Hello from the Frigid North!

Hi there, My wife and I started our saltwater aquarium in January 2007. I wasn't ready to start one yet because I didn't think I knew enough to do it right, but my wife made me become a fast learner out of necessity!

We have a All Glass 55gal. Started out with about 35lbs of live rock, CPR BakPak, and Ehiem Ecco filter and just some normal twin tube fluorescent bulbs. After letting things "cook" for about 3 Months, we added a few Blue Damsels, to start the Nitrate Cycle. Added some more live rock over time, because in Fairbanks Alaska live rock goes for $12.99 a pound....just do the math! Since then we have added a bunch of stuff, some made it, some didn't..

One of the best things we did to improve the consistency of our water was add a sump, about 20 gallons. We have always done 10-15% water changes ever other week or so, and things are perfect for the most part.
As far as life goes, we have:
2 Clowns
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Diamond Goby
1 Six Line Wrass
1 Mandarin Goby
1 Purple Firefish Goby
1 Coral Banded Shrimp
2 Hermit Crabs
1 Emerald Crab
8 or 10 Snails
1 Conch
1 Clam

Corals
1 Frogspawn
1 Brain
1 Candy Cane
2 Zoo's
1 Plate
1 Green stars
2 Leathers
Lots of Misc. Mushrooms, Feather worms
3 UAO's (unidentified aquarium objects)

About 80-100 lbs live rock
I don't remember how much crushed coral substrate we used, enough to cover the bottom about 2-4 inches thick.
Equipment
48" Coralife 496wt HQI Pro metal halide
UV
CPR overflow
and the stuff listed earlier

As for the life that didn't make it, after the blue damsels we bought 2 clowns, the didn't really get along, and the clowns died.
I took all the live rock out and caught the damsels and took them back to our LFS, for NO credit (### holes), but i couldn't bring myself to flush them down the toilet, as much as I wanted.

Our first Diamond Goby committed suicide, jumped out of the tank the second night we had him. We now have the top sealed up pretty tight.
Our first sixline wrass died for unknown reasons, but our big hermit crab made short work of him, nothing left after one day.

For some reason we have had NO luck with Colt Corals, had 2 and neither of them made it, but thats OK, never really liked them anyway....
And I think that about sums it up.

3Reefs looks like a great community, Aquariums are a wonderful hobby. My wife and I both SCUBA Dive, so having our tank brings a little of what we love into our home.

 

To 3Reef!!! ​

Salutations! Glad to see you found way here! Sounds like you have a great system going. Send us some pics and let us see.

Colts are hard to keep going in a newer tank...took me at least a year or so before I could keep them from going to pieces.

Have you got an LFS in Fairbanks? - If not, mail must allot more reliable then when I was up there. Did 5 years flying helicopters out of Ft. Wainwright (E Troop (Air), 1st Cav.) --- back in late 1970's...had house out in North Pole.

If "fridged" now - is about to get much more so soon. Hope you have a good backup heating system. ;D

The Tao of Marine Aquaria
Tips for Our Hobby and Life

© 1997 Adam H. Whitlock
Edited By Elizabeth M. Lukan 11/25/00 ​

 

Welcome to 3reef!

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