Figured I'd see who, if any, took up the hobby here. We started with freshwater and moved to saltwater about 4 months ago. It is high maintenance, but is well worth it in the end! right now I have live sand, live rock, some fish, crabs, snails, and shrimp. This is a long work in progress, but stay tuned! If anyone else has a tank, post it up! Now with the eye candy...
The current tank, a 55 Gallon
I need more live rock, but this is what I'm working with now
My first inhabitants! 2 Oscellaris Clowns
Then a Red Spotted Gobie
Then I got me a tank cleaner crew of 3 hermits and 5 snails
The other day I bought a Green Spotted Mandarin
I got some live rock from a local guy free...and this hitchhiker came with it
And these too....Bristleworms and fireworms. They show themselves when its fish feeding time! They are good cleaners of the live rock, but bad for my mandarin because he needs the food they eat
How can we tell its live rock? Everything living on it is alive...
So we went today and purchased a jawfish. This little guy has personality! He jumps on his tail and digs holes in the sand under rocks. He gets a mouthful, them spits it out! I was entertained for hours with this little guy!
Then....we have the Lawnmower Blenny. This guy loves algae, and eats a substitute or Nori. Pretty much algae that is dried in sheets. He also stays in the rocks, and at times, is very hard to find because he blends in well! Very much a showoff too!
Heres another shot of the Gobie on the roof of his home.....a nice big seashell!
Nemo? I guess they are looking for the East Australian current...
I will be building my refugium this weekend, which will house my algae plants to help control the Nitrates in the water for more fresh water for them to breathe freely! I also will be adding live copepods to breed in here, and be pumped back into the 55 via a pump in the refugium. I also have a skimmer that helps take the sludgy stuff (proteins) out of the water too. So virtually everything hanging on the back of the tank will be gone! I mix my own saltwater with fresh Deionized water and Instant Ocean salt. I have a Maxi-Jet powerhead pump in the tank thats modded with a bigger impeller to push the flow of water in the tank and simulate waves. I have a test kit that I test PH, Ammonia, Nitrates, Nitrites, Phosphate, and Calcium and this is done on a weekly basis. I also have a hydrometer that I test the Salinity (salt levels) in the water which is checked daily. This is still a work in progress....but within a year or two, it will look something that resembles this:
So anyone else have any saltwater tanks they maintain?