics!