A Successful Start

Ever since the day I first saw a saltwater reef aquarium, I wanted one. Unfortunately, the fear of it being too difficult and beyond me, along with the price tag that often follows it was more than enough to push me in the direction of freshwater tanks. After a year in the hobby, and plenty of experience with the freshwater aspect. I made the jump to saltwater, purchasing a 250 watt Metal Halide light, 6 pounds of rock (3 pounds live, 3 pounds base), sand, salt and all the other items needed to get myself started through the cycling phase.



After the tank was up and running, it took about 17 days for it to fully cycle. On the 19th day I went out and bought 3 hermits, and 3 snails as the starting group for my cleanup crew. As recommended by another respectable and experience aquarist, I allowed the tank to mature for two months before adding any fish. In the meantime, I stocked the tank with various corals including, Montipora sp., Frogspawn, Mushrooms, Acropora sp., and some small brown polyps. After the two months, which was only a few weeks ago, I added a pair of False Percula Clownfish (Amphiprion ocellaris). The larger and more dominant of the two, the female, quickly to hosting the Frogspawn coral.



Here are the current specs of the tank:

• 25 Gallon Tall tank (24 x 12 x 20)
• ~18 lbs. of live rock
• ~20 lbs. of crushed coral and aragonite sand.
  
• 250 watt 14000K Metal halide light
• 100 watt heater
• 1 whisper filter [100 GPH], 1 maxijet 1200 with rotating output [260 gph], 1 maxijet 900 [235 gph]
• 5 gallon water changes every 2 weeks
  
• Fish: 2 ocellaris clowns, 1 yellow head sandsifter (impulse buy, oops. Trading in for hector's goby
• Inverts: 3 snails, 3 hermit crabs, 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 Long tentacle Anemone
• Corals: several Acropora sp., Montipora sp., Frogspawn coral, Mushroom coral, various polyps.

Over all the tank is doing really well. Surprisingly, even with the large amount of light over the tank, i get very little in the way of algae. Although I'm unsure, I believe it is in part due to the large amount of flow in the tank.





Stay tuned for updates.