Caelan

[Caelan]

Hi,

I'm Kelli from Regina. I'm new to marine tanks and just set this one up. I have a 45g, 48x12x18 display tank with a 20g rubbermaid sump behind the wall in another room. The overflow is a modified 2 compartment pail with a hole in one side. It works exactly like a traditional overflow only it was $15 at Rona instead of $150 plus for the acrylic ones. Our gear is in a dedicated fish room on the other side of the wall, so we're not concerned with looks. Return pump is a Mag18A. 2x 150w heaters, one in the tank and one in the sump, provide some redundancy in the heating department. A Turboflotor 1000 Multi with some filter floss in the last return step is also in the sump. There is 30lbs of branchy Fiji live rock on 2" Arag substrate. I was considering the crushed coral, but after seeing the aragonite sand in Pat's large display tank, I was sold. Farmer John had my rock in his tank for about 3 weeks for me so it's got some feather dusters, coraline algae and even a blue legged hermit on it. The tank is cycling currently, but the ammonia is very low and the dusters are open. I feed the tank a minute amount of marine snow to maintain the dusters and crab weekly. Hopefully, sometime this year I will convince hubster to go in with me and buy an MH system so we can have a clam and some neat corals.

[Caelan]

The tank is about 9mos old now and is stable and doing well. One of my percs is becoming female and seems to be growing larger every day. Since there are 3 of the little guys, we're watching to make sure that no one gets beat up during this process. So far, we have a 100% peaceful tank and no casualties for several months now. We've even managed to maintain a fat little mandarin for several months. He's very active and plump and is doing well. Our lawnmower blenny has been in the tank the longest. He's about 25% larger now and doing well. No hair algae problems with him cruising around. Hes shy and tends to flee at the slightests movement. You know where he's been by the kiss marks on the glass. I think he's my favorite out of all the fish.

The xenia frag that Farmer John gave me all those months ago can only be described as ridiculous. It's absolutely huge and covered with those neat little hands. I really like it so I haven't cut it back yet. FJ also gave me some mushrooms and theyre doing well also. Unfortunately, the green stars didn't make it :(

There is a candy cane and some zoos also. I noticed the other day that the zoos self fragged and there is another colony starting in another place.

The whole family likes this tank quite a bit. We've had some casualties and our share of cyano, various algae etc etc etc and currently have an aptasia infestation, but there's nothing like having a little captive reef in your basement. Even my mother in law has a favorite fish (the mandarin).

For all the newbies: don't worry and be patient. There were some times when I wanted to just sell everything off and forget about it, but I always managed to somehow overcome whatever the problem was and make it through. There is a steep learning curve, but once you know more or less what you're doing, you can solve most problems as they come along. Enjoy!

My husband loves the percs

[Invigor]

awesome kelli, glad to hear everything is going so well for you :victoriou

where are the pics ??

[stinga]

Wow sonds Nice!Can't wait to see pic's!BrianSmith might be able to help out with the aptasia infestation...I think?:spin:

[scary gary]

Great to hear everything is going great. Hopfully all, or at least most of the big headachs are over.

[Stasher]

Good to hear that you are happy with the tank and that the hobby hasn't got the best of you. Look forward to maybe seeing somepictures in the future.