Coleus's 155 bowfront tank. HRV installed and new mixing station
 

Ok, where should i start? Just want to make a thread to share some of my frustration and happiness of this very stressful saltwater hobby. I want to post something here so maybe someday i can look back and see how much sweat and tear that I have experienced in this hobby.

BE WARNED: that all picts won't be as nice because i suck at taking photo and don't have a good lens. That explains why Kien had to come over and took my babies pictures lol.

Ok, let's start. I started with 92 gallon bowfront with cichlids for couple years. They were very easy to look after. Water change happened once a month. Good old time!
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=1791

Near Xmas 2008 , after re-watching Finding Nemo with my niece, I figured i should start a salt water. So went to one of the big chain LFS and bought myself a 45 bowfront tank (just a big fan of bow front tank) with Coralife PC light, rena xp, etcc because at that time I did not do any research and just listened to whatever person worked there told me. Bought live rocks and some "magic" chemical to help the water cycle faster. Got myself right 2 nemos right away :-). At that time, I thought to myself "wow salt water is not that expensive".

Then started to add some coral and fish starting 2009
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=1792

and then more live rock, the more the better right?

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=1793

I was pretty happy with 2 nemos, one dory, and urchin, two shrimps and some lps back then because babies were on the way I did not want to over killed my bank account.

Then my saltwater hobby took to another turn when my co-worker told me to visit CANREEF.

OMFG, since the day i joined, i started stocking more corals and fishes until i ran out of space and then The Unpreventable thing happened: TIME TO UPGRADE (does it sound familiar to anyone?)

Found a used 155 bowfront tank, and here it started
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4290

Fast forward to Oct 2009
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=1987

Then decided to remove the sand
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=2216

And then disaster happened when i overdosed my vodka, most of my coral died or brow out.

Then babies came and got no time for tank so sold most of my corals and left with fishes and some easy LPS. Add couple coral/fish here and there.

And now full again
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4280
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4288

Feeding time
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4276

http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4270

And some other shots on my suppose QT tank
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4266
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4271

Here is my last fish i added 5 months ago and turn out he is a vegetarian.
http://www.canreef.com/vbulletin/pic...pictureid=4279


Hopefully, in couple months i will able to compare with new pictures to see the growth of my tank

Well it's about time Tai, still really love those Duncans dude. I have seen your tank at it best and worst but it always looks great.

Ps your photos are really good as far as I am concerned, not all of us are pros at it especially me. :biggrin:

Wow a rock beauty! He looks nice and healthy. How's that? any tips?

he was very healthy when i picked him up and i really don't do anything special.

I give him food with selcon once a week and Ocean Nutrient pellets every day.



Thanks Greg

how much vodka did you put in to overdose?

For someone who sells enough equipment to start 10 reef tanks it's nice to see your pride and joy finally =) Looks nice and your photos got better too. What did you notice (good or bad) after you removed your sandbed?

Can't remmember but after 2 weeks of vodka dosing, my lps started dying so i stopped and things were back to normal


I prefer bare bottom because it is much easier to clean and suck out the debris. Also, if my coral got knock over and sink to the bottom, it won't likely die by the time i come to rescue. Also over time, the sand started to look dirty and as i read you need to replace every 4-5 years which I found too much work. However, i still have a DSB in my refugium

Digging the gorgonian. :cool: How long have you had it and what are you feeding it?

Can't remmember but after 2 weeks of vodka dosing, my lps started dying so i stopped and things were back to normal


I prefer bare bottom because it is much easier to clean and suck out the debris. Also, if my coral got knock over and sink to the bottom, it won't likely die by the time i come to rescue. Also over time, the sand started to look dirty and as i read you need to replace every 4-5 years which I found too much work. However, i still have a DSB in my refugium

I have 4 gorgonians, the brown one i got it last summer i think and it is very slow growing. The purple one just recently got it from JL with Kien. The blue one and red one i got from gold couple weeks ago. I tried to target feed them with reef roids.