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AudraMurphy

New To Reef Addicts

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by
AudraMurphy
, 12-10-2011 at 02:36 PM (1723 Views)
Hello, I just joined Reef Addicts last week and wanted to introduce myself and my tank. I have been a part of this hobby for just over a year now. The church I attend and work at was given a 100 saltwater aquarium with fish and I volunteered to take care of it. I had always wanted a saltwater aquarium but the cost was always out of my range so this worked out perfect for me.

When the aquarium was moved in and setup I began reading what I could from books and the internet. The aquarium came with fish, rocks, and sand but there was no cleaning crew so I set out to buy a hermit crabs and snails as soon as the water parameters were at the proper levels. I ordered a reef cleaning package of hermit crabs and various snails. I also purchased an Eyelash Blenny which has turned out to be my favorite fish in the aquarium. During the past year I added some SPS, LPS, Soft Coral, and a Sun Coral. Most of the time I did my research before purchasing but I have to admit I made some impulse buys. Most of the time though it worked out well.

A couple months ago I added 60 pounds of live rock hoping that would help with the ongoing nitrate problem I have been battling. Unfortunately, I don't know how much I had to begin with but I'm guessing it was around fifty pounds based on what my order of 60 pounds looked like.

Current Tank Information

Livestock
Yellow Tang, Sailfin Tang, Scopas Tang, False Lemonpeel Angelfish, Yellowtail Damselfish, Starcki Damselfish, Ocellaris Clownfish (2), Clarkii Clownfish, Engineer Goby (2), Eyelash Blenny

Corals
Torch Coral, Pink Birdsnest Coral, Sun Coral, Pink Pocellipora, Green Mushroom (2), Button Coral, and a couple I have fogotten the names of.

Invertebrates
Long Spined Sea Urchin (2), Pincushion Sea Urchin, Blue Tuxedo Sea Urchin, Banded Serpent Sea Star, Green Bubbletip Anemone (7), blue-legged hermit crabs, and various snails

Aquarium & Equipment
100 Gallon - 6' 5" x 18" x 18"
Live Rock - ~100 - 110 pounds
Live Sand - ~ 2" deep
Lighting - 2 Coralife PC Fixtures. Each fixture has a 96W 10K bulb and 96W 420 NM actinic bulb in each fixture. After Christmas I am planning on replacing these with a T5 lighting fixture.
Skimmer - Seaclone Skimmer rated for 100 gallons
Filtration - Marineland Emporer 400 HOB Filters, 2 Aqueon 950 Circulation Pumps, and 1 Petco Powerhead, Fluval 405

Future Plans

1. Upgrade to T5 lighting.
2. Upgrade the skimmer. I know it is pretty much the bottom of the line but it came with the aquarium so I need to make it work for now.
3. Better filtration. I would love to get a sump but with the aquarium being in the church I have a fear of flooding the church. So until I have gotten a better understanding of how a sump works I'll have to make do with the Fluval.

Well, I guess that just about sums it up other than to say that I've gotten alot of information from this site already and can't wait for my tank to look half as good as alot of the tanks I've seen here.

Audra Murphy

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Comments

  1. Jaxom's Avatar
    Welcome to Reef Addicts Audra, sounds like a nice setup. When you get a chance post some pictures so we can see what you're working on. Again, Welcome to Reef Addicts, we look forward to hearing more from you.
  2. baker.shawn's Avatar
    omg if my church had a reef tank id be there every sunday rather than just christmas and easter lol!

    i cant wait to see some pics. may i suggest you upgrade the skimmer before the lights, my reason for saying this is, if you have powerful lights and not so great water your just going to end up with a bad case of algea, if you were to upgrade the skimmer first i believe your much better off...but then again if you dont have a sump there really isnt anywhere for a proper skimmer to go...hmmm

    a sump is definitly nothing to fear, you just have to makesure if the power goes out your sump can hold all the water that will drain from the plumbing and from the overflows water level. because your tank is alreasy setup it will be harder to add a sump, you can use an overflow box or you can drain part of the tank and drill it then install a simple overflow box, im sure you can find a local reefer who feels confident enough to do it for you.
  3. Hat39406's Avatar
    Hey AudraMurphy, welcome to Reef Addicts!
  4. AudraMurphy's Avatar
    Here's a picture taken a couple weeks ago. I'm still working on getting some uploaded to photobucket. Hopefully I have uploaded the photo correctly.
    [IMG][/IMG]

    I haven't taken measurements yet but I'm pretty sure that there is plenty room under the tank for a sump. So now I will start reading up on sumps and overflow boxes. I do have a friend here locally who has a large tank and sump and I will pick their brains about their setup.

    Thanks a bunch for the input. I've gotta go do some aquarium maintenance and then get started on some sump and overflow box research.
  5. baker.shawn's Avatar
    the tank looks great!