Introduction

Hi Folks,
I've been lurking here for a few months so thought I'd introduce myself.

I live Buckinghamshire in the UK and set up a 100 gallon reef tank just
before Christmas, I've had tropical freshwater fish for the past 30 years.
The bed of the tank has a couple of inches of coral sand covered with an
inch of live sand, on top of which is two boxes of live rock bulked out with
ocean rock.

The cabinet houses an external filter and I have a Red Sea Pro skimmer on
the back of the tank. I have two 1100 GPH powerheads, one each side of the
tank, which are on timers so each is on for 6 hours, with a quarter of an
hour overlap, to replicate tides.

Lighting is two blue and two daylight florescent tubes mounted in pairs (one
blue and one daylight). These are also on timers, one pair coming on an hour
before the second pair and also switching off with an hours difference. They
are on for a total of 12 hours a day. I used an old phone charger, also on a
timer, to wire in 8 blue LED's which come on just before the lights go out
and switch off just after the first pair of light come on. These give a
blue, moonlight effect, making it possible to see nocturnal marine
creatures.

I let the tank cycle for a month before adding fish and more soft corals,
there were quite a few mushrooms and sea sqirts on the live rock. I have two
Azure damsels, two Three Stripe damsels, a Blue Devil damsel (which attacks
me whenever I put my hand in the tank), an adult pair of Maroon Clowns, a
Yellow Tang a Regal Tank and a Mandarin Goby. I also have several Turbo
snails and six Blue Legged hermit crabs.

The owner of my local LFS cut off a piece of blue sponge for me, from his
display tank, which I cut into four pieces and mounted on rocks. Three of
them are growing away nicely in my tank, the fourth I gave to my eldest son
and it's doing well in his reef tank.

I carry out a full water test every week and do a partial water change and
filter clean once a month. Everything checks out well within limits and so
far I haven't had one problem or lost a fish.

I won't be adding much more in the way of fish or coral, I just look forward
to watching the reef grow and mature.


--
Regards,
Alan.
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