Aquarium Update - Apr 21, 2014

Well it's Andrea here and I have been busy :)

First, I found that I am gathering lots of fish stuff and since I am not very fond of clutter I thought I would do some shopping to see if I could find a storage solution that will hide my mess but fit with the room. I dragged Geoff shopping and after a few trips to various stores here is what we came up with:

Since adding the 3 blue/green chromis, 2 clowns, and 2 cardinal fish, I started to get some algae in my tank. I decided it was time to get a clean up crew for my tank. Clean up crews are critters that eat algae and left over food and help keep your aquarium clean. There are tons of options, snails, crabs, star fish, sea cucumber etc.....

Since I have a wonderful husband and he gave me an early anniversary present, I am now better equipped to take pictures of the critters in my tank. A couple years ago, I got a Nikon D7000 camera for Christmas. It is an awesome camera but I didn't have a lens that would allow me to get close to the subject. I do now :) It is a macro lens which is what you need to take pictures of things that are quite close (NIKON AF-S DX-FORMAT MICRO-NIKKOR 40MM F/2.8G LENS).

I bought 8 snails (here is one eating algae off the aquarium glass):

I bought 2 cleaner shrimp which clean fish of parasites and clean up any meaty pieces of food that are left uneaten - they are hard to get pictures of as they like to hang out in the caves in my rocks:

I got a tuxedo urchin how eats algae too and seems to pick up all kinds of stuff on his spines:

And finally I got 4 blue legged hermit crabs (really small). They eat algae and left over food:

So most of the algae I had is gone and I am hoping the clean up crew won't starve.... they are awesome :)

I was playing with the camera and was able to get a couple pictures of our fish which is not so easy as they don't like to stay put :)

So I should have some more to post on the weekend, I am going to look at a tomini tang and going to a "frag swap" (basically a flea market for fish, coral and hardware) on Saturday.

Here are a couple other photos I took while playing with my new lens :)

Finally ordered the setup

By Andrea Ingalls with Geoff Ingalls

Well after a ton of research, many hours of frustration and driving Geoff crazy, I finally ordered my first sw (saltwater) reef aquarium setup. I decided to go with a Cad Lights 100 gallon Artisan II aquarium. Mine will be in gloss piano black not white.

It is in transit and is scheduled to arrive Dec 27. I found them as I was researching protein skimmers and found some good reviews on the Cad Lights TIA 1220. I liked the fact that it is 1/2" starfire glass (much clearer than regular glass)  with a center overflow (which is what I was looking for) with durso drain with modified herbie style, a 30g sump, refuge light, protein skimmer (went with the upgraded 1220), plumbing, return pump, black cabinet and light hangers. I have read lots of reviews and these systems are supposed to be quite attractive and very quiet. (I know lots of names that make you scratch your head unless you are a reefer)

I have to say that researching saltwater setups and all the various ways to set them up was quite overwhelming for me as I am new in the hobby (only have had freshwater tanks) and just moved to a new area and didn't know anyone who has any sw experience . I knew I wanted a setup with a sump and especially for my first setup I was hoping to find something that already had plumbing etc. I looked at the Red Sea and beside the fact that they are quite expensive, they didn't seem to be very adaptable and I am sure that down the road I would want to have the flexibility to change or expand components. 

My lights have already arrived - I am going with 2 x 120w programmable full spectrum LEDs. 

We went to Winnipeg for a shopping trip on Friday to finish our Christmas shopping and pick up some stuff for my tank. I picked out (Geoff picked up LOL) 80lbs of South Seas base rock (all I could find) and 100lbs of Caribsea Ocean Direct oolite sand. I was hoping to get their special grade but I couldn't find it. I picked up 2 koralias, salt, heaters and a test kit to monitor my tanks cycle. I ordered a refractormeter, it just arrived broken  . I am waiting to see what they say about getting a replacement and I am not sure if it will arrive before I want to get the tank going..... I don't think there is anywhere in the area to buy a hydrometer/refractometer to at least be able to get things up and running, might be another trip to Winnipeg. I still need to get some more stuff and will either take a trip to Winnipeg or try ordering online.   

I will post some pics as soon as I get the system here and setup.