svavrek
New member
Thought I'd share my first ever saltwater / mixed reef tank... I attempted this out of the sheer idea that it "Can't be as bad as the internet says it is"... and I was, so far, right. I picked up a used 46 gallon bow front tank and stand for $100 bucks. converted a 10 gallon tank to a mini sump w/ an E-shopps PSK-75 Skimmer, and popped a Maxspect R420r light up top.
The tank has a nice Australian Elegance (from Eye Catching Coral) as its centerpiece and is by far my favorite piece. We also have some pulsing xenia, pink waving hand encrusting something or another (no idea what its called, it was one of my first pieces and I just kept it), Eagle Eye Zoanthids, two more colonies that are green and pink and purple and blue, yellow star polyps, green star polyps, and some nice Frogspawn and a green torch... and some pink and green Blastos.
Over the last six months I decided to try SPS and now have nice colonies of
- Forest Fire Digitata
- German Blue Digitata
- Flower Pot Capricornis
- Steve Tyree Red Setosa
- Green Acropora
- Tri Color Acropora
- Purple Capricornis
- Birds of Paradise
- Blueberry Grogornian
- Pink Goniopora (from Tidal Gardens)
So far, I am very happy with the tank especially since I'm a 15+ year freshwater guy who decided to just take the risk one day and its been great ever since. The tank has been up for almost 16 months now. Sides and back are painted black and my params are decent. Dosing Aquavitro 8.4, Calcification, and Fuel. Feeding New Life Spectrum Nutri/Cell SPS food, and Frozen PE Mysis (to the 2 fish I have and some corals).
pH : 8.2
dkh: 7.7
Mag: 1470-1480
Calc: 480-500
PO4: >0.02
These are steady numbers and have been for the last 6 months. I will be making the move to Aquavitro Salinity salt here in the next few months after the holidays. Hope you like it!
