Tropical Fish Forums

Ocean Hugger · Members Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Location: NA

I have been in the hobby for 4 years now and last christmas upgraded from a 30 gallon mixed reef to a 125 gallon mixed reef ( big and expensive upgrade) it has been running for a year now and filled with many LPS, gorgonians,soft corals, and anemones but I have a large top shelf that only has a clam, seriatopora hystrix(bird nest) and a horn coral. But I really want to fill it up with the color full acroporas I see on liveaquira.com. so before I go spend 80 dollars on a 3 inched coral does anyone have tips or good web sites I should research before I throw even more money in my tank... thanks

FloridaBoy · Moderators Joined: 04 Jul 2004

Sure, you have to be careful because some of the soft corals will produce toxins that impact the stony corals, but as long as you have the right equipment and knowledge it can be done... in fact, if you head over to Reefcentral they are featuring a 427 gallon mixed reef this month that you should find interesting. There is a forum dedicated to this tank so you can ask the owner all the questions you want.
Here are the links:
http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2008-12/totm/index.php
http://www.reefcentral.com/
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Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

Ocean Hugger · Members Joined: 03 Oct 2007 Location: NA

Thanks. WOW was that tank beautiful it made my tank look like a dump.

FloridaBoy · Moderators Joined: 04 Jul 2004

OOOPS, sorry that was not my intention...
keep in mind, many of the tanks you will see in that series cost tens of thousands of dollars. Try to think of them as "inspiration." Laughing

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Keepin' marines happy for 25 years

rickyfins · Members Joined: 04 Dec 2005 Location: Altoona PA

As with TOTM (tank of the Month) comes owners with very big wallets. I have also noticed that some of them are just slapped together with already large colonies to get them on TOTM. For guys like me, it takes years to obtain a tank that nice, in fact, all but 2 of the corals in my tank are the decendents of corals from others and are frags of frags of frags from other people. The system I am running now is just a little over a year old, I upgraded to a 175gal bowfront RR. The last system was a 55gal and looked just as nice as the TOTM but it took 5 years to accomplish. In a few years of watching it grow and mature my new 175gal tank will one day look like those seen on the front page of Reefcentral again.

Live Aquaria is a good resource for proped corals as well as those wild caught specimens.

I recommend finding a local Saltwater Aquarium Society and trading and buying from locals or even finding some stuff online from hobbyists. The more we keep using from whats already here the less impact we have on nature! The shipping here in the states has less of an impact on the environment than it does to have a wild specimen shipped over seas then across the country.

Where do you live? Maybe I can help you find a few locals.
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There is always more to buy! Questions? Feel Free.

art_of_war · Members Joined: 17 Nov 2006