starting back up

[Jeff]

i've really missed having a tank and am thinking of starting up again but i will do this slowely this time. i want a want a 40-50gl tank and a refugium the same size or larger, the fuge will be part of the display just slightly lower and to the side. only three or four fish, lots of macro, and using just tap water. i want the tanks to be as free of equipment as possible, ( no skimmer) t-5 lighting or sola tubes, no water changes. it will be more of an experimental tank seeing what i can grow without taking from the ocean.

all the live rock will be man made or from tanks being torn down, corals will only be from someones tanks and the same as the fish. this is just to see how it would look with as low maintenance as possible.

[hobogato]

sounds great jeff! look forward to following along on this one.

[LoneStar]

Good to see you back Jeff!

[Gseclipse02]

i've really missed having a tank and am thinking of starting up again but i will do this slowely this time. i want a want a 40-50gl tank and a refugium the same size or larger, the fuge will be part of the display just slightly lower and to the side. only three or four fish, lots of macro, and using just tap water. i want the tanks to be as free of equipment as possible, ( no skimmer) t-5 lighting or sola tubes, no water changes. it will be more of an experimental tank seeing what i can grow without taking from the ocean.

all the live rock will be man made or from tanks being torn down, corals will only be from someones tanks and the same as the fish. this is just to see how it would look with as low maintenance as possible.


this sounds like my tank 4 months ago and i had it going for about a year like this lol ....

[Joshua]

Welcome back Jeff, long time no see!

[Jeff]

thanks y'all, i would look in from time to time just to see what is happening and now i'm getting the itch again. my main goal is to see it i can get a self sustaining tank, that is no feeding after about a month or so, and to see what corals would grow with little to no water changes or maybe once every 6 months. if i start the fuge about a month before the tank there should be enough pods and macro going to start the tank. let the tank sit fallow for another couple weeks before putting in a wrasse. after waiting another couple weeks i would add either a pair of tank raised clowns or cardinal fish and thats it for fish. i would add a couple of polyps of zoas every so often and see how things turn out.

[Bill S]

Jeff, let me know what you need... I still have a bunch of your stuff in the garage!

I'm going to tear my 55 down around Xmas, I think. It has your old sump on it. Nice, low maintenance system, BTW.

[Jeff]

well the stupidity has begun already. my father in law needed to get rid of a 50gl tank i gave him about 2 years ago, so now i have a tank and stand. i stoped by alamo aquatics on the way home and picked up a bag of salt and a hydrometer. i know hydros are not that acurate but i want to go cheap and simple. so now i have a tank with water and half a bag of salt added and cheap flourecent lights on.

hey bill, is that the fuge i had under the seahorse tank, and if so how much for it? my wife told me she wants a fuge that looks nice and what i had under my 100gl tank.

all i need now are some lights (t-5), powerheads, and fuge along with some macro and i'm back in business. i know i probebly won't stick to my plans of how i want to set this up but i'm gonna try as hard as i ........ hey look, some one is selling a skimmer and some halides, i'll see if the wife will let me get it.

[glennr1978]

very cool idea, but why tap water?

[Jeff]

since i won't be feeding, i figure that the macro will need extra nutrients to help grow. besides i had less problems when i was using tap water than after using ro/di, i just won't have any sps. if things are working correct i might get a small frag or two just for the experiment.

[fishypets]

Welcome back Jeff! I can tell you setting up a tank again is just as exciting as it was the first time. Good luck!

[Gseclipse02]

[quote=Jeff;642681]all i need now are some lights (t-5),

if you want to go with a cheaper light set up i have a PC 48 inch set up that ill sell for a good price pm if you would like

[tropheusmaster]

no skimmers or water changes and tap water sounds scary. keep us posted as i want to see how this turns out :)

[tropheusmaster]

oh yeah also want to say welcome back to the hobby, :)

[Jeff]

well i've had to do a water change due to me killing off some rock and i already have four fish, flasher wrasse, oscilleres sp. clown, yellow clown goby and imperator angel. i know the tank is too small for the angel but i will either sell it later or go bigger. i just added a large amount of mangroves to the fuge so hopefullyit will get my algea problem under control. water movement is a mag5 from the fuge, 2 maxjet900's, and an emporer 400. i will post pictures later.

[Jeff]

here are 2 quick picts.

[coraline79]

man that is some awesome PVC work in that tub! haha! Glad you got some pics up, looks great.

[donduncan]

I know the feeling. I was out of the hobby for 5 years. The bug got me again and now I have 2 tanks.

[donduncan]

Now Im doing SPS for the first time. A whole new level of complexity. Welcome back

[Jeff]

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo130/jeffnsa/100_0813.jpg left side of tank.

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo130/jeffnsa/100_0812.jpg middle of tank.

http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo130/jeffnsa/100_0811.jpg right side of tank.

[Jeff]

All i need now is about 20lbs of rock for the tank and about 20 more for the fuge. right now the wife wants an aquapod to raise seahorses in but i'm trying to get this one set up first.

[Jeff]

purple kenya tree
http://i368.photobucket.com/albums/oo130/jeffnsa/100_0816.jpg

[justahobby]

Reading the RO thread reminded me of this one. Any updates? Have you stuck to the original game plan?