Nice, there was a supply house we used quite a bit in central Fort Lauderdale (Carrier factory shop), they had at least a 55 gallon aquarium behind the counter, salt water, very beautiful like yours.

The fella who owned it was an avid flats fisherman.

I always wondered how much work it was to keep it up, as a hobby I dig it.

Very beautiful. You're live coral is amazing!!!

That is quite lovely.

Nice job! How much upkeep do you need on that? I've heard that 55 can be tricky to balance, and was leaning towards a 75 until life changed my plans on aquatics for the moment.

The best advise I ever received when I started:
"you are in the hobby of keeping water" Water management is the key. It is also the key if you are doing freshwater, so I find the difficulty to be about the same. But saltwater fish and my corals can be very expensive.

Water changes are relatively easy. I do one a week (3 gallons) and 3 scoops of salt mix. Thats it.

Every 4-6 months I buy a clean up crew, a bunch of snails, crabs, etc. and they just munch all the algae in the tank. I clean the glass and that is about it. The snails and crabs are actually a lot of fun to watch. I usually get a few dozen extra shells and its fun to watch them try on different shells, like my wife . . . at the shoe shop.

Have a good light setup, do your water changes, and DONT mess with it too much and your little reef will take off.

I create little 'frags' of some of the coral and trade with folks when they have something I want. It is a great community, but it does have its snobs

OH one more thing. the 55 gallon is what is called a 'corner drain' so it drains into a sump I setup underneath. This actually ups the water volume to about 65-70 gallons, I have coral pieces down there and they grow algae and other stuffs that 'clean' the water as it flows. The sump is where you see your 'actual' water level and it does get overstuffed and needs cleaning some about once a month. Every one of those corals are actually animals and they all create waste, thats why I have so few fish.

Some guys do expensive skimmers and filters etc. I just let the live sand, live coral, sump algae etc. clean the water and they seem happy enough. No two keepers will run their tanks the same, and that is ok.

That is really cool. Very beautiful. I wish I had the knowledge / patience to do something like that.

Very cool

Very nice setup. I dabbled a while back and it was a fun hobby.

Beautiful Reef Tank!

Shouldn't each 'Clown Fish' have their own large Anemone? They seem aggressive....I would think that would lower the stress level in your tank.

Also, it's 2020, sooo I believe a 'Trigger Fish' would be appropriate...

The fella in the supply house we talked to about it said he put a couple crabs in his once, but one of them munched several of his fish down before he realized it & got him out of there.

I never heard what particular crab it was, sounded like the second one he had was non-predatory.

Impressively Beautiful! Can I say that?

I’d much rather watch that than the mindless crap and drivel on tv.

Thanks for posting.

That coral looks fabulous! I lost all of mine (10yr old corals) to a malfunctioning skimmer that was shorting and sending current into the tank. I still haven’t had the heart to rebuild beyond a few critters.

I found Dory and Nemo!

Very beautiful - especially the coral. Well done!

Beautiful!

Thanks for all the kind comments. It is appreciated.

quote:

Originally posted by nhracecraft:
Beautiful Reef Tank!

Shouldn't each 'Clown Fish' have their own large Anemone? They seem aggressive....I would think that would lower the stress level in your tank.

Also, it's 2020, sooo I believe a 'Trigger Fish' would be appropriate...

I was sitting close so they thought it was feeding time They get pretty aggressive with the food. The anemone did well for a few years, but then became distressed, traveled around the tank and eventually died. I never knew why and I have not bought another since I cant figure out what I did. However, the clowns seem pretty content hosting in the soft corals.

quote:

Originally posted by soflaac:
The fella in the supply house we talked to about it said he put a couple crabs in his once, but one of them munched several of his fish down before he realized it & got him out of there.

I never heard what particular crab it was, sounded like the second one he had was non-predatory.

Yeah, you have to make sure you have compatible species. I was given a 'tomato' clown fish. It was not compatible with Ocealis clowns. The stripes are different so they do everything they can to kill each other. That mean old, one eyed fish lived for years by himself in a 3 gallon in my office. I left the screen off the top one day and he jumped out.

quote:

Originally posted by irreverent:
That coral looks fabulous! I lost all of mine (10yr old corals) to a malfunctioning skimmer that was shorting and sending current into the tank. I still haven’t had the heart to rebuild beyond a few critters.

I know the feeling. I had a resonate cascade in my tank a few years ago. Some aggressive algae got in my tank and nothing eats it and I couldnt kill it. The stuff exploded and killed 90% of my coral. A reef expert and I decided I had to kill the tank. Only a few pieces of coral that could be cleaned and the fish were saved. substrate discarded, and the coral was dried in the sun for six months on the back porch. Then the rebuilding started.

quote:

Originally posted by Loswsmith:
I found Dory and Nemo!

They are actually named Duke (the yellow tang) and Duchess (the Blue Tang). Both were purchased (respectively) on the day of the birth of the royal great grandbabies.

Nice tank. I kept fish for years, but after we got flooded and moved, I didn't set up a new tank.

I miss it.

No Mt. Wannahockaloogie?

Nice! We have a 30 gallon reef tank. Learned some hard lessons this past year. Velvet cleaned out all but one clownfish we saved. We’ve also lost a couple nice coral pieces.