My 9 month old 12 gallon Eclipse!

[gabe82]

I got the itch for a saltwater reef aquarium in the summer of 2003 after years of keeping freshwater aquariums. I'm proud to say I spent a good deal of time researching the subject before making the plunge. In February of 2004, with a solid six months of doing my homework, I went to my favorite LFS and initially purchased all that it would take to accomplish setting my tank up. Months later, here are the current stats, and occupants of my aquarium:

 

12 gallon Eclipse bowfront acrylic aquarium with a carbon / bio- wheel filter

36 watt retrofitted coralife 50/50 power compact fluorescent light

2 Micro-Jet powerheads at 117 gallons per hour each

1 5 - 20 gallon heater

15 pounds of live sand from the Gulf of Mexico

14 pounds of Figi live rock

7 pounds of Tonga Branch live rock

1 oscellaris clown fish

1 Royal Gramma

1 scarlet hermit crab

2 blue legged hermit crabs

4 astrea snails

a little bit of nepthea coral

 

 

Retrofitting the light allowed my first venture into keeping corals. I started out with a gorgeous brown nepthea. Later, I included a pulsing xenia, and finally, against all my better judgements, I purchased a neon green goniopora. Unfortunately, I was hit by Hurricane Frances (the joy of living in Florida), and was out of power for two and a half days. I have a battery back-up hooked up to the components of the aquarium, however, even with the lights off, the battery only managed to sustain the tank for about 8 hours. After the battery cut off, there was nothing I could do except watch and hope for a miracle. When the power did finally kick back on, I had lost a Royal Gramma, an ornate brittle starfish, a blood shrimp, my goniopora, xenia, and almost all of my nepthea. Basically, all that survived was my oscellaris, a few blue legged and scarlet hermit crabs, and my astrea snails. I was pretty devistated.

 

After a few weeks, I got a new Royal Gramma, although I have not replaced the blood shrimp or ornate brittle starfish yet. I did however learn something from the tragedy. Between Hurricane Frances, and Hurricane Jeanne, I was able to procure 3 battery powered air pumps as well as two sponge filters, and when the power inevidably went out for Jeanne, I used those air pumps and they worked beautifully! My fish were not laboring to breath at all!

 

Since the hurricanes, some of my nepthea has started to grow back, my largest piece being about three inches. Hope you enjoy the pics of my little piece of the ocean!

[coral reef]

can we have some pic please

[gabe82]

I cannot figure out how to post pictures to this page. I took quite a few pics of my aquarium and came out with some pretty good ones...if someone would like to help me, I would appreciate it, as I'd love to get some pics on this page. Thanks in advance.

[newbiecarlz]

to post pics:

 

click 'post reply'

 

then in the reply section, below the box for you to type your message is an 'attach file' option. you need to click browse, find the file, and then click open. easy!

 

just make sure that the file isnt too big. HTH

[bladze]

hey guys, don't talk about your tank without pics. We come here because of picture. We never get enough of it.

[format32]

Originally posted by bladze

hey guys, don't talk about your tank without pics.  We come here because of picture.  We never get enough of it.

 

pervert.