landlord
Homebred happiness
by
, 01-22-2010 at 12:23 PM (4561 Views)
How many of you out there have ever sat in front of your tank and sighed, remembering how exciting the hobby was when you got your first tank set up? Recalling the hours you spent staring in wonder at the infinte diversity you poured your heart and soul into building into your reef. The countless water changes performed, the meticulous testing you did and redid hoping that stubborn nitrate test wouldn't turn red. Even something a simple as seeing your first limpet stuck to the glass and thinking to yourself, where did that come from, or better yet, is he a "Good Guy" or a "Bad Guy". Now fast forwarding to the present you find yourself several years into the adventure, and it all but kills you to get up off the couch just to MagFloat the glass. Gone are the days when you struggled to keep every last bubble algae or aiptasia from seeing the light of day...
Yeah I was there, I think we all have been, or will be, there whether we'll admit it or not. I found myself at that point around the beginning of 2009. I was about two years into my latest tank. Full blown SPS reef with all the bells and whistles, making frags, going to the swaps, making a buck or two, etc... On this inside, I was bored with it all. I wasn't getting filthy rich, didn't have the newest of the new corals, blah blah blah...
Things changed on March, 14th 2009 when my biggest fan (Father-In-Law) says, "Hey Kurt, what are these orange things all over the rock?" With my back to the tank I blurt out some typical reefer answer like, "They're colonial tunicates." Of course, I said this while watching TV without really looking at the tank. Next thing he says is "How come the clownfish is rubbing his butt on them?" So at this point I guess I better get up and take a look....
So for the next hours I am absolutely blown away. I was so taken back by this I didn't really know what to do, besides stare at them.
This is where the rest of the story begins....
Let's move to the present, starting with an intrroduction. My name is Kurt Schneider and I am definitely an addict! I've been in this hobby since 2003 and have had all types of reef tanks; Mixed, LPS, SPS, Planted, etc... My true passion for the hobby was reinvented that day and now I am pretty much head long, knee deep, into breeding marine fish and inverts. My wife, and best friend, has supported this addiction and if had to thank one person it would be her, Thanks Martina.
I thought I would start off with the Breeding Room. The space I used for it is lcoated in my basement. There is a small room down there which houses my central air conditioning. The previous owners of the house had a laundry room in this spot. The good news for me is direct access to water, the room was outfitted with a stationary wash basin, hot and cold running water and a drain right in the concrete floor (a blessing for any reefer). Over a period of 6 months it has been transformed from a waste of space to my most favorite place in the house.
Breeding Rack:
Constructed from: 2 x 10's, 2 x 4's, 3/4 inch plywood
Plumbing: Central sump design
Tanks: (8) 10 Gallon Aqueon tanks (drilled with 1 inch thread x thread bulkheads)
Lighting: 2 standard issue Home Depot double 32 watt T5 light assembly. Running simple daylight bulbs.
Filtration: DIY Sump with Bioballs sectioned off from a Lifereef SVS3-24 Protein Skimmer. Currently using a Mag 12 to push wtaer through the pipes.
To the right side of my rack is a tabletop I built. On it sits my larval tanks, rotifers, and brine shrimp hatchery. For larval tanks I am using 5.5 gallon Aqueon tanks. Rotifers cultures are being grown in two 2 gallon buckets.
I would say setting this all up from ordering the parts to final assembly has cost around a thousand bucks, with the most expensive single purchase being the skimmer. I've always had a passion for building things and doing this project was very fulfilling. Just getting your hands around something like this can be daunting. My father-in-law, who assisted in some of the building told me to break it down in small steps and before you know it you'll be looking for something else to build. He was absolutely spot on. I cannot think of one thing that was overly difficult during this assembly process. Drilling the tanks was the most nerve racking but after the first one it was old hat.
So Kurt - What exactly are you breeding in there.....
I started with Tomato Clowns which are housed in my main SPS reef. The eggs, at the top, in the first picture were literally the first eggs I had ever seen and were the first fish I attempted to raise. After much frustration, long hours, and love, I finally got the knack for them. It has sort of blossomed out from there. I have been very fortunate to have hooked up with some great pairs of fish from good folks on RC. I have a spawning pair of Percula clowns who, albeit young, have produced two egg batches of which none have survived past three weeks, still much to learn from species to species. My current attentions are being directed at a pair of Gold Striped Maroon clownfish. Still learning the in's and out's of this particular species. I have 7 fish from their first hatch at 3 weeks of age and another 250 going on their fourth day. I am participating in the breeders challenges sponsored my MOFIB.org and this years choices include: Firefish, Dragonfaced Pipefish, Banggai Cardinal's (not pictured) and Peppermint Shrimp, so they are currently being conditioned for breeding as well.
It's funny how my hobby has evolved and just when I'm getting down on it, new things pop up, and it's these changes that really spark new interest for me. I hope to be able to share my knowledge with other folks who are thinking of new ways to get excited about reefing again. I'm a pretty easy guy to find out here on the fish boards so feel free to look me up, shoot me a PM, whatever. Anything to share the knowledge and fun!
Thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed it!
Kurt
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