I recently acquired a tank that had been established and healthy for 5 years. The tank is 3'w x 2.25'h x 2'd, that's about 100 gallons. There is 3-5 inches of LS and about 150 lbs. of live rock. I moved it buy taking out all the rock and water down to 1/2 above sand level and then carried it out and put it back together very gently. The only thing I changed was the placement of the rock, had to do some aquascaping to make it look nice. There is lots of coralline algae and the other inhabs include 50-75 snails the size of BB's, 2 Nass snails and one mexican turbo. There is an assortment of Hermit crabs, 1 scarlet and 2 blue legs and 5 others I can't identify. One False Perc Clown, only about 1.5 inches long. One Blue Tang that is barely bigger than the clown. One little Hammer coral colony, 3 heads that are barely an inch across when closed. And one BTA that is 3" across, light colored with pink tips. (worried about this one, some people seem to think that the coloring means it's on it's way to davey jones locker.) Really hope it survives.
Have a great sump system, a berlin red sea x2 protein skimmer, an arctic chiller keeping the tank at 79 degrees. Lighting is compact florescent, 2 50/50 55 watts and 2 96 watts that I am replacing today. I have had it set up and running for 5 days, water is clear and bright. Tests show nitrate is high and salinity is low, Nitrite is 0-0.5, Alk is about 210 ppm, and pH is 8.2. I know water changes (which I have done 2 20 gallon changes so far, 2 days apart) will fix nitrate. but the salinity worries me. Think I'm going to take a water sample to 2 different LFS's and have them test. Some Pics Below.
Have a great sump system, a berlin red sea x2 protein skimmer, an arctic chiller keeping the tank at 79 degrees. Lighting is compact florescent, 2 50/50 55 watts and 2 96 watts that I am replacing today. I have had it set up and running for 5 days, water is clear and bright. Tests show nitrate is high and salinity is low, Nitrite is 0-0.5, Alk is about 210 ppm, and pH is 8.2. I know water changes (which I have done 2 20 gallon changes so far, 2 days apart) will fix nitrate. but the salinity worries me. Think I'm going to take a water sample to 2 different LFS's and have them test. Some Pics Below.