About Me

When I was a kid I always wanted fish.  Everyone wants fish right?  It usually was that fair fish.  You know the gold fish that either died before you got home or lived for 20 years.  LOL!  I had everything BUT fish.  About 10 years ago I started with a 10 gallon tank for freshwater fish.  The first set of fish died (man was that a bummer!) but I kept trying and eventually got it.  I started to read everything I could get my hands on about freshwater parameters and different fish, what species would be compatible with other species, etc.  Then one day I took the plunge and bought a 55 gallon tank with an enclosed cabinet.  I thought to myself, how fancy was that?!  I felt great about it.  My fish were thriving, I eventually bought cichlids and then had babies!  Boy did I have babies.  They were everywhere!  I joined a few local aquarium forums and became friends with a few local fish stores and my new found hobby was well on its way to becoming the best stress reliever.  It was something I could share with my children and I could teach them new and exciting things. 

 

Thennnnnnn....  one day. 

 

I decided to get a 55 gallon saltwater tank...  Looked through craigslist and found one that was set up "Berlin Style" with a refugium beneath the display tank and again I was pouring through books and online content, anything I could find really, on saltwater husbandry.  Mr. Saltwater Fish guy!  Phew.. thank god he was around.  Can I tell you how much he helped me!?  ALOT.  how he knows it all is beyond me but I hope to one day be as intelligent on the husbandry and all the other oddball things in this hobby as he.  I now currently have 2- 80 gallon tanks one is freshwater and one is saltwater.  I have my saltwater tank set up berlin style with many different things that help make my life and the tanks life better... 

 

Some of the things that I have in the refugium to help keep my pets safe:

 

Remora Protein Skimmer (keeps the tank clean)

150 Phosban Reactor ( I use this to hold Phosban- a phosphate reducer, carbon for clear water, and bioplastics)

Kalkwasser Reactor

Coralife Turbo twist (keeps the bad bacteria out of my water column)

T-5 combo LED lights,

Two Coralife wave-makers on timers for interval use. 

 

In this tank I have it set up primarily as a Reef tank.  I have many inverts, anemones, sponges, gargonians, etc.  The fish I have are- Copperbanded butterfly, Jawfish, Scopas Tang, mated Clown fish (pair), and many many other odds and ends (cleanup crews).  Macro algea is grown in my display under controlled measures like the pretty stuff such as halymenia, cryptomenia, codium, botrycladia and in my refugium.  Along with this tank I have a 65 gallon Sea Horse tank which holds a mated pair of Erectus horses, 3 pipefishes and currently breeding glass shrimp and of course a good cleanup crew.  This tank is plumbed into my refugium that also is for my 80 gallon reef tank.  So 2 tanks and 1 refugium.  I thought that was nifty!  Less acclimation time and all this new bacteria growing in my tank loving up the new food (nitrates!).

 

Now in my basement, I breed amphipods, copepods, glass shrimp, brine shrimp, phytoplankton, rotifers and more macro algae.   

 

Ultimately I am looking to take both 80 gallon tanks and use them both as refugiums in my basement plumbed up to a 200 gallon display tank in my home.  I am moving away from the freshwater tanks and keep it solely on saltwater.  The local fish store, Eddies Aquarium, is going to move my tanks around, set up the plumbing and install an APEX system to help minimize maintenance and leave me for more time to blog!  Love Eddie's! 

 

So..  that's it for now... hope to read your posts and welcome to my blog!

 

Miss Salt Tease