New to GIRS!

Hello all,


My name is Patrick and I am currently attending Iowa State University in Ames. I have been interested in aquariums for about 10 years now. I started out with a 29g freshwater cichlid tank that grew to a 90g mixed aggressive/semi-aggressive freshwater tank. In 2008 I had gotten out of the hobby due to moving a few times and about a year ago I missed it so much that I decided to get back into it again. I started with my 29g and very soon moved to my 90g. A friend of mine started a small 10g saltwater tank. He was telling me about it and it intrigued me very much. I decided that I would give a saltwater aquarium a go! I set up my 29g tank with about 20lbs of live rock to start and about 30lbs of sand. Next was a light and a sump, I had for some reason purchased for my 90g some time ago, that I added to the tank. My friend told me start up was the most expensive and boy was he right! I now wish I had bought everything used and looked around for good deals or people getting out of the hobby! Nonetheless it was quite an adventure with many lessons learned (mostly the hard way $). I soon got bored with my cichlid tank and decided to part with them and start another project of converting my 90g into a reef. The costs of setting up and inhabiting my 90g were quite costly so I decided to search around for a tank that was already set up. That is how I acquired the 220g setup that I currently have running, which upon startup was a small disaster as far as livestock was concerned. I had a huge ammonia spike, killing all of the fish, some corals, and most snails and crabs. I later learned that putting the old sand back into an aquarium is a very bad idea, or atleast in terms of putting livestock in right after. The 220g tank also came with a 3ft BTA that I had to transfer to the sump of my 29g which I still had running and that also acquired various other corals from my 220g. My powerhead that I had running in my sump decided that it loved the BTA tentacles and decided to suck them up into the propeller. With my luck I was out of town for three days and come back to a 220g in rough shape and a 29g that had been nuked by a giant BTA! I was, however, able to save a few corals from my 29g.


It has been a long road but I currently have my 220g in stable condition!


Corals consist of: various zoas, orange acan, brown staghorn, Purpletip frogspawn, various mushrooms, duncan, pulsing xenia, star polyps, some encrusting coral(not sure what), devils hand leather.


I am finally starting to add more coral to my tank so it will look more like a reef, versus a few corals scattered here and there...


Fish consist of: Flame Angel, Coral Beauty Angel, female Blue Jaw Triggerfish, True Percula Clownfish, Black Occelaris Clownfish, Pink Spotted Watchmen Goby, Blue Hippo Tang, Yellow Tang, Lawnmower Blenny, Blue Cleaner Goby,


Future additions: Powder Blue Tang or Blonde Naso Tang, Powder Brown Tang or Naso Tang, Male Blue Jaw Triggerfish, higher-end Clownfish (black-ice), Green Mandarin.... All I can think of atm!


Invertebrates consist of: Rose Bubble Tip Anemone (clowns have not found it yet /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/sad.gif), Scarlet Cleaner Shrimp, Pistol Shrimp (yes my Watchman goby has paired with it!), 6-7 Peppermint Shrimp, 2xpurple and green Maxi Reef Carpet Anemone (I accidentally tore it in half when removing live rock from nuked 29g), lettuce nudibranch, many Blue leg Hermits and Snails of all kinds, sand-sifting starfish, 3xScarlet leg Hermits, Serpent Starfish.


Equipment: 72" Aquaticlife t5 HO light, 250g rated skimmer(has 2 mag pump 3's), 75g sump w/marineland 48" Reef capable LED, 2xMaxijet 1200 (Pro Mode-for circulation), Maxijet 1200 (in sump), coming soon- Red Sea Wavemaker.


Approximately 300lbs of live rock and 250lbs of live sand (honestly I have no clue anymore, but the tank is full as well as a bunch in the sump /DesktopModules/ActiveForums/themes/_default/emoticons/wink.gif).


Any information about my system that will enhance it or what livestock and corals I should add would be greatly appreciated! I am always looking for ways to make it better! It is currently located in the Fiji Fraternity house in Ames for all to see!


Thanks in Advance!


-Patrick