big_vard
Member
So where do I start...
Well not to repeat too much of my "introduction" post, but here goes:
So I started into the hobby probably 15 years ago. I spent about 10 years with my dad where we started with 35 gallons and eventually upgraded to 77. Through all of that time we never had many of the things that I now know to be very important for a successful marine aquarium.
Recently, labout a year ago, living on my own in grad school I decided to get back into the hobby. I took an old freshwater 20 gallon, threw in some liverock, a couple chromis and away I went... using just a simple single flourescent bulb and an aquaclear filter I was a little behind the ball to say the least.
This lasted until about 2 months ago when I had a major disaster after I made a really bonehead move and "rinsed" some algae off my liverock, thus destroying much of my biological filtration. I lost everything except a few crabs and one Astrea snail.
I cleaned everything and started fresh...
With a fresh start I am running:
Skilter 250 - Modified with airstone, don't usually use filter media either.
Power Glow 15W bulb.
Hagen Heater
Quiet One Powerhead
The skilter, though a big piece of &(*$ is actually doing a decent job. It produces a fair amount of brown cruddy water as you can see here...
The powerhead I'm using isn't ideal, but it'll do for now...
I also have a "pile" of liverock... no idea how much in weight.
My current inhabitants are:
"Heidi" my Yellow-tail Damsel
"Gob" (pronounced Jobe.. like the guy from arrested development) my False Percula
"Hugo" my cleaner shrimp
"Trooper" (because he made it through the disaster) my Astrea
And a bunch of random hermits...
I also have a few turbo snails who are not doing very well. I had 5 and there are now only two left. When I bought them my LFS told me to just "throw them in and they'll be fine"... not exactly true as I now know... hopefully the remaining two make it, though they don't look great. They have been hanging on for a few weeks now so I am hopefull...
Finally, I made a recent upgrade by changing out my substrate. I used to be using 0.5 mm aprox crushed gravel and "play sand". I've since upgraded that to 1mm aprox aragonite. This was a great opportunity to get rid of my Cyno that was all over the gravel. The new gravel is shown in tha pic with the crab...
Well, that's it for now. I'll be buying more live rock as my next step in improving my little piece of the ocean...
Well not to repeat too much of my "introduction" post, but here goes:
So I started into the hobby probably 15 years ago. I spent about 10 years with my dad where we started with 35 gallons and eventually upgraded to 77. Through all of that time we never had many of the things that I now know to be very important for a successful marine aquarium.
Recently, labout a year ago, living on my own in grad school I decided to get back into the hobby. I took an old freshwater 20 gallon, threw in some liverock, a couple chromis and away I went... using just a simple single flourescent bulb and an aquaclear filter I was a little behind the ball to say the least.
This lasted until about 2 months ago when I had a major disaster after I made a really bonehead move and "rinsed" some algae off my liverock, thus destroying much of my biological filtration. I lost everything except a few crabs and one Astrea snail.
I cleaned everything and started fresh...
With a fresh start I am running:
Skilter 250 - Modified with airstone, don't usually use filter media either.
Power Glow 15W bulb.
Hagen Heater
Quiet One Powerhead
The skilter, though a big piece of &(*$ is actually doing a decent job. It produces a fair amount of brown cruddy water as you can see here...
The powerhead I'm using isn't ideal, but it'll do for now...
I also have a "pile" of liverock... no idea how much in weight.
My current inhabitants are:
"Heidi" my Yellow-tail Damsel
"Gob" (pronounced Jobe.. like the guy from arrested development) my False Percula
"Hugo" my cleaner shrimp
"Trooper" (because he made it through the disaster) my Astrea
And a bunch of random hermits...
I also have a few turbo snails who are not doing very well. I had 5 and there are now only two left. When I bought them my LFS told me to just "throw them in and they'll be fine"... not exactly true as I now know... hopefully the remaining two make it, though they don't look great. They have been hanging on for a few weeks now so I am hopefull...
Finally, I made a recent upgrade by changing out my substrate. I used to be using 0.5 mm aprox crushed gravel and "play sand". I've since upgraded that to 1mm aprox aragonite. This was a great opportunity to get rid of my Cyno that was all over the gravel. The new gravel is shown in tha pic with the crab...
Well, that's it for now. I'll be buying more live rock as my next step in improving my little piece of the ocean...
