My name is William and I’m a CPHT. I’m 27 years old and live with my fiance, my son and our 15 animals (fish included) ha ha. I’ve been on the salty side of the hobby for a little over a year now.
I got into the hobby a couple of years ago when my fiance and I decided we wanted to have a pet in our home but we weren’t aloud to have dogs where we lived. I was at the local super market walking down the fish isle when I took my first steps into the hobby with 5 goldfish in a half gallon tank. Anyone here could probably guess I had zero success and my goldfish all died within days. It was then that I questioned my existence and abilities to care for animals. I guess it all started out because I didn’t want to fail but quickly turned into my passion and my hobby.
What I love about this hobby is the learning experience. I love exploring more and more of something that I fear. The ocean scares me and I don’t even know how to swim. To me this hobby brings me into a world I would never see otherwise. I get to share all of this with my family and my friends. One of the better things is that my son gets involved by helping mix water and I get to teach him about these animals.
Setup:
112gal – 5ft x 2ft x 18 inch
2 Black box LED fixtures
Jebao RW-15 and a 1200gph power-head
DIY PVC overflow
DIY sump – 3 main chambers
DIY counter current protein skimmer
Neptune Apex Lab Grade kit
Apex ATO
1 filter sock
TONS of lava rock in my sump for bio media.
I don’t run any reactors or any chemical media.
Hopefully in the very near future I’ll be adding a 2 bulb t5 ho retrofit kit to my lighting.
Maintenance:
Every Monday I do my tank maintenance which consists of feeding the tank then scraping down all the glass in the DT. After that I siphon and do a 10% water change. Once that’s done I clean the skimmer cup and change my filter sock.
Everyday I test my alkalinity levels and dose to keep my ALK at 10dkh. I test calcium on Mondays after water changes and on Friday’s
Parameters:
I like to keep my parameters at 78-80 degrees
Specific Gravity 1.026
PH 8-8.3
Nitrates 5-10ppm
Phosphates 0.25 (in close range)
Calcium: 420
ALK: 10dkh
Mag: 1400
Even though I get to spend a lot of time with my tank I like to keep the maintenance to a minimum. I take pride in the fact that I finish tank maintenance in a half hour once a week (but my hands are definitely in the tank everyday just messing with stuff).
Inhabitants:
2 Clown fish
1 Yellow Tang
1 Mandarin
1 Yellow Head Sleeper Goby
1 Firefish
3 Chromis
1 Royal Gramma
1 Yellow Corris Wrasse
1 Mccosker Flasher Wrasse
1 Dispar Anthias
2 Conch
2 blue leg hermits
2 golf ball size snails
Bunch of other snails
Corals:
I think I have a pretty good mixed reef going on. I started out wanting mostly Zoanthids in the tank but now I have everything from softies to SPS. I’m really starting to get into Acropora. Something I’m really trying to consider when buying corals is adding different colors into the tank and avoiding adding anymore green or red! Right now it’s hard to pick a favorite coral but I really love my acans and my mini scoly.
With all these mouths to feed I’ve begun experimenting with different feeding schedules and broadcasting coral feeding. Up until about 4 days ago I barely ever fed my corals. Everyday I like to start out with feeding a small amount of pellets in the morning. Then around dinner time I thaw out a cube of mysis or spirulina brine and mix it with a little reef chili. I’m hoping to enhance color of my fish and corals as well as improve growth.
CONCLUSION:
I really want to thank everyone for voting for me and my tank also for all the great advice I received, It has been a honor to have my tank voted on for the TOTM. This past year has been a tremendous learning experience full of many challenges and successes. I hope to continue in this hobby for many years to come and I can’t wait to discover new things with all of you.
Thank you,
Beej1254/William