Studio Reef - year 13

[rhdoug]

These are some pics of my 58 gallon mixed reef. The sebae anemone has been with me for nearly 10 years, the fiji yellow leather has been in there for 9 years.

 

[zigzag1]

Great looking tank! Typically a 9 year old leather would be much larger. Have you fragged it over the years?

 

[vitodog]

Great looking tank. I know it took a lot of hard work and perseverance over the 13 years to get to the level of success your tank appears to be in now. Where do you keep your parameters and do you dose or supplement anything?

 

[huseman808]

Holy frogspawn!

 

[110galreef]

Very nice mixed reef looking bio. Makes for a nice change!

 

[Sugar Magnolia]

Beautiful. That sebae is gorgeous!!

 

[jasin401]

awesome!!

 

[jasin401]

Holy frogspawn!

looks to be a hammer :beer:

 

[huseman808]

looks to be a hammer :beer:

Ah yes indeed you are right :ape:

 

[89Foxbody]

Looks incredible!

 

[rhdoug]

Great looking tank! Typically a 9 year old leather would be much larger. Have you fragged it over the years?

I wondered how soon somebody would ask me that. This is what it looked like in 2008:

It was getting stung by the anemone so I moved it higher in the tank, and shortly after, it was attacked by this large orange acan. I rotated the damaged area away from the acan in this picture. It had burned off half of the crown of the leather overnight. The acan was removed. The leather is recovering well.

 

[rhdoug]

Great looking tank. I know it took a lot of hard work and perseverance over the 13 years to get to the level of success your tank appears to be in now. Where do you keep your parameters and do you dose or supplement anything?

Thanks! Yes it's a lot of work but I enjoy the tank immensely. I rarely test anything, I dose BRS 2 part Ca and Alk, run carbon in a bag in the sump, and run a phospate reactor as well.

 

[rhdoug]

Thanks for all the kind words. Yes that is a large hammer colony on the right. It gets fragged about once a year when it gets to the surface. There is a small frogspawn mixed in with the hammer over on the left, above the blue-green lobo.

 

[KafudaFish]

Thank you for sharing your tank.

Plans for the next 13 years?

 

[rhdoug]

Thank you for sharing your tank.

Plans for the next 13 years?

You're welcome! I am just planning on keeping it going. Unless the tank itself fails I have no plans to get a bigger one, although it is always in the back of my mind. I just installed a enclosure including side cabinets for water/equipment storage, and a canopy. Both were built around the tank and are attached to the wall and ceiling, giving it sort of an "in-wall" look. I had been planning it for a couple of years and finally had it built and installed last December. I am really happy with it, and it has made water changes a snap.

 

[KafudaFish]

That is great to hear that you have no desire to break it down etc.

Off the top of my head there really aren't many tanks in your age group.

Paul's which is approaching a midlife crisis
someone from Purito Rico with a 20 year tank
someone in the large tank forum with a 14 maybe a 15 year old tank
a few near the 10 year mark
Brandon's pico that is 8 maybe 9 years old now

I am sure there are others but cannot remember now.

 

[username in use]

Pic of the vivarium on the left please

 

[on3ofak1nd]

pic of the vivarium on the left please :d

+1

 

[rhdoug]

Ok, I guess since it is next to a reef tank it is reef-related...

It is a 29 gallon tank, I built the top area years ago to house various critters. It currently houses a crested gecko that I have had for about 10 years, and 6 cichlids live in the aquarium. It is hard to photograph, but here are the best pics I have.

this is a look down on the stream bank. You can see the gecko on the left.

another angle

 

[username in use]

awesome