Front of 42 gal. with sandbed removed June 27, 2004.
Photo taken June 29, 2004.

Right side of 42 gal. with sandbed removed June 27, 2004.
Notice the accumulation of sand in this area where the water flow is less.
Photo taken June 29, 2004.

Right side of 42 gal. with sandbed removed June 27, 2004.
Notice the accumulation of sand in this area where the water flow is less.
Photo taken June 29, 2004.

Front of 42 gallon hex reef with 3" sandbed.
Photo taken November 29, 2003.

Right side of 42 gallon hex reef with 3" sandbed.
Photo taken November 29, 2003.

• Alpheid Shrimp Photos
• Coral Photos
• Feather Brittle Star Fish
• Fish and Mobile Invertebrate Photos
• Erithia smithi Crab Photos
• Tank over Time Photos

• Oceanic 42 gallon glass hexagonal tank with cherry oak wood base and glass top
• two Tronic 100 watt heaters placed on either side of the back of the tank

• one Hagen 802 with flow rater reduce by 1/4
• prefilter has been cut down by 60% and holds one Mini foam

• Reefsun 175 watt 6500K metal halide fixture with built-in ventilation and UV absorbing tempered glass lens
• photoperiod 11 hours daily

• no quarantine tank

• RO water is stored, aerated and heated in a five gallon bucket for use with all our reefs

• add top up water
• make sure temperature is 76-78 degrees F.
• make sure power filters, lights and heaters are working

• 5 gallon water change
• lightly turkey baste substrate and rock to get debris into water column and into filter media
• clean filter foam in outgoing change water and replace any foam that has deteriorated
• break down and clean AquaClear Mini filtration system
• clean glass inside and out
• clean tank's glass cover
• clean tank stand

• grey brain coral on several stalks
• yellow scroll coral
• pectinia
• small green star polyps
• light brown with green centre bumpy mushrooms
• brown acropora

• pair of skunk clownfish
• pair of ocellaris clownfish
• spotted hawkfish, the most curious and aggressive fish in the reef
• yellow clownfish goby, the smallest, cutest, second curious fish in the reef
• bright yellow coris wrasse with four small black spots along dorsal fin.  Most unusual feature of this fish is that it sleeps in the sandbed at night or whenever I clean or disturb the tank in any major way - cool fish!
• male pink anthias (mysteriously disappeared March 30, 2003)

• Alpheid shrimp found living in the Acropora sp.
• an inch long orange lobster that hides inside a porous rock
• a 1/4" diameter white crab also hiding in the lobster's rock
• one mithrax crab which was removed and destroyed in a baggy and quickly smashed with a heavy rock
• a second smaller crab, also suspected to be a mithrax, was found dead in early June 2003

• about 20 astrea snails
• about 30 nassarius snails
• one medium-sized grey brittle starfish whose tentacles are all we ever see
• one purple linckia star fish
• one emerald crab
• one yellow tipped green feather brittle star fish

• 14 lbs of cured Indonesian, 21 lbs of cured Jakarta Grade "D", .5 lbs of Tonga branch from the 2.5 gal nano. Individual rocks of both types were chosen for their interesting shapes and porosity
• 3" of sugar-sized Aragamax

• modified Hagen 802 prefilter by reducing it by 60% then siliconing the sides and bottom to form a solid chamber to house an AquaClear Mini foam
• modified the the 802 by putting silicone in those annoying holes in the top of the output spout
• modified the hang-on back holder to have the powerhead output spout level with the water surface instead of having it in the usual pointing slightly downward position
• the hardest part of aquascaping the hex was building enough caves, arched structures, and still having places to put corals
• since we added livestock more or less all at once, we are taking particular care to monitor the reef for signs of ammonia and nitrite spikes by testing every two or three days.  In the few days the livestock has been in the reef, all toxins test 0 ppm.
• to further reduce the possibility of toxin spikes, I gently turkey baste rock and sandbed at least once per day to get crud into the water column so the Hagen 802 prefilter can remove it.  Once the tank has cleared, the prefilter foam is thoroughly cleaned then placed back into the tank.