The Doberstein's Saltwater Tank Adventure

Last weekend was the Tropical Fish Show, where local fish breeders get to set up small tanks to show off their "best" fish for everyone to see. This year, Derick had two tanks of fish in the show. The Rainbows got 3rd place in their category!! At the show, there are raffle tickets that you can purchase in hopes of winning small or large prizes. the top prizes this year were two 55-gallon tanks with stands, and a 29-gallon BioCube Oceanic tank - saltwater ready. Derick and I bought tickets to throw in for the BioCube, thinking it would be really cool if we won that - to think more seriously about starting a saltwater tank. That was the LAST drawing of the day for the raffle. And we WON THE TANK!!! So, to make a long story and many running-around errands short, today we set up the tank to begin our saltwater tank adventure! We have the "live rock/sand" substrate in there as well as the RO-saltwater in the tank. You need to let that cycle through the tank for about a month before you can add your "live rock," let that sit a couple of months and then you can slowly start adding anenomonies, corals and fish. Slow and steady are the keys for this project - as any mistakes you make could prove to be very costly!!

The tank and the stand are ready for action! 

5- 5gallon buckets of RO/saltwater mix ready!

Tucker isn't so sure about this...

Tucker inspects the first bucket about to go into the tank

first bucket of water!

First batch of salt/rock goes in.

Then comes the "live sand" - it was like toothpaste!!

We see the LIGHT!!!

So, now, we wait! A few weeks and then we can add our "live rock," let the tank cycle awhile and then start to add living things slowly over time.

We are thinking we want to add the following types of things to our tank:

an angelfish

an anemone

a cleaner shrimp

one pair of clownfish (regular or black clownfish) 

And maybe 1-2 smaller fish as well. Over the years we hope to add more coral to the tank as well since we have a very awesome light fixture on the tank! It will take time, but the patience will be worth the end result!

-LD