Killamanillaman
New member
Hi Reef Central!
First of all, If it weren't for me stumbling across the Reef Central forums I don't think I would have ever gotten back into this hobby after getting rid of my 70g reef tank about 5 years ago.
Little of the backstory that got me into this hobby that I can't seem to stay away from. When I was 14, I was surf fishing with my dad on the coast of Southern California (Just north of Malibu) when I had managed to catch a smaller Horn Shark about 14 inches in length. The way it was hooked (thru lower jaw and out the bottom of it's mouth) left me concerned if this lil' fella would ever recover. When i tried to release it back into the ocean, It wasn't doing to well and often began to roll to one side and would get washed back ashore with the next wave. I ended up clearing out our 55g ice chest and filled it about half full of water from the ocean with hopes of getting this guy back in fighting shape without having to deal with the stronger current he couldn't seem to get past. Seemed to be doing alright and we were getting ready to leave and attempted to release him one more time, Still no luck...
So what do you do if you don't just want to leave a shark belly up as you leave? Being the persuasive kid I was, I convinced my dad to try and keep the shark. That very night, we managed to make it to a LFS that stayed open late and picked ourselves up a 70g Tank, Stand, Lights.. The works. The main reason I even bothered asking is my father's already existing love for the hobby. We had a 640g Fresh Water tank full of Peacock Bass in the entry way of our home. (Save this story and tank for another time!
) Anyways, Back to the story, That night we had everything set up for our new arrival. The Shark thrived and recovered and we had him/her for a little over a year when we donated it back to our LFS since a 70g wasn't going to be enough for this Shark in our opinion.
So what do we do with a 70g tank that was essentially Saltwater/reef ready? A reef of course, over the next few years we turned our tank into a gorgeous LPS and SPS dominated tank with all sorts of additional livestock when tragedy struck... While we were on vacation our Chiller stopped functioning and apparently our Central Air in our home was turned off while we were away... When we came home the inside of our house had to be at least 100 degrees or something similar. For any of you people in Southern CA that experienced that triple digit summers back then.. You can understand. More or less everything in our tank was gone.. with the exception of few pieces of livestock. We ended up selling the tank and all of its components later that year.
Flash forward maybe 5 years and here we are! I recently had a BC 29g gifted to me because my father said I work to much and I should find a hobby again. Being excited as I was I quickly started my research as of not really knowing much of the capabilities of the BC 29 and what its capabilities were. (This is where the HUGE thanks comes in to the RC Forums)
Existing Hardware:
Coralife 29g Bio Cube
Tunze 9001 Skimmer (Temporary, was included with the purchase of the BC oddly enough)
I ripped out the exisiting filtration and installed the InTank Media Basket (Floss, Purigen, Chemipure Elite)
Added a Hydor 425 for extra flow
Still contains stock lighting (added all optional LED's for the aesthetics)
Crushed Coral bedding and approximately 30 lbs of live rock (Maybe more, I honestly cant even remember)
Being back in the hobby, and unsure how long I plan on keeping this BC, I'm still torn between upgrading to one of the Retro LED kits or remove the hood and add a different light, Kessil, maybe? Having 3 Labs, Their hair manages to find it's way into every space of our house... and leaves me leaning towards keeping the hood and installing a retro kit. But the Kessil can be used on a larger tank down the road... :idea:
Tank was set up and has been running with only LR and a CUC for about a month. After checking the water parameters every few days i figured its time to bring some life to this tank.
Pair of Percula Clowns
Green Star Poly
Mushrooms
I am thinking of adding some additional live stock in the next few weeks. Thinking about a Xenia, Kenya, other softies and some additional fish. Anyone have luck with Hammer or torch using stock lights?
Constructive Criticism and recommendations are strongly encouraged!
Thanks for Reading!
First of all, If it weren't for me stumbling across the Reef Central forums I don't think I would have ever gotten back into this hobby after getting rid of my 70g reef tank about 5 years ago.
Little of the backstory that got me into this hobby that I can't seem to stay away from. When I was 14, I was surf fishing with my dad on the coast of Southern California (Just north of Malibu) when I had managed to catch a smaller Horn Shark about 14 inches in length. The way it was hooked (thru lower jaw and out the bottom of it's mouth) left me concerned if this lil' fella would ever recover. When i tried to release it back into the ocean, It wasn't doing to well and often began to roll to one side and would get washed back ashore with the next wave. I ended up clearing out our 55g ice chest and filled it about half full of water from the ocean with hopes of getting this guy back in fighting shape without having to deal with the stronger current he couldn't seem to get past. Seemed to be doing alright and we were getting ready to leave and attempted to release him one more time, Still no luck...
So what do you do if you don't just want to leave a shark belly up as you leave? Being the persuasive kid I was, I convinced my dad to try and keep the shark. That very night, we managed to make it to a LFS that stayed open late and picked ourselves up a 70g Tank, Stand, Lights.. The works. The main reason I even bothered asking is my father's already existing love for the hobby. We had a 640g Fresh Water tank full of Peacock Bass in the entry way of our home. (Save this story and tank for another time!
) Anyways, Back to the story, That night we had everything set up for our new arrival. The Shark thrived and recovered and we had him/her for a little over a year when we donated it back to our LFS since a 70g wasn't going to be enough for this Shark in our opinion.So what do we do with a 70g tank that was essentially Saltwater/reef ready? A reef of course, over the next few years we turned our tank into a gorgeous LPS and SPS dominated tank with all sorts of additional livestock when tragedy struck... While we were on vacation our Chiller stopped functioning and apparently our Central Air in our home was turned off while we were away... When we came home the inside of our house had to be at least 100 degrees or something similar. For any of you people in Southern CA that experienced that triple digit summers back then.. You can understand. More or less everything in our tank was gone.. with the exception of few pieces of livestock. We ended up selling the tank and all of its components later that year.
Flash forward maybe 5 years and here we are! I recently had a BC 29g gifted to me because my father said I work to much and I should find a hobby again. Being excited as I was I quickly started my research as of not really knowing much of the capabilities of the BC 29 and what its capabilities were. (This is where the HUGE thanks comes in to the RC Forums)
Existing Hardware:
Coralife 29g Bio Cube
Tunze 9001 Skimmer (Temporary, was included with the purchase of the BC oddly enough)
I ripped out the exisiting filtration and installed the InTank Media Basket (Floss, Purigen, Chemipure Elite)
Added a Hydor 425 for extra flow
Still contains stock lighting (added all optional LED's for the aesthetics)
Crushed Coral bedding and approximately 30 lbs of live rock (Maybe more, I honestly cant even remember)
Being back in the hobby, and unsure how long I plan on keeping this BC, I'm still torn between upgrading to one of the Retro LED kits or remove the hood and add a different light, Kessil, maybe? Having 3 Labs, Their hair manages to find it's way into every space of our house... and leaves me leaning towards keeping the hood and installing a retro kit. But the Kessil can be used on a larger tank down the road... :idea:
Tank was set up and has been running with only LR and a CUC for about a month. After checking the water parameters every few days i figured its time to bring some life to this tank.
Pair of Percula Clowns
Green Star Poly
Mushrooms
I am thinking of adding some additional live stock in the next few weeks. Thinking about a Xenia, Kenya, other softies and some additional fish. Anyone have luck with Hammer or torch using stock lights?
Constructive Criticism and recommendations are strongly encouraged!
Thanks for Reading!
