saltwater aquariums

[Fengzi]

Here's a few pics of my tank taken over a several year period.

I had the tank pretty well automated so a lot of the daily tasks like water replacement were taken care of. I probably put 30 or so minutes a day doing things like feeding, cleaning off the front glass, random water quality tests, etc. I'd have to give the skimmer a cleaning every 4-5 days. Every two weeks I'd do a 20% water change which would take an hour or two.

I figured out that all together I was spending about 30hrs a month on the tank. Not an overwhelming amount of time for sure. At least not until my daughter was born. Once she came finding a spare hour to deal witht he tank, not to mention 30, was tough. Even so I probably would have kept it if not for the fact that we moved to a new house and moving one of these things is a seriously fucked thing t have to do.

Fengzi Reviewed by Fengzi on 08-10-2005. saltwater aquariums Does anyone here have one? let me know if you do. I wanna talk about em Rating: 5

[unmeg]

I would be proud to call that my tank.Did you use Marshal Island live rock,or maybe Fiji.
Does not matter cause you have a tallent & love for what you did with that reef.
i have seen alot of reef's in my time and yours is one of the healtiest,give youself big pat on back.

[Smokey McPot]

God damn, that is a nice fucken tank! In the second picture, if you zoom in, at the top there is a huge crab. That think is gnarly lookin like a spider.

[Krippysmoker]

That is an absoutely beautiful tank.....I wish that I had the patience and the knowledge to keep a like that. When I got my tank I knew the guy at the aquarium store...he just said that saltwater was a lot more work and he know I was looking for low maintence. My life right now doesnt give me much free time. Im happy with my lil tank...I should post a pic. Nothing compared to yours...lol but I was lucky enough to find actual PLASTIC CANNABIS plants at the fish store. Everyone who looks at it ....stares...cocks their heads and says...oh my god are you growing hydro?????? At this point I would like to smack them but they are young....lol Gonna take a pic now

[unmeg]

Hers my 35g cichlid tank

[Fengzi]

Thanks for the compliments guys. My tank was a lot of work but it really was a labor of love. One really cool thing about reef tanks is that things just appear from out of nowhere. They come in on the live rock and you might not notice them for months. Of course not everything is good but that's a different story.

To answer your question Unmeg, I had a mix of different types of live rock, Figi, Tonga, Marshall, Vanuatu, etc. The tank started out as a fish only tank and I gradually turned it into a reef, adding a piece of rock here and there, upgrading equipment, etc. For anyone thinking about setting up a tank, DON'T DO IT THIS WAY.

If you're going to go reef do it right from the start. The bit by bit approach that I took causes all kinds of problems. It will work but it's never quite perfect. The other advice I'd give in setting up a reef tank is do not try to save money and buy cheap equipment. I learned this the hard way. Reef tanks are expensive and there's no way around it. Sure that $100 protien skimmer looks like it would be as good as the $400 one but it won't be. What will happen is that you'll end up spending $500 in the long run. $100 for the first one and then $400 for the good one when you find the cheap one is a piece of shit. Oh yeah, order you're equipment on-line. Never buy from a local fish/pet store (Sorry Unmeg) I found prices online to be 30-60% cheaper. Marinedepot.com and championlighting.com are two good companies I've worked with.

A great message board for reef tanks is www.reefcentral.com One cool thing they have is the tank of the month. Anyone interested in reef tanks should check these out. They are absolutely gorgeous and put my tank to shame.

[unmeg]

good advice

[Smokey McPot]

Hey Fengzi, what would you recomend, a glass or acrylic tank? I want glass it looks nicer and it doesnt scratch as easily.

[unmeg]

glass holds up better but harder to drill for filtration
acrylic does scractch e-z,I scrachted a 500 gal saltwater tank at my store.Spent the next 2 weeks with kids pointing at me as i buffed it out."look at the funny fish kids,oh he's a big one".
Anyway the tank I have now is the best IMO,it's got a glass front & acrylic everywhere else.

[Fengzi]

Yep, definitely go glass, especially if you're setting up a reef. All that live rock doesn't go well with acrylic. My tank was acrylic (a free hand me down from my parents) and had tons of scratches. You can buff them out but it's a pain, especially when it's got fish inside. If/When I get another tank it will definitely be glass with pre-drilled overflows.