37 tall finally set up

mollymonticello

mollymonticello

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Rock's been curing for a few months in a separate tank... maybe a little too long. Just turned the lights on today. Rock looks totally devoid of life, I'm sure it'll come back soon.

Tank was running at 66 degrees at 6 pm with outside temps of 87. I'll see how hot it gets with the T5 lights on. I really wanted subtropical breviceps, but if the temp goes above 69 with lights on on a really hot day, I will get barbouri. I'm going to buy from seahorsesource.com (when I'm ready). I have a chiller but can't use it...that's another story.

I'm going to get some copepods this week, maybe some macros.
 
I see tremendous potential. Now comes the best part about having an aquarium: aquiring stuff! Keep the tankologue going, I wish I had.
 
I put some peppermints in the other day. They are surprisingly fine in the cooler water. I felt guilty at first, thinking they would die because it was only 69* in there, but I realize they come from the Caribbean, and surely it doesn't stay above 72 all year round there. Anyhow, one of them molted right away, and he is fine now. They are fun to watch and they are always eating. They live together under the rock in the back left corner.

I had some dead rock that was really nice and porous, so I put another piece in. I'll get a photo when the hubby comes back from Boston with the camera.

I'm surprised that my nitrites went up a little bit? I think it may be a while till I can get seahorses in there. And I have decided on breviceps. I'm putting the chiller on today, it looks fairly simple...

Pretty soon I'm going to post pictures of my skimmer and all the tiny peices that go to it because I have no idea where they go and it's second hand so I don't have directions. I love you guys :)
 
Tanks looks good, think I already told you that. :D

We'll help out with the skimmer when you get there.

Nice work keeper
 
Well, I hooked up the chiller a week ago today, and I have not blown up the house yet. The tank stays nice and cool, and the chiller rarely turns on. Looks like I'm going to go with Brevies :)

I'm acclimating some FW mollies right now to help with cycling. The peppermint shrimps are doing great. They eat and move constantly. I'm quickly discovering more and more things that can be kept in a subtropical tank--hair algae, cyanobacteria, diatoms...tons of stuff!

I got out my skimmer parts today, and realized I put the back of the tank way too close to the wall. That skimmer is enormous. I wonder if I can get away with it. Otherwise, I was going to put a refugium on the side of the tank and maybe think about putting the skimmer on it. I don't think that makes sense, though. Can I kind of make a skimmer? Honestly, I don't even really understand the concept.
 
Looks like a good start, Molly.

I don't know if you have room for a behemoth like this, but here's a relatively simple skimmer design that works pretty well. I use one very similar and it does a good job, IMO.

http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=750391

I'm also running an aqua clear 110 modded into a fuge on my 29. It's a pretty simple project, and a lot cheaper than most HOB fuges for sale. Here's a thread. I only used one baffle because I didn't need to put a heater or carbon or anything in it.

http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=679159
 
That is a catalina goby. Your tank is looking good. Any bigger FTS pictures? What type of gorgonian is that?
 
This tank is really coming along. Special thanks to purplepenguins for the pretty Pink Panther zoas that are already starting to come out after just going into the tank! And that's her Chaeto that my rock flower anemone is eating. She gave me some metallic neon green mushrooms, some gorgeous orange zoas, too. Those aren't opening yet, pics coming soon.

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This was supposed to be a seahorse tank, but I can't find the seahorses I want that are true CB. I don't want no net-pen raised seahorses, and I really don't want reidi or kuda or erectus. I have my heart set on whitei or breviceps, and I will wait for them. So ignore the anemone and crabs for now. Those are not seahorse safe and will be adopted before the SH get here.
 
wow tank is looking great! cant wait to see new full tank shots, happy the zoas are opening already, I know how you love your pink, thanks for the frags they look great in my tank :)
 
I guess they're sold out at the moment, but seahorse.com appears to raise whitei. AFAIK, all the SHs they sell are true captive bred.
 
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Oh, yes. This is a "subtropical" tank. The plan is to run it around 70-72* depending on what SH species I can find, even lower. A lot of brevi owners are keeping soft corals in their tanks. This tank is in my basement, and even right now, it is 73* which is a degree warmer than I'd like it. I was going to re-plumb my chiller tonight, but need to go to the hardware store for more parts.
 
Molly, I can't for the life of me come up with a good link for you, but I remember that when I was doing my research on catalinas, trying to decide if I could keep one with my Reidi, I reluctantly gave in and didn't get one because I came to the conclusion that 72 would be too hot for them. I seem to remember reading that although they are caught in waters in the low 70s, that they don't typically live in those temps long term, and that they'd only live a couple months at that temp. I know that you plan on bringing the temp down for your brevis or whitei, but I thought I'd bring it up anyway, just in case.
 
I've been worrying about it. Thanks for bringing it up. I thought it seemed fishy...liveaquaria has them listed up to 75*, but if you check out fishbase.org, it has their max temp listed as 72*. But you're right, they don't live in those temps all year round. I'll feel better when I get the chiller going tomorrow.
 
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