Hmm?

thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
So about 8 months ago I started on this wonderous journy into the world of Salt water fish. Countless man hours and lots of $$$ later, I have came to a hault. I took the slow and steady route of adding a little bit at a time (Being a broke college student I dont care to make expensive mistakes).
My delima is I see all these beautifull reef tanks and I feel mine falls short. This is not to say I am disapointed with my tank, however I am not satisfied (and i probably never will be) with the way it sits. I have a 55 gallon right now That i am hoping to have for another 6 months or so. I would like to eventualy upgrade to a 125, and then use my 55 as a fuge (is 55 to big?) In the meantime I want to make the most of my 55 gallon so I come to the forum in search of some opinions. I know my rockwork is lacking, and this is something I might as well stock up on before I upgrade to the 125. However I have a lot of equipment in the tank that doesn't leave much room for rockwork. I am 100% open to ideas and appreciate them greatly.
My water parimiters stay very good, I am having a slight algea outbreak at the moment because something happened with our RO unit and I had to resort to our tap for a couple of water top offs... i didn't think a couple of top offs would make much of an impact... looks like i was wrong.
Here is what I have been thinking. I definatly need some color to the tank. I was thinking a frogspawn but I hear these can be hard to care for and around here they are pretty expensive. Obviously more rockwork will be in the near future. soo i guess i am pretty much open for suggestions. Any ideas on ways to work around the equipment? Let me know what you guys think!
*also I can get area specific pictures if you guys wanted to see a certian part of the tank.
Thanks Again,
Jim
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
Also it should be said that I have 260 watts of PC lighting. MH lighting will come when I upgrade to the 125 gal tank
 
sweetdawn

sweetdawn

Active Member
zoos are nice too and would work with your lighting. how far up in michigan are you cant find my atlas
 
scotts

scotts

Active Member
I know how you feel. Don't know if this helps, but I am going to tell you anyway. I was in the exact same boat as you, had a 55 that was OK but not real happy with. Then I found a deal in the classifieds here on a 125. I now have the 125 with my 55 as a sump. This is actually a picture of the old set up and it was also taken while I was moving into the 125 so it is lacking the corals. I was just showing how you can use a 55 as a sump for a 125.
One thing that could help you is to get some zoos. So far that is the only coral that I am brave enough to have. If you are looking the less expensive route you can look to get some frags from people here. All it takes is time and they will grow.
Scott
 
tscuda

tscuda

Member
In Waterford there's a lfs called Moby

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. Look around in there. You should get some good ideas. One of the only shops I found to know what they're talking about. And they dont seem to mind me parking my truck there LOL. I bought some lr rubble for my sump had lots of hitch hikers. 2 mini stars in there too.
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
Ya I strickly shop at Moby

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. I have bought a few frags from there. I have a green star polyp that has started to spread, and I also bought a couple shrooms. The shrooms have multiplied, however they have not gotten real big in size. My only thing with moby

[hr]
is they seem to be pretty expensive, and not everyone there is an expert. There are a few guys there who seem to really know thier stuff but just be carefull who you take advice from. I think some zoos would be nice, that may be my next addition. I would like to get a frogspawn, but like I said they are expensive and I am not familiar with thier difficulty level.
I would really like to get more rock, however as you see my equipment take up much of my space. Any ideas what I can do? I have a 25 gallon that could be used as a sump/fuge, I just dont want to spend a lot of money setting one up if I am going to upgrade to a 125 in the future.
 
tscuda

tscuda

Member
Moby's is better priced then the shops in my area.(I live near Metro Airport) At least for supplys. I got A overflow, pump, a bag of salt,10lbs of live rubble for a little over a hundred there. That was just for the 20 gal sump. Well ok the salt wasn't just for the sump.
I stop there when I go get a load out of Drayton Plains. I deliver to Swartz Creek 3-4 times a day.
 
sgdeb

sgdeb

Member
Wow! I was born in Dearborn, grew up in Howell, moved to Oak Grove --- now live in GA! BUT, still have immediate fam in Taylor, Lincoln Park, Brighton!
Hey, I see you do not have anything on the ground --- may want to look at corals that are classified as EASY and want to be planted in a sandy base..
(I should say, my 45 is FOWLR --- but I'm going to add corals and convert so as to add color and interest; just have to be careful because I have a toby puffer in there! And, my 20 gal reef is only just growing.... it takes time and $$$!)
Anyway, I have a wonderful BUBBLE CORAL in the sand --- and it almost doubles it's size when happy! Additionally, I have a wonder KENYA TREE CORAL mid way up the tank, with extends quite a bit --- and a few other wonderful things. Tomorrow, I am expecting 4 corals and another FEATHERDUSTER (which is a great, interesting, easy, inexpensive addition to your tank!); I will try to post picks when I get the new additions happy.
Altho my goals aren't as large as your own, I plan to move my 20 gal reef to a 70 or 90 (if Santa coops) within a couple months... I am already researching details for the move!
Good luck -
Deb
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
I work in brighton. Ya bubble coral are cool, Im pretty confident in my keeping ability, its just im not using MH lighting yet. but color is definatly what im going for. maybe some xienas. i duno... i like to look at things in a tank before i make up my mind. I do like those leather toadstools. they make a good center peice.
 
sweetdawn

sweetdawn

Active Member
alot of us with xenias give them away they dont ship well that is why i wanted to know where in michigan you are was hoping you were closer
 
thejdshow

thejdshow

Member
Originally Posted by sundance1
Some colorful shrooms would definatly work! :jumping:
got some.... they just need to growwww
 
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