ScooterTDI

I only keep captive-bred fish. With the exception of some clownfish I got locally, I have purchased from LA Diver's Den, Dr. Mac, Algae Barn, and Seahorse Savvy. I'm not sure about LA, but the rest seem to be dedicated CB systems. I haven't had any problems with disease at all. I could be wrong, but I am extremely skeptical that there are CB fairy wrasses available anywhere. According to the 2019 Coral magazine list of CB species, none of the Cirrhilabrus genus have been captive-bred to date.

Although I can appreciate wanting a mentor to avoid misguided efforts, I've found that most things in this hobby you have to figure out for yourself at some point. There is a long list of husbandry fads that this hobby has gone through over the years and my personal experience has been that following others' methods often doesn't work at all for me. There is no "right" way to reef, so all you can really do is look at the full range of successful approaches (rather than a single one) and try some things out until you find a system that works for you. That being said, I definitely think having a friend (rather than mentor) in the hobby can fill the same role and be mutually beneficial. Although I've been in the hobby for awhile (far longer than my join date on WAMAS), I still don't feel qualified to mentor anyone, but I'd be happy to be your friend and pass on anything that has worked for me (obviously, taken with a grain of salt).

Oh, I was looking at it on my phone and the left pillar looked like it was covered in RBTA. I didn't realize it was a huge gorgonian! Love it even more!

They are captive-bred pincushion and tuxedo urchins from Algaebarn. By far, my favorite algae control solution. The captive-bred ones arrive pretty small, but they are better able to get to all the tight spots between corals.

I love the gorgonians and anemones!

I don't scrape the bottom, the urchins just do a good job of removing all of the accessible coralline. The lights are two Current Orbit IC fixtures. Not the best lights, but I wanted something thin that I could mount close to the tank to minimize light spill and have good spread. Plus, the tank depth is shallow, so the lights don't need to be very bright.

Almost 2 years in...

Installed a 20g water change reservoir on the top shelf. Now I can make fill the water change reservoir, ATO reservoir, and refill the tank during a water change with just a few valves.

We can pretend that our fish have a much nicer life in our aquariums, but most wild-collected fish don't live to their natural lifespan in our aquariums. This is not intentional, but it is how things often end up. A perfect example occured when the GFCI my aquarium recently died for no apparent reason while I was at work. I lost a kamohara blenny and an orchid dottyback. My only consolation was that they were captive-bred, so that incident didn't directly contribute to the consumption of our reefs (even in small measure). I do understand the desire to keep wild-collected fish because the captive-bred selection is so limited, but I often hear complaints about the expense of captive-bred fish relative to wild-caught fish. Meanwhile, the same people often spend absurd amounts of money on various tiny frags of trendy corals. Why spend >$100 on a tiny frag of some named coral, but not $90 on a mandarin dragonet every bit as beautiful and interesting? The reality is that our purchasing choices will drive the industry. If the hobby as a community starts paying the premium to preferentially purchase captive-bred fish, more captive-bred fish will become available. Rather than appreciating the truly mind-numbing variety of corals that are already in the hobby, I've seen many focus on how we can't currently take more from the wild in places like Indonesia. Although I'm sure there are plenty of really interesting and beautiful corals that are not yet widely available in the hobby, I don't think anyone truly needs to buy wild-collected corals to have a beautiful aquarium that is fulfilling to maintain. I would advocate for a system in which only licensed aquaculture facilities can import corals for propagation with some mechanism to prevent resale of the wild coral. It isn't sufficient to simply assert that the aquarium industry isn't the greatest threat to the reefs, so we shouldn't do anything to mitigate its impact. Traffic accidents aren't the leading cause of death in the US, but we still enact legislation to improve traffic safety. Finally, I think the gripes about coral importation bans speak to the "collector mentality" of many hobbyists. Unlike Pokemon, the sea creatures we keep are real animals and we don't need to "Catch them all!". I often see people treat corals and fish as consumables or decorations rather than living things. This is the aspect of the hobby I dislike the most.

This is why I really limit my purchase of anything not bred or propagated in captivity. I only have a few wild specimens and they are all inverts like snails and crabs. I generally try to propagate whatever I keep to reduce the strain on wild collection as well.

Well, almost everything is complete now. I moved and plumbed in the display, did lots of cable management, and set up the dosers. I bought a second light for a larger diy algae scrubber that I'll make sometime in the next several weeks and I have a moderate skimmer upgrade on it's way. I also need to set up the mixing station on the top shelf. Here it is now though:

I just wanted to thank Ben and Supreme Reefs for the awesome frag pack I won at the last WAMAS raffle! Great way to start populating my new frag system!

Filling!

Thanks! I made some more progress today. I installed some shelving, ran an RODI line up from the basement, and started installing some cable management raceways. Almost done now.

I'm very close to getting it wet! I'll probably leak test before this weekend! I need to order some raceways for cable management.

It's PVC trim board, so it's fine with water exposure. The light rack is mostly aluminum, powder coated steel, and stainless screws, so I'm hopeful that it won't rust to quickly. My main display has the lights resting directly on top and I haven't had any issues with the lights themselves yet. I'm not sure yet, but I may end up using a glass top to keep in fish, protect the lights, and reduce evaporation as well.

Making progress.... I got the frag tank and sump plumbed and I ran plumbing through the wall to where I will eventually move the display. I also made a mount for the frag tank light that flips up out of the way. Although they are too long for the frag tank, I chose those lights because they are the same as the display. It should make it easier to transition between frag and display and also gives the system interchangeability. I'm going to mount the Aquael LED strip that I won in the club raffle between the other two light strips. Things left to do: 1) mount shelf for dosers 2) mount Aqualel light strip 3) make a panel for various equipment controllers and route wires 4) run RO line into closet 5) move and finishing plumbing display

I love how the zoas have filled in between everything! Great top down view!

I just wanted to thank saltwateraquarium.com for the Aquael light that I won in the raffle this past weekend. It looks great and it will go to good use over the frag system I'm building. Thanks again!!!

Yea, this is really cool. Congressional aquarium had some awhile ago and I was tempted to set up a tank for them. What are they eating?

Thanks, it's definitely more sturdy and gives more options for mounting things.

Well, I abandoned the shelving unit. It seemed strong enough and I could stabilize it by mounting to the walls, but I couldn't get the shelves to lay flat enough. I ditched it and made my own shelves. Still need to do the finish work on the shelf frame, make the raised decking for the floor, and install the vent fan.

It would be nice, but that won't fit in the area I already started building out in the closet. If it's not too expensive (and if the bottom isn't tempered, then I might use a standard 30 breeder (same dimensions as the Seapora tank). Worst case is that I just use the 20L I already bought.

Does anyone know if any of the local shops are Seapora (formerly Deep Blue) aquarium dealers? I'm looking for pricing on a 34 g rimless frag tank (36x18x12). Thanks!

Yea, I have one of those too. Way better than trying to use a magnetic scraper.