I have had it up and running for about 5 months now I think. Specs: Marineland c-360 canister filter, upgraded the impller for more turn-over 150w halide with 20k bulb small air pump hooked to return hydor kyralia 3 50lbs sand 70lbs live rock Fish: Black Volitan Lion Red Volitan Lion Snowflake Eel Panther Grouper Sea Goblin Passer Angel (added last night) Damsel (was supposed to be eaten 3 months ago) Clean Up Crew: Tiger Sea Cucumber Tiger Cowrie Snail 2 XL Emerald crabs Chocolate Chip Seastar Various sponges to filter the water Details: Tank was 2 years old when aquired and all sand, water and a few pounds of live rock came with it. kept a damsel in it for a month before moving fish over. Because of slight over crowding the air pump was added to keep oxygen levels up. I do not trust hang on the back skimmers so I do freguent water changes since I fed a lot. Each fish has a different feeding regiment, everything from krill, clam, and silversides to rods predator food seaweed and formula 2 flake food. (my lionfish eat flake food regulary, go figure) I do a ten gallon water change every sunday (unless my health gets in the way) and keep my salinity at 1. 021. My fish seem much more active at the lower salinity. I currently have a small aiptasia problem that aiptasia-x can't quite handle, and I'm looking into getting something to eat them besides pepermint shrimp since all my fish would take them as a snack instantly. I was thinking a butterlfy of some king after I upgrade to the bigger tank, but wasn't sure if there was another option besides Berghia nudibranches. I dose with vodka very very lighly since I dont have a skimmer, When I can't do a water change I dose with am-quel, nite-out, stability, Dr. tims first defense and Dr. tims waste away. My levels stay pretty nice with the exception of my amonia hitting .25 every now and then. The halide came with the tank and is over kill for a fowlr. Im planning on replacing it with the same led box i have on my fluval edge. To help with both my electric bill and keeping the temp in my tank more regulated instead of it fluxuating between 78-81.  The built in cooling fan keeps shorting out because the heat from the bulb burns through the wires. Its an easy five dollar fix every time but if someone has a solution to protect the wires Im all ears. The Rock covered in Algea is in there to get cleaned up by my passer angel and to give him a nice little snack. I am also adding some caulerpa to the tank to give him a nice snack and help my water quality, but I need large amount so it grows faster than he can eat. I don't like having to stick my hand in the tank to get my suction cup sea weed clip but didn't want to buy a magnet floating one. So I super glued the clip to my flaoting magnet cleaner so its two in one now! In May after I move into my house, I'm getting a hundred gallon tank as an upgrade to give my growing fish the room the will soon need , along with a sump, refugium and skimmer for better filtration. They have been inseperable since I added them to the tank, I love it! The black one is 6 inches long and the orange one is close to 5 inches long. My snowflake eel was first fish I bought almost two years ago, she is my baby. Purchased when she was smaller than a #2 pencil in both lengh and girth and is now almost 2 ft long and about as fat as a nickel. I've been looking for this fish for seven months now and finally found one a few weeks ago. Unless he is hungry I can never find him, when he is hungry he is the most amazing swimmer and he is well worth it to watch him eat! My baby panther grouper who I've had for about a month now, eats anything meaty i drop in the tank. If there is anything I can do better until I upgrade to the 100g please let me know, I'm all ears. I've been doing this for almsot two years but a day doesn't go by that I don't learn something new and helpful.
Very nice, William. I like the rock work a lot. I guess the lion fish are a mated pair. They look great together. I'd love to have one in my tank, but that's all I would have in it because my current fish would be toast. lol.
Yep but he is pretty camea shy edit: Got a picture of him and posted it in the main post, he is now eating frozen krill, silversides, and clam out of my hand. Thanks! I had to do the rock work that way thanks to my eel knocking everything over. I wedged the rocks together so that i cant even get them apart : ) but I like it. I would love to be the first person to breed lionfish in captivity! Ive done months of research to find that you need one male and 3-7 females in a large tank with lots of overhangs. Problem is I cant tell the difference between the two genders, and I can't find anyone who can : ( You should get the baby dwarf zebra we have right now he is barely big enough to eat shrimp right now so your fish would be safe!
Got the tank moved into the new house last weekend, and of course that night my snowflake knocked over the rocks. So I decided to go with a new design that is growing on me a lot. The tank was a little cloudy from doing a small water change a little before. Its not really noticable in the picture, but basically its a sloping quarter cone structure with lots of rocks randomly sticking out sort of like a fake christmas tree before you fluff out the branches. I have everything but the koralia hidden behind the main structure. I just need to find a way to hide the koralia and I'll be happy!
