my 180 Gallon Reef Tank

Naso Tang

2010-02-27T14:24:00.000-08:00

I added a Naso Tang to the tank back in January:

The fish is doing very well and is very curious. Whenever I'm cleaning or doing anything in the tank, he LOVES to come investigate what is going on. He is around 10-12 inches long and the largest fish in the tank.

Added Two New Corals Tonight

2010-01-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

Added a new Acan & Pink Polyp coral tonight:

Clownfish "Rex" In One of His Multiple Anemones

2010-01-14T14:11:00.000-08:00

Coral Picture

2010-01-05T19:43:00.000-08:00

Took this picture of one of the new coral. I'm hoping it will start to spread long that rock. You can also see a good amount of coralline algae on that rock.

Ton of New Fish and Coral!!!

2009-12-30T15:05:00.000-08:00

The local fish store, where I buy most of my fish and corals from, is moving locations. Today they announced 50% off everything in the store. Luckily, I was able to immediately call and they held the Sailfin and Yellow Tangs for me because the three have been together for years. Even through I raced up there, most of the fish were gone and a lot had already been sold. Luckily, they did hold the three tangs for me!! I was able to get the purple tang also! I also bought a Naso Tang but they won't be able to get him out of the tank for a couple days.

They still do have a black tang that I would LOVE to buy but he was very big and very expensive. (Black tang did end up selling to someone else)

I also picked up a hammer coral and some other coral. I also added up another ~30 lbs of amazing live rock.

The four new tangs are all doing well and getting along well with each other and the fish already in the tank. The Sailfin was a little stressed from the move but he is doing well and eating already. They seem to love their new home and I am happy they are doing well.

New Sailfin Tang New Purple Tang

Blue Regal Tang not super happy (yet) New Yellow Tang (1 of 2)

New Sailfin Tang again Sailfin, 2 Yellows, Purple & Niger in the back

Feather Duster Full Tank Shot

Sailfin Again Two Yellows Again

Sailfin New Hammer Coral

New Coral Sailfin

Purple Tang

Tank Pictures

2009-12-28T18:46:00.000-08:00

Here are some new pictures taken with a D5000 (click the pictures to enlarge):

Huge Anemone and Clown Fish

2009-12-16T11:16:00.000-08:00

I've had these two for a while but was able to snap some great photos of the two:

Clam and Scallop

2009-12-14T11:16:00.000-08:00

Here's a picture of the clam and scallop:

New Corals

2009-12-12T10:21:00.000-08:00

I added three more corals to my tank:

They are all doing very well, especially the first one. The other two are smaller but seem to be doing fine. I'm exciting about them growing and will probably attach them to rocks in the near future.

Added Live Rock and New Coral

2009-12-11T14:39:00.001-08:00

I finally added the live rock to my tank!

I added another 275 lbs so now I have 325 lbs total. The rock is all pristine with Coralline Algae growing everywhere. The fish are still getting used to the change but it is going well.

I also added some additional coral as I am starting to grow different kinds.

New Fish and My First Coral

2009-11-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we went to the pet store and picked up a couple new friends:

The picture is slightly blurry because he doesn't sit still at all. They are doing very well and are swimming around a ton. They don't have names yet should soon.

I also added the first piece of coral:

It is only an inch or so big but will grow very fast, especially since I have three 400w lights.

New Clam Added To The Tank

2009-11-02T18:45:00.001-08:00

A couple weeks ago, we added this clam to the tank. I forgot to take pictures of him and so here he is:

He likes to fall over so I have to wedge him between two rocks. He doesn't move around a ton but will respond if he notices a change in light. He closes up at night too.

Current Tank Setup and New Friends

2009-08-14T19:57:00.001-07:00

A couple weeks ago, we added some new friends to the tank. This is the current setup:

[View Full Image]

And these are some new friends:

New Friends

2009-07-17T20:04:00.000-07:00

Last week we added some new friends to our tank:

The tank received some more live rock and is getting closer to where it needs to be:

180 Gallon Tank Still Doing Well

2009-07-02T06:31:00.000-07:00

My tank has been on a plateau for a while. I've been trying to find a good place to buy all of my liverock from and I think I have succeeded. I hopefully will be picking it up in the next week or two. It is about 200 lbs and looks great.

Here is the tank currently:

Hopefully the next time you see it, it'll be filled with rocks!

Mandarin Goby Eating

2009-03-28T12:04:00.000-07:00

I've been feeding the Mandarin Goby using zooplankton from the LFS. She's been eating and is doing very well. After I get more live rock, I'm sure I won't even need to feed her additional food, as there will be enough growing on the live rock.

First Death

2009-03-20T07:18:00.000-07:00

The starfish died. I'm really not sure why but he unfortunately is dead.

Mandarin Goby

2009-03-18T07:22:00.000-07:00

Added a new fish today. She's a Mandarin Goby. Very colorful and we're making sure she has the correct food to eat. She should double in size fully grown. I'd love to get a male one day, after we get some more live rock.

Live Rock and Friends

2009-03-02T06:51:00.000-08:00

Added new friends to the tank today! We got some live rock, anemones, and a star fish today. After taking about an hour to get one of the anemones to attach, they are all doing well:

Bandit

2009-02-19T06:26:00.000-08:00

Our first fish:

We adopted him from PetCo. They couldn't find a form for me to fill out since they never adopt fish and just told me to take him.

My First Fish!!

2009-02-18T05:39:00.000-08:00

Last night I got my first fish for my tank. I "adopted" him from the local Petco. I was so excited that I forgot to take pictures of him swimming around. Here's a picture of him in the bag:

I'll take some more pictures tonight of him swimming.

Sand Clearing

2009-01-18T09:37:00.000-08:00

Took over night but the sand is clearing:

and by evening:

Sand

2009-01-17T22:34:00.001-08:00

Was able to find "play sand" at the local Home Depot. It was very cheap at only ~$4 per 50 lbs. I bought 200 lbs and dumped it in the tank:

Leak Fixed!!

2009-01-16T06:05:00.001-08:00

I finally was able to fix the leak and the tank is up and running finnally!

Tank Running

2009-01-09T07:35:00.000-08:00

Below is a video of my tank running:

Also here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hLgRx0t9S6k

Enjoy!

Tank Totally Filled!

2009-01-09T07:12:00.000-08:00

The tank is finally filled and I started it up. The pump runs great! It is a lot quieter than I expected it to run. The pump moves a ton of water and the chiller works great too! I was getting some micro-bubbles but I fixed that by raising the water in the sump and installing the mechanical filter bags.

Pump Arrived!

2009-01-07T08:26:00.000-08:00

My pump just arrived back from Dolphin Pumps. Looks like they did a good job but we'll see tonight when I hook it up.

Tank Filled!

2009-01-07T05:19:00.000-08:00

So last night I finished filling the tank. I didn't fill the overflows or the sump yet because my pump is being returned to me today totally fixed. I did make some extra RO water so after I install the pump tonight I can be ready to test the whole system.

Tank Filling

2009-01-05T11:09:00.000-08:00

I am currently filling the tank. I'm using RO water so it takes forever to make 180 gallons. However, I'm not in too big of a rush because the main system pump is off being checked over and fixed at the manufacturer. Below are some photos of the tank during filling:

Tank plumbing:

Chiller:

Lighting:

I should have it mostly filled tonight. I'll try to clean up the wires and take more photos tonight.

Pre - Tank

2009-01-05T10:17:00.000-08:00

I created this blog to document my setup and running of my new 180 gallon fishtank. I already have a 75 gallon freshwater tank setup at my office. The tank I wanted I had been following since August but, at the time, it was more than I wanted to spend. Luckily for me, the gentleman selling it had to move just after the first of the year and kept lowing the price. He actually lowered it more than I was going to offer him and I called him and setup the purchase.

On December 20th, 2008, I went and picked up the tank with two friends. It was a lot bigger than I imagined it would be. We loaded it up and moved it home. It fit perfectly in our living room.

Welcome

2009-01-05T09:53:00.001-08:00

Welcome to my new blog about my 180 gallon fishtank.