KookieBaron
Reefing newb
Hi there,
I'm a fairly new saltwater enthusiast, though I do have the advantage of working a a good pet store with a small but accomadating saltwater department. :sfish:
I started out around Dec. of 2009 with a small 14g tall tank, a heater and a backfilter filled with fragmented liverock, a 20# bag of silicate free sand, a handful of caulerpa and 7 pounds of live rock(LR). I let that cycle for about a month with once a week water changes, then began adding fish (1 firefish, 1 emerald crab, 2 yellow fin blue damsels and 1 yellow damsel, and a feather duster) . I had great success (with the exception of a fireworm attack on one unfortunate little crab, who was later replaced with two other little crabs), and found I enjoyed the hobby A LOT. However, I began to realize what I really NEEDED was a larger tank. :mrgreen: lolol.
So I began neurotically checking craigslist 3 sometimes 4 times a day. I would search the for sale and pet sections for the following words:
-aquarium
-aquariums
-tank
-tanks
-fishtank
-fishtanks
-fish tank
-fish tanks
:rofl: Why? Because each of these queries brought up different listings, lol. So eventually I found my 46g bow front tank with stand, fluval 304 canister filter, 2 large lighting fixtures, 30 pounds of LR and many misc. supplies, (some of which I threw out as I felt they may be unsanitary to reuse) all for $150.00 and the chore of pick up and a lot of cleaning. Anyone who has looked into this hobby can tell you that's a rockin' deal.
After buying the above supplies, I combined them with some of the items from my first set up, which pretty much worked. However, I wasn't really happy with that so I had to start fiddling around...
The 46g setup (for now...):
-tank & stand
-fluval 304 canister filter - filled bottom 2 baskets with LR frag, top basket with particulate sponge, and front panel with buffering sponge
-small backfilter from previous tank - filled with LR frag
-powerhead - large sponge particulate filter attached
-small underwater fan for better circulation
-1 appropriately sized heater (the old smaller heater didn't cut it)
-60# silicate free sand
-20# live sand
-40# LR
-large lighting fixture (custom won't bother you with the long description - electrician friends rock!)
I'm pretty happy with the current setup and have moved the 14g population over, and added 2 paired(mated hopefully) ocellaris clowns, 1 unidentified anemone (which my little clowns have so far ignored but it is a baby so fingers crossed), and a colony of green zoanthids.
So there is my long intro post, lol. :D I will post an updated picture as soon as this last cycle is through, thanks for the info!
KookieBaron
I'm a fairly new saltwater enthusiast, though I do have the advantage of working a a good pet store with a small but accomadating saltwater department. :sfish:
I started out around Dec. of 2009 with a small 14g tall tank, a heater and a backfilter filled with fragmented liverock, a 20# bag of silicate free sand, a handful of caulerpa and 7 pounds of live rock(LR). I let that cycle for about a month with once a week water changes, then began adding fish (1 firefish, 1 emerald crab, 2 yellow fin blue damsels and 1 yellow damsel, and a feather duster) . I had great success (with the exception of a fireworm attack on one unfortunate little crab, who was later replaced with two other little crabs), and found I enjoyed the hobby A LOT. However, I began to realize what I really NEEDED was a larger tank. :mrgreen: lolol.
So I began neurotically checking craigslist 3 sometimes 4 times a day. I would search the for sale and pet sections for the following words:
-aquarium
-aquariums
-tank
-tanks
-fishtank
-fishtanks
-fish tank
-fish tanks
:rofl: Why? Because each of these queries brought up different listings, lol. So eventually I found my 46g bow front tank with stand, fluval 304 canister filter, 2 large lighting fixtures, 30 pounds of LR and many misc. supplies, (some of which I threw out as I felt they may be unsanitary to reuse) all for $150.00 and the chore of pick up and a lot of cleaning. Anyone who has looked into this hobby can tell you that's a rockin' deal.
After buying the above supplies, I combined them with some of the items from my first set up, which pretty much worked. However, I wasn't really happy with that so I had to start fiddling around...
The 46g setup (for now...):
-tank & stand
-fluval 304 canister filter - filled bottom 2 baskets with LR frag, top basket with particulate sponge, and front panel with buffering sponge
-small backfilter from previous tank - filled with LR frag
-powerhead - large sponge particulate filter attached
-small underwater fan for better circulation
-1 appropriately sized heater (the old smaller heater didn't cut it)
-60# silicate free sand
-20# live sand
-40# LR
-large lighting fixture (custom won't bother you with the long description - electrician friends rock!)
I'm pretty happy with the current setup and have moved the 14g population over, and added 2 paired(mated hopefully) ocellaris clowns, 1 unidentified anemone (which my little clowns have so far ignored but it is a baby so fingers crossed), and a colony of green zoanthids.
So there is my long intro post, lol. :D I will post an updated picture as soon as this last cycle is through, thanks for the info!
KookieBaron
