My 90 - first "real" reef - Pic Thread

[Warboc]

Some background on myself. I have kept a 55 gallon saltwater tank since January of last year, a fowlr as I now call it thanks to this forum. I never did anything right with that tank it seemed and I was very discouraged.

At some point late last year, I discovered this forum. Before long, I was asking quetions and getting awesome advice! Thanks to all of you! It did not take me long to become inspired to go forward with this hobby and setup a new 90 gallon reef tank.

Most people start their tank progress threads out from the very beginning. Well, I must say I was too busy learning to do the thread, but I did take some pictures along the way. Here is a glimpse into the progress of my new tank. Better late than never! I hope to keep this thread updated over time..


Greg

 

[Warboc]

I figure it would be best to start out with some tank specifications.

- Oceanic 90 Reef Ready tank
- Oceanic Reef Ready Stand
- TopFathom 110A Skimmer
- Odyssea 384 W MH/T5 lighting fixture
- Maxi-Jet 1200 Powerheads
- Turbo-Twist 9W UV Sterilizer
- 30 Gallon Sump/Refugium
- 800+ GPH return pump (actually unsure of brand)

 

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This is the first picture of my tank, taken mid-December a day after its initial setup:

 

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A couple weeks later, I got my liverock in and added it to the tank. It was partially cured liverock purchased from liveaquaria. 2 x's 45lb Premium Fiji LiveRock.

My girlfriend described this as my new dung collection. It looked like dung, and the house smelled exactly like dung!

 

[Warboc]

The sand is pink fiji live sand and I purchased 100 pounds of it from my LFS. My goal was a 2-3 inch sand bed. I ended up with about a 4 inch sand bed.

Here are a couple more pictures of the new live rock, includign one of the sump/refugium below.

 

[Warboc]

In mid-January, I got my lighting fixture in and mounted it on the tank. I then made my first attempt at aquascaping. The live rock by the way was about halfway through it's curing cycle.

 

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Boring boring times the the tank... My amonia has been zero for a while but those darn nitrites just will not go down fast enough. So, time to aquascape again!

 

[Warboc]

Aroudn the last week of January, things are staring to look good. My nitrites are finally going down. I am eagerly waiting for a diatom bloom -- which I learned to expect by reading posts here.

 

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Just a couple more pictures at the end of January:

 

[Warboc]

Early February and readings are now zero ammonia, zero nitrites, and a low reading of nitrates. May as well add some caulerpa and chaeto to my refigium, purchased from floridapets.com:

 

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Ahhh yes, it has finally happened, the dreaded diatom/algae bloom! Actually I was looking forward to it.. Time to order that cleanup crew.

 

[Warboc]

Early second week of February, I got my cleanup crew. An assortment of nassarius, cerith, astrea snails, a couple emerald crabs, and a couple scarlet reef hermits and blue leg hermits. Some of the tanks first inhabitants can be seen here:

 

[Warboc]

Now for my first fish.... Can you spot the lawnmower blenny? Also pictured is a pajama cardinal. Coraline algae growth can also be seen.

 

[Warboc]

A full tank shot at the end of February. I've added a yellow watchman goby and a royal gramma. Thus far I've purachesed all of my fish from saltwaterfish.com -- pajama cardinals, royal gramma, yellow watchman goby, & lawnmower blenny.

One thing obvious in this picture is that my bulbs are putting out different colors of lighting. This was resolved later on.

 

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A closeup of some of my first corals. I went in with a local reef club on a bulk order from seacrop.com. These are small frags but were all less than 10 dollars a piece.

 

[Pistonkev]

Nice looking frags are you running t-5s??

 

[Warboc]

It's been a couple of weeks now and everything in the tank seems to be thriving. Alsae growth is being ket udner control by the celanup crew AND the lawnmover blenny. Boy is that thing FAT!

During the second week of March, about two weeks ago, I added a rbta and a pair of mated true percula clownfish. - all purchased from marinedepotlive.com.

Full tank shot with rbta visible:

New arrivals:

 

[Pistonkev]

Oh crap nevermind saw your specs I should have known.

 

[Warboc]

Sadly my rbta did not make it past day four. I acclimated this rbta for rigth at three hours -- adding 1/8 cup water to it's bag every 7 to 10 minutes. On the second day, I tried feeding it a silverside, then brine shrimp. It simply would not grasp any food and eat.

I called MArine Depot and they said to email them a picture. Here it is.

They have sicne shipped me a new rbta and oh wow this new one is very large and very nice! I am so happy with Marine Depot's handling of this!

 

[Warboc]

These pictures were taken just a couple of days ago. I finally learned how to use the "white balance" setting on my digital camera heh...

Note the beautiful new rbta hosting two very happy percs.

Actinics Only: