reef tank on a teacher's budget (long)

[groucheux]

I've been waiting to post this for a while now. I think that there are many people like me who have been scared away from this wonderful hobby by all the talk about fancy lights and water chemicals and super expensive corals. I just want to let any prospective reefers out there know that this isn't that tough! I have a 55 gallon tank that has been going for @ 1 1/2 years now. The most expensive thing in it is the live rock (I bought mid-priced from an online store). I have a $35 protein skimmer, 2 48" flouresent lights (10,000K and a blue)and 1 18" flouresent (Home Depot "Sunlight" bulb), and a heater. I started with HD play sand ($3 for 40 pounds) and after 6 months I bought $15 worth of crushed coral to spread on top. As far as livestock goes...you don't have to break the bank! I have a couple of blue damsels, a cinnamon clown, and a coral beauty (which I bought about 4 months ago to replace a tang). I started w/ a peppermint shrimp, a bristle star, about 10 reef hermits, a bunch of snails, and a coral banded shrimp. The Coral Beauty is the most expensive thing I've bought at $25. (well worth it!) The coral beauty brought ick with it, so I bought 2 cleaner shrimps and haven't seen a dot of ick since. As for corals...star polyps, button polyps, and mushroom corals aren't fancy, but look beautiful. I haven't paid more than $12 for any coral, and they have all grown and spread throughout the tank. (I now have 14 red mushroom corals!) Other than pH buffer during the first month, I haven't added a single chemical to the tank! I've never done a water change, I just cap the tank off w/ r/o water about once a month or so.
sorry for going on so long...I just want readers to know that you can have a wonderful tank w/o spending a fortune on lights and chemicals. This is a great hobby and I'd hate anyone else to miss out like I did.

 

[groucheux]

re: lighting question...one of the 48" hoods came with my tank, I picked the other one up at a lfs for @ $45. the little 18" came off a defunct 10 gal. As far as bulbs go, I just buy new flourescents every 3 or 4 months (around $18) When you work it out, its only about $10 a month. Not bad for such a nice hobby!
thanks for all the supportive replies. This board is such a help!

 

[groucheux]

Interesting replies...As for the "maintenance free" question, I agree. I checked the heck out of the levels (2 or 3 times a day) when I started the tank up. Made sure and waited until everything was perfect before adding livestock. I think some of the success came from the liverock. I don't know the board policy on naming online stores...but I got it from a pretty well known source. I bought 45 or 50 pounds of handpicked Fiji and 30 or so pounds of Tongan. I check the levels every month or so, but they are always fine. I swear, I've never done a water change...I just refill the tank w/ fresh r/o water from my lfs when I see the level has dropped down below the wood rim of the tank.
As for food...another shock coming up...I feed the tank flake food 2 or 3 times a week. Then on sat or sun I thaw a cube of brine shrimp and a cube of the angel diet frozen food and squirt it into my tank with a turkey baster.
As for the "underuse of my tank" question...I disagree. As a teacher I do have a decent intellect...high enough to know that (as a teacher) I don't have the time or money to invest in a more advanced tank! My whole point was that a beginner can have a very nice, interesting tank w/ a minimum investment in money and time.
As to the lr question...the rock is awesome! It's covered in coraline algae, lots of fan worms, feather dusters, etc. One of the best parts of this whole exp. was watching the rock come alive! Again...I think that the rock is the biggest key to the success of my tank. It must be doing something right to compensate for my little $35 protein skimmer!
Now my question...you mentioned adding new corals. What corals would you suggest? Remember..I'd like to keep my cheap light setup and I enjoy not having to add chemicals to my tank. Thanks....grouch