My 75 Gallon Reef Tank: January 2011

Well, today I'm getting my CUC of snails (I'll find out which kind later) and blue leg hermits. The hermits are $0.30 and I don't know what the snails cost.

I also need to get a new protein skimmer; mine is leaking at the neck. They should have them there too. The owner sets up and takes down tanks.

I'll have more information later, but for now, I get to watch the Bears MURDER the Sea Hawks.

Oh, the Sea Schore is in Buffalo Grove Il. at,

229 W Dundee Rd, Buffalo Grove, IL 60089

Check it out for all of the awesome corals you could ever want!

Monday! Here are some pictures of my expierience. The following words are my own, originally posted on FishForums.com:

"Yesterday at the Schor, I brought the protein skimmer and pump. We decided that the pump wasn't strong enough to take in air, so I needed another. He found the next best model from RIO, and it was [B]$130!!![/B] He then said that instead of him selling me that, he'd recommend finding a used ASM on the internet for about the same price. That's just what I did!!! Will the ASM mini G work? I found one here:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=330520029521&ssPageName=ADME:X:AAQ:US:1123

He'll also be posting the ASM G1, but I'd prefer the Mini G. Still though, what do you all think? And yes, I have decided on ASM.... They have awesome reviews and work awesomely at the store.

Also, my water was tested.

My pH WAS at about 8.4.
My Calcium WAS at over 500.
My Ammonia WAS almost 0.
My Nitrites WERE almost 0.
My Nitrates (Strangely) WERE almost 0. (Same with phosphates.)

I got my clean up crew as well! 12 astrea snails for $12, and 24 Blue Leg Hermits for $7.20. Because my levels were so low and my Calcium so high, (I watched the guy do the tests and read them. I even read them for myself! He didn't lie; so there!) I splurged and bought a Hammer Corral for $25. No, it sadly wasn't Australian, though for $200, it could have been. :eek:

When I brought everything home, I added the coral last. When I was taking it out of the bag, I dropped one of the halves (We fragged it into two at the store.) polyp down in an empty bucket!!!:eek::sad::eek: After it was in the tank, it wouldn't open. After dinner though, it was inflated and opened just like in the store, so it appears to be fine. My new CUC was VERY funny when I put them in. A small BLHC jumped onto a larger one from a rock ledge. The big one started attacking it with it's feelers until it was flipper. It then tried to crush it between itself and the sand. This happened three times in five minutes until the small crab ran away. The big one went the other way for a minute and then turned back and charged! It was about to reach the small one until it dove into a hole in the rocks.

The astreas all slowly moved to their outposts as the war on algae began. Of course, there's always the one snail you wish you hadn't gotten... One of the astreas made a beeline for one of my rocks that was COVERED in pastel purple corraline algae. It's now half gone, but the snail moved.

The hammer looks awesome under my one working blue LED, which brings me to a question. Why does my LED give me ripples on the sand whereas the PC, or whatever it is, does not?

Anyways, here are some pictures and videos of my tank so far... As usual, sorry for quality."

Here we go!!!

Hammer

Piscis, my Marine Betta

Huge Red Mushroom Polyp

Distance from front of tank... See next picture.

Comparison of size... Larger than they look... see distance from glass above

Piscis

Piscis again!

It would seem that my camera never saved my tank tour video... I guess that's what happens when your return pump comes of of the tube and soaks the camera... Hopefully that'll be working soon...