mattman72 Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 I became interested in reef tanks sometime back in November when i stumbled upon this website, the tank of the month category to be specific. Seeing those beautiful tanks inspired me to take the plunge into salt water tanks. Before then i kept a freshwater tank with the perspective that salt water tanks were way to complicated and high maintenance for me. Three months into the hobby I would now say that my old views were ridiculous and the only real difference is you have to be careful about water evaporation. Here is my tank 3 months old now! It's still a work in progress of course. Front tank shot: Left tank shot: Right tank shot: Where the tank lives: Tank on Day 1: Equipment: Tank - Coralife Biocube 14 gallons Lighting - stock pc 1 x 10,000k daylight, 1 x true attinic blue, lunar blue LED bar, plus an add on cool white LED bar Circulation - return pump 180gph and 1 x koralia nano circulation pump 240gph Filtration - stock filter floss with activated carbon, wet/dry bioballs, a sponge before the return pump to block large debris, and 10 lbs of live rock Temperature control - 50 watt aqueon heater currently but here in Texas I think I might need a chiller for the summer Maintenance: Daily - Manual top off of evaporated water and inspection of all live stock. Every other day - Feed the fish and clean the glass with a mag float. Weekly - Spot feed the corals, crabs, and shrimp. 20-40% water change/sand vacuum. Monthly - Change carbon/filter floss and clean out sponge. Every 3 months - Clean the circulation and return pumps and clean the bioballs of any built up debris. Livestock: Fish: 2 Ocellaris clownfish Invertebrates: 1 Peppermint shrimp (his name is Harry Potter) 1 Emerald crab 1 Scarlet legged hermit crab 2 Blue legged hermit crabs ( hitchhikers) 1 Tube worm or feather duster thing (hitchhiker) 4 Nassarius snails 4 Florida cerith snails 5 Small nerite snails 20 dwarf cerith snails (reefcleaner.org is the best place to order snails!) 10 stomatella snails (not really sure how many they hitchhiked in and breed all the time) I know i have too big of a cleaner crew but when my tank was done cycling I got excited lol.. Corals: 1 frogspawn (1 head) 1 Duncan coral (4 heads) 1 Moonpie polyp (2 heads) 1 Blue Florida Ricordea mushroom (2 heads) 1 Red mystery mushroom 1 Blue/green mystery mushroom 3 Colonies of mystery zoanthids 1 Colony of Eagle Eye zoanthids (7 heads) 1 Colony of Incredible Hulk zoanthids (7 heads) I need more corals i know.. Here are some more pictures! Duncan coral: Frogspawn: Mystery Zoanthid Colony: Mystery Red Mushroom: Mystery Tube Worm Thing: Blue Florida Ricordea: Trying to get the Ricordea to stick to rubble (successful finally) Moon Pie Polyp: (when I google moon pie polyp nothing comes up anyone know what this actually is?) Peppermint Shrimp: Emerald Crab: Scarlet Hermit Crab: 2 Quote Link to comment
SbCaes Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 moon pie: its acutally a grandis palythoa. Quote Link to comment
mattman72 Posted March 28, 2014 Author Share Posted March 28, 2014 moon pie: its acutally a grandis palythoa. Thanks! Quote Link to comment
Felicia Posted March 28, 2014 Share Posted March 28, 2014 Welcome! The tank is looking great so far! I really like the rock scape, especially that arch on the left side. Makes it interesting from all sides. Quote Link to comment
mattman72 Posted April 21, 2014 Author Share Posted April 21, 2014 more feedback Quote Link to comment
mattman72 Posted August 18, 2014 Author Share Posted August 18, 2014 Update: Have added a torch coral and a few mushrooms. Added a yellow watchman gobbie, named Ronaid. Added an additional media bag of carbon + phosgaurd. Got a new peppermint shrimp cause mine has been MIA for like 40 days now </3. Not what happened to him. I figure he molted and something with the water quality killed him, then he was eaten by the rest of my critters... Some pics: Ronaid lurkin like he does: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5065_zps4b6c4981.jpg.html'> Martha hosting her torch: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5106_zps16fc3eb1.jpg.html'> Full tank shot: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5088_zpsc3db91b3.jpg.html'> Mushroom: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5074_zps1d070ac2.jpg.html'> Growing new heads http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5071_zps60005d10.jpg.html'> Martha and Ronaid hanging out: Top down full tank shot: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5194_zpsf4551d31.jpg.html'> Right side tank shot: http://s41.photobucket.com/user/mattman72/media/IMG_5186_zps8a1908bb.jpg.html'> 1 Quote Link to comment
Christopher Marks Posted April 27, 2021 Share Posted April 27, 2021 Welcome back @mattman72! What do you have planned for the reboot? 1 Quote Link to comment
mattman72 Posted April 30, 2021 Author Share Posted April 30, 2021 On 4/26/2021 at 9:17 PM, Christopher Marks said: Welcome back @mattman72! What do you have planned for the reboot? Hi! I was planning on making a more detailed post for my new tank. I have been cycling dry rock running the tank with 1 50/50 light on for 8 hours a day. Bought the setup on craigslist and came with one of those after market media baskets. So far i am cycling rubble rock in the bottom chamber of basket, middle empty, and filter floss on top chamber... not really sure what to put in the basket or how effective it is lol. The water seems to not drip over it as well as i think its intended to. Anyway I am going to take more pictures and make a new tank profile post about it! Thanks for your interest. 1 Quote Link to comment
mattman72 Posted May 7, 2021 Author Share Posted May 7, 2021 What is the type of Torch listed in the pictures above from 2014? Having hard time finding similar torch coral now. Thanks in advance -Matt Quote Link to comment
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