The Early Days

[mmartinho]

After about a 12 year hiatus, I thought I was over the hobby, but the itch started again and it's a full addiction again. You know, whenever you need to go somewhere, you ask yourself is there an aquarium store nearby that destination. Anyway, I thought I'd jump back in with a modest tank, but someone was selling a beautiful Red Sea 180g tank with stand on FB marketplace and it was love at first sight. After having my floor's foundation reinforced, I moved it inside the house and began looking for dry rock and sand to fill it up plus hardware like pumps etc which did not come with the tank. I then nervously filled it up, praying it would not fall through the floor. All good, salinity correct and so I added 4 Chromis to cycle out the tank plus found someone taking down a 10 gallon micro reef and added those contents also to it. Then began the wait... Ammonia up, Nitrite up... then all gone. I finally added some lighting and learned the hard way that running white light was fuel for dinos. Went blue and the dinos soon retreated.

So here is my set up... so far (I'm building a canopy for it):

Hardware
Red Sea 180g glass tank (6'x2'x'2) with Red Sea stand
Glass Red Sea sump 43"x21"x16"
Eheim 300W heater
3 NiCREW 150W lights with controller
Refugium light for Chaeto; brand unknown; got it used.
Octopus 5000 skimmer
Two Simplicity 3200 DC return pumps
Next Gen II auto top off
Two Xstream 8000 powerheads
Spectra Pure RO system
Dosing for now are some drip containers - old school... for now
Filters; dual 4" socks

Live Stock
1 Torch Coral
7 Green mushrooms
1 Red Montipora
4 Chromis
1 Clown

 

[VacavilleFC]

a modest 180g

 

[mmartinho]

a modest 180g

it's a start

 

[VacavilleFC]

a modest 180g

yeah you're gonna be really limited on what species of leviathan you can keep in a tank that small.

but welcome back. I just returned also about 2 months ago after about a 15 year break.

 

[mmartinho]

yeah you're gonna be really limited on what species of leviathan you can keep in a tank that small.

but welcome back. I just returned also about 2 months ago after about a 15 year break.

lol. Only baby or dwarf leviathans! I was intending on going with 100g but the siren song of this 180g popped up on FB market place and I could not resist. It's an addiction.

 

[spuri87]

Looking good with some solid equipment.. that’s a lot of rocks in that tank though, probably should also lower the height of these rocks to give more room for coral growth in future.

 

[mmartinho]

Looking good with some solid equipment.. that’s a lot of rocks in that tank though, probably should also lower the height of these rocks to give more room for coral growth in future.

Good advice been thinking about that same thing. Let's see how things get populated in there.

 

[psidriven]

I have some PIF seasons greeting cap and pavona if you want sps.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Welcome to the beginning
IF you’re starting from scratch, the first year is the hardest / ugliest

I do agree that the rock work is too high
I don’t like to have rocks higher than 2/3 of the water column
Fish need room to swim, and corals will grow

 

[mmartinho]

Welcome to the beginning
IF you’re starting from scratch, the first year is the hardest / ugliest

I do agree that the rock work is too high
I don’t like to have rocks higher than 2/3 of the water column
Fish need room to swim, and corals will grow

Why is no one suggesting raise the aquarium walls and leave the rocks in place? No worries easy to remove the rocks, all dry rock up there, nothing living on them.

 

[Kensington Reefer]

Why is no one suggesting raise the aquarium walls and leave the rocks in place? No worries easy to remove the rocks, all dry rock up there, nothing living on them.

BTW
Are you “the most interesting man alive”?

 

[mmartinho]

BTW
Are you “the most interesting man alive”?

lol. not even close.

 

[clownvan]

BTW
Are you “the most interesting man alive”?

I remember when he was and the ad said -

"His fish tank is the envy of Atlantis
His CuC cleaned Chernobyl
He tears were RoDI
BAR has a week dedicated to him"

I don't always prefer obsessive hobbies, but when I do I prefer saltwater reefing
Stay broke, my friends!

 

[popper]

Welcome to BAR. Glad you made a journal.

Dig the DIY canopy. Consider painting it white to match the stand?

 

[mmartinho]

I remember when he was and the ad said -

"His fish tank is the envy of Atlantis
His CuC cleaned Chernobyl
He tears were RoDI
BAR has a week dedicated to him"

I don't always prefer obsessive hobbies, but when I do I prefer saltwater reefing
Stay broke, my friends!

LMAO. I was the most interesting man in the world until I started my aquarium again. Now I'm just a guy with one sleeve rolled up half of the time

 

[mmartinho]

Welcome to BAR. Glad you made a journal.

Dig the DIY canopy. Consider painting it white to match the stand?

I'm actually going to build an enclosed canopy and that will be white. That's just a temporary one.

 

[CaseyP]

Welcome! Definitely got the old school stack and pack rock wall look The cool kids now do what's called negative space rockwork, which I personally hate. If you're up for it, there's a lot of techniques to build and bond rock structures using reef safe cement or a combination of really thick glue + sand to create arches, overhangs, etc.

Then began the wait... Ammonia up, Nitrite up... then all gone. I finally added some lighting and learned the hard way that running white light was fuel for dinos. Went blue and the dinos soon retreated.

Another big difference in methodologies from back then when we wanted to reduce nutrients as much as possible. Zero nitrates and phosphates will lead to disaster. This actually leads to dinos blooming because the beneficial bacteria and coral are starved and outcompeted.

If you ever find yourself in the Dublin area, I have some easy corals I can trim.

 

[mmartinho]

Welcome! Definitely got the old school stack and pack rock wall look The cool kids now do what's called negative space rockwork, which I personally hate. If you're up for it, there's a lot of techniques to build and bond rock structures using reef safe cement or a combination of really thick glue + sand to create arches, overhangs, etc.


Another big difference in methodologies from back then when we wanted to reduce nutrients as much as possible. Zero nitrates and phosphates will lead to disaster. This actually leads to dinos blooming because the beneficial bacteria and coral are starved and outcompeted.

If you ever find yourself in the Dublin area, I have some easy corals I can trim.

Casey. Thanks for the advice and offer of some clippings. I've been trying to read up of latest reef tank husbandry and was surprised by the nitrate and phosphates preferred presence, but it does make sense. I do prefer the rock stack too. Looking forward to watching it all grow and mature. I work from home and I can't tell you the number of times I check on it... it's not healthy! OCD!

 

[PjFish]

Looks great welcome back to the hobby what Gen Red Sea?

 

[mmartinho]

Looks great welcome back to the hobby what Gen Red Sea?

Sorry, no idea on the gen. Bought the Red Sea used from FB market place.