And we're back in business! (build)

kemfish

kemfish

Member
Well, we are back! We left Oahu, sold our tank setup( couldn't afford to ship it all) and have started fresh. My mother surprised me tonight with a 25 gallon tank, filled with precycled water, live sand, and rock. We are still waiting for the sand to settle after messing around in the tank...then have to buy a skimmer, but we are back in the game!
Not sure what we will stock this time around, but thinking something different than my tank in Hawaii...perhaps a goby/shrimp combo this time? And coral...since we can actually get some in Michigan!
Here it is so far:
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Thanks! It was a very long move(2 months of visiting family in different states after we left Hawaii), but yes, back in our home state of Michigan again. We are definitely missing the Hawaiian sun during the middle of winter here.
We are right next door to my mother's house now, and she has a nice 150 gallon saltwater tank that I get lost in daily, so she donated her "extra" sand, rock, and water from totes into my new tank. I'll grab a picture of hers tomorrow, its a nice setep.
I fixed my rockwork up today, and I think I like it... but not sure. Heater busted, so we had to replace that already..hopefully it isn't a sign of things to come! For now we are at a standstill though, til we get a skimmer running. Just have to find one we like...not a fan of the Remora we had in Hawaii. So anyway, back to researching again! We are planning to get a completely different stock this time, except maybe another royal gramma(cause I loved that fish) so we have a lot of reading to do again.
 
snakeblitz33

snakeblitz33

Well-Known Member
titanium heaters are worth their weight in gold.
Another recommendation if you are on a strict budget are Jager heaters. They are solid built, but glass.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Well, my tank had a busy weekend. We ended up ordering a skimmer online...should be here by Friday. My mom was at it again this weekend though...she kept the kids overnight Saturday evening and brought some coralline covered rock and a few small pieces of coral over from her tank while I was sleeping Sunday morning. Sunday afternoon we went to the LFS and looked around for a while. They were doing a saltwater class on reef feeding for free, so we went and listened to that. It was pretty helpful. We left that lfs and went to the other one in town and my husband found a maxi-mini carpet anemone, which I had mentioned I wanted previously in the week, and so he bought it for me :) It's pretty awesome. Oh, and we added Tigger Pods to the tank yesterday too.
So with all the changes this weekend...here are updated pictures.



Zoas...still not fully opened. Left is last night, right is this afternoon.

Maxi-mini carpet anemone. He was originally in the center of that rock, but he wanted down to the sand, so I moved the rock out of his way and he is now just sitting there in the sand. I target fed him some mysis today, that was awesome to watch!
 
zoie2

zoie2

Active Member
Is that a pulsating xenia or some kind of star polyp in the second pic? It all looks nice.
 
zoie2

zoie2

Active Member
wow, that's cool. I like them. I like corral that sway with the water movement! Nice to watch.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
You know Seth, I had a feeling you would say that lol. Honestly though, I realize we rushed it a bit. Was definitely not the intention, but we (well, mostly meaning I) aren't adding more for a while. My husband offered to take me back to the lfs last night because they emailed about the deals of the week, and I declined. I told him I was probably in trouble already and have to be careful for a while so we don't start a big cycle in the tank.
I didn't really even think about it until it was already "too late" though.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Not a lot to report here. Everything is going fine in the tank, so I guess we lucked out on that one. My skimmer is here, and I was pleasently suprised to find out that the husband actually ordered a HOB sump setup. Skimmer is working well thus far. One of my mushrooms split into 3 smaller ones...that was interesting.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
WELL! My sincere apologies :p
Here you go!
The split mushroom(s) are in a crappy spot for a picture, but hopefully you get the idea.
from the front of the tank (they are on the right side)

From the top of the tank. *edit* I was able to get a better pic from my phone.


The rest are coming...slowly. My camera decided to die, so I have to wait for my phone to upload the rest online, and then add them here.
Oh, and everything but the mushrooms has moved since the last pictures...adding the HOB to the tank seriously changed the flow, so everything was crabby lol. The zoas are in the top left where the Anthellia was sitting, the Anthellia were moved more towards the center of the rocks, it's lower and has a little less flow because of the rock to the right of them, and my anemone has crawled under the far left rocks. He's pretty content there...though I have only target fed him once since he went down there because it's a real pain to get it close enough to his mouth that he will eat it instead of holding on for a while and then letting it shoot off behind the rocks somewhere.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
My anemone. This is taken through the left side of the tank. You cannot see him from the front anymore.

and finally, the zoas...more of them are opening up, but they still aren't completely happy here. Around 5 or so at night all but one will be open, but in the morning only the bigger ones open up.
 
kemfish

kemfish

Member
Ok Seth, your turn. What kind of fish do we need in here? I'm not planning to do clowns this time...I want something different. The problem with what I was going to do (hi fin goby/shrimp pair) is my anemone...which we think might decide the goby is a great snack, since they would probably be going for the same space.
I want something that is fairly active for the kiddies to watch...they are bored of watching coral and keep asking about the fish lol. I also honstly don't care if we only get one fish, as long as it is active and will be happy in our 25 gallons.
Oh, and I am planning to get a little sexy anemone shrimp...because they are adorable :)
So...what do you think fish wise?
 
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