[ShopVac]

From the other post, I'm interested to see what others have in their fish tanks. I myself have been running a reef tank for ~9 years now...upgraded from a freshwater tank that I had for what seemed an eternity.

Here's a few shots of my tank and coral.

Tank is a 220 gallon AGA, drilled with two internal overflows.


Fishroom consists a 36 Gallon prop / quarentine (that can be split form the main water supply, 32 gallon automatic fresh water top off, and 90 gallon sump. Equipment includes two stage calcium reactor with CO2 tank, top off kalk reactor, nitrate reactor, protein skimmer, and Reef Flow computer system running the show.


For my fish / coral pics, I will typically use a macro lens - shutting off all the water flow in the tank. Here are some of the fish and coral that I have taken pics of in the past.








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[The1]

damn, nice toy!!!
this is what i will have some day when i own my own house and stop travelling.

I'll try to find a pic of my old tank when i get home, hope i can find one.

I too graduated from fresh water to salt, I never got anywhere near the scale of what you have.

The biggest i ended up was at 40gallons.


couldn't really afford much more back then.

[Nutballa]

That's legit. What's the most expensive tropical fish or creature you've bought?

[just4kickz]

looks like a pain to maintain... my friend had a big tank... not sure how many gallons... but all the fish ended up killing each other and there was algae growing in it. couple years later they redid the whole tank... except now they hire people to maintain it lol

[The1]

dont remember, it's been a few years since i ran my tank, but would either be a blue tang (which shouldn't have been in such a small tank, i was dissappointed the shop let me take it home) or my lion fish. he was a lot of fun to watch chase other fish around.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by Nutballa

That's legit. What's the most expensive tropical fish or creature you've bought?

For me, I don't have many...what I would call 'exotics' in my tank. The fish I have typically run from $50.00 to $120.00, of which the ones in my tank I've had for at least 4 years so far (most since I started).

Hardest part is getting over paying ~$100 for a fish that I can't get through a 45 day quarantine without dieing.

I do have my eyes on what I would consider my first exotic fish...a Sohal Tang that runs about 200 - 300 depending on size. Beautiful fish though...

[SpacE82]

Looks great, and awesome pictures! I've always wanted to get a salt water tank again. I had one a loooong time ago, but it was much smaller than yours. Do you have any advice for a salt water tank n00b?! haha.

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by SpacE82

Looks great, and awesome pictures! I've always wanted to get a salt water tank again. I had one a loooong time ago, but it was much smaller than yours. Do you have any advice for a salt water tank n00b?! haha.

Thanks for the compliments...

If I had to start over again...my first thoughts would be to plan everything prior to just starting out. I could have saved a ton of money if I didn't settle on cheap products while saving up for what I really needed.

Plans would include what type of tank you want to keep (fish only, reef, etc)...along with the equipment needed to properly run it.

Maintenance is the killer...not just in keeping the tank clean...but in keeping the equipment running. You need to have a plan for equipment failures...which still gets me to this day.

There are some great websites out there...reefcentral.com is a great location. There are folks out there with some very impressive tanks...even ones that are only 29 gallon.

[The1]

do you keep a dehumidifier in the fish room? I know big fish tanks can cause mold problems in houses.

[The1]

there was an invasive type of anenomie in there at the time of the picture, but i managed to get rid of it, was hard work!!!

this was only a 30 gallon.

[ShopVac]

I actually never had an issue with aiptasia...guess I'm lucky there.

Did you actually have the lion fish at the same time you had the coral? That pulsing Xenia is cool stuff...

[ShopVac]

Originally Posted by The1

do you keep a dehumidifier in the fish room? I know big fish tanks can cause mold problems in houses.

I have a window air conditioner in the room...much needed.

[timmahh]

Very cool!

[pc4400]

very nice, I like very much.

I have a 60gal brackish setup with a couple green puffers. If I had your set up I would definitely need to hire someone to keep everything clean.

[The1]

Originally Posted by ShopVac

I actually never had an issue with aiptasia...guess I'm lucky there.

Did you actually have the lion fish at the same time you had the coral? That pulsing Xenia is cool stuff...

yes, no problems with the lion fish whatsoever. he was great in the tank. Glad he was slow moving!

the Xenia was my favorite addition to the tank... it just make everything seem so much more alive.

The lion died after he caught my bi-colored blenny, i think he choked. It was a very sad day

The Aiptasia was a huge pain, it spread through most of the tank while i was trying to get rid of it. If you poke it, it will send off a ton of string like things that just put spores everywhere and reproduces, so you have to get a special stuff that makes it eat itself. Even then, it would still send out the streamers.

I also ended up getting a crab attached to one of the live rocks that i bought, he must have been in the tank for a long time because he definitely was a good size when i finally caught him. He managed to take out a few of my fish

Damn food chain.

[KingOfJericho]

I used a syringe with this special milky stuff I bought from my local store to kill the aiptasia. That's scary shit.

[KingOfJericho]

Here's my old setup...

[The1]

Originally Posted by KingOfJericho

I used a syringe with this special milky stuff I bought from my local store to kill the aiptasia. That's scary shit.

yup, that's the stuff i used, still made them send out the shoots though, i had to sneek attack the things and get it right down their throats...

[CasperSYTFU]

wow shopvac absolutely stunning setup. beautiful work

[The1]

nice looking convex, how do you like viewing through that? I've heard mixed reviews, I really like how they look, but i've never seen one built before.

[The1]

Originally Posted by pc4400

very nice, I like very much.

I have a 60gal brackish setup with a couple green puffers. If I had your set up I would definitely need to hire someone to keep everything clean.

haha, the best thing i ever found for my tank (especially after i got the poisonous lion fish who liked to follow my hand around) was the magnetic glass cleaners. They work amaizing. And save some time, as well as lives....

[1013mm]

reminds me of my old self..... dam im old....