Finlays Reef Return!

[wackystarfish]

Hello There!!! I am not sure if any of you remember me, but about six months ago i was posting here about ideas for converting my planted tank to marine (Im Sure seffie will, i was constantly bombarding her with questions )
Its been a while since then so i thought i owed it to you guys to show you how im doing and give you an update because of all the help you gave me. I have been active just on a newer marine forum which has been great
I guess im going to have to show you this in pictures, so il try to split it up as i document what went on!

First of all, a list of equipment and livestock!

Tech:
1 X Sunsun 3500lph powerhead
2 X T8 Marine Blues
2 X T5 Marine Whites
ReefCrystal Salt
Rena Smart Heater

Janitors:
6 X Cibinarius Hermits
6 X Super Turbo Snails
1 X Feather Duster

Hitched: A Few Asterina Stars, Tonnes of pods and loads of Stomella Snails

Algae: Chaeto and Calpuera Prolificea

Fish:
2 X Wild Clowns

Inverts:
2 X Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
1 X Toadstool
2 X Mushrooms (One of which now has 2 babies )
1 X Small Pulsing Xenia Frag
1 X Medusa Frag
1 X Sinularia Frag
1 X Leather Finger Coral
1 X Small Zoa Frag
1 X Green Plate coral frag
1 x Red Lobo Frag
1 X GSP Frag
1 X One headed Green Torch coral
1 X Stunning Red and white Acan Frag

The current proposed stocking is:

1 X Shrimp + Goby Pair
1 X Peacock Wrasse
1 X Royal Gramma
1 X Fireball Angel
as well as Mr + Mrs the clowns!

Im also looking for a few rics and blue / purple zoas

Will start the pic onslaught soon! Good to see you all again!

 

[seffieuk]

back Finlay, thought you had deserted us for TSB but am very glad to see you back here

Really looking forward to the photos and in particular the fts

How has your journey been so far, as we have missed out on all that part from after set-up? so would love to here the full story and of course see loads of photos

good to have you back old friend

Seffie x

 

[wackystarfish]

Lots of ups and downs! I did miss you on TSB!!!
I have had loads of ups and downs, but mainly ups!

The Beginning.

Ok Here we go!!!
After assembling salt, heater, etc and scrubbing the tank down with white vinegar i took a trip to my LFS to get the giant 25l containers of RO! VERY HEAVY!!!
got it mixing and got the SG up to aroung 1.026.
Got my bulbs and my T5 Starter kit, however stepped on a bulb smashing it and had to order another
Organised with another reefer who lives in blackpool that i would get 10kgs of live rock for £30
Thought i could spare the cash to make up the last 5 KG from live.rock.com
Here that 5 kg is!!!!

I also added the Crushed Caribsea sand, which is more like the natrual ground shells and coral that you get in the wild rather than the synthy pure sugar sand. Im going for as natrual as possible here

Then came the arrival of the rock from Scott, as well as a few free-be frags!!! (Xenia, GSP, Mushroom)

This scape i really, really liked. That was the most i have been happy with it, however the rocks were not stable so i had to re-arrange. The reason for the fluval in there was for circulation as i didnt have the converter for the american plug end of the powerhead!
At first i was down hearted, nothing seemed to be coming out the rocks...

Part 2 Coming up!!!! Lol!

 

[wackystarfish]

Part 2 - The endless scaping!!

This is what came after the re-scape, all the while i was waiting for maturation!! And really struggling to decide what id put in!!! I went through the list from mandarins to sea horses! Always learning more
The next Re-scape looked like this:

Forgot to mention, Scott also dropped by with a ball of Chaeto to speed up the cycle a little

The next step was to order my CUC, however the snow then came and i was forced to wait. And Wait.. And Wait. Eventually i gave up waiting and withdrew my order, placing it again with someone else. It would be a while and as everything Zero'd i took a trip to Big Blue Aquatic Warehouse to get my fist fish, a pair of clowns and the Skunk shrimp! I also got good quality flake food, frozen food and a lovely toadstool coral Named Senior after the fish and chippy where i now worked XD
By this point, pods were thickly covering the glass, i had never seen anything like it!! The clowns had a feast!

Ever unhappy with the way it looked, Scape number 3!!!

 

[wackystarfish]

Part 3 - The CUC!

The next part sees the arrival of the CUC and coral frags i ordered from fishmansfrags!
hermits are great fun, always mucking around doing something Also, this is the time where my tank took upon its FOURTH scape!!! This was then the best it had looked, the tank was beggining to look STUNNING! I was so proud, up until yesterday when a rock slide caused havok and forced me to start again, i had to move the refugees to one side trying to save as many corals and hermits and snails as poss! Was quite a sight!
I also got a new camera a fujifinepix S1500 which is awesome

My cat evidently liked this scape!

After the rock slide disaster i lost my orange zoas and it looked like a pile of rubbish

 

[wackystarfish]

After the disaster i ended with this which i think looks quite nice:

Hope you enjoyed!

 

[seffieuk]

I enjoyed that very much, am sure others will too

Not sure which scape i liked the best, but the last one is great

What tips would you give those just starting out?

Seffie x

ps thanks for taking the time to add - it was great

 

[wackystarfish]

No problem! I felt i owed it to you, you were a massive help!!!
I guess the best thing to do is read, read READ! Knowledge seems to be the key in marines, as well as patience. As long as you are knowledgable about it, they are no more difficult to keep than freshies!!!
Il go check out your thread now, id like to see how you are getting on!

 

[Harry1996]

can you post more pictures please. it just that i have the same tank and i would like to see how yours is turning out.
my tank has 2 clown fish and 1 coral frag that came with the rock.