walter's 58 gallon reef

[muse12]

Hello, my name is Walter, and this is the story of my tank!

My tank formerly belonged to a 9 year old, which is why it was in such horrible shape. We recieved a phone call one day from the previous owners, saying that they were moving to texas and were offering us their tank. The next day, we moved the whole enchillada. Rocks, water, tank, stand, fish, sand, EVERYTHING to our house. At the time, the sand was not really sand, it was basically detritus. The nitrates were over 60, and the two 90 watt flourescent VHOs didnt work, leaving us with a 400 watt metal halide to leave on for long periods of time, which was not helpful towards the temperature.

The inhabitants of the tank were:
1 yellow tang
1 percula clown
1 tomatoe clown
1 bar goby
1 orange spot goby
hermits
snails

various shrimp including peppermint and camel

lots of very large bristle worms, due to massive over feeding

"The Adventure Begins"

The first night we had the tank completely set-up, the orange spot goby leaped out of the tank. Now we were down to 4 fish.

At that time, we didn't have much knowlege about anything relating to saltwater fish or keeping them, so many a time did a very helpful [acronym:b4fdc516e6="Local Fish Store"]lfs[/acronym:b4fdc516e6] owner come to the rescue.

The tank inhabitants now are:
1 yellow tang
1 percula clown
1 tomato clown
1 bar goby
1 flasher wrasse
1 fridmani pseudochromis
1 cleaner shrimp
2 clams
lots of corals

Since then, we have stabalized the tank, and added lots of creatures.
Here are some pictures that I have taken. Hope you enjoy!

Full Tank Shot...
(the toadstool is shedding for the 3rd time since we got it a month and a half ago)

looking through the derasa...

the tang is in love with her reflection...


and more photos to come when I have more time!

[afilter]

Wow, Looks great! Nice job. One question, how do the clowns do together. I heard mixing different species was not a good idea? They have obviously co-habitated for some time.

I have been tempted to do it in the past, but was advised against it.

Good luck,

[muse12]

yeah, we were actually thinking about getting rid of the tomato clown, but he is not causing much trouble any more. I think that the fish adapt, because when we got the wrasse, everybody picked on him, but now he almost never gets picked on.

[Fluff]

The tank looks awesome. Good job!

[Jason]

that tank is really sweet!!!!!!!! great job!


oh and a CBS might help take care of the bristle worms

[muse12]

thanks everybody!

What is a CBS? Im only 13, and not too good with abbrieviations and such.

[afilter]

Coral Banded Shrimp....

[acronym:27368cf7fe="By the way"]BTW[/acronym:27368cf7fe] I would not move the tomato if it is doing well. You are doing a great job keep it up. I am envious

[luntiz]

Wow 400 watt [acronym:fdca556fbd="Metal halide light"]MH[/acronym:fdca556fbd]! I thought I had a lot.

[muse12]

Oh . . . I was actually looking into buying one at my last trip to the fish store, but decided to go with some montipora [acronym:62728041c2="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frags[/acronym:62728041c2] instead (im a sucker for [acronym:62728041c2="Broken or cut pieces of coral which will eventually grow into a new animal"]frags[/acronym:62728041c2] hehe).

Yeah, we have a 400 watt halide + 2*90 watt flourescents which equals 580 watts. 580 divided by 58 gallons, equals 10 watts per gallon.

yeah the tomato will most likely stay, because the fish that we currently have don't really seem to have problems with him.

[muse12]

here are some more pictures...

The mid section of the tank. (notice the toadstool is shedding again)

looking forward from the left side...