Crystal03JC
Active Member
Hi my name is Crystal & my boyfriend James and I are addicted to our 90 gallon mixed reef tank. :smile: Ready for our life story?? LOL..be patient with me! It all started after watching Finding Nemo..lol jk! We got into the hobby in August of 2011 with a 29 gallon tank. It had a 15 gal sump and a Coralife PC fixture. We researched online about making DIY rock, so that's what we did.. we made about 40 lbs of Agrocrete (crushed oyster shell, gray portland cement & pool salt). It turned out pretty good, we still have the rock in our new tank to this day.
After 4 months of waiting on the rock to cure before we could really start our tank, we decided to go bigger. We started our 55 gal with 20 gal sump January 2012, it was nice, James built a canopy and we gave the stand & canopy a ebony stain. James also built us a DIY skimmer out of pvc pipe! We got a 100gpd RODI, maxijets, Taam Rio pump, 30lbs Caribsea Argonite/40lbs of Caribsea Ocean Direct live sand etc. 4/14/12 we got it up and running and were really excited, then came a milky tank so..we drained all the water and rinsed all the sand outside for 2 hours then put it back in and started over! 4/18/12 we found a local guy selling live rock for $2/lb so we got 20 lbs and put it in our tank. This was good live rock.. 10 yrs old, cured & cycled! 4/24/12 we put 2 Chromis and a few cleaners in our tank and officially felt like saltwater aquarists! 5/4/12 we got some chaeto for our sump. 5/7/12 we lost a Chromis! 5/11/12 we bought a new Chromis, a Diamond Watchman Goby and a few cleaners. 6/1/12 we bought a pair of Clownfish. One of them died after a week..starvation. 6/8/12 we began our coral addiction with a Kenya Tree & a Nuclear Sunset Mushroom! 6/16/12: Hammer Coral, Frogspawn, Yellow Polyps, Green Polyps, Green Striped Mushrooms. 6/28/12: TriColor Orange Ricordea & Candy Apple Zoas. 6/29/12: Peppermint Shrimp. 7/1/12: Clownfish & 6line Wrasse.
On 7/4/12 it was time to go big or go home..so we got a 90 gal!! James modified the canopy and we went with black paint for the stand and canopy. We got a 5 bulb T5HO fixture, skimmer, Mag 9.5 Pump etc. We swapped everything over to our new tank on 8/8/12. 7/21/12 GSP & Orange Zoas. 7/27/12: Green Torch Coral. 8/4/12: Maroon(?) Torch Coral - got brown jelly/died. 8/10/12: Kole Yellow Eye Tang (took back, he was mean to our goby). 8/22/12: Longnose Hawkfish. 9/1/12: Blue Mushrooms. 9/9/12: Green Monti Cap, Red Monti Cap &Bicolor Blenny (took back, he ate our yellow polyps). 9/16/12: Purple/Green Mushrooms & Red Mushrooms. 9/22/12: Blue Linckia Starfish (died) & Purple/Green Polyps. 9/28/12: Blue Ricordea, Green Eyed Girl Zoa, Eagle Eye Zoas & Tiger Conch. 10/9/12: Fuzzy Mushroom & Pagoda Cup. 10/21/12: Magnificent Foxface. 11/10/12: 25lbs of beautiful new live rock. 11/24/12: Neon Tip Torch, Pnk Polyps & Toadstool. 12/10/12: Red Encrusting Monti, Red Mushrooms, Pink Xenias & Neon Tip Torch (brown jelly/died) 12/21/12: Pink Monti Cap, Green Torch, Blue Mushrooms, Green Rhodactis Mushroom, Purple Rhodactis Mushroom & Multicolored Rhodactis Mushroom. 12/29/12: Purple Haze Monti & Pink Stylophora.
Wow.. hope I didn't bore anyone, I don't think I left out too many details lol! We battled some cyanobacteria & hair algae in our 55gal, and after a few weeks we managed to get rid of it. We have lost 2 fish, 2 Corals, 1 starfish & a peppermint shrimp. We have had great success with our 90gal and couldn't ask for a better tank..that is until we upgrade to atleast a 150! Our tests are always spot on & we haven't had any algae outbreak or problem of any kind **knock on wood**. We LOVE this tank and can't stop filling it with coral lol! Who knew this hobby could be so addictive! We're always looking for coral and new stuff for our tank.. can't wait to see what 2013 holds for our reef life.
I will post pics soon!! :bigsmile:
After 4 months of waiting on the rock to cure before we could really start our tank, we decided to go bigger. We started our 55 gal with 20 gal sump January 2012, it was nice, James built a canopy and we gave the stand & canopy a ebony stain. James also built us a DIY skimmer out of pvc pipe! We got a 100gpd RODI, maxijets, Taam Rio pump, 30lbs Caribsea Argonite/40lbs of Caribsea Ocean Direct live sand etc. 4/14/12 we got it up and running and were really excited, then came a milky tank so..we drained all the water and rinsed all the sand outside for 2 hours then put it back in and started over! 4/18/12 we found a local guy selling live rock for $2/lb so we got 20 lbs and put it in our tank. This was good live rock.. 10 yrs old, cured & cycled! 4/24/12 we put 2 Chromis and a few cleaners in our tank and officially felt like saltwater aquarists! 5/4/12 we got some chaeto for our sump. 5/7/12 we lost a Chromis! 5/11/12 we bought a new Chromis, a Diamond Watchman Goby and a few cleaners. 6/1/12 we bought a pair of Clownfish. One of them died after a week..starvation. 6/8/12 we began our coral addiction with a Kenya Tree & a Nuclear Sunset Mushroom! 6/16/12: Hammer Coral, Frogspawn, Yellow Polyps, Green Polyps, Green Striped Mushrooms. 6/28/12: TriColor Orange Ricordea & Candy Apple Zoas. 6/29/12: Peppermint Shrimp. 7/1/12: Clownfish & 6line Wrasse.
On 7/4/12 it was time to go big or go home..so we got a 90 gal!! James modified the canopy and we went with black paint for the stand and canopy. We got a 5 bulb T5HO fixture, skimmer, Mag 9.5 Pump etc. We swapped everything over to our new tank on 8/8/12. 7/21/12 GSP & Orange Zoas. 7/27/12: Green Torch Coral. 8/4/12: Maroon(?) Torch Coral - got brown jelly/died. 8/10/12: Kole Yellow Eye Tang (took back, he was mean to our goby). 8/22/12: Longnose Hawkfish. 9/1/12: Blue Mushrooms. 9/9/12: Green Monti Cap, Red Monti Cap &Bicolor Blenny (took back, he ate our yellow polyps). 9/16/12: Purple/Green Mushrooms & Red Mushrooms. 9/22/12: Blue Linckia Starfish (died) & Purple/Green Polyps. 9/28/12: Blue Ricordea, Green Eyed Girl Zoa, Eagle Eye Zoas & Tiger Conch. 10/9/12: Fuzzy Mushroom & Pagoda Cup. 10/21/12: Magnificent Foxface. 11/10/12: 25lbs of beautiful new live rock. 11/24/12: Neon Tip Torch, Pnk Polyps & Toadstool. 12/10/12: Red Encrusting Monti, Red Mushrooms, Pink Xenias & Neon Tip Torch (brown jelly/died) 12/21/12: Pink Monti Cap, Green Torch, Blue Mushrooms, Green Rhodactis Mushroom, Purple Rhodactis Mushroom & Multicolored Rhodactis Mushroom. 12/29/12: Purple Haze Monti & Pink Stylophora.
Wow.. hope I didn't bore anyone, I don't think I left out too many details lol! We battled some cyanobacteria & hair algae in our 55gal, and after a few weeks we managed to get rid of it. We have lost 2 fish, 2 Corals, 1 starfish & a peppermint shrimp. We have had great success with our 90gal and couldn't ask for a better tank..that is until we upgrade to atleast a 150! Our tests are always spot on & we haven't had any algae outbreak or problem of any kind **knock on wood**. We LOVE this tank and can't stop filling it with coral lol! Who knew this hobby could be so addictive! We're always looking for coral and new stuff for our tank.. can't wait to see what 2013 holds for our reef life.
I will post pics soon!! :bigsmile:
That picture is beautiful by the way lol
) I am near macon, where r u guys out of? are you on ARC?
