Our SaltWater Tank

A refugium is a body of water that’s physically separated from the main aquarium, but shares a common water supply with it. (One) purpose of a refugium is to provide a refuge for animals and(/or) algae that suffer from excess predation in the main display tank. The (net) effect is to increase the diversity of the whole system beyond that possible with a single tank of similar size.” Synergism–the whole is greater than the sum of the parts!!!
We enjoy watching the “Little Critters” in the tank as mucn as watching the main tank!

Click for a bigger pic
We have the refgum plumed after the skimmer and 2 diy overflows into the main tank.
It is lit with some NO fish lights and it does very good.
Our Refugium is a bit above the main tank.

Decided to do a little “browsing” at VI Pets in Grand Rapids. (We like the one on Plainfield best) Our browsing turned into buying again !
Our new Scooter Blenny (Scooter II) seems to enjoy his new home, the hex tank.
We also brought home a long tentacle green plate coral.

We’ve never met one of these before, but so far — so good !
What is striking about this coral is it’s iridescent green body.
This long tentacle green plate coral expands and contracts daily a lot.
This guy eats ALOT and was eating within the hour of going in the tank!
You can see the other pictures of the Green Plate Coralhere

This is a DTY type of greenhouse. I made out of 1″ PVC.
It is more of an experiment then amything else.
It is made from 1″ PVC and “T” to connect it all together.
When is done it will be around 8′ by 12′ not very big but enough for what I want it try out.
This DIY PVC greenhouse took 40 to 60 mph winds with no problem!
During the summer keeping it cool was not hard a couple of fans did the trick. During the summer the corals and frags grew like mad.

The hard part it keeping it WARM in the winter.
I could not find a cheap way to keep the temp up.
The night got COLD and there was not enough thermal mass to make that big of an inpact.

You can see of the the pictures HERE

The Start
We started with aquariums with a 30 gallon fresh water tanks that we got in a yard sale for $10.00.
We loved the little fishies.
We talked about it and decided that we wanted a BIGGER tank!
Once again we looked around and found a 55 gallon tank on e-bay for $150.00, tank, stand, porwerhead, the works.
After spending ALOT of time looking at fish in the LFS,
And seeing all of the different and beautiful fish in the salt water world we were hooked.
So once again back to searching.
We found a 55 gallon tank for $150.00 in the local newspaper. It came with some live rock, DSB ( not so deep ) 2 Feather Dusters, 1 Clown, 1 Urchin, Skimmer, heater and hood.
We got some live rock, a couple more fish, better lights, better lights (again) and another anemone.
After watching the 55 gallon tank progress for a few months….we decided we wanted a BIGGER tank.
One more time,,, back to searching .Ebay here we come!
We found a 90 gallon glass tank, hood, stand and heater for $250 on Ebay.
As the tank stands now, we have 2-96watt p.c., 2-175watt metal halides, 10 gallon sump & a 30 gallon (the original tank) referum.
Hope you enjoy the pics as much as we have enjoyed watching the tanks grow.
Russ & Sue