The Reef Tank banner

My 36 gallon shop tank .

1K views 20 replies 4 participants last post by  jerryclunsford 
#1 ·
It’s taken me a little time to start a thread on this tank. My last tank tread was my 120 bb tank which was lost when we lost our house to a flood in 2016. At that time I told myself I was done. But I retired last June and opened a Antique shop. Well I once again have a tank. Can’t stay away.
I had a hard time deciding on what I wanted. Seahorse, or coral, sand or BB. I went with sandbed and no seahorses. Didn’t want to fight with temperature.

So here is what I have so far. Tank is just at around 7 to 8 weeks old. Sand bed. 40 lbs of live rock. A bonded pair of snowflake clowns. 6 line wrasse and assorted snails and hermit crabs.two peppermint shrimp. The rock is loaded with life. Large filter feeder clams, some sponges and multiple macro algae. I decided to allow the macro algae to grow for now and will prune as needed to make room for coral. Also have some Zoa colonies. I’m using a HOB skimmer Aqua c and a HOB filter with mesh only to catch floating debris. Already have coralline starting to spread on back glass. I do ten gallon water change a week or there about. This tank I went with RPM pro salt by Fritz.

Now for the pictures
 

Attachments

See less See more
6
#2 ·
#4 ·
Thanks Jerry. I love the live rock. I'm already thinking of a larger tank at home. Maybe a large fish only with live rock. I don't know if you ever seen my large fish. If you go to my blog you can see some of my other tanks. Everything from seahorses, corals .
 
#9 ·
Coming along nicely Vinnie.....really like all the macro algae. I too will have to go peruse Your blog for 'the pictures'. I'll throw my vote out there for You to set up a home tank again.
Hack
 
#12 ·
......it's starting! Them things are worse that potato chips.....once you get started, they'll be following You home next.
Hack
 
#15 ·
Hey Vin the tank is looking great. Love that Kessil shimmer.

I wanted to ask you about hitchhikers off that gulf live rock. Have you seen anything that’s less then desirable? I’m planning my next tank after my cross country move. Really like the looks of the Macroalgae on the rock. Seen a couple of people posting on r2r pictures of there rocks from the gulf and one looks like a Aiptasia on it and several people agreeing blah blah blah, you know how big forms are, but then the original poster comes back later saying they never reproduce and moved around the tank. I know you and jerry both order them so wanted yours and Jerrys point of view on if you think there’s any bad hitchhikers.

Thanks bud
Matt
 
#16 ·
I haven't really had any bad one so far, the urchin isn't causing any trouble, I have found two Aiptasia on a piece of rock, I will deal with them at some point. they haven't moved. and it did have some bubble algae, I used a while brush on one rock to remove today while I did the water change. I love the rock. Most rock sold nowadays isn't all that.Not like it was 15 or 20 years ago. So I went with gulf rock and am super happy with it.
 
#17 ·
That’s positive sounding, Aiptasia and bubble algae are 2 easy ones to deal with. One of the old articles I was reading spoke of using Aiptasia as a filter source, called rocks covered in them Anemones rocks and he saw a healthier tank after having them in it for awhile. Might be ok for a fish only tank. Wish I could find that article again.

So is the Macroalgae hanging in there or dying off? I actually find that to be the selling point for me. Looks more natural. Wish I could do the entire tank with it but thinking of 20lbs to seed the dry rock I have after I’ve cooked, cured and cycled the dry rock. Try and not get the terrible uglies you spoke of further up this thread. I’m also wanting to get a few extra rocks for a “display” refugium, I know there not well liked around here, just miss my planted freshwater tanks and some of the Macroalgae’s are beautiful.

What Kessil lights are you running? I just ordered a H380 for the refugium. Still haven’t decided on the display tank light yet. I want MH just not sure if I want the heat and electricity bill to go with it. I have a pair of AI hydra 26 that I will probably use at least right after it’s setup. Along with 4 t5 dimmable retro fits for in the canopy. Just know the AI don’t have that Kessil shimmer that’s very close to MH and I like that.

Dang I jibber jabber a lot
Matt
 
#18 ·
That's positive sounding, Aiptasia and bubble algae are 2 easy ones to deal with. One of the old articles I was reading spoke of using Aiptasia as a filter source, called rocks covered in them Anemones rocks and he saw a healthier tank after having them in it for awhile. Might be ok for a fish only tank. Wish I could find that article again.

So is the Macroalgae hanging in there or dying off? I actually find that to be the selling point for me. Looks more natural. Wish I could do the entire tank with it but thinking of 20lbs to seed the dry rock I have after I've cooked, cured and cycled the dry rock. Try and not get the terrible uglies you spoke of further up this thread. I'm also wanting to get a few extra rocks for a "display" refugium, I know there not well liked around here, just miss my planted freshwater tanks and some of the Macroalgae's are beautiful.

What Kessil lights are you running? I just ordered a H380 for the refugium. Still haven't decided on the display tank light yet. I want MH just not sure if I want the heat and electricity bill to go with it. I have a pair of AI hydra 26 that I will probably use at least right after it's setup. Along with 4 t5 dimmable retro fits for in the canopy. Just know the AI don't have that Kessil shimmer that's very close to MH and I like that.

Dang I jibber jabber a lot
Matt
The macro will have some die off and then comeback, I have all kinds , purple grape, Sagasum . about 6 or 7 different kinds and they all came back and I prune as necessary. also have sea squirts, sponges that survived along with a bunch of filter feeding large clams of some type. the rock is amazing to me. full of life.

Right now I'm only running 2 160WE tuna blues for this tank. they seem to be doing good for what I have. when I ran them on the 120 I ran a reefbreeder pro LED with these two 160's but it was an SPS tank.
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top