Anybody have a reef aquarium?

Big Dog · Oct 17, 2010

I use to but when I moved back to PA I gave or sold all my stuff except for a huge wet/dry filter and dead hard corals (tank fillers). I had a 250 predator fish tank and a 75 gallon reef.

Well while moving some of this stuff I decided to look for a tank to maybe setup. I found a 90 gallon established reef tank for a ridiculously low price, The family is moving to TX. Easily a $6,000 or more setup for a fraction of the cost.

The stock is healthy, the equipment is top of the line BUT the move would be a huge undertaking and there is a issue with aiptasia (undesirable anenomes)

Just thought I'd put it out there to see what has been going on in the years since I quit. Yeah I joined a couple reef forums, just thought I'd throw it out here.

Big Dog · Oct 17, 2010

Here's a 35 gallon reef tank to die for ................

Cowboy · Oct 17, 2010

Perty cool Dawg , But WTF no mermaids :sad:

Big Dog · Oct 17, 2010

Cowboy said:
Perty cool Dawg , But WTF no mermaids

No, just damsels ........... (not sure if you'll appreciate that one) .... :biggrin:

mak2 · Oct 17, 2010

I have 3 55 gallon freshwater tanks. I have always wanted a saltwater tank but have never thought about buying one on craiglist or something. I think i will check into that.;

Big Dog · Oct 17, 2010

mak2 said:
craiglist

It's where I found the one I speak of ........ :smile:

mak2 · Oct 17, 2010

Thanks

loboloco · Oct 17, 2010

I had a saltwater for several years and enjoyed it immensely. It wasn't per se a reef tank, though it did have a section of coral. Unfortunately, my son had a party one night while I was on the road and somebody tried to body surf the tank. He lived, the tank didn't.

JEV · Oct 18, 2010

I had 22 freshwater tanks for a lot of years, and bred African Cichlids for a few pet stores in the area, and sold them to other breeders through the Great Lakes Cichlid Society. It was a lot of work so I got out of it. My brother had a reef tank and offered to GIVE it me, but I turned him down. Way too much work for my liking.

pirate_girl · Oct 18, 2010

Cowboy said:
Perty cool Dawg , But WTF no mermaids

Yeah! no mermaids? :yum:

Sorry, that might be an inside joke... hehe

Big Dog · Nov 7, 2010

Well after much planning and a very big day Friday (moving day) the new shop ornament is up. It's a 90 gallon reef aquarium loaded with life .....

thcri · Nov 7, 2010

Big Dog said:
Well after much planning and a very big day Friday (moving day) the new shop ornament is up. It's a 90 gallon reef aquarium loaded with life .....

That's in your new shop?

Big Dog · Nov 7, 2010

Yep ........... :brows:

muleman · Nov 7, 2010

What temp do you need to maintain for it? If I could convince her to get rid of a few birds I could see having one of those. They don't shriek or shred paper! :yum:

loboloco · Nov 7, 2010

muleman said:
What temp do you need to maintain for it? If I could convince her to get rid of a few birds I could see having one of those. They don't shriek or shred paper!

Dang it, you should have her house trained already :hide:

Big Dog · Nov 7, 2010

muleman said:
What temp do you need to maintain for it? If I could convince her to get rid of a few birds I could see having one of those. They don't shriek or shred paper!

75F ............ I'm running a backup heater. gonna have to watch power outages cause my gas heaters are AC ignited.

jpr62902 · Nov 7, 2010

Looks like ya got a Yellowtail Damselfish and a coupla Yellow Tang in there. What else ya got?

Big Dog · Nov 7, 2010

jpr62902 said:
Looks like ya got a Yellowtail Damselfish and a coupla Yellow Tang in there. What else ya got?

1 - Large purple tang
4 - Yellow tang
3 - Chromis damsels
1 - Tamar goby
1 - 6 line wrasse (actually 2, found one the original owner lost track of in the over flow. He looked pathetic but he's in quarantine and appears to be doing much better. He may make it!)
1- Elbi angel
1 - Large maroon clown
4 - Peppermint shrimp
1 - Large banded coral shrimp
Snails and crabs, too many to keep track of ..... :smile:

5 soft corals and 1 hard coral - don't ask me, I haven't investigated that far.

Dargo · Nov 7, 2010

My wife has had a 250 gallon tank setup in our family room for the last 18 years with live coral and all. With all the lighting, chemicals, salt, fish etc, etc, I bet I have about $50k in her tank. I had to buy her a large reverse osmosis water filter setup just to keep the water level up. Otherwise, she was spending about $30 a week just on water alone. She has 2 clown fish that are at least 18 years old. I wonder how long they live?

I had a 90 gallon tank setup (it's just stored in the loft of one of my barns now) for fresh water. The last fish I had was a pacu. I had no idea how big that silver dollar fish was going to grow! By the time I got rid of him, he would get so excited when he saw me come home from work that he splashed gallons of water out of the tank. He would come to the top and eat 3 entire hot dogs from my hand at a time. He clearly could recognize me from others as he never paid much attention to others. He was around 15 pounds when I donated him to a local fish store.

pirate_girl · Nov 8, 2010

Doggie!
It's beautiful!!
I've been waiting for the pics of it!

:clap:

fogtender · Nov 8, 2010

There is about a 75 gallon tank in our Anchorage Office, pretty neat, but a lot of maintaince. They have a company come in every week or so to do chemicals, change water out, bring fish and so forth. Looks really neat though!

Big Dog · May 2, 2011

6 months old ........ I sold some of the fish that I got with it to reduce the bio-load and have loaded it up with more coral. Starting to shape up!

90 gallon mixed reef in the garage. Three stage lighting; LED moon lights on 24 hours, dusk to dawn 4 - T5's on 10 hours, and 2 - 250w metal halides Sun lights on 7 hours each day. lower right - 1/6 hp chiller for those hot days. The halide ballast are just above the chiller.

30 gallon sump for filtration; left - filter sock, protein skimmer, and heater. right - deep sand bed refugium for natural filtration with live rock, grape algae, and chaetomorpha algae. center - return pump rated at 1200 gpm for return and chiller pump rated at 400gpm.

Aquarium from front right, 3 pumps for tank circulation.

Left side shot

Right side shot

Neon candy cane LPS (Large Polyped Stony) coral and mushroom anenome

Pulsating xenia (tentacles continually open and close for oxygenation and feeding)

Sea Hare (sea slug) - His name is Shrek and this guy is actually a member of a local reef club I joined. He is very dependent on and consumes hair algae. He gets to move to other members tanks after completing his work. You'll notice I have one rock right center from the full front view he's been working on. When he's done he moves on to another members tank otherwise he would starve. He's also highly toxic so don't piss him off ............ see caution below!

The body of the Dwarf Sea Hare is a combination of speckles and patterns. The location of its rhinophores (organ used to smell) and its oral tentacles make it look a bit like a rabbit, hence its common name.

If it becomes startled, it may release a purple dye to repel attacking fish. In the home aquarium, the Sea Hare will need a good chemical filter system to quickly remove this toxic dye before it causes problems.

In the wild, it is usually found in shallow areas of seagrasses and coral rubble, preferring the shaded areas. Cover from the lights in the aquarium should be provided. It requires a large area in which to move. It prefers an aquarium with live rock and open sandy areas so that it can graze on algae, eating any Caulerpa in the tank. It is sensitive to high levels of copper-based medications and will not tolerate bad water conditions (high nitrates).

If regular feedings of Caulerpa are not possible, it will need a supplemented diet of parboiled lettuce and dried kelp.

Caution: This species secretes or releases toxins when stressed or injured that may kill fish in the aquarium.

Elegance LPS

Green star polyps

AND of course the boss had to get her own tank ........... :biggrin:

40 gallon reef only (has one blue damsel). Two stage lighting; LED moon lights 24 hours and T5's daylight 10 hours.

20 gallon sump: right to left - hang-on protein skimmer, tank return, baffle with filter media, refugium with live rock, chaeto and grape algae, and then return pump. Pump and wavemaker in the tank for circulation.

Front view

Left view

Right view - large finger leather coral, flowerpot LPS, and red mushroom

Frogspawn LPS and button polyps

Flowerpot LPS

Orange sun polyps and candy cane with some purple ricordea surrounding the polyp stem

jpr62902 · May 2, 2011

Cool tanks, Dawg. Howzabout a list of the species? Is that an adult Cocoa Damselfish in your tank? What type of nudibranch was on the glass?

pirate_girl · May 2, 2011

Looking good Doggie!

jpr62902 · May 2, 2011

jpr62902 said:
Cool tanks, Dawg. Howzabout a list of the species? Is that an adult Cocoa Damselfish in your tank? What type of nudibranch was on the glass?

Holy shite, am I a galactic dumbass! Didn't see this was page 2 of the thread (in which I posted the same friggin question on page 1). :hammer:

JEV · May 3, 2011

Very nice, Dawg.

Cowboy · May 3, 2011

That looks like quite the setup, thanks for sharing Dawg. :a1:

I'll bet this is one case "The pics dont do it justice" is really true . :smile:

I had to go back and look at when you first posted it . Looks like quite the improvement for only 6 months . :biggrin:

Big Dog · May 3, 2011

jpr62902 said:
Cool tanks, Dawg. Howzabout a list of the species? Is that an adult Cocoa Damselfish in your tank? What type of nudibranch was on the glass?

See above .......... I've edited post #22 to answer a few questions. As far as livestock this is what I have in the tank.

1 - Large purple tang
1 - Tamar goby
1 - 6 line wrasse
1- Elbi angel
1 - Large maroon clown
4 - Peppermint shrimp
1 - Large banded coral shrimp
Snails and crabs, too many to keep track of ..... :smile:

I found new homes for the 4 yellow tangs and the three chromis damsels ................. :biggrin:

Cowboy said:
I had to go back and look at when you first posted it . Looks like quite the improvement for only 6 months .

Thanks a bunch everybody and yes 6 months has done it good!

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