It never ceases to amaze me all the little critters that hitchhike there way into our tanks. My latest find is that I have Limpets (sounds like I have a new disease, LOL). I noticed one on the glass about a week ago, and I’ve since discovered more in my sump, so I guess they are multiplying. I don’t know where they came from as I’ve not added anything to the tank that they could have hitchhiked in on in months (I started seeing them before I added my Birthday order), so I guess they’ve been in hiding for a while. Now while this does sound exciting there is a potential downside. Some Limpets are herbivores, meaning they are beneficial algae eaters but, there are a few species which are known to munch on corals. Fortunately, these species generally attack SPS type corals which I do not have in my tank. Beyond that, I’m fairly certain I have ID’d these as one of the algae eating species. Let’s hope so anyway!

Happy Reefing!

My posts have been lacking lately for a number of reasons. For one, my computer had some problems; the type that are best fixed by re-formatting the hard drive and a clean install of Windows XP (I have tried Vista and even messed a bit with Linux, but XP will be around for a while in my house). Also, my wife has been suffering from a Deep Vein Thrombosis, which has kept me busy trying to look after the house chores (and all but failing I might add), running errands and playing nurse.

So on to more exciting news. My Birthday will be coming up in a few days and we all know what that means; presents! Oh ya, I guess I should mention I will turn 40 this Birthday, but that doesn’t bother me the way it does some people. Let’s just hope no one does anything stupid like a black themed surprise party. I’m a simple guy, no big parties here; just take me to the Smoke Box (the best BBQ restaurant anywhere on the planet) and let buy something new for the tank and I’m a happy camper. Anyway, the exciting news is I received a $200 gift certificate to SaltwaterFish.com from my parents who live on the West Coast. I’m not sure what I’m going to spend it on, but some of it will most likely go towards rebuilding my cleanup crew, and I’m in the market for a couple of new fish. My wife has been hinting around about new lights for the tank, so I may see an upgrade to T-5 lights in the not too distant future.

Not much new otherwise. I’m continuing to battle the algae and winning. The PURA media is working well and I’ve see a nice increase in polyp extension since I started using it. I’ve also been doing a few more water changes to help battle the algae and I hope that new lights will have an impact too. The cheap bulbs I’m using are looking pretty green/yellow, the spectrum that tends to grow algae well.

Happy Reefing!

This is a repost of an article I wrote that was featured on a website that focuses mainly on freshwater planted tanks called guitarfish.org; hope you enjoy.

AQUASCAPING 101

My general thoughts on aquascaping are pretty simple and can be summed up in two general categories.  First, less is more.  Second, keep it natural.

Let’s take a more in depth look at these concepts.  First, keeping it natural is pretty cut and dry.  I like for my tanks to mimic the natural environment of their inhabitants.  To each his own I suppose, but you will never find a cheesy sunken ship, Chinese pagoda or no fishing sign in any of my tanks.  Beyond that, in reef aquaria it’s important to use items made of materials naturally found on the reef or in the ocean.  Other materials often have compounds in them that can cause problems or even kill livestock.

For many years in the reef hobby it was believed that you needed 1 ½ – 2 pounds of live rock per gallon of tank size.  If you were going to cram that much rock into most tanks you didn’t have many options on how you could do it.  The generally accepted approach was to build a strong base of larger rocks on the bottom with smaller rocks on top.  In most cases what you ended up with was a solid wall of rocks across the entire width of the aquarium.

Since the rock work was often leaned against the back pane of the tank, this created a sloped look.  It didn’t yield an especially natural look, and especially once you started to place corals on it, it become what I’ve best heard described as “the fruit stand look”.  These days it’s been found that adequate biological filtration can be achieved using far less rock, giving much greater options on how it can be arranged.

As an example my 125-gallon reef tank has no more than 90 pounds of live rock in it, and maintains undetectable levels of the “bad” stuff. Live rock selection is an entire topic of its own so I won’t get too involved with that here, but I would like to point out that light, very porous rock is the key in using a smaller amount.

There are some different approaches to preparing the tank before you start aquascaping depending on whether you have a substrate or a bare bottom, you want to use rock lifts, etc.  I view these more as a choice of husbandry styles; so again, I’m not going to discuss them in depth here.  For what it’s worth, I personally choose a moderately deep bed of fine sand and no type of rock lifts or supports in my own tanks.

So, here is what I view as the benefits of this approach.  First and most simply, I think using less rock looks better and more natural in most cases.  It allows for more natural placement of corals and other livestock, and allows more swimming area for fish.  When placing and arranging rock work in the tank, I look for three things.

1. Does it look aesthetically pleasing?
2. Is it open, leaving as much space as possible?
3. Is it secure?

OK, so item one is pretty straightforward.  When you look at the tank does the rockwork look natural and pleasing to your eye?  One thing I find really helpful when setting up a tank is to look at lots of pictures of other tanks or even pictures of natural reefs.  Save the ones that you think look nice so that you can identify a general trend of what you seem to like. Some people may actually like the “fruit stand” look; others may like the look of a trench, while still others may want to try to create a biotope that recreates a specific part of the reef.

I find that randomness often helps achieve the goal of looking natural.  Use a variety of sizes and shapes of rock. Also create as many open caves and nooks between the rocks as possible (this also tends to make a more natural environment for fish and other animals).  Try to avoid horizontal or vertical lines.  Nature seldom runs in straight lines.  Horizontal “shelves” or “bridges” are a pet peeve of mine.  Under the right circumstances they can look cool.  More often than not they end up looking unnatural, especial if used to display corals as if they were in a store for sale.  Randomness is also important when placing corals.  Varying the amount of space between specimens tends to yield a more natural look.

Item two, keeping it open.  Some of this goes back to looking natural.  Natural reefs are made up of areas of rock densely populated by corals and other animals but also areas of open water and sand (one reason I choose to employ a sand substrate in my tanks).  Beyond that though I try to make sure my rock work is open so as to not create places where detritus and other things can get caught and build up.  This depends also on having an adequate amount of, and properly placed, flow, but in general keeping rock work as open as possible will keep “gunk” suspended in the water column longer giving it a better chance of being filtered out.  Fish also seem to like the open rock work.  I love to watch my fish zip around the tank, darting in and out of the various caves and nooks and crannies in the rocks.

Lastly is the matter of security.  One of the problems in the “olden days” of trying to get huge amounts of rock stacked in a tank, were the inevitable rock slides.  At best they caused a few scratches on the glass (or acrylic), and at worst a cracked and/or leaking tank!  It’s much easier to stack a smaller amount of rock securely.  Personally, I choose to fit my rocks together like a puzzle, placing them in such a way that they support each other securely without the need for additional supports.

Sometimes this means making some minor modifications with a hammer and chisel.  Some people choose to epoxy rocks together, but I don’t especially like to turn them into large unwieldy chunks.  Another method, which I do like and works well, is to drill holes in the rocks and “string” them together so they are less likely to topple.  I’ve seen this done with acrylic rod, but the most ingenious (and cost effective) method I’ve seen is to use those white PVC driveway reflectors (minus the reflector of course).  One nice thing about this method (especially in a larger tank) is the ability to create interesting freestanding (i.e. not requiring support against the back of the tank) areas of rock work.

As the old saying goes, a picture is worth a thousand words.  So to sum up I offer this shot (top of post) of my 125-gallon reef.  The tank has only been setup for a few months so it’s far from a finished product, but it does a fairly good job of illustrating my thoughts about aquascaping.

It’s been a little busy with all the holiday hubbub, but I wanted to take the time to make a quick Christmas post and share a little holiday humor.  Below is a “reprint” of something I found that gave me a chuckle.

I hate aspects of this time of year. Not for its crass commercialism and forced frivolity, but because it’s the season when the food police come out with their wagging fingers and annual tips on how to get through the holidays without gaining 10 pounds.

1. About those carrot sticks. Avoid them. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately and go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.

2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. Like fine single-malt scotch, it’s rare. In fact, it’s even rarer than single-malt scotch. You can’t find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnogaholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. Heck have two for me. It’s later than you think. It’s Christmas!

3. If something comes with gravy, use it. I mean that’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on. Make a volcano out of your mashed potatoes. Fill it with gravy. Eat the volcano. Repeat.

4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother, right? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.

5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat other people’s food for free and lots of it. Hello? Remember college?

6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.

7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies in the shape and size of Santa, position yourself near them and don’t budge. Have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. You can’t leave them behind and you’re not going to see them again.

8. Same goes for pies. Apple. Pumpkin. Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. Or, if you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert? Labor Day, NOT?

9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards, mate.

10. And one final tip: If you don’t feel terrible when you leave the party or get up from the table, you haven’t been paying attention. Reread the tips. Start over. But hurry! Cookieless January is just around the corner.

So I hope all have had a safe and joyous holiday.

God Bless & Happy Reefing!

A while back I decided to make a video of my tank.  Now, I’m no cinematographer and my camera leaves a lot to be desired, but it was a fun project all the same.  There’s been a fair

amount of growth since the video was made and a few of the inhabitants have changed, but overall the tank looks very similar to what you see in the video.  It gives a good overview of my basement fish room too.  Again, a few minor changes in equipment down there, but mostly it’s still the way you see it.  The DIY skimmer is going great; I’ll do a post on it in the near future.  Oh, one other difference about how the tank looks today vs. the video is the tank back glass.  I decided I couldn’t stand the coralline covered back and now keep it scraped.  I’ll never let it get that covered again; it took a whole family scraping party to get it all cleaned off.

Happy Reefing!

This seemed like a very suitable list for this blog.  I’m not actually the original author, and I’ve seen this list in various forms on numerous saltwater forums, so I don’t even know who the original author is so as to give them credit.  I did modify it slightly to suit my own taste.  So, without further ado I present the “how to tell if you’re a reef-a-holic” list:

1. You can’t pass your tank with out giving everything a thorough looking over.

2. You try to approx. the growth of your corals on a daily basis.

3. You can’t walk out of the fish store with out spending at least $200.00

4. You will argue about reef lighting with your dying breath.

5. If you see just one coral with its polyps retracted your mind begins to spin (Alk. Calcium, nitrates, phosphates, emergency water change!!!)

6. You will give up vacations, weekend jaunts and so on because you don’t want to leave your reef.

7. When going for a weekend trip you spend 10 minutes telling the babysitter about your kids and 2 hours about your tank.

8. When you have company coming over the first thing you break out is your algae cleaning magnet.

9. The most exiting thing to happen to you in the last 3 years is the purchase of a tricolor Acro.

10. Once you finally get your reef running perfectly and everything is growing, you begin to make plans for your next tank.

11. You feel genuinely sorry and deep sense of grief when one of your snails dies.

12. You feel a great sense of satisfaction when slippery green stuff grows in a Rubbermaid container and you call it a refugium.

13. You will chase the kids around the house chastising them about leaving the lights on… when you actually need your own substation to power your reef.

I hope you got a chuckle out of those as I did, even if some of them hit a little close to home.

Happy Reefing!

I’ll get back to the particulars of my tank in upcoming posts, but for now I’d like to talk about something a little different.  I’m a member of several online saltwater/reef communities, some quite large and some that are pretty small.  Most of the extremely large ones I don’t spend much time at except to search for specific information when I’m doing research.  There are two forums, however, that I frequent at least daily; one relatively small one called salt-city.org because it’s local to me, and the other is TheReefTank.  I really enjoy The Reef Tank because it’s big enough to stay active with lots of new info and posts, but still has a true community feeling.  But, what this post is really about is The Reef Tanks new community blog (http://www.thereeftank.com/blog.html).  I got involved with the project when I was asked by Ava, the new head of community blog affairs (OK I made the title up, but it sounds good) if I would be interested in contributing a few articles.  I gladly accepted and she started feeding me topics they would like to see addressed.  The first article I wrote was on aquascaping and was actually a reciprocal post on guitarfish.org, a really cool planted aquarium website (article can be found here).  My second article is on choosing a heater and was just posted today (that article can be found here).   I hope you take the time to visit The Reef Tank and it’s community blog, there is a wealth of great information to be found there.

Happy Reefing!

Since this blog is about my addiction to all things reef, I suppose I should talk more about my setup. After all, that’s what us “reefers” do when we get together and talk. Unfortunately, there is a secret language used by those in “the hobby”, that might as well be Chinese to the uninitiated. I will try to keep my ramblings in the vernacular and avoid the use of terms, abbreviations and acronyms that might not be easily understood by the non-reefer, or at least I’ll take the time to explain what they mean if I do.

I don’t see much point in going back in my history any more than I did in my previous post, so I’ll start with the tank I setup in December of 2007. As I mentioned I got rid off the vast majority of my equipment before moving back to the Midwest last year. Being a true addict it did not take long before I was anxious to set up a tank in my new house. Initially I went the cheap and easy route with a 55 gallon tank plumbed to a simple sump via some DIY overflows.  BTW I don’t suggest overflows, DIY or otherwise, they are just an accident waiting to happen.  Drill your tank from the beginning or get a RR tank (RR = Reef Ready, comes with the holes already drilled and normally some of the basic plumbing).  Over the course of a few months the tank went from the image you see on the left (essentially a pile of freshly cured live rock with a few fish and corals) to what you  see in the image below.  I don’t recall the actual dates, but the pictures are about 7 weeks apart. Then in early February 2007 I was chatting with my buddy Pat, who owns a local pet store specializing in saltwater (I refer to him as the used car salesmen of the pet industry) and he mentioned having a couple of used 125 gallon tanks for good prices.  So I loaded up the family and off to the other side of town we went.  The first tank he described as a little rough, wow was that an understatement.  I wouldn’t have taken that tank if he’d given it to me for free.  The other tank however was in great shape other than being a little bit dirty.  He was asking $650 for the 125 gallon reef ready tank, pine stand, a sump and some filters.  Now remember this is the wheeler dealer pet store owner, who will take all kinds of stuff on trade.  I told him I had my 55 gallon tank, stand, and a MagDrive36 pump that I didn’t need that I could trade (long story, but never hook up a 3600gph pump to a 55 gallon tank unless you want to get wet!).  I also told him I really didn’t need (or want) the sump and filters he was including with the 125 gallon tank.  So Pat did some figuring in his head, a little counting on his fingers, some humming and hawing, then turns to me and says “how ‘bout I keep the sump and filters, you bring me your 55 gallon tank, stand and the pump, and I’ll let you have the 125 tank and stand for $140 cash.  In case you don’t know 125 gallon tanks start at $500-$600 new for just the tank, so needless to say I shelled out the cash, loaded up the tank and stand and headed for home.  As I said the tank needed a little clean up (dang corraline algae) and the stand ultimately was painted black, but all in all I feel like I got an awesome deal.  So that’s the story of how and where the 125 came to be.  I’ll get into more of the technical setup and the change over to the new tank in future posts.

Happy Reefing!

Hello to all. My wife is a bit of a blog-aholic, reading, writing, designing and redesigning blog pages any chance she gets. This, however, will be my first “real-time” foray into the world of blogging. I’m an active member of several online reef aquarium forum style sites. Those tend to be more question and answer related as opposed to blog entries, which I view more as the random ramblings of my mind tied around a general theme.

I suppose the obvious place to start is a little background about myself. My name is Jeff, I’m 39 and I am a reef-aholic. I really can’t pick on my wife too much for her time spent blogging as my addiction takes up just as much free time and costs substantially more to maintain. Seriously though, I’ve been keeping aquaria off and on for about 25 years. My very first tank was a 20-gallon “loaner” aquarium used to conduct a hermit crab behavior study when I was still in school. I lived in Stamford, CT at the time and simply went down to the local beach and came home with some sand, rock and a bunch of hermit crabs. After the paper was written, I enjoyed keeping the critters so much that I kept the tank going for a while with various crabs, macro-algae’s, stars; pretty much whatever I could find in the tide pools at the local beach. After that aquarium, I kept a number of mostly freshwater tanks before again entering into the world of marine/reef tanks. Since then, I’ve kept tanks which have included many different approaches including a cold-water tank with local specimens (this when I lived in Washington State and had access to livestock from the Strait of Juan De Fuca).

When I moved back to the Midwest from Washington I got rid of all of my livestock and most of my equipment. I initially setup up small tank after moving but that didn’t last long and in February 2008 I can across a deal on the current 125-gallon tank and stand that was just too good to pass up! The new tank is plumbed to a 55-gallon sump that is located in my basement just behind and below the display. There is also a 10-gallon fuge/frag tank plumbed to the system. I’ll add more info on equipment in upcoming posts. In addition to the 125-gallon reef tank there is also a 12-gallon nano reef and a 10-gallon freshwater-planted tank in my home.

As they say a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll end this first post by including a FTS (full tank shot) of my pride and joy.

Happy Reefing!