Hey all!
If you can't tell my the title, I'm new here. I've was looking around the web for local reef keepers that may be able to assist me! I'm looking for advice, tips, tricks, frag leads, and a community to which can ask questions - and maybe answer some.
Through trial and error, self teaching (thank you google) and a lot of luck - I am where I am today. I'm looking to stock my tank with corals.
The coral's that I love and think I can keep alive with the Coralife LED Biocube hood:
- zoanthids
- scolymia
- lordhowensis
- blastomussa
- euphyllia
- Pachyclavularia
- sarcophyton
If there's any questions you have, please let me know!
Here's some background about myself
My First Tank (3 years, 4 moves):
- 20 Gallon standard
- Fine sand
- Not enough live rock (~10lbs)
- 2 Percula clowns
- 1 sleeper goby
- Orange coraline
- ORA Blue mandarin
- Torn down due to tank cracking in move
I learned a LOT from this tank. I learned that hatching brine shrimp in your dorm room makes your roomate think you're smelly.
I learned that keeping mandarine goby in a 20 gallon tank is a lot of work.
I learned that it's hard to trust people to help you move a fishtank (lost the sleeper goby due to a rock being dropped).
I learned that Clown fish are sassy.
I learned that gobys love to move sand.
I learned that having a saltwater tank while going to college out of state means you have to move your tank back and forth so your parents don't have to maintain it.
I learned that fresh water HOB mechanical filtration isn't enough.
I learned that water changes are vital in keeping a healthy tank
My Second Tank (2.5 years, 2 moves)
- 14 Gallon Coralife Biocube
- Fine sand
- Enough live rock
- 2 Percula clowns
- 1 sleeper goby
- ORA Blue mandarine
- Firefish
- Town down due to WAY too much bioload (see below, it gets crazy) and parasites + hitchhikers
This tank started at the end of a long move to college. My first tank cracked on the trip, so the fish and liverock went into a new home.
For the first 2 years, this tank was great. It DID have a very high bioload. I was doing ~50% water changes every week. I also continued to hatch brine for the mandarine. I also started to "breed" copepods in 2 liter bottles - but this wasn't sustainable.
The last 6 months of this tank was spent under the care of my parents (bless them for attempting) while I was on an internship.
Without proper feeding and waterchanges, I came home to a completely crashed tank, starving fish, and new liverock that brought all sorts of parasites (Ick, bristleworms, aptasia, flatworms etc.)
After doing some research on how to recover, I decided it would be best to cut my losses. The corals were basically dead already. The clownfish were donated to a local LFS, the goby died of ick (while being treated in a separate tank), the Mandarine died of starvation as he was too thin to hunt (+4 years in a nano though?!?!? I got VERY lucky).
I learned that saltwater tanks are a lot of work.
You need to be in a position to care for it like a child.
My Third Tank(s) (4 years and counting, 2 moves)
(pic from the day drip acclimation finished, 1 month tank cycle)
So I started fresh. One seed rock, everything else starting from dead.
- 20 lbs of liverock
- Protein skimmer
- liverock rear sump
- chemipure elite
- purigen
- Upgraded return pump
- LED hood
- Wave controller
- 2 koralia circulation pumps
This tank has been great. My Fiance and I got a pair of clownfish and they have had this tank all to themselves. At this point, the tank is covered in pink coraline. It's time to make it perfect.
If you can't tell my the title, I'm new here. I've was looking around the web for local reef keepers that may be able to assist me! I'm looking for advice, tips, tricks, frag leads, and a community to which can ask questions - and maybe answer some.
Through trial and error, self teaching (thank you google) and a lot of luck - I am where I am today. I'm looking to stock my tank with corals.
The coral's that I love and think I can keep alive with the Coralife LED Biocube hood:
- zoanthids
- scolymia
- lordhowensis
- blastomussa
- euphyllia
- Pachyclavularia
- sarcophyton
If there's any questions you have, please let me know!
Here's some background about myself
My First Tank (3 years, 4 moves):
- 20 Gallon standard
- Fine sand
- Not enough live rock (~10lbs)
- 2 Percula clowns
- 1 sleeper goby
- Orange coraline
- ORA Blue mandarin
- Torn down due to tank cracking in move
I learned a LOT from this tank. I learned that hatching brine shrimp in your dorm room makes your roomate think you're smelly.
I learned that keeping mandarine goby in a 20 gallon tank is a lot of work.
I learned that it's hard to trust people to help you move a fishtank (lost the sleeper goby due to a rock being dropped).
I learned that Clown fish are sassy.
I learned that gobys love to move sand.
I learned that having a saltwater tank while going to college out of state means you have to move your tank back and forth so your parents don't have to maintain it.
I learned that fresh water HOB mechanical filtration isn't enough.
I learned that water changes are vital in keeping a healthy tank
My Second Tank (2.5 years, 2 moves)
- 14 Gallon Coralife Biocube
- Fine sand
- Enough live rock
- 2 Percula clowns
- 1 sleeper goby
- ORA Blue mandarine
- Firefish
- Town down due to WAY too much bioload (see below, it gets crazy) and parasites + hitchhikers
This tank started at the end of a long move to college. My first tank cracked on the trip, so the fish and liverock went into a new home.
For the first 2 years, this tank was great. It DID have a very high bioload. I was doing ~50% water changes every week. I also continued to hatch brine for the mandarine. I also started to "breed" copepods in 2 liter bottles - but this wasn't sustainable.
The last 6 months of this tank was spent under the care of my parents (bless them for attempting) while I was on an internship.
Without proper feeding and waterchanges, I came home to a completely crashed tank, starving fish, and new liverock that brought all sorts of parasites (Ick, bristleworms, aptasia, flatworms etc.)
After doing some research on how to recover, I decided it would be best to cut my losses. The corals were basically dead already. The clownfish were donated to a local LFS, the goby died of ick (while being treated in a separate tank), the Mandarine died of starvation as he was too thin to hunt (+4 years in a nano though?!?!? I got VERY lucky).
I learned that saltwater tanks are a lot of work.
You need to be in a position to care for it like a child.
My Third Tank(s) (4 years and counting, 2 moves)
(pic from the day drip acclimation finished, 1 month tank cycle)So I started fresh. One seed rock, everything else starting from dead.
- 20 lbs of liverock
- Protein skimmer
- liverock rear sump
- chemipure elite
- purigen
- Upgraded return pump
- LED hood
- Wave controller
- 2 koralia circulation pumps
This tank has been great. My Fiance and I got a pair of clownfish and they have had this tank all to themselves. At this point, the tank is covered in pink coraline. It's time to make it perfect.
