reefmatenate
New member
Hello fellow reefers. Ive been a member of reef central for quite some time and have been lurking on here since around 2002. since then Ive kept fresh and saltwater tanks as well as ponds. My fascination with this hobby and my involvement has gotten to be a passion of mine and now Im hoping I can share some of my experiences here with all of my fellow reefers. to help educate and further this hobby as a responsible. savvy and educated reefer.
first off a bit about me and my current setup. my previous 65 gallon that you will see in some of these pictures has been taken down and rebuilt 4 times.. finally i was able to attain the tank I wanted. I'm still in the process of building a custom stand out of a carbon fiber look material. that will house all of my newest equipment and look like nothing I've seen on here...
A little bit about my current setup
120 gallon long marine land tank. with a local made cheap stand i bought for 50 bucks from a friend. the following is a list of what equipment I'm currently using. and how Ive learned over the past 10 years what has worked and what hasn't.
lighting consists of two fixtures. I recently upgraded to aquatic life's 4 bulb t5 with lunar LED and on fixture control. which i can't be happier with. I also supplement with two additional t5 10000k bulbs in a smaller fixture i got for 10 bucks from a local. this setup provides complete control currently. and someday i will be housing them in a custom hood. just have to do the stand first.
secondly my equipment list..
my sump is a custom 40 gallon long breeder separated into two section as well as a custom built wet dry that is built in to the drain from the main display. the design allows me to have more volume. as well as having more customizability in my sumps design. from the main display my overflow dumps into the wet dry. goes through 4 pre filters and some other filter media before finally dumping into the sump where i grow chaetomorpha and pods and has a few bits of live rock to grow random lil goodies.
my skimmer is a euroreef 180 that i have owned since i started this hobby. i have a custom built eurodesign impeller and pull out a full cup of skim mate every two weeks. this in my opinion for the price. is still one of the best skimmers on the market.
flow is provided by a mag 12 with a t that flows into a scwd and generates flow from either side of the tank creating a "wave" surge and providing 80% of my flow. i also have two new power heads however their names escape me. i have them on a wave maker pro II on alternate settings to randomize flow.
finally i also have a marine land hang on back filter. I know i know. but hey it makes a great place to run phosban and other nitrate reacting stuff and i clean it out every three days!
finally i use instant ocean salt. and only www.ecosystemaquarium.com supplements. i dose amino acids. and use balance blocks for keeping my calcium and alk in check.
heat is controlled by a true temp 800 watt digital heater. which i highly recommend. Ive used 6 heater brands over the years. one shocked me crazy. this one is extremely accurate. checked by 3 different temp probes and my temp is lucky to flux .5 degrees on a daily basis. since this tank is in my sunroom. the air conditioner keeps it 73 degrees in their year around no matter what. in the winter i draft in cold air from the window to keep my ph ok since my home is headed by gas.
finally params. as checked by my lfs "aquarium world" in lafayette indiana. there are two guys there that rock. the owner can be rude. but he has good prices. and two people there are extremely knowledgeable. and at home I check things every other wednesday with seachem testing.
params are:
sg 1.023 - refractometer by sybon
alk and calcium are 2.5 - 3.5 Meq/L balanced with Ca levels of 420 - 460
nitrates are untraceable but have spiked once or twice. i try to clean my tank of detritus and use as much good husbandry practice that way i don't have to freak out.
never checked mag but I'm sure its fine
temp is 76.4-77
phosphate 0.01 ppm
and other than that i never check anything else... mostly i just do a 5 gallon water change once a week. and things stay just dandy
my tank inhabitants are gonna be simple
i have no idea how many snails or crabs i have in my tank. last i checked i had
30 blue leg hermits
30 red leg hermits
30 astrea snails
30 turbo snails
a couple sand sifting stars and brittle stars
one small horseshoe crap i see every other day or so. worried he may move the rock someday.
5 small peppermint shrimp that stay hidden in this cave. unless its night time feeding time.
fish are:
orange shoulder tang
sailfin tang
mated pair of oscellaris clowns. tank bred
lunare wrasse
blue spot jawfish pair
and i think. once in a while i get to see him. about every three days. is my cleaner wrasse. funny thing is he hides in my jawfishes huge cave. and rarely comes out. they sometimes can be spotted both poking out of their hole... lol
corals are:
finger leather
palythoa colony
two zoanthid colonys. orange center brown rim
and a long tentacle brownish reddish colony
chaetomorpha ball in the mail display. i know i know but it looks natural...
4 orange wit vibrate green rim florida ricordeas.
some kind of bubbly anemone. nobody can identify it.
birds nest coral
gorgonian
pearl bubble
several others randomly appear but those are the ones i remember buying lol. everything i own has came from someone else's tank. or has been purchased from aquarium world. I also saved my clownfish pair from petco. they were starving to death in a 5 gallon tank with crappy lighting and living. they are now fat and happy and produce eggs every month or so.
and now. without further delay. some pics
first off a bit about me and my current setup. my previous 65 gallon that you will see in some of these pictures has been taken down and rebuilt 4 times.. finally i was able to attain the tank I wanted. I'm still in the process of building a custom stand out of a carbon fiber look material. that will house all of my newest equipment and look like nothing I've seen on here...
A little bit about my current setup
120 gallon long marine land tank. with a local made cheap stand i bought for 50 bucks from a friend. the following is a list of what equipment I'm currently using. and how Ive learned over the past 10 years what has worked and what hasn't.
lighting consists of two fixtures. I recently upgraded to aquatic life's 4 bulb t5 with lunar LED and on fixture control. which i can't be happier with. I also supplement with two additional t5 10000k bulbs in a smaller fixture i got for 10 bucks from a local. this setup provides complete control currently. and someday i will be housing them in a custom hood. just have to do the stand first.
secondly my equipment list..
my sump is a custom 40 gallon long breeder separated into two section as well as a custom built wet dry that is built in to the drain from the main display. the design allows me to have more volume. as well as having more customizability in my sumps design. from the main display my overflow dumps into the wet dry. goes through 4 pre filters and some other filter media before finally dumping into the sump where i grow chaetomorpha and pods and has a few bits of live rock to grow random lil goodies.
my skimmer is a euroreef 180 that i have owned since i started this hobby. i have a custom built eurodesign impeller and pull out a full cup of skim mate every two weeks. this in my opinion for the price. is still one of the best skimmers on the market.
flow is provided by a mag 12 with a t that flows into a scwd and generates flow from either side of the tank creating a "wave" surge and providing 80% of my flow. i also have two new power heads however their names escape me. i have them on a wave maker pro II on alternate settings to randomize flow.
finally i also have a marine land hang on back filter. I know i know. but hey it makes a great place to run phosban and other nitrate reacting stuff and i clean it out every three days!
finally i use instant ocean salt. and only www.ecosystemaquarium.com supplements. i dose amino acids. and use balance blocks for keeping my calcium and alk in check.
heat is controlled by a true temp 800 watt digital heater. which i highly recommend. Ive used 6 heater brands over the years. one shocked me crazy. this one is extremely accurate. checked by 3 different temp probes and my temp is lucky to flux .5 degrees on a daily basis. since this tank is in my sunroom. the air conditioner keeps it 73 degrees in their year around no matter what. in the winter i draft in cold air from the window to keep my ph ok since my home is headed by gas.
finally params. as checked by my lfs "aquarium world" in lafayette indiana. there are two guys there that rock. the owner can be rude. but he has good prices. and two people there are extremely knowledgeable. and at home I check things every other wednesday with seachem testing.
params are:
sg 1.023 - refractometer by sybon
alk and calcium are 2.5 - 3.5 Meq/L balanced with Ca levels of 420 - 460
nitrates are untraceable but have spiked once or twice. i try to clean my tank of detritus and use as much good husbandry practice that way i don't have to freak out.
never checked mag but I'm sure its fine
temp is 76.4-77
phosphate 0.01 ppm
and other than that i never check anything else... mostly i just do a 5 gallon water change once a week. and things stay just dandy
my tank inhabitants are gonna be simple
i have no idea how many snails or crabs i have in my tank. last i checked i had
30 blue leg hermits
30 red leg hermits
30 astrea snails
30 turbo snails
a couple sand sifting stars and brittle stars
one small horseshoe crap i see every other day or so. worried he may move the rock someday.
5 small peppermint shrimp that stay hidden in this cave. unless its night time feeding time.
fish are:
orange shoulder tang
sailfin tang
mated pair of oscellaris clowns. tank bred
lunare wrasse
blue spot jawfish pair
and i think. once in a while i get to see him. about every three days. is my cleaner wrasse. funny thing is he hides in my jawfishes huge cave. and rarely comes out. they sometimes can be spotted both poking out of their hole... lol
corals are:
finger leather
palythoa colony
two zoanthid colonys. orange center brown rim
and a long tentacle brownish reddish colony
chaetomorpha ball in the mail display. i know i know but it looks natural...
4 orange wit vibrate green rim florida ricordeas.
some kind of bubbly anemone. nobody can identify it.
birds nest coral
gorgonian
pearl bubble
several others randomly appear but those are the ones i remember buying lol. everything i own has came from someone else's tank. or has been purchased from aquarium world. I also saved my clownfish pair from petco. they were starving to death in a 5 gallon tank with crappy lighting and living. they are now fat and happy and produce eggs every month or so.
and now. without further delay. some pics
