jasonandsarah
Sticks, sticks and more STICKS
OK so I know this is long overdue. I've been putting off starting a build thread for a long time. I tend to ramble and not be very good at these, so please bare with me.
I started our 75g tank about 2 1/2 years ago. I was into fresh water with multiple tanks(but we'll skip that part
). So every time we'd go to pet co I'd stare at the salt water tanks more then the fresh water. The more we went the more infatuated I became with salt water and specifically reefs. I did a ton of reading online and started on a quest to gather equipment and live rock. Since I was on a mission it didn't take us long. Bought a 75g with stand for $75 and about 100 lbs of live rock for $100. This was a lot from my wife's $400 budget she set for me! But I was determined to make it work. Got on Dr F&S and order the rest of what I thought I needed. Powerheads, live sand and a few chemicals. I also bought a t5 light from a lfs. I was told by a pet co manager I didn't need a skimmer unless I was keeping a fish only tank with lots of large predator fish. I found that to be untrue rather quickly so the same guy I got the rock from sold me a coralife super needle wheel skimmer(witch I thought was the greatest skimmer on earth at the time lol) and I was ready to go! Immediately started setting up the tank and added a clownfish to cycle the tank(I know better now but that's what I was told to do) and this is what it started as
This is a few weeks or maybe more idk, as I kept adding rock.
I actually still have that clownfish  and after a few weeks I started adding corals. (Besides the pulsing xenia that came worth the live rock) were a pretty small reefing community in my area so I was mostly only getting softies and lps. Knowing what I know now I think I was pretty lucky (since I would of killed anything else) and here's a few of my first corals
(I remember when I got these everyone in my area wanted them! They said they were called pretty penny's? Or something but I just think it's funny because a couple years later and it'd be hard to give these away)
I also quickly decided I didn't like the T5's. They were a pain to move so I could get into the tank. I only had a 4 bulb and from the very beginning(within a few months) I knew I wanted to keep these beautiful hard corals I kept seeing. So I got in on a group buy and bought my first leds, Chinese black boxes and I loved them. Shortly after I started trying out hard corals
I was pretty unsuccessful in the beginning and started doing more and more reading. Found out I needed to test for a lot more then just No3 and ph. I bought a reef foundation kit and started trying to get my parameters in check. I had decent success after that but still couldn't keep super sensitive sps. Imo from more research I just had to many leathers and to much xenia (don't get me wrong they can live together) but I was convinced and still kinda am. When I sold off the pulsing xenia and leathers and only kept sticks and LPS I started having much more success, At least keeping them alive  witch at the time was a success.
A lot of these are around 2 years old maybe a year and a half?
So fast forward a bit, I bought Kessils and didn't like them. Sold them and upped my budget to 2 radion Gen 3 pro's and never looked back! I love these lights and they've brought me much success. I've had the Radions for about 15 or 16 months. About 9 months ago I added 2 54w T5's just to help fill out the lighting and take away some shadowing as my colonies continued to grow.
Most of these next pics are around 10 months old. The biggest things that changed in my tank before that was my lighting and getting a doser. More recently I've gone completely away from Gfo and started using natural filtration like my Ats. <<<<<I love it!
I started our 75g tank about 2 1/2 years ago. I was into fresh water with multiple tanks(but we'll skip that part
). So every time we'd go to pet co I'd stare at the salt water tanks more then the fresh water. The more we went the more infatuated I became with salt water and specifically reefs. I did a ton of reading online and started on a quest to gather equipment and live rock. Since I was on a mission it didn't take us long. Bought a 75g with stand for $75 and about 100 lbs of live rock for $100. This was a lot from my wife's $400 budget she set for me! But I was determined to make it work. Got on Dr F&S and order the rest of what I thought I needed. Powerheads, live sand and a few chemicals. I also bought a t5 light from a lfs. I was told by a pet co manager I didn't need a skimmer unless I was keeping a fish only tank with lots of large predator fish. I found that to be untrue rather quickly so the same guy I got the rock from sold me a coralife super needle wheel skimmer(witch I thought was the greatest skimmer on earth at the time lol) and I was ready to go! Immediately started setting up the tank and added a clownfish to cycle the tank(I know better now but that's what I was told to do) and this is what it started as
This is a few weeks or maybe more idk, as I kept adding rock.
I actually still have that clownfish  and after a few weeks I started adding corals. (Besides the pulsing xenia that came worth the live rock) were a pretty small reefing community in my area so I was mostly only getting softies and lps. Knowing what I know now I think I was pretty lucky (since I would of killed anything else) and here's a few of my first corals
(I remember when I got these everyone in my area wanted them! They said they were called pretty penny's? Or something but I just think it's funny because a couple years later and it'd be hard to give these away)
I also quickly decided I didn't like the T5's. They were a pain to move so I could get into the tank. I only had a 4 bulb and from the very beginning(within a few months) I knew I wanted to keep these beautiful hard corals I kept seeing. So I got in on a group buy and bought my first leds, Chinese black boxes and I loved them. Shortly after I started trying out hard corals
I was pretty unsuccessful in the beginning and started doing more and more reading. Found out I needed to test for a lot more then just No3 and ph. I bought a reef foundation kit and started trying to get my parameters in check. I had decent success after that but still couldn't keep super sensitive sps. Imo from more research I just had to many leathers and to much xenia (don't get me wrong they can live together) but I was convinced and still kinda am. When I sold off the pulsing xenia and leathers and only kept sticks and LPS I started having much more success, At least keeping them alive  witch at the time was a success.
A lot of these are around 2 years old maybe a year and a half?
So fast forward a bit, I bought Kessils and didn't like them. Sold them and upped my budget to 2 radion Gen 3 pro's and never looked back! I love these lights and they've brought me much success. I've had the Radions for about 15 or 16 months. About 9 months ago I added 2 54w T5's just to help fill out the lighting and take away some shadowing as my colonies continued to grow.
Most of these next pics are around 10 months old. The biggest things that changed in my tank before that was my lighting and getting a doser. More recently I've gone completely away from Gfo and started using natural filtration like my Ats. <<<<<I love it!
Last edited:
and you get the point. Like I said these could all be much much bigger if I didn't cut them. Then again maybe they'd be smaller? Lol since I'm a firm believer in cutting promotes growth. Plus I like my tank stuffed and I don't need things going to war.
