chrissreef
New member
Hi all, I’ve frequented RC over the last few years off and on and have thoroughly enjoyed looking at everyone’s tanks and seeing the hobby evolve. I have since graduated from high school, college, graduate school, lived in two states and gotten engaged! I hope you all enjoy the story of my tank and hobby as much as I will!
My story: As a diver for 18 yrs now and an environmentalist, I’ve come to greatly appreciate and respect the planet we all share. One Saturday I was “bored†and thought I’d take a drive to all the lfs’s in the area, including the one I worked at in high school. I checked out Melev’s website and found stores in the Dallas area. At my third stop I came to an empty building â€"œ apparently the fish store had burned down a few months earlier and was about a month away from re-opening… I was offered a part time job on the weekend! (I already work 8-5 m-f elsewhere). I thought this would be a good opportunity to “get my feet wet†without actually having to get into the hobby ($$) and was urged to jump in by my fiancée.
This soon changed and I ordered a 280 gallon A.G.E. Starfire aquarium! (60x36x30) After looking at the support of my apartment complex, I became nervous (4k lbs) and thought we probably shouldn’t live on the second floor! We quickly moved downstairs to a larger apartment (housing is too much $$, especially with wedding/aquarium planning and college debt payments going on) .
My responsible environmental side of course kicked in â€"œ we changed over to 100% wind electricity, I set up my first quarantine tank (avoid unnecessary losses), will utilize low wattage pumps (Tunze/ReeFlo) and I have pledged to purchase 100% aquacultured (not maricultured) SPS, 50% aquacultured Fish (ORA, Rod, Sustainable Aquatics, other?) and will use caution on any LPS aquacultured “claims†but will purchase what I can find. I was not able to find “branchy†aquacultured liverock unfortunately. I also didn’t want the tank to be “to big†and so felt the ~300g size was neither too big, nor too small.
Tank:
- 60x36x30 A.G.E. Starboard base, 1/2†Starfire front/sides, acrylic euro bracing, angled overflows, mirror back (I really enjoy mirror backs, they can often make the tank look twice as deep) I also went with these dimensions because I enjoy cube and “tall†tanks… I may have trouble with the depth and my arms but I’m hoping the view will be worth it.
- Bare bottom (yellow polyps, green star polyps, zoa’s and SPS stags to grow up from base
- 2x 400w Reeflux w/ Lumenbright large reflectors (high to avoid needing a chiller)
- ReeFlo Orca 250 skimmer, Octopus dual chamber Ca Reactor, Aqua Controller 3, ReeFlo Dart return
- 2x Tunze 6101, 7095 controller and still thinking on either 2x 6055 or 2x 6101 â€"œ will see based on rock layout
- Sump will have separated Chaeto, DSB, rubble areas (maybe miracle mud too)
I’d like to give special thanks to the following; they’ve provided enormous help in helping me get this dream tank up and running!
Dallas Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society members
Reef Specialty
Zoanuts
Oceaninabox
My story: As a diver for 18 yrs now and an environmentalist, I’ve come to greatly appreciate and respect the planet we all share. One Saturday I was “bored†and thought I’d take a drive to all the lfs’s in the area, including the one I worked at in high school. I checked out Melev’s website and found stores in the Dallas area. At my third stop I came to an empty building â€"œ apparently the fish store had burned down a few months earlier and was about a month away from re-opening… I was offered a part time job on the weekend! (I already work 8-5 m-f elsewhere). I thought this would be a good opportunity to “get my feet wet†without actually having to get into the hobby ($$) and was urged to jump in by my fiancée.
This soon changed and I ordered a 280 gallon A.G.E. Starfire aquarium! (60x36x30) After looking at the support of my apartment complex, I became nervous (4k lbs) and thought we probably shouldn’t live on the second floor! We quickly moved downstairs to a larger apartment (housing is too much $$, especially with wedding/aquarium planning and college debt payments going on) .
My responsible environmental side of course kicked in â€"œ we changed over to 100% wind electricity, I set up my first quarantine tank (avoid unnecessary losses), will utilize low wattage pumps (Tunze/ReeFlo) and I have pledged to purchase 100% aquacultured (not maricultured) SPS, 50% aquacultured Fish (ORA, Rod, Sustainable Aquatics, other?) and will use caution on any LPS aquacultured “claims†but will purchase what I can find. I was not able to find “branchy†aquacultured liverock unfortunately. I also didn’t want the tank to be “to big†and so felt the ~300g size was neither too big, nor too small.
Tank:
- 60x36x30 A.G.E. Starboard base, 1/2†Starfire front/sides, acrylic euro bracing, angled overflows, mirror back (I really enjoy mirror backs, they can often make the tank look twice as deep) I also went with these dimensions because I enjoy cube and “tall†tanks… I may have trouble with the depth and my arms but I’m hoping the view will be worth it.
- Bare bottom (yellow polyps, green star polyps, zoa’s and SPS stags to grow up from base
- 2x 400w Reeflux w/ Lumenbright large reflectors (high to avoid needing a chiller)
- ReeFlo Orca 250 skimmer, Octopus dual chamber Ca Reactor, Aqua Controller 3, ReeFlo Dart return
- 2x Tunze 6101, 7095 controller and still thinking on either 2x 6055 or 2x 6101 â€"œ will see based on rock layout
- Sump will have separated Chaeto, DSB, rubble areas (maybe miracle mud too)
I’d like to give special thanks to the following; they’ve provided enormous help in helping me get this dream tank up and running!
Dallas Fort Worth Marine Aquarium Society members
Reef Specialty
Zoanuts
Oceaninabox
