My 6 pack (actually its a 10 pack)

zev

Member
Hey paulcoates great looking tank.
I am about to start my own 55 reef once I finish moving, I hope mine will take some pointers from yours. I was looking at keeping either a Flame or coral beauty angel in my tank, how does your flame fair?
Is that a flame scallop in pic 5? How are they?
Also what kind of lights are you running?
Sorry for all the questions but I am comming over from Freshwater Planted and have a lot to learn.
Again great lookin tank :cheer:
 

paulcoates

Member
The Flame Scallop is easy to care for.
As far as lighting I have Coralife 4x65. You can get them for about $235 shipped on the big auction site
Lunar Aqualight Deluxe Series - Double Linear Strip
Two 65 watt 10,000K and two 65 watt True Actinic 03 Blue straight pin base compact fluorescent lamps
Four 3/4 watt Lunar Blue-Moon-Glow LED lamps
Three on/off switches with three 8-foot power cords for separate timers
Built-in ballasts
Two cooling fans
Sleek aluminum housing
Highly-polished reflector
Acrylic lens cover
 

paulcoates

Member
well, I had a Coral Beauty for all of 1 day. I bought it over the internet. right now, my fishload is:
1 Yellow Tail Damsel
2 False Perculea
1 Lawnmower Blenny
1 Longose Hawkfish
 

paulcoates

Member
Zev,
A few suggestions for you if you are getting a reef tank. Get at least a 75 gallon, especially if you want tangs.
Try to buy one that is wider than 12 inches, this will help you with Live Rock placement
Before you buy any corals, buy a Skimmer.
Make sure you buy enough powerheads to move your water at 20x your tank size. I.E. - a 75 Gal tank...I recommend 1500 GPH minimum
In my 55, I have
2 400GPH Powerheads
1 260GPH Powerhead
1 400GPH Filter
1 100GPH Protein Skimmer

[hr]
1560GPH total in my 55
Do the math and I have 30x water movement. The skimmer and the water movement is crucial to any reef. The corals need to catch Plankton or whatever food is in the water. With no water movement, your corals will die.
My suggestion on your first coral after purchasing all of this stuff is Xenia or Polyps. Make sure they are propagating before you purchase anythig else
 

zev

Member
Nice suggestions, as far as the tank the 55 has been given to me and I want to spend the $$ on equipment. Right now I have 3 maxi jet 600's with a wavemaker (yeah auction) I will be adding a wet/dry and will make up the rest of the water movement between that and the skimmer. I worry about the prices of skimmers but I have read that the skimmer does not need to be added until after the cycle so I have some time.
I have read the New Marine Aquarium, as well as the natural reef aquarium, are there other books that you would recomend?
 

puffer32

Active Member
paulcoates, I can not believe this is the same tank! Rock looks super. It looks sooooooooooo good! Congrats!!!
 

paulcoates

Member
Puffer, thanks...it took a lot of aquascaping but I am reasonably happy now. I have a Hammer that is at the fish store getting better as we speak. The only other coral I am really dying to get right now is a Bubble Coral. After that, maybe some Yellow Polyps and then I will just sit back and let it grow.....Did you ever acquire all of the Live Rock you needed?
Zev,
Honestly, I havent read a single sentence of a single book. The best source of information is Saltwaterfish.com. There are so many knowledgeable and friendly people on here who are ALWAYS willing to share information and their horror stories. The only thing that I have found on other sites that is helpful is a marine compatibility chart. But that is about it. Everything I have learned is all thanks to the people on this message board
 

puffer32

Active Member
Paulcoates. I got about 50 lbs of LR from lancaster. I bought 20 lbs of base online, its pretty nasty, hid it under my good stuff. I do need more, but now that the tank cycled i will only buy alittle at a time, don't want to start another cycle. Might get some more base rock though, thanks.
 

paulcoates

Member
Puffer,
I just got from my first visit to ThatPetPlace. Wow. What a selection. They must have had 300 corals there and thousands of SWF to choose from. I bought:
Cats Eye Bubble Coral ($30)
Golden Polyps ($15)
Coral Beauty ($25)
Copperband Butterfly ($30)
15 Astrea Snails ($15)
Not bad at all for $120. Amazing selection of Tangs. What more can I say? Even a 5 day guarantee
 
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