Show Off Your Reef Tank!

[LJC6780]

Just wanted to start a “show off” thread for the sw side ... feel free to post pics of your fish, corals or full tank on this thread! The more the merrier!

I’ll start!

Here is my 29 Gallon Biocube currently. Side view ... need to scrape algae!



My 85 Gallon (bad surveillance cam pic!)



Wrassey and The Jets.

 

[Culprit]

Man I love the coralline in your 29. So brihgt!!! I think that's the first FTS I've seen of your 85 CJ. We need to see some more!

Here's my "future". Its live rock cycling LOL. And here's a little hitch hiker I found that nobody could id haha.

 

[grantm91]

My 32 cube.

 

[stella1979]

Finally, got a little color in a picture of my blasto.



Been getting some compliments on this guy lately... Bi-color War Coral. He's growing!!!



An SPS... well, I have two SPS's but this is the one I like. Jason Fox Porites! This poor thing has been suffering since a week without power after Hurricane Irma. This is the best polyp extension I've seen in months.

 

[thesoulpatch]

Double post the pictures didn't load on the last one.

 

[grantm91]

Ok, as requested stella1979 a zoa-pedia of my little collection.







You missed a tag too. Mike never seen your tank/tanks ?

 

[grantm91]

The sw forums coming to life, I have to agree on the zoas, bang for the buck as they say. I have to add this last pic.
it sums up the sw for me.

 

[LJC6780]

Double post the pictures didn't load on the last one.

I absolutely love that RFA!

Ok updated tank pics after cleaning algae and rearranging a bit today. I fragged a couple things too ...

 

[Culprit]

Man you have that stuffed full don't you? Love the DIY frag rack lol. You even have a frag on the maxspec gyre! Speaking of which, how do you like that?

 

[thesoulpatch]

I absolutely love that RFA!

It's my favorite on in there, which is why I have it front and center. It hasn't moved from that rock since day 1.

Yeah it was $60 and the green one, which I currently am mad at, was $25. So not terrible.

 

[stella1979]

/1 Why are you mad at the green one? I noticed it looks kind of mad too. Is your green guy a moody RFA? I think I have one of those too, but in my case, the moody one is the pretty one and he won't stay up front!

 

[LJC6780]

Man you have that stuffed full don't you? Love the DIY frag rack lol. You even have a frag on the maxspec gyre! Speaking of which, how do you like that?

I don’t have any diy racks ... which one are you talking about?

The thing on the gyre is actually just a disc that fell off of a coral. I just set it up there out of the way.

I love the gyre! It is the 130 and puts out some force across the entire tank! It’s 4 feet.

 

[grantm91]

Come’on Nart stop holding out on us, I wanna see sone angles of the new scape, maybe some coral close ups too ?

 

[Culprit]

I don’t have any diy racks ... which one are you talking about?

The thing on the gyre is actually just a disc that fell off of a coral. I just set it up there out of the way.

I love the gyre! It is the 130 and puts out some force across the entire tank! It’s 4 feet.

The frags in the cup by your frag rack? Is that not DIY? I thought it was. I bet it makes really really good movement too, not just flow but movement

 

[LJC6780]

The frags in the cup by your frag rack? Is that not DIY? I thought it was. I bet it makes really really good movement too, not just flow but movement

Ah! Yeah that’s just a coral cup (take out bowl) with some yumas in it. It’s just a spot to put them until I get rid of them. They are aggressive and I didn’t want to put them on the rack. Plus, that one is HUGE! It covers the entire bottom when it’s open and happy.

 

[LJC6780]

Ok. I just did about a 16 gallon water change and scraped the glass.

 

[Nart]

I'll get some updated pics to post soon. Been a bit busy.

But here's my OG Reef tank

 

[Culprit]

But here's my OG Reef tank

Where'd you get that one from? Never seen it before haha. Ohhh was that before you got the IM25?

 

[LJC6780]

I'll get some updated pics to post soon. Been a bit busy.

But here's my OG Reef tank

Yeah, what tank is/was that?! I really like how the rock is set!

 

[Nart]

Where'd you get that one from? Never seen it before haha. Ohhh was that before you got the IM25?

Yeah, what tank is/was that?! I really like how the rock is set!

Haha... That was my first tank. The 15 gallon with all the HOB stuff on it.
Still have the 2 clowns, substrate, and the 2 zoas u see there.... I still have them and practically zero growth with those. Some very weak strands of zoas.

 

[Jayd976]

I'll get some updated pics to post soon. Been a bit busy.

But here's my OG Reef tank

is that the walt smith reef rock 2.1 or you just had that much good coraline growth all over the rock?

 

[CraiginWales]

They’re awesome all of you! Wish I had the guts to give it a go. Is the primary focus keeping coral or fish (or both) Is it expensive?

 

[stella1979]

Thank you! I would say, instead of being nervous about it, start doing research. I was scared for years, but it's not so hard if you take things slow and do your research. Even the research can be overwhelming, but once you get going and put the learning into practice, it gets a whole lot easier.

The primary focus in reef tanks is the coral, but that's not to say we don't love our fish. I would say that I am just as concerned about keeping my fish happy as I am about the corals, but a lot of the care that goes into a reef tank is to keep corals happy. If you keep your corals happy, then the tank is certainly clean and healthy enough for fish. The thing to consider is that corals will not tolerate most medications, and this is why it's important to make sure you only put healthy fish in a reef tank, and that you have a backup plan (a QT) in case you need to treat fish.

Yes, it is more expensive on the salty side too. Having said that, I don't think that you have to be rich to do it. I'm certainly not! You just have to budget correctly. I started buying equipment well before I started the tank so it wouldn't be one big expense in a short period of time. There are often great deals on second had sites too. People get out of the hobby and just want the stuff out of their house, so you can pick up a reef ready setup pretty cheap if you're patient enough. One of our regular salty members is picking up a very nice tank with all the necessary equipment, plus liverock, corals and fish for an absolute steal this weekend. If I were to consider the individual cost of everything he's getting in this deal, I would say he's probably not even paying 20% of what it's all worth! If you'd like, you can learn more about starting a reef tank and this excellent deal on this thread.
Souls Adventure!

 

[CraiginWales]

Great. Thanks for the link, I’ll certainly follow it up!

 

[fdavison52]

I lucked into my first saltwater tank when a student was graduating and put a 36 bowfront on the curb for trash pickup. I’d post a pic but there was an error when I tried. It included reef lights and filter. That was 8 years ago. I’ve been looking to upgrade to a used 75 gal tank. There are a lot of them on eBay very reasonably priced.

 

[Nart]

is that the walt smith reef rock 2.1 or you just had that much good coraline growth all over the rock?

Man made reef rocks. Not Walt Smith's though.

 

[LJC6780]

I lucked into my setup on Craigslist too! It’s an 85 Gallon full mixed Reef! It would have taken me forever to acquire all of the same equipment and I’m sure I would have lost interest before I got it all had I had to wait and pay full price for everything! Turns out the guy had been in the hobby for like 20 years or something and was retiring soon then he and his wife would be traveling and living abroad for some time and it just wasn’t feasible to keep it. Sold some of the livestock right off the bat and made a little money back, plus he knocked off $200 when we came to pick it up.

There are definitely deals to be had out there. Especially around the holidays, or just after when people have gotten upgrades for Christmas and need to unload their old equipment.

Speaking of used equipment ... there is a ton of it out there in great condition. (I’ve actually got a Reef Octopus Skimmer and trigger sump for sale from another setup I had bought before this one) but one thing I would bet your money on is the heater. I’d totally buy a new heater and keep the used one for backup in a pinch or a water mixing heater ... you don’t know how old they are or what sort of care has been taken with them ...

I was one of those people who never felt like I was up to standard of having a Reef tank nor did I ever think I could afford one. Just kept thinking someday! Well the idea to buy our son a betta and a “small tank” turned into leaving with a 38 gal bow kit and no fish ... a year and a half later I still have 4 fresh tanks and 2 salt tanks plus a salt qt up and running ... yeah. It’s time to downsize!

Just know that once you go salty you may lose some love for your fresh tanks. I definitely have. I mean, I love the fish, but I’m sadly not giving them the attention I did in the beginning. I really need to consolidate and get rid of some tanks!

 

[grantm91]

Bumpington.

 

[CraiginWales]

Bumpington.

How do they glow like that? Beautiful

 

[grantm91]

Thanks, they are fluorescent under blue light.

 

[Nart]

Here's a pic of mine. I love looking at my tank top down a lot. Kind of like the same feeling when you shop for frags at the LFS...
So here's a pic of an angled top down shot.

 

[grantm91]

Just took a few pics.




HarryPotter thought id mention you here.

 

[HarryPotter]

Beautiful grantm91

 

[grantm91]

Thanks, I mentioned you so you can post some of the Reefer !

 

[grantm91]

Some zoas for the Reef tank thread.







My Gf just took this and called it zoa mountain

 

[stella1979]

Nice Grant! You got my favorite little fishy in the pics too! Love seeing that guy!

 

[grantm91]

Nice Grant! You got my favorite little fishy in the pics too! Love seeing that guy!

Haha, we love this fish, it takes frozen too, it even tried mysis but didn’t get it down. That marine feast stuff is great though, it has all kinds of micro fawna in there. I just fancied reviving this thread as there are new tanks about

 

[stella1979]

Good thinking. My sand needs a good cleaning before I get more pics.

 

[grantm91]

Good thinking. My sand needs a good cleaning before I get more pics.

Stir that bed till you see the bottom glass ! I do it twice weekly now, nothing lurks in there, well I try, but definitely atleast once, I replaced wc day with like a sand bed and parts clean day with doing bI weekly wc it keeps things good.

 

[HarryPotter]

Thanks, I mentioned you so you can post some of the Reefer !

I don't have any good quality recent photos (of the entire tank), just this:




And some frags that were trimmed due to warfare: