Just out of High School I worked in a local fish store in Fullerton, CA. I got a 120-gallon glass tank from my school that I turned into a reef and did an independent study on marine biology at Mt SAC the first year of my drop out college days. Reefing was just brand new then. We thought Aptasia were cool and would to feed them silversides to see how fast we could get them to grow.
My second round was a large phytoplankton production rig that I supplied the local fish stores with phyto and pods and helped a couple friends design high-end reefs for high end homes in the early 2000's. I'd also sponser group buys of Ricordia for the local reef club from a friend (licensed) that would harvest them off the coast on Florida.
Long are those days gone. I'm now retired and looking to have some relaxing time with a large aquirum reef. I thought I would start off with a little coral grow out tank to get my feet wet. I got a used 49 gallon long ( 48" X 18" x 16" ), some live sand and 30 pounds of dry rock. I bought a RO/DO unit, a cheep HOB filter (which I have since removed), a 300 watt heater and cycled up the tank with a bottle of bacteria and a month of phantom feeding.
I then added 2 - 165 watt WiFi control-able Black Box LED lights, a Lawn Mower blenny that was eating pellets in the LFS. He has since refused to eat anything I have offered him over the last two months, yet has somehow survived. I also added six red leg hermit crabs, five of which are still around today.
Several weeks later I added a Yellow Couris Wrasse, a fire shrimp and a few corals. These being a couple SPS and Zoas. I also added a wavemaker power head. I also adde a no name HOB skimmer rated for a 75 gallon tank.
A couple weeks ago I made a mistake, expecting that I would start growing some form of agle soon, and wanting to stay ahead of that, I added a Kole Tang and two Narassis snails. I expect the tang is now competing with the Lawn Mower blenny for what little alge there is in the tank, except the tang does eat the small pellets I feed both him and the wrasse.
Last week I added several more SPS and zoas with other colors. The entire purpose of this tank is to learn how to take care of a reef correctly and kill as little as possible in the process before I spend a lot of money on a large system and expensive inhabiants.
Well, That's where we are now. The tank has been up for about 3 months or so and with regular testing I get very acceptable levels of NH, No2, No3, Po3 (i.e. all trace amounts). Most interesting I never really saw a spike in NH and No2 as the tank cycled. I suppose that the bottle of bacteria I added and the live sand did a marvolus job of populating the tank.
I'll go over to the Beginner's Reef Fourm and post a few questions and get some feed back, hopefully.
My second round was a large phytoplankton production rig that I supplied the local fish stores with phyto and pods and helped a couple friends design high-end reefs for high end homes in the early 2000's. I'd also sponser group buys of Ricordia for the local reef club from a friend (licensed) that would harvest them off the coast on Florida.
Long are those days gone. I'm now retired and looking to have some relaxing time with a large aquirum reef. I thought I would start off with a little coral grow out tank to get my feet wet. I got a used 49 gallon long ( 48" X 18" x 16" ), some live sand and 30 pounds of dry rock. I bought a RO/DO unit, a cheep HOB filter (which I have since removed), a 300 watt heater and cycled up the tank with a bottle of bacteria and a month of phantom feeding.
I then added 2 - 165 watt WiFi control-able Black Box LED lights, a Lawn Mower blenny that was eating pellets in the LFS. He has since refused to eat anything I have offered him over the last two months, yet has somehow survived. I also added six red leg hermit crabs, five of which are still around today.
Several weeks later I added a Yellow Couris Wrasse, a fire shrimp and a few corals. These being a couple SPS and Zoas. I also added a wavemaker power head. I also adde a no name HOB skimmer rated for a 75 gallon tank.
A couple weeks ago I made a mistake, expecting that I would start growing some form of agle soon, and wanting to stay ahead of that, I added a Kole Tang and two Narassis snails. I expect the tang is now competing with the Lawn Mower blenny for what little alge there is in the tank, except the tang does eat the small pellets I feed both him and the wrasse.
Last week I added several more SPS and zoas with other colors. The entire purpose of this tank is to learn how to take care of a reef correctly and kill as little as possible in the process before I spend a lot of money on a large system and expensive inhabiants.
Well, That's where we are now. The tank has been up for about 3 months or so and with regular testing I get very acceptable levels of NH, No2, No3, Po3 (i.e. all trace amounts). Most interesting I never really saw a spike in NH and No2 as the tank cycled. I suppose that the bottle of bacteria I added and the live sand did a marvolus job of populating the tank.
I'll go over to the Beginner's Reef Fourm and post a few questions and get some feed back, hopefully.
