xtopher's blog

[xtopher]

Blog Created for xtopher

[xtopher]

So I'll start my blog with a little bit of background of my previous tanks (sorry no pics until my 135 gal ) I started a reef tank approx 6 years ago. My first tank was a FO 33 gallon that housed a tomato clown dwarf fuzzy lion and a snowflake eel. I then progressed to a 72 gal bowfront reef but needless to say I knew next to nothing about keeping a reef and didn't have very much success. I sold the tank and gave up reefkeeping for a couple of years.

[xtopher]

My next attempt at a reef tank was a 33 gallon that I had to move approx 4 times, I had varied success keeping anemones and fish and mushrooms. I then tried my hand at a 90 gallon setup with no sump and 2 large aquaclears and a fluval 404 for filtration. I had a prizm skimmer on this setup and knew absolutely nothing about Ca alk and other types of reef chemistry. I kept everything in this tank as far as softies and anemones go but had to replce a lot of livestock as I had not yet discovered online forums such as TRT.

[xtopher]

I then moved into my current house about 2 years ago. I didn't like the look of my 90 gallon so I switched to another 72 gal. I eventually progresssed to having my plumbing through the wall as I found it difficult to keep levels constant with my work schedule, in such a small system. After replumbing the system too many times to recall I decided to upgrade to a starphire 135 gallon In wall setup. I did fairly well with this setup until last summer. I woke up to a fire in my fish room that comepletely destroyed my tank. I was able to save some of the livestock but it would be another 5 months b4 I had another tank in the wall.

[xtopher]

Because of problems I had experienced with the previous tank I decided to rethink the entire setup. with 5 months of planning I figured that the setup was perfect (needless to say I was wrong but I'm not changing anything) So now I have my current setup which is a 225 gal display with a 33 gallon fuge and 180 gal sump. I have to say that regardless of a few things I would do differently next time, I am having waaaayyy better success with this tank than I have in the past. (knock on wood)

[xtopher]

So anyways I have decided to take out the sand in my tank and go BB.