my new 29 gal reef

mikeyjoe · #1 (**permalink**) 11-26-2004, 10:11 AM

i've been reading on here for a few weeks. i'm new to the hobby and already love it. i saw a friend's tank and knew i wanted one of my own. one thing i didn't do was wait until i had enough money to buy the biggest tank i could support. i decided to go with a 29 gal eclipse system to avoid spending as much money on a pump for a larger system, as for the entire smaller system.

so anyways, here's what i've got:
29 gal eclipse, seaclone 100 protein skimmer, 1-20w marine-glo & 1-20w life-glo light, 3 different damsels (i know now, and i'm sorry everyone), 1 peppermint shrimp, 1 cleaner shrimp, 1 spiny cucumber, 2 fairly small condy anemones, 8 turbo snails, 15 blue leg hermits (soon to add 20 more), 20lbs live sand on top of 20 lbs dead? sand (approx 3 inches deep), 44 lbs figi live rock (used as base), 15 lbs tampa bay saltwater live rock (one piece has a bonus brain coral). there's plenty of other things that came with the lr (thankfully no MS!!), so that's pretty much what i've intentionally put in the tank.

i'd like to show some pictures so you all can see what i've got going. perhaps you can give me some pointers on what looks/sounds good, or what looks/sounds bad. it's been 2 months and the tank has cycled (took approx. 4 weeks with a 20% weekly water change) i haven't had any problems yet, just was upset when i found a skeleton of a cleaner shrimp and thought i lost it, only to find out 20 minutes later that it'd just molted. haha i love learning about this.

mikeyjoe · #2 (**permalink**) 11-26-2004, 10:17 AM

here's a close-up of the cucumber branched out feeding from the top.

mikeyjoe · #3 (**permalink**) 11-26-2004, 10:20 AM

some nice coralline growth

mikeyjoe · #4 (**permalink**) 11-26-2004, 10:25 AM

here's the bonus open brain. the color is actually bolder than the picture shows. it's a light, but strong blue with pink/purple. it's grown in the month that it's been in there, but i haven't heard much or seen any pictures of an open brain with this coloring. hope it's doing okay!

justvern · #5 (**permalink**) 11-26-2004, 01:49 PM

>>>>>>>>>>

mikeyjoe · #6 (**permalink**) 11-27-2004, 12:25 AM

oh, really? the anemones are seeming to do really well. lol... "the guy at the LFS said..." that those 2 lights paired would support both corals and anemones. im wondering still, because everything seems to be thriving, and growing... should i take back the anemones or give them to someone who definitely has adequate lighting, or should i give them a chance???

gruiz1122 · #7 (**permalink**) 12-15-2004, 04:31 PM

Condys don't really need that bright of light. All they really need is some meaty food about 3x's a week and they will grow to about 18" across <---read HUGE!. Becareful though, they will eat your fish. I had one before I knew better and it ate a mandarin goby that I had. PO'd does not describe how I felt when I found out!