My Journey into Reefing

[Ashish Patel]

It is hard for me to believe that my first saltwater tank was setup 20 years ago when I was 12 years old; I did not have a clue besides what the LFS said - need at least 29G, need a fluval(pic)..My current system is about 11 year old. I found some old pictures of my 55 gallon tank that I set it up in 2006 as a FOWLR. I knew I wanted to do corals but at the time I could not afford Live rock let alone corals so I took it slow... I did some research and gradually added corals slowly as well as upgrade the lighting over 2 years and let the tank become established. Everything has been transferred to a 120gallon since 2010 and since work has bought me to a new place it was difficult to keep the corals happy not being around for 6-12 months at time and trying to explain CA/Alk to a non reefers was impossible, so I turned it into a FOWLR before I could have an inevitable crash..My yellow tang and blue tang are almost 10 years old now! Currently, the tank has few fish and LR only however, i am finally able to afford a custom tank with all the bells and whistles! I recently joined R2R and appreciate all the wonderful members who are so great in sharing information. Thanks

 

[Bradley Crocker]

10 year old tangs!? The yellow isn't super surprising (still amazing though), but the blue....wow! Most people measure a blue's lifespan in months, not years. Good work!

The tank looks amazing! I'm 10 years behind you, but I hope I still have the passion at 20 years in the hobby that I have today.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

Both tangs appear exceptionally healthy. Would you say you've done anything to avoid HLLE? I didn't run carbon in my last system which seemed to work, but I suspect that's purely anecdotal.

 

[Ashish Patel]

10 year old tangs!? The yellow isn't super surprising (still amazing though), but the blue....wow! Most people measure a blue's lifespan in months, not years. Good work!

The tank looks amazing! I'm 10 years behind you, but I hope I still have the passion at 20 years in the hobby that I have today.

Thanks, Its my first hippo tang =)...Is is actually 8" now. I wanted to get a large enough tank to relocate them but unfortunately I don't have the space so I have a 42" wide tank and going wide instead. I think major reason why they dont survive is because ppl like to overcrowd there tanks. I've done this before and lost fish and it always resinates with me - the tank is tiny and not big enough for multiple large fish so these 2 are the only large fish i got

 

[Ashish Patel]

Both tangs appear exceptionally healthy. Would you say you've done anything to avoid HLLE? I didn't run carbon in my last system which seemed to work, but I suspect that's purely anecdotal.

If you see the first picture from 2006 - I did not add many fish so I feel this minimized stress. The hippo tang would get ich from time to time but it was always active and eating so i was not worried.. Ich ran its course.

-Don't overcrowd
- Carbon is always good. bag of chemi pure in sump changed every 3 months.
- feed mix of frozen food, with some veggie frozen food.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

They're definitely susceptible to being bullied. Understocking a tank has more benefits than most people comprehend. Apparently happy, healthy tangs are on that list! They're both very good looking, congratulations.

Love the flame angel as well (one of my all-time favs)!

 

[Ashish Patel]

They're definitely susceptible to being bullied. Understocking a tank has more benefits than most people comprehend. Apparently happy, healthy tangs are on that list! They're both very good looking, congratulations.

Love the flame angel as well (one of my all-time favs)!

Its definitely a stunning fish ... The flame angel died when I moved the fish from a 55g to 120g -overnight in a stock tank... Could not believe it as the fish was healthy and over 2 years old.. I got a larger tank so these fish would have more swim space so it was very difficult loss.

 

[Bradley Crocker]

Its definitely a stunning fish ... The flame angel died when I moved the fish from a 55g to 120g -overnight in a stock tank... Could not believe it as the fish was healthy and over 2 years old.. I got a larger tank so these fish would have more swim space so it was very difficult loss.

Boo! Any thoughts on future tank mates?