The Tank Turns 3!! Time for a Synopsis

The tank turns 3 this month so I thought I would do a quick Synopsis on the system, goals and achievements.

Reason Tank Was Set-Up: I decided to go into reefing after viewing my Uncles beautiful reef. I wanted to start with a reasonable tank setup so if I wanted to bail out I could with minimal loses. I set up this tank as a first jump into the world of reefing. I would use this tank to learn what I needed about reefs and then upgrade at a later date.

Goals:

1. To learn how to keep a reef (ie EVERYTHING)
2. Demonstrate that I can handle and succeed and keeping reefs
3. Prepare and learn as much as I can for a future larger tank

Initial Setup: Tank: 55 gallon all glass
Lighting: Nova T5 Extreme Pro (2 x 10k daylight, 2 x actinic)
Skimmer: CPR backpack skimmer
Fuge: CPR Aquafuge
Flow: 2 x Tunze Nano Stream 1 x Krollia 4

Major Upgrades: The only major upgrade I made was on lighting, I wanted to try to keep SPS (which I have been successful with)

Nova T5 Extreme Pro ------------> Current Sun pod 2 x 150w MH (I run 14K bulbs)

Corals Kept Successfully:

• Long Tentacle Plate Coral*** Heliofungia actiniformis
• Xenia Xenia sp.
• Purple Mushrooms Discosoma sp.
• Purple-white Mushrooms Discosoma sp.
• Leaf Coral Montipora Capricornis
• ----- (no common name) Montipora Setosa
• Torch Coral Euphyllia sp.
• Trumpet Coral Caulastera sp.
• ----- (no common name) Montipora Spogodas
• Blue Tort Acropora Tortuosa
• Green Milli Acropora millepora
• Pink Birdsnest Seriatopora hystrix
• Yellow Polyps Parazoanthus sp.
• Green Slimmer Acropora Yongei
• Green Zoas Zoanthus sp.
• Fire and Ice Zoas Zoanthus sp.
• Actinic glow Zoas (I call then that :) Zoanthus sp.
• Green Star Polyps*** Pachyclavularia sp.
• Sun Coral^^^ Tubastraea faulkneri

Fish Kept Successfully:

• Royal Gramma ``` Gramma loreto
• Tomato Clown ``` Amphiprion frenatus
• Tomini Tang Ctenochaetus tominiensis
• Devil Damsel Chromis xanthurus

Inverts Kept Successfully:

• Bubble Tip Anemones Entacmaea quadricolor
• Peppermint Shrimp Lysmata wurdemanni
• Bule Tuxedo Urchin Mespilia globulus
• Serpent Star Heterodon sp.
• Various Snails and crabs ------------

*** = lost in the big tank catastrophe
^^^ = killed by a stupid mistake, easily avoidable
``` = killed by ich

Things Kept Un-successfully:

• Sebae Anemone, got it bleached, did not know better.
• Pearly Headed Jawfish, was bullied and jumped
• Bangai Cardinal, came in sick, eaten by brittlestar

Disasters:

1. When the Sebae anemone died, it spiked the ammonia killing several corals.

Growth Shots: I try to take a shot of the tank once a month so I can really see the growth overtime. I did not really start this until 2009 so I don't have monthly shots before them. These are all of my FTS in chronological order.

August 2007 (after initial setup)
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008August 2008 September 2008October 2008
November 2008December 2008January 2009March 2009April 2009May 2009June 2009July 2009


Final Thoughts on System: This tank was practice, and when I started I didn't know what equipment I really should get, or where I should spend my money. The CPR aquafuge is really crummy and doesn't provide enough filtration to sustain much bioload. The Fuge is to small and the skimmer doesn't work. So I am essentially running a tank with no skimmer. I have to keep the bio-load low and the feedings small. The Current Sunpod is a really great fixture and I have been very happy with it! The Tunze nano streem pumps are o.k. I think next time I will just spend the extra money and get a vortech. All-in-all this tank has been a great learning experience and I am ready to take it to the next level and get a bigger tank.