Slate's First Tank 55gallon

[cross]

Slowly but surely, school pretty much kills my aquarium funds by reducing how much I can work. But I figure in a month I will frag some stuff and work on trading here and there. Not to mention I will probably be throwing freebies at people to make up for everything the kind local refers have given me on top of what I purchased from them . Gotta love the pay it forward philosophy.

+1 for the pay it forward, there are some very generuse people here.

 

[Slate]

Well I figure 7 months later I probably should do an update. I just got some new frags at the last SPCDA Reef meeting and today I purchased a starry blenny from Kevin. Prior to that we added a blue tuxedo urchin.

So here are some pics. Please keep in mind these are with an cheap point and shoot through an old scratched up tank.

FTS 5-19-10

New Starry Blenny hiding near my Female clown and her nem.

Some of the Zoas I got at the meeting(I couldn't get the others I got in focus with my camera )

 

[Slate]

My Torch corals (The purple one is so small because I didn't realize it was getting shaded so bad in its old spot this spring).

The Frogspawn frag Shawn gave me.

Anchor Hammer - This thing is getting huge and I am too lazy to frag it.

 

[Slate]

Here are a bunch of random shots over the past couple months. The damaged looking acro is one I am nursing back to health atm and seems to really be doing well all considering.

 

[dtd87]

looks good to me!

 

[thatguy559]

do you have a fts? love the trumpet coral colony

 

[Slate]

do you have a fts? love the trumpet coral colony

It is actually just a candy cane colony, and thank you .

Here is a FTS I took with my wife's cheap point and shoot last week. This old tank is so scratched and have horrible cameras so it is nearly impossible for me to take a decent shot.

 

[Chichas01]

cool tuxedo urchin! It's always fun to see what they end up carting around on their back.

 

[Slate]

cool tuxedo urchin! It's always fun to see what they end up carting around on their back.

It is pretty well behaved in that respect. I have had it pick up small zoa frags which made me cranky a couple times, but didn't hurt the zoas at all. It seems to really enjoy collecting my snails though. So every couple of days I have to rescue some snails from it :lol:.

 

[rjbourge360]

RBTA

Great looking RBTA. I have a couple that my clowns just love. Its pretty cool to watch the clowns actually brush their teeth with the tentacles. I doubt that they are actually brushing their teeth but they kind of chew on its tentacles playfully for pretty extended periods of time

 

[NanoReefer411]

You have a really pretty tank! I like all the anemones. Do they move around much? Very pretty!

 

[Slate]

Thanks for the compliments folks.

You have a really pretty tank! I like all the anemones. Do they move around much? Very pretty!

Not usually, I have two right now cause I am holding onto the extra one for someone while they let their tank get a little bit more established. That one hasn't been moving it's foot but it has been streching up into a couple of my corals stinging them. But I have been working it with a turkey baster to try to get it to realize it doesn't belong there :lol:.

 

[rjbourge360]

Well my daylight bulbs arrived already. I ordered them from Hellolights.com and am very happy with their rapid shipping and service. I went with 14k bulbs and I must say I really am pleased with the look. I also made a little frag rack today out of some eggcrate and one of those crappy whisper magnet scrubbers I have had lying around for years.

New 14k UV brand 54w bulbs.

FTS from today, the white spots are all the nerite snail eggs. Apparently my diatom bloom from a couple weeks back was enough food to send them into a crazy breeding cycle.

And this is my boxer Rocky....he is getting very jealous of the tank and feels the need to be right near me anytime I work on it...

Aww.. poor rocky! seems me and my husband spend more time working on the tank than with them sometimes :lol:

 

[Slate]

He gets pleanty of attention. But I tell you what he does get jealous when my wife and I are looking at stuff in the tank together. It only takes him seconds to wedge himself between us and the tank. I think it all stems from the fact I wont let him smush his face against the tank and bark at my female clown anymore. They used to have stand offs till I got sick of cleaning dog slobber off the glass. lmao

 

[Slate]

Well first bit of real bad news I have had with this tank happened today. Couldn't find the Starry Blenny on my tank check this morning so I realized I had better check around on the floor. Found the poor thing in behind the tank dried out. It must have jumped sometime late last night .

 

[Slate]

Here are some pictures I took real quick today. One of my female clown in a RBTA and the other two pictures of the newest additions to my tank. The pictures aren't the greatest as I was trying to stay back from the tank since the newer fish are still getting used to me.

Disclaimer: If you are thinking the new additions will quickly outgrow this tank I am aware. I am currently in the process of a 125gallon build that I haven't done enough on yet to start a thread. So if it makes you feel better think of them as going through a 3-6mo QT process.

Scribbled Rabbitfish

Blue Throat Triggerfish (Ordered from Les @ WPH, can't say enough about his service and quality livestock)

 

[arowana206]

Beautiful reef tank. Well done! Did you use any halides?

 

[Slate]

No halides, I went with a 4 x 54W T5 fixture on this tank. I will stick with T5 lighting when I upgrade to the 125 gallon tank as well. I prefer the coverage and lower heat output compared to halides. Really just a personal preference thing.

 

[thatguy559]

thats a rabbit fish

 

[Slate]

From everything I have heard they are a great reef fish.