#reefing

[spurloser]

Stephen Mallon: Sea Trains

"The environmental effort is based on the fact that marine organisms attach themselves to hard surfaces–like the metal frames of the train cars–serving as food for other sea creatures and creating an overall healthier habitat. Since the MTA began the initiative, close to 3,000 cars have made their way into the ocean."

[terracegallery]

Sea Butterfly Fish Art

Handmade Art by a Human Artist! Beautiful colorful tropical Copperband Butterfly fish art by Florida artist Sharon Cummings. Add some beachy color to your home or office space! A unique artistic interpretation of a beach beauty. GET IT HERE!

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[copperbora]

Meet Purrling Reef, aka the 13.5 gallon Fluval Evo reef aquarium that I forgot to tell you all about before: in today's episode: in which Moby scares the sh-! out of me (he's good at that.)

This is Moby, my baby Amphiprion ocellaris clownfish, who, providing that he survives my relative incompetence may live 15+ years. Clownfish are known for being quite hardy fish and people used to use them to cycle their aquariums which is now recognized by many reef aquarists as mild animal cruelty. (Therefore I cycled Purrling Reef using pure ammonia instead.) Along with my (probably female) yellow watchman goby Clyde, Moby has been in Purrling Reef for about a month now.

Things are going well; ammonia is at 0 ppm, nitrates are usually at 0 ppm, phosphates are usually at .25 ppm, salinity is stable at 1.025, and my PH hovers at a somewhat soft but okay 7-7.5. Having at last gotten through the worst of the summer heat and having finally figured out how to set up my inkbird temperature properly, Purrling Reef's waters stay a comfy 25°C (78°F,) all day and night long.

Things are going well, so naturally Moby opted to scare the crap out of me this morning by acting like he was dying.

WTF MOBY.

Terrified for his life I promptly did a water change and dosed the tank with Seachem Prime (which detoxifies ammonia as well as chemicals like chlorine,) then Seachem Stress Guard (which soothes fish.) My ammonia was at zero but I thought that the Prime was a good idea anyway.

Moby promptly stopped looking like he wanted to be crab food, so I went to work; when I came home he was back to his annoying ol' habit of chilling by the filter outflow.

WHY FISH.

After testing all of my water parameters again and finding that all seems well I turned my attention to my newest addition to my reef: Spook the Halloween Hermit crab. I actually call him Captain Spook because he is rather overwhelmingly the least useless member of my cleanup crew. Usually, since I got him he clams up at my approach, sucking as much of his body as he can into the enormous conch snail shell which he adopted as his mobile home.

Chances are he murdered the original inhabitant of this shell.

Today though Spook decided not to spook at my approach which I have two theiries for:

1. The vast anti-Keplar fortifications that I set out around the aquarium double-sided tape traps are working! Yay! (Keplar must not be scaring my aquarium inhabitants as much anymore.)

2. My water is still screwed up so Spook is feeling weird. Given that I have only been at this for like three months... yeah, I can't ignore this possibility.

It was rather remarkable getting to see his white carapace up close for once. While it reminded me that he is in fact a sea bug, but I refuse to hold this against me due to his janitorial awesomeness and the fact that he is much less anxiety inducing than Moby. (Although I live in fear of him eating one of my two puny dwarf hermit crabs.

I can't wait until I can adopt more livestock; Purrling Reef definitely has a job opening available for an emerald crab! (Captain Spook does not like salad.)

Also, here's

Also, here's Clyde the yellow watchman giby who would like me to mention her job a for a pistol shrimp; in the wild watchman gobies live with these shrimp.

If she gets a pistol shrimp friend maybe she'll coe out of her den more often.

[fishproblem]

today I posted about my leftover live sand in my neighborhood facebook group and nearly sent my neighbors to their graves. someone will be picking up the extra tomorrow though, so it worked out. i thought my comment below the post would clear things up, but have since realized that “CaribSea Arag-Alive Special Grade” sounds profoundly like drugs.

[ad-thebartender]

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[glasssplashbox]

How To:

Deciding on a Salt Water Set Up 

Where do you even start? It’s daunting to make the first steps to salt water and many people in the hobby don’t get the information they need when starting up. I’m hoping here to save some peeps from a trial and error kind of a start that I see most often.

This tank type can be as easy or as difficult as you’d like it so don’t go thinking you need to go fresh water first. Keep reading to learn where you want your tank to lye. 

The first step in any aquarium set up is a whole lot of choices to make. There are few things worse than following an easy start up guide only to find you built the wrong thing! You’re tank is now incompatible with the animals you wanted and now it either time to peruse the path you have already built your tank up for or it is back to square one. 

I am a strong believer in doing a lot of aquarium planning, and research before actually getting started on anything. Why? Because I’ve been there! And maybe you have too if you are reading up on this page. If you haven’t yet fallen into this as an aquarium hobbyist and you are here, you are a far more prepared person than most of us.

So, where to start in the salt water world of planning? 

Choosing a Tank Size

Lets start with tank size. Contrary to what you might think, it is a generally well accepted fact that larger salt water aquariums tend to be easier. You’ll be worrying a lot less about water parameters the more they are deluded (i.e. the more water there is.) Unlike in fresh water, you will be needing to keep an eye on salinity. It is not a hard measurement to take or keep track of, but it is very important for your fish and corals. Think about what how much time you want to put into thinking about this. Not as often? Think bigger, maybe a 30 or 40 gallon at least.

The next thing to consider with size is what animals you have your eyes on. Do you  like big fish, like tangs, or are smaller clown fish more your speed? Look into the needs of the pets you want. Some need a lot of swimming room like anthias, while others (again like clown fish) like to stick to a territory. 

Pick a Tank Build

Once you have a size in mind the next thing to think about is the fact that salt water tanks are usually just built differently. Please, PLEASE, do not go to your local chain pet store and buy a regular, aqueon tank. You will be setting yourself up for a BAD TIME. Salt water tanks are usually built with a separate chamber for filtration and other needs whether it be a sump (a second small tank under the display tank that is hidden in a stand) or an overflow box in the case of nano tanks (a space built into the back of the tank hidden by a false backing.)

Although there are ways around this, know you will be making a ton of work for yourself and it will never run quite as cleanly as a system that has one of these features. Depending on the size of tank you are looking at, consider which of these would make more sense. Big generally means a sump and small generally mean an overflow box, but there are so many options! depending on how much money you are willing to put into this project, sumps can be home made, while overflows are usually a professional built in feature.

Note that the plumbing is not shown in the first picture, but that is for another time. While this sump modified tank on the right is home made, please know that there are plenty that come pre-made and with all the plumbing done for you. The tank on the right is a Nuvo 10 gallon Nano tank that comes as seen here and only needs to be plugged in and a heater added.

Coral or No Coral?

Another thing to keep in the back of your mind is weather or not you want coral. There are many different kinds of coral with many different needs. I will go more into this in future posts, but the biggest thing you need to know is that with coral (and sea anemones for that mater) you are going to need  coral lighting. This does not come cheap. For smaller tanks you can be looking at a Kessil A80 Tuna Blue, the cheapest light that gets the job done right in my opinion, running for about $150. From there it is only goes on to get more expensive and this light only works up to about 20 gallons.  But  don’t let me make you think anything about this hobby is cheap. It will be one cost of many. 

On top of this, there are many reef dwelling fish that like to eat or nibble on coral and can cause real trouble for anyone going into reefing (growing corals). Having coral in your tank will mean there are going to be a whole lot of fish that you are barred from adding to your tank (many puffer fish, angels, and butterflies.)

All of this being said, I don’t own a single salt water tank that doesn't have coral in it and the process of growing corals is as rewarding as it is beautiful. You will see colors completely new to you that only occur in these fascinating ecosystems! I will always say the little extra work and attention is worth it. In the end though, it will always come down to you. What do you want in your tank? What do you want to put into it and get out of it?

Finally, with all of this said and done you are ready to select your tank! One of the most exciting steps in setting things up. You know what size and build your selected ecosystem will need. So get looking at your local fish stores and online to see what is going to fit the bill for your new tank!

[daniloronchi]

My preferred and beloved fish... Acanthurus leucosternon. Mine live for about 9 years in my aquarium. Here was in perfect health at 6 or 7 years old (more or less). Have you one of this incredible fish? Please post a picture! ————————————————— #fish #fishes #reef #reeffin #reefaquarium #reeflovers #reefing #reefers #reefers4reefers #marineaquariums #marinehobby #marineaquarium #marinefish #saltwateraquarium #saltwatertank #reefaddict #eatsleepreef #reeffin #danireef #ocean #sea #animals #animal #love #instagood #surgeonfish #acanthurus #acanthurusleucosternon #powderbkuetang #tang #powderbluesurgeonfish https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-ugOHB74C/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=70jntivch8fu

[uniquecorals]

And in other news... #acro #fragpack coming soon! #uniquecorals #wysiwg #allmymoneygoestocoral #aquarium #reefing #myfishtank #happyreefing (at uniquecorals)