Back in the Saddle! Fretfreak13's AJ-45

[fretfreak13]

Greetings! I’ve been out of the hobby for quite a while now do to moving around and my job, but with MACNA right around the corner from me this year I just can’t stay away any longer!

A little about myself! My name is Kali and I have 10 years of experience with marine aquariums. It all started for me when I was 12 years old and a good friend of mine’s dad had a 29g saltwater tank. That summer they moved to a new house and couldn’t take the tank with them (which now I know was probably because his wife was tired of looking at it), so he entrusted it to me. I was over the moon!

I had always kept freshwater fish with my dad. He still has a school of Koi that are all older than I am. We have built various other freshwater aquariums from guppies to arowana but we had never ventured into salt. My new magnificent piece of the ocean had a way-too-big overflow box that broke siphon every few days, a homemade sump with very sloppy baffles, maxi-jets for powerheads, a Petco skimmer that never once produced skim mate, a Coralife PC 50/50 with a melted plastic cover, wires everywhere you looked, tons of “awesome” little anemones that came with the rock, and a bratty little yellowtail damsel and two little clownfish that could live through a nuclear bomb. I even found a few pictures of it!

Here it was when I first got it, and here it was about a year later after vigorous research, trial and error, and allowances spent. That even the same open brain on the sandbed!

Throughout my teens I worked at a public aquarium and three different LFS/maintenance companies. I eventually even managed one of them. I’ve cared for two gallon dwarf seahorse tanks to 100,000+ shark exhibits and everything in between. I am now enlisted in the US Coast Guard at 22 years old with a wonderful husband, two feline fur babies, in a one-bedroom apartment about 2,500 miles from my starting point. I’m not exaggerating even a little bit by saying that this hobby has shaped me into the person I am today, and a large majority of my learning about it was here on NR. I was that annoying little kid asking about mandarins, tangs, and not understanding how the search function worked.

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Anyways! I have some pretty cool LFSs near me in So Cal. Aqua SD is only 15 minutes away from my place, and right down the street from them is another store where I picked up this tank. It was a model I had never heard of before so my interest was piqued, plus it wasn’t bad looking. The price was what drove it home, and I took home my new AJ-45 for a little over 100 bucks which was way cheaper than it is on Amazon! Score!

It has a three chamber back compartment with plenty of room for the float for a top off (my main concern for a tank this tiny). It doesn’t normally come with a return pump, but my LFS was nice enough to throw a little one in there for me that works for its purpose. I’m on a pretty tight budget (military members aren’t rich lol) so this baby is going to be beautiful…and cheap. The little LED arm it comes with is really bright, but I have no way to test PAR. It’ll eventually be upgraded, but should be alright with zoas and mushrooms for now. It also came with a nice little glass lid which I’m sure I’ll break and need to replace at some point, but I can enjoy it for now.

My only complaint about it so far is that the back panel has slots for water intake on the bottom as well as the top. During my leak test I observed that it was really going to affect this tanks ability to surface skim, so I slapped some silicone on there. I’m really sloppy with that kind of thing, so thankfully my sandbed covers it. Works great now though!

Lastly, what the heck is so great about this Real Reef Rock (RRR) stuff ?! I’ve seen it everywhere, but man I miss REAL live rock. I don’t mean that nasty smelly brown stuff that’s normally in the bin NEXT to the RRR that even aptasia won’t grow on, I mean the stuff with actual living things on it. It was either the nasty rock or the RRR I had to choose from, so I guess RRR it is.

Without further rambling, here she is.

Startup Date: 8/28/16

Current Equipment List:

Tank: AJ-45

Return: Lifeguard Aquatics Quiet One 400

Flow: Jebao WP-25

Lighting: 15w AJ-LED40

Heater: 100w Stealth Pro Titanium Heater

Livestock List:

Green Banded Goby (Angelina Gobie)

Black Ice Clownfish (Fish Pratt)

Invert List:

x2 Nassarious Snails

x2 Trochus Snails

x5 Red Leg Hermits

x1 Scarlet Hermit

Coral List:

Blue Clove Polyps

Metallic GSP

Blondies

Sunny Ds

Bam Bams

Gold Mauls

ASD Blue Day Dreamers

Birdsnest

Orange Yumas

Wish List:

Royal Gramma

Pearly Jawfish

Neon Goby

Petersons Anemone Shrimp

Harlequin Shrimp

Full Tank Shots

8/28/16 - Day One

9/28/16 - One Month Old

[fretfreak13]

Here are some pictures! I don't have a lot of time to post every time I get something, but I'm totally determined to post a FTS every month to see the tank's progress. My zoas all seem happy, but I'm a little wary of the birdsnest and a piece that big for ten bucks I just couldn't pass up. I know I need a lighting upgrade, but well see how it goes. If it starts to go downhill I have lots of outlets to pass it on to a better system. This is supposed to be a softy tank because I know I'm going to be moving in less than a year and I don't want to deal with driving across country with acros! I know I can do it with softies.

 

 

 

 

 

[supernip]

aquasd is local to you? hmm then you're local to yoshii and me.

 

is there anything good at aquasd lately? I havent kept up with sdreefs enough to know what stock will has

[fretfreak13]

Yes, I live in Poway. =) I only found out about SDreefs about a week before MACNA. I went, but at the time my tank was still cycling so I couldn't bring anything home. AquaSD is awesome, but a bit overwhelming because of how much they have all the time. I'm not sure if what I would consider "good stock" is the same that you would. I've also been to Aquatic Warehouse and Shipwreck Cove up in Escondido. Any other cool shops I should have on my radar?

[supernip]

poway =$$$. and unfortunately no, I think for the sd area, hobbyists are your best bet. you're not far from OC though