My Reef Tank at 6 Weeks.

[tekisui]

It has been a little while since I posted a pic, so I thought I'd share. I am really close to the final design. One more large piece of live rock and a couple more small corals will go in. A few more fish as well. All the other fish(except one small cleaner goby) made it in this shot, completely by accident. There are a total of 6 fish in the shot.

[yellowdogintexas]

1. beautiful! nt

[BlueJazz]

2. Looking Good!

[suninvited]

3. That's really pretty

I love the salt water, but have never really had that much time or money to do one, so I have always had to stick with fresh water.

Where is Nemo? Don't all salt water aquariums have at least one Nemo?

[tekisui]

8. I have orange skunk Nemos.

I had to be a little different. They are the orange clowns with one mohawk stripe instead of the Nemo pattern.

[Shell Beau]

4. Very nice. My husband is dying to do one of those, but it isn't going to happen.

We just don't have the time to invest in it. We have a big freshwater tank now, and that takes up enough time.

[tekisui]

9. You should do it!

[femmocrat]

5. Gorgeous!

Thanks for posting this.

[Rabrrrrrr]

6. If those are whales, then you have an INSANELY huge tank

Seriously, though - beautiful tank! I'd love to have a saltwater one. Well done!

[tekisui]

10. lol. It is insanely huge for our little house.

We had to get rid of a wardrobe to make room for it in the bedroom. It took some work to get approval, but it is well loved now.

[crim son]

7. I don't know much about fish or tanks, but yours is absolutely

beautiful. Thank you for posting.

[tekisui]

11. Thank you!

[Ptah]

12. Thanks for the update. You pictures are very good.

[buzzard]

13. Lovely tank my husband has one and the amount of upkeep water testing etc is

is very time consuming but very worthwhile. We had clams spawn this year and it was absolutely fascinating my son got it on his camera. Right now he is battling a crab that has killed a few of his fish and cannot be caught. There is always something new to deal with but I love watching the corals and clams they are beautiful.

[tekisui]

14. That is the best part. It is always new.

I discover something every day that I didn't know was in there.

[buzzard]

15. Beware of the unwelcome guests they can wreak havoc on your tank.

[tekisui]

16. I search everyday and freak out until I identify the new critter.

[buzzard]

18. If you have any questions I am sure my husband would be happy to help just reply here and I will

direct them to him.

[Kali]

17. nice

thanks for the update, enjoying your hobby vicariously

[hibbing]

19. Thanks for the update....snooty question for you

Hi,
Have enjoyed both your original post and the update. Is there controversy within the saltwater community about the harvesting of live rock or is it all produced "commercially" for lack of a better phrase?

That is a magnificent looking set up, keep posting! How about some up close shots of some things?

Peace

[tekisui]

20. That is an important question.

When I started in the hobby, I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to be damaging the natural reefs around the world. The live rock is produced. Rock, and sometimes manufactured cement pieces, are put in the oceans at certain places. After a few months, it becomes 'live rock' and is gathered up and shipped out. You can buy live rock that is 'antique coral' or 'tonga branch'. Those are harvested from the ocean, but are more expensive and I avoid those.

The corals I buy are all aqua-cultured. While the original 'parent' was harvested from a reef, maybe years ago. What I buy has been propagated in a tank through fragging methods. There is a lot of debate in the reef tank community about what is right and wrong. I try to be aware, but ultimately I am keeping living things that could be living in the wild. No coral will live forever in a tank. But, in the natural reefs, they could have an infinite life expectancy. There is no way to age them. Thanks for the question.

[tekisui]

21. A few close ups:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...