- Location
- Long Island
I used to build reef/fish tanks and ponds years back for a once reputable pet shop: BTJ's JUNGLE... before the fire. Now, years later my wife and I finally have the money and passion to have our own saltwater tank. We still don't know everything there is to know, but we are learning as we go. One day she said she had wanted a fish tank, I had given her the ultimatum, "Salt or nothing." SO... here we are, just over one year, now on our 3rd saltwater fish tank. We made a quick impulsive decision in the beginning (well mostly I did) to buy a 14G Oceanic BioCube. We thought starting small was better, but have now learned that this isn't true, however starting small, we learned A LOT.
Here's our 14G (it's the only picture I can find right now, this was about 2 months in):
The 14G had 20lbs LR, 20lbs live sand, 2 baby clownfish, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 clown goby.
Corals in the 14G: Birsdnest (wasn't fragged properly but we didn't know any better at the time), Reb Lobo frag, Colt Coral, Candy Cane, Torch Coral, Lobophyllia Dentatus and some polyps.
We quickly got bored with the 14G and annoyed that it limited what we could have as far as corals and fish. My wife really wanted an anemone for the clownfish and that wasn't going to happen in this small of a tank. We came across a great deal on an up and running 40G breeder from a friend who didn't want it anymore. We were able to get all the rock, the pump, sump, power head, sand and some corals for $100 and jumped on it. We built a custom stand with the help of my friend who's a carpenter and shut down the 14G a week later. Here is our 40G the day before we upgraded to a bigger tank (again):
40G had 60lbs LR, 60lbs live sand, 30 gallon sump.
Lighting: Current Nova Extreme 36" T5HO
2 clownfish, 1 coral beauty, a zillion gobies (we're goby killers! don't ask, we have bad luck). 2 cleaner shrimp, a ton of hermits and snails and 2 sand sifting starfish. had a blenny, but he died right before before we upgraded. We also had a Koran and a Hippo, the Coral Beauty killed them both. We also have a baby Green Spotted Mandarin.
Coral: everything from the 14G, plus: Pink Trumpet Coral, Sun Coral, branching Frogspawn, Duncans, Acans of different types, Favia, Purple Flower Pot, Montipora, Cabbage, Yellow Stars, Fuzzy/Blue/Spotted Mushrooms, Trachyphyllia, Branching Hammer, Pagoda Cup, 2 green bubble tip anemones and one rose bubble tip anemone
We kept the 40G from December 2008 until mid-September 2009. We loved that tank but still wanted to go bigger (it seems to be an addiction in this hobby). Ran into our friend again and told him jokingly, "We still want a bigger tank." He replied, "I have a 155G in my backyard, please come and get it tomorrrow." That's all I needed to hear, and the next day I picked it up.
So here we are, with a 155G reef tank.
Here is our 155G setup after 3 weeks. Only one white light is on, so mainly actinic lights in these photos:
tank and other equipment:
155g 72 x
40 gallon sump w/ hang on overflow mag 7 pump dual return
won bros protein skimmer (upgrading soon to a 220g corallife skimmer or other skimmer)
2 36" nova extreme 49w t5 ho x 8 bulbs 4actinics 4 10ks (may retro icecap ballasts)
12 hour actinic and 10 hour day
koralia 4 pump / aqua clear 50 / zoo med rotating pumps (soon getting rid of aqua clear/zoo med and going w/ koralia 2 and 3)
current fish: (newest to oldest)
3 ignitus or dispar anthias
1 purple queen anthias female
2 yellow watchmen
green spotted mandarin
coral beauty
2 percula clowns
future:
small blenny
yellow tang blue
dragonet mandarin
desarjdinii sailfin tang
small clown gobies
blonde naso tang
current corals: (newest to oldest)
green goniopora
cats eye bubble coral
fox coral
orange acan
trachyphyllia open brain
sun coral
red acan
purple acan
favia
frog spawn branching
hammer branching
purple goniopora flower pot
fuzzy mushrooms/blue mushrooms/blue spotted/pimple mushrooms
pink trumpets
montipora
red lobophyllia
dentutus lobophyllia
birdsnest
cabage
green torch
toxic green/purple death/star/daisy/green clove polyps
future:
finger leather
other exotic possibly rarer corals
flourescent yellow toadstool
hopefully some more sps
blasto merliti
zoas
rainbow lobo
different color bubbles
elegance
more acans
inverts:
2 cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
2 large blue knuckle hermits 5 smaller ones
3-5 mexican hermits
3 scarlets
7 cerith snails
5 nassarius snails
porcelain crab
10 astrea snails
10 margarita snails
2 sand sifting star fish
anenomes:
2 green bubble tips
1 rose bubble tip
mini carpet
future:
blue carpet
Here's our 14G (it's the only picture I can find right now, this was about 2 months in):
The 14G had 20lbs LR, 20lbs live sand, 2 baby clownfish, 1 skunk cleaner shrimp, 1 clown goby.
Corals in the 14G: Birsdnest (wasn't fragged properly but we didn't know any better at the time), Reb Lobo frag, Colt Coral, Candy Cane, Torch Coral, Lobophyllia Dentatus and some polyps.
We quickly got bored with the 14G and annoyed that it limited what we could have as far as corals and fish. My wife really wanted an anemone for the clownfish and that wasn't going to happen in this small of a tank. We came across a great deal on an up and running 40G breeder from a friend who didn't want it anymore. We were able to get all the rock, the pump, sump, power head, sand and some corals for $100 and jumped on it. We built a custom stand with the help of my friend who's a carpenter and shut down the 14G a week later. Here is our 40G the day before we upgraded to a bigger tank (again):
40G had 60lbs LR, 60lbs live sand, 30 gallon sump.
Lighting: Current Nova Extreme 36" T5HO
2 clownfish, 1 coral beauty, a zillion gobies (we're goby killers! don't ask, we have bad luck). 2 cleaner shrimp, a ton of hermits and snails and 2 sand sifting starfish. had a blenny, but he died right before before we upgraded. We also had a Koran and a Hippo, the Coral Beauty killed them both. We also have a baby Green Spotted Mandarin.
Coral: everything from the 14G, plus: Pink Trumpet Coral, Sun Coral, branching Frogspawn, Duncans, Acans of different types, Favia, Purple Flower Pot, Montipora, Cabbage, Yellow Stars, Fuzzy/Blue/Spotted Mushrooms, Trachyphyllia, Branching Hammer, Pagoda Cup, 2 green bubble tip anemones and one rose bubble tip anemone
We kept the 40G from December 2008 until mid-September 2009. We loved that tank but still wanted to go bigger (it seems to be an addiction in this hobby). Ran into our friend again and told him jokingly, "We still want a bigger tank." He replied, "I have a 155G in my backyard, please come and get it tomorrrow." That's all I needed to hear, and the next day I picked it up.
So here we are, with a 155G reef tank.
Here is our 155G setup after 3 weeks. Only one white light is on, so mainly actinic lights in these photos:
tank and other equipment:
155g 72 x
40 gallon sump w/ hang on overflow mag 7 pump dual return
won bros protein skimmer (upgrading soon to a 220g corallife skimmer or other skimmer)
2 36" nova extreme 49w t5 ho x 8 bulbs 4actinics 4 10ks (may retro icecap ballasts)
12 hour actinic and 10 hour day
koralia 4 pump / aqua clear 50 / zoo med rotating pumps (soon getting rid of aqua clear/zoo med and going w/ koralia 2 and 3)
current fish: (newest to oldest)
3 ignitus or dispar anthias
1 purple queen anthias female
2 yellow watchmen
green spotted mandarin
coral beauty
2 percula clowns
future:
small blenny
yellow tang blue
dragonet mandarin
desarjdinii sailfin tang
small clown gobies
blonde naso tang
current corals: (newest to oldest)
green goniopora
cats eye bubble coral
fox coral
orange acan
trachyphyllia open brain
sun coral
red acan
purple acan
favia
frog spawn branching
hammer branching
purple goniopora flower pot
fuzzy mushrooms/blue mushrooms/blue spotted/pimple mushrooms
pink trumpets
montipora
red lobophyllia
dentutus lobophyllia
birdsnest
cabage
green torch
toxic green/purple death/star/daisy/green clove polyps
future:
finger leather
other exotic possibly rarer corals
flourescent yellow toadstool
hopefully some more sps
blasto merliti
zoas
rainbow lobo
different color bubbles
elegance
more acans
inverts:
2 cleaner shrimp
2 peppermint shrimp
2 large blue knuckle hermits 5 smaller ones
3-5 mexican hermits
3 scarlets
7 cerith snails
5 nassarius snails
porcelain crab
10 astrea snails
10 margarita snails
2 sand sifting star fish
anenomes:
2 green bubble tips
1 rose bubble tip
mini carpet
future:
blue carpet
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