privitor Posted May 17, 2013 Share Posted May 17, 2013 Thomas Privitor's BowFront 36This is my 2nd venture into the world of aquaria!The tank has been a work in progress since Feb.2013 It Finished Cycling January 1st, 2013. Equipment: 36g Aqueon Bowfront Tank 2 - Hydor Koralia Nano Circulation Powerheads Ecoxotic Panorama Pro 12K/445nm LED Light Strip Danner Mag-Drive Supreme 7 - 700 GPH Return Water Pump AE Tech Sump Buddy 40 Downdraft Protein Skimmer 14g custom breeder Sump/RefugiumLivestock: CUCDwarf Cerith Snail Regular Cerith Snail Emerald Mithrax Crabs Nassarius Vibex Astrea snails Inverts Sand Sifting Sea Star Scarlet Skunk Cleaner Shrimp Green Bubble Tip Anemone Blue Sponge Tiger pistol Shrimp (added 6/7/13) Fish Pair of ORA True Percula Clownfish Springeri Dottyback Sailfin/Algae Blenny Yellow Watchman Goby Soft Corals/Mushrooms/Polyps Green Star Polyps Ricordea Florida Caribbean Umbrella Mushroom Pulsing Xenia Zoanthus #1 Zoanthus #2 Zoanthus #3 Red Mushroom (added 5/24) Blue Green Sympodium (added 6/7/13) LPS Coral Green Duncan Coral Orange Tip Torch Coral (added 5/24) SPS Corals Merulina Frag (added 5/24) Pink BirdsNest (added 6/5) Green BirdsNest (added 6/5) Orange Setosa (added 6/5) GARF purple bonsai (added 6/5) Green Montipora Cap.(added 6/5) Orange Montipora Cap. (added 6/5) purple Montipora Cap. (added 6/5) Unknown Green (added 6/5) ORA Spongodes (added 6/5) Plants/Macros Dragon's Breath Algae Chaeto for my fuge (added 5/24) Halimeda (added 5/27-wild collected) Current FTS * Still working on my photography skills * Link to comment
privitor Posted May 17, 2013 Author Share Posted May 17, 2013 The Back Story My very first SW tank was a BC14 that someone had giving me. I had always been into (and had allot of) FW tanks. My entire life I have been fascinated by aquatic animals. As far back as I can remember I had goldfish, lizards, snakes, pond fish in buckets, and anything I could catch and try to keep in an aquarium. As I got older and finally moved out on my own, I was able to buy fish and have tanks. And have tanks I did, at one point I have 9 FW and Semi-Fresh water tanks in my apartment. I just loved my fish and turtles; I was a form of therapy for me. I would hit the bong and sit there for hours just watching them swim. I had always liked the "ocean fish" but knew it was something I wouldn’t ever be able to afford since all the money i made flipping burgers was spent on my new born son.(Diapers and forumla are NOT cheap!!!) Until one day I was at a family member’s house checking out her tank. It was a 14 gallon Bio-cube that she had the Glow Tetras' in. The next time I visited the tank was empty in her garage. I asked he what happened to all her fish and she said she forgot to feed them once and they died (yea right? Only once?) so she broke the tank down and put it in storage. She said i could take it if i wanted it since I was the fish tank guy and she knew I would put it to good use. I played it off like it wasn’t a big deal and loaded it up and took it home. My world changed that day because now I had All-in-one system that I could use for a salt tank and I didn’t need to buy all the big shinny stuff I had seen in magazines and the equipment that at the time would have cost me 2 weeks pay. I was ready; I was finally going to dive into the saltwater world!!! This is till I realized I didn’t know the first thing about having a SW tank. All I knew was it was allot of collage level math and chemistry. That is till I found an awesome site with forums. I can’t really remember the name but it was nano-reef something I spent weeks reading posts, members aquarium journals, and studying ** StevieT's How to Change Water Guide ** word for word. After about 8 months of dreaming and reading I was ready to give it a shot. I did the all the common mods to the back chambers and bought new lights and a bigger pump for it. I finally was ready to set up my Biocube! At that time money was still tight so I basically used it as a test subject to learn off of. I filled it with Live Rock, Sand, and a cleanup crew then tested and changed and tested and changed the water. I was amazed by all the hitchhikers and sponges that came on my like rocks. I added 1 or 2 cheat corals but I knew if I wanted to have any fish I would need something bigger. The bio-cue was more of an experiment for me. Once I was confident enough, I decided to convert a 36 gallon BowFront, which housed a few cichlids, to a salt water tank. So I listed my chiclids on craigslist free to a good home and started the process of making it a reef tank. After a good cleaning I bought a glass hole saw and drilled the 2 drains in the back glass of the tank one on each side. I them painted the glass black and the plumbing on it. I then took and 14gallon breeder tank I had sitting around and designed a 3 compartment sump/refugium. (I’m still kicking myself for not taking many pictures of that build) When my income taxes came I order my LEDs and bought the skimmer, Mag Drive return pump, and more dry sand and rock. I was ready to transfer all the rocks, sand, and anything that was still alive from the Biocube to the BowFront and let the cycle begins again. Here is that story... Link to comment
privitor Posted May 24, 2013 Author Share Posted May 24, 2013 Just made my biweekly LFS visit! Picked up some Orange Tip Torch Coral, A Merulina Frag, A portion of Chaeto for my fuge, And a Red Mushroom frag! Link to comment
privitor Posted June 7, 2013 Author Share Posted June 7, 2013 just pick up some nice monis and birdsnest from a fellow reefer and payed my biweekly visit to Fintastic fish store and got an awsome pistol shrimp and a nice big Blue Green Sympodium frag!!!! Link to comment
markalot Posted June 7, 2013 Share Posted June 7, 2013 Howdy, Good luck with your tank, looking forward to seeing it progress. Link to comment
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