Reef Sanctuary - View Single Post

koffee · 10-31-2007, 02:46 PM

I’ve only been doing aquariums for a few years. Oh, sure, when I was a young teen, I attempted a "community" tank - through in a bunch of cool looking fish without understanding a thing, and watch everything (except the algae) die. When I was an adult, got married, and had space and money, I got heavily into reptiles. My wife is a critter person too. Unfortunately, when we escaped California to Alaska, we had to rehome all of our critters.

It was here that I got into fish. I still have reptiles (skink, beardie, and iguana) and even some birds (cockatiel and goffins cockatoo). My wife has numerous rodents and four snakes. And we have two dogs and two cats.

My wife had a cheesy 10G community tank - rainbow gravel, fake plants, and a No Fishing gremlin - almost as soon as we moved here. A few years later, I got into aquariums starting with a 29G planted tank. I experimented with DIY CO2, soil substrate, and so on. Currently, I have 6 FW tanks: two 1G betta hexes, a 2.5G mini-bow with an albino paradise, a 6G Eclipse mini-bow with a pair of gardneri killi and some lemon tetras, a 10G for an electric blue lobster, and a 20G low-maintenance no-filter planted tank with lots of algae eaters (ottos, clown plecos, zebra snails) and some tetras (serpae and kerri). All of these, with the exception of the lobster, are planted. No rocks (other than gravel or sand) - only wood.

A few years ago, I adopted some feeder goldfish from my wife’s co-worker. She had four large ones (biggest was 6-8 inches) plus a pleco in a 29G with a half-functional UGF. I set these up with a better filter, and cut down the load by one - sent him to live in a nice big pond with a 3-foot catfish. At the time, I was working at an aquarium and pond store, which later closed. When it closed, I got a bunch of equipment for free or cheap. This included the SW hospital tank: a ReefKeeper wet/dry sump, overflow, and pump, a ReefKeeper skimmer, and a 29G tank. I immediately put the wet/dry on the goldfish.

My wife scored a 38G tank for free, and I took all the goldfish to an LFS for resale, getting fancies instead. Even though I maintained good water quality, I had little luck with the orandas. So, I decided that if/when the last one died, I would give up on fish bred for certain deformities and go for a naturally rotund fish instead. I was going to rebuild the tank for a dog-faced puffer. I had wanted one ever since I first saw it in the LFS I worked at.

Here is one of the last shots of the goldfish tank.

The Telescope Eye (far back left) and pleco survived and went to the LFS for resale. The plants went into my other tanks. All three died. Notice the wet/dry sump underneath.

10-31-2007, 02:46 PM	#1 (permalink)
koffee Midas Blenny Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Alaska Posts: 119 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	An Alaskan Reef (38G) I’ve only been doing aquariums for a few years. Oh, sure, when I was a young teen, I attempted a "community" tank - through in a bunch of cool looking fish without understanding a thing, and watch everything (except the algae) die. When I was an adult, got married, and had space and money, I got heavily into reptiles. My wife is a critter person too. Unfortunately, when we escaped California to Alaska, we had to rehome all of our critters. It was here that I got into fish. I still have reptiles (skink, beardie, and iguana) and even some birds (cockatiel and goffins cockatoo). My wife has numerous rodents and four snakes. And we have two dogs and two cats. My wife had a cheesy 10G community tank - rainbow gravel, fake plants, and a No Fishing gremlin - almost as soon as we moved here. A few years later, I got into aquariums starting with a 29G planted tank. I experimented with DIY CO2, soil substrate, and so on. Currently, I have 6 FW tanks: two 1G betta hexes, a 2.5G mini-bow with an albino paradise, a 6G Eclipse mini-bow with a pair of gardneri killi and some lemon tetras, a 10G for an electric blue lobster, and a 20G low-maintenance no-filter planted tank with lots of algae eaters (ottos, clown plecos, zebra snails) and some tetras (serpae and kerri). All of these, with the exception of the lobster, are planted. No rocks (other than gravel or sand) - only wood. A few years ago, I adopted some feeder goldfish from my wife’s co-worker. She had four large ones (biggest was 6-8 inches) plus a pleco in a 29G with a half-functional UGF. I set these up with a better filter, and cut down the load by one - sent him to live in a nice big pond with a 3-foot catfish. At the time, I was working at an aquarium and pond store, which later closed. When it closed, I got a bunch of equipment for free or cheap. This included the SW hospital tank: a ReefKeeper wet/dry sump, overflow, and pump, a ReefKeeper skimmer, and a 29G tank. I immediately put the wet/dry on the goldfish. My wife scored a 38G tank for free, and I took all the goldfish to an LFS for resale, getting fancies instead. Even though I maintained good water quality, I had little luck with the orandas. So, I decided that if/when the last one died, I would give up on fish bred for certain deformities and go for a naturally rotund fish instead. I was going to rebuild the tank for a dog-faced puffer. I had wanted one ever since I first saw it in the LFS I worked at. Here is one of the last shots of the goldfish tank. The Telescope Eye (far back left) and pleco survived and went to the LFS for resale. The plants went into my other tanks. All three died. Notice the wet/dry sump underneath.