So After hijacking everyone elses thread, I guess I should stop and make my own build thread. Just keep in mind I'm already 3 months into my "Build".
Lets start off with a little background on myself and the experience in the hobby.
When I was a young boy(think I was 8), I remember going to a bait and tackle shop with my grandfather(my parents got a divorce before I was 3, so my grandparents pretty much raised me), and seeing all the bait fish in a tank, and the bait store had a small FW tank with some guppies in it. Thinking this was the coolest thing I had ever seen, I was bitten by the bug.
A few short months later I started my first 30G FW tank(which I still have and has survived many many moves). flash ahead 10 years and I was bitten by the SW hobby when my LFS started selling SW stuff and setting up his own tank. Back then not a lot was known about SW like it is now, so we basically set up "reef" tanks which for the lack of a better term is what we call a FOWLR tank now. Started with 55g tall tank, all went well for the most part for 3 years until we had a huge microburst which killed power for several days. I had several anemones, several feather dusters, a dwarf lionfish, a mated pair of perculas(hella expensive back then), a panther grouper, scooter blenny, and a mandarin dragonnet(didn't know any better back then, and my LFS just wanted to sell me stuff). Long story short, after the power outage, I lost the entire tank and was done with the hobby. When your in your twenties, several thousands of dollars loss was too much for me, and since we rented, a generator wasn't an option.
Flash ahead 20 years(Of course I now own my home and have a generator as we loose power quite frequently), and again I was bitten by the SW hobby, and talking to my LFS on tank options, I settled on an AIO as so much in the hobby has changed I figured this was the easiest option(didn't even know these things existed). I was torn between the redsea tank, and the biocube. For the price difference I went with the biocube, since I knew I would be replacing/adding my own stuff, and probably tossing all those "extras" you get with the red sea kit. So I started with some videos I followed on youtube about setting up a biocube. Threw out the bioballs(knew those were junk before hand), bought the aquatic life 115 skimmer, a couple hydor korralia 425's, kept the stock lighting for now, neotherm heater(fits in the last chamber), some sump sponges, 40L of seachem matrix media, couple media bags, reef crystals salt mix, 45 pounds of live rock from several LFS's and god forbid, PETCO, 35 pounds of caribsea live sand, and some RO/DI water.
Did the shrimp cycle method(we used to do fish cycle back in the day). Tank cycled in as little as 3 weeks with all the actual live rock and sand. My first inhabitant was a small zoa frag I bought at PETCO(keep in mind my now LFS is a 2 hour drive and petco is only an hour, the LFS I use for FW doesn't handle much SW and really doesn't have the knowledge I crave). I then did some digging on the net for fish I wanted and came across this site, so glad I did, this is a great place for the beginner and advanced hobbyist alike!!! So after joining and reading a few nano threads I decided to join in and (sorry again clown) I ended up hijacking someone else build thread that was doing the same exact thing I was, and setup his tank right around the same time( show clown some love and visit his thread, there is a ton of info for beginners on nano tanks in there.
Clownfish's Build Thread) I found a wealth of information from reading and asking question around here. Again this is a wonderful place with many helpful members who are more then willing to share their knowledge. Just a few along the way that have helped me include but certainly not limited to, sk8tr, snorvich, soulpatch, clownfish, Barryv, muchoreef,(sorry if I spelled any ones nick wrong) and I'm sure many more I can't think of right now.
All is going well as planned(fingers crossed it stays that way), have added several pieces of equipment, re aquascaped a couple times, and god help me, I seem to be getting a grasp on this hobby and what it takes to keep things going well.
I can tell you from experience, first thing anyone wants to do with a biocube, dump the bioballs, false bottom, right angled return(just use a little longer hose, you won't believe the flow difference), the stock "fan" return(lok line will work with the stock "plug" on the back wall), and do not pay attention to the level marks on the side, those are for the recommended levels with the bioballs.
Ok enough with the BS, I know everyone wants to see the tank pics and its inhabitants. So without further ado.....
First shot of the tank, already have my CUC in there as well as my very first coral(small zoa frag).
After I aquascaped several times and decided on this setup. I believe at this point I have my hammer, cleaner shrimp and maroon clown.
So here is some current photos of my tank
My frogspawn
Hammer
Couple feather dusters/tubeworms
Beautiful Gorgonian my wife just had to have.
Couple zoa/paly frags, and Pulsing Xenia.
And a complete tank shot.
My current inhabitants are as follows:
1 flame angel
1 maroon clown
Brarium Gorgonian
2 Hawaiian feather dusters
2 frags of zoas(no Idea on the ID, and I don't really care. I'm not into the fancy names)
2 paly frags, 1 I know is nuclear green palys, the other not sure on the ID
Small 2 head hammer frag
Small 1 head frogspawn
Pulsing Xenia
2 Emerald crabs
3 bumblebee snails
3 margarita snails
4 narcissus snails
3 red leg hermits
Sand sifting sea star
I want to add a black capped basslet and possibly a royal gramma or purple firefish, and an orange octospawn(both on order from my LFS)
Sorry for the long read, but since I'm 3 months into this, I wanted to provide some background and what I've done up to this point.
Hope everyone enjoys the read and I welcome any and all comments.
