got ethical husbandry?

155g BF softie/planted High School reef

Since the tank is finally starting to take shape it's time for a build thread :)
First of all thanks everyone who donated equipment! (xcaret for the aquarium, and heaters, and reflectors? Coral reefer for the sand. Anathema for more sand, GDawson for the ballast, gimmito for rocks and salt). It is very much appreciated!
Since I won't be around forever to take care of it and neither will the teachers helping me out, the tank will need to be as low maintenance as possible. Calcium reactors or two part dosing is just bound to go wrong so SPS and most LPS are unfortunately out of the question. The plan is a sea grass meadow on the left side leading into a macro algae dominated middle with on the right side coral bomies dominated by soft corals. 4-5'' SB throughout the tank along with LR and the macro algae will consist of the main filtration. Carbon will be run in a old fluval filter. No sump or skimmer. Lighting will consist of 2x 175w and 1x 250w 10K MH. Fish wise it is still an open question, but so far this is the list:
-Yellow tail damsel
-pair of clowns
-Jawfish, hopefully a pair
-A filefish, also hopefully a pair
-Pistol shrimp/ goby combo
-Small group of Royal gramma
-Dwarf angel trio (thinking C. argi?)
-Some kind of butterfly
-Tang or rabbit fish down the road once the macro algae have established well enough

Pictures to come! Still looking for some powerheads so if any one has any laying around they want to donate LMK.
 
Mmm pistol shrimp and gobies make for very bad sea grass tank inhabitants as well as DSB inhabitants, both for the same reason.
 
GreshamH said:
Mmm pistol shrimp and gobies make for very bad sea grass tank inhabitants as well as DSB inhabitants, both for the same reason.
Why? The RK seagrass article says the exact opposite:
In grass aquaria split with sand flat and rubble areas, wrasses along with jawfishes, tilefish, filefish, pistol shrimp and goby pairs , such as the personable Signigobius biocellatus, could be kept.
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2006-04/sl/index.php
 
Many "sea grasses" do not like their roots disturbed. The DSB issue and digging fish shoyld be an obvious answer.

Read the article again, the subtrate portion where she talks about layers. Kiss layers good by with diggers. Utter wishful thinking to assume the diggers would stay in the rubble zone.
 
Joost_ - I found the original mogul bases and harness for that ballast if you're still interested. No reflector though.


-Gregory
 
Nice seeing the project coming true; sorry could not get back to you on the H/R/Covers; I have them out but family issues are not OK.
Got the reflector/s too.
 
How many reflectors are you short?
I'm sure I had a mogul socket or two but could not find the box or where; I'll check again when I return.
 
xcaret said:
Nice seeing the project coming true; sorry could not get back to you on the H/R/Covers; I have them out but family issues are not OK.
Got the reflector/s too.
No prob about the H/R/Covers; hope everything works out for your family!
xcaret said:
How many reflectors are you short?
I'm sure I had a mogul socket or two but could not find the box or where; I'll check again when I return.
We're three reflectors short but got all the moguls covered, PM send
thanks
 
Darn, just realized that there is still no pics yet, soon, I promise.
The tank is coming along nicely, it nearing the end of the cycle so we should be able to start adding the first corals in two weeks or so. Meanwhile a fluval filter I was running carbon in decided to leak a couple of days ago, leaking a couple of gallons or so on the floor. The school was very happy about that of course, especially since the carpet in the room next door got wet. The "headmaster" as he calls himself found it so distressing that he wanted to get rid of the tank, luckily the rest of the office had my back so the tank can stay.
The plan was to have the tank up and running before the frag swap, but that obviously isn't gonna happen. I setup a 20g rubbermaid a couple of weeks ago that is holding a bunch of LR and all corals until the tank is ready. There is plenty of room left and I'll be at the swap so if you have any junk softies or marco algae you want to get rid of I'm you man. GPS, xenia, anthelia, leathers, toadstools, clove's, paly's etc. we'll take it.
 
Fish and Corals moved over, tank is still a little cloudy (apparently didn't rinse the sand well enough) but that should clear up within the next couple of days. Pics tomorrow, I promise!
Now the fun stuff starts....
 
As far as fish go:
Currently there's two clowns in there and I'll move the yellow tail damsel over soon (if I can catch the bastard)
Thinking:
-Trio Indigo Dottyback or P. sankeyi
-Pair bangaii cardinals
-MAC certified Zoramia leptacanthus group (5?)
-Random captive bred goby pairs (green banded, red head, sharknose, Tiger etc.)
-Striped blenny pair (or maybe trio?)
-(MAC certified?) Lamarck angel pair
Any input or suggestions? As you can notice trying to stick to captive bred fish
 
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