Scooter's 125 Gallon Reef Tank

Tank Set Up:
Size:  125 gallons (6 feet long).  Not so deep that I can't reach the bottom with my hand.  And my hands are in there a lot (I've had a number of live rock avalanches) -- I do try not to use hand lotion. Lights: 6 normal output flourescent lights - 2 10,000K, 3 actinic, 1 50/50.  (I'm not willing to spring for metal halides).

Filtration:
Although reefer purists will probably cringe, I use a quickfilter (change filter once per week),
an emperor biowheel (double) with carbon and filter pads (that I clean out once a week) a fluval canister (that I hate cleaning -- it's hard to prime), and I just installed a Lifegard fluidized bed.  I use maxi-jet powerheads.  I have a SeaClone protein skimmer which is probably too small for the tank, but it seems to work well, and I like the big scum cup which I only have to clean 1x/week.  And then of course as much live rock as will fit in the tank while leaving room for water to circulate behind and around.

Salt: Ocean Salt, dissolved a day in advance in a big tub, add hydrokroll and aerate.

Temperature:  76 degrees, which is too low according to recent dialogues.

Salinity:  1.023-1.025 which is too high according to the books.  But I've had no disease problems (a slight case of ick on the regal tang that quickly cured itself, and a cottony looking thing on my maroon clown after his anemone died--when I got him a new one it cleared up).

Chemicals:  Kent Parts A & B calcium (I switched from kalkwasser, it was leaving too much white fallout on the rocks), strontium, iodine, essential elements.

Age: 11 months.  No problems with hair/slime algae yet.

Population:
Here's what I currently have in my tank.  I probably have too many fish but my weekly tests for nitrate and ammonia generally come up negative.  I'm not sure on all the scientific names--it's hard to tell from some of the books.

Corals
Actinodiscus sp Blue mushrooms 11/97 and 12/97
Actinodiscus sp Striped and watermelon mushrooms 7/97 and 9/97

Cataphyllia jardenei Elegans/Elegance Coral (flourescent green) 

Invertebrates
Lysmata amboinensis Cleaner Shrimp  8/97 and 12/97
Ophiomastix sp? Green brittlestar  8/97
Turbo Snails  6/97

Fish
Centropyge bispinosus Coral Beauty  12/97
Chromis viridis/caeruleus Green Chromis  8/87
Gobiodon citrinus Lemon Goby 10/97
Naso lituratus Lipstick/Surgeon Tang 12/97
Neocirrhites armatus Scarlet/Flame Hawkfish  8/97
Paracanthus hepatus Regal/Hippopotamus Tang  7/97
Premnas biaculeatus Maroon Clown  8/97
Pearly Jaws Sandsifter Goby  8/97
Pseudocheilinus hexataenia Six-line/Pyjama Wrasse  8/97
Zebrasoma flavescens Yellow Tang 6/98
Zebrasoma xanthurum/s Purple Sailfin/Emperor Tang 10/97

Reproduction:
My mushrooms have multiplied.  Some loose ones that fell onto the sand were placed on rocks and went wild. My green button polyps are multiplying rapidly (tripled in number in 7 months).
My cleaner shrimp pair appear to be having shrimpies 3 months after I added my second one.  (Like most neophytes I panicked the first time it moulted.  It disappeared for days so I assumed it was dead, and then was CONVINCED it was dead when I saw the exoskeleton, complete with antenna, floating around the tank!)

Lessons Learned:
Sand:  Make sure you rinse your sand out before putting it in the tank.  I spent days with a razor scraping cloudy gunk off the sides of the tank after I poured water on top of the sugar sand substrate right out of the bag.

Anemones are hard to keep.  I've killed 3 so far.  The worst experience was when one exploded in the tank after I switched from a 60 gallon to the current tank, and slimed all the filters and the glass.  It is very depressing to see them fall upside down onto their tentacles and shrink up.  The problem is my maroon clown is miserable without them, and bugs the gonipora. .

Difficult Fish:  I've had bad luck keeping the following fish alive:  dragon wrasse, mandarin goby,
golden-headed sleeper gobies, flame angel.

Favorite Fish:  My favorite, most robust fish are my flame hawk (they're expensive though!), yellow tang, coral beauty, and six-line wrasse (although its very shy).  The fish store told me regal tangs were dainty--I was cleaning off a plastic plant and unbeknownst to me the tang was in it.  I sprayed hot water on it before I noticed it in the sink drain.  I threw it back in the tank and it has since tripled in size.

Feeding:  I feed my fish live brine shrimp at least once a week.  I also feed live bloodworms, but they clearly prefer the shrimp.  Otherwise, I feed them dried kelp (in a suction clip), frozen food (Sally Omega3 brine shrimp cubes are their favorite) and flake food or pellets on occasion.  I feed lightly, twice a day.   I feed my eating corals (bubbles, rhodactis, greenbrain, frogspawn) once a week (pieces of shrimp or scallop with tongs).  My cleaner shrimp and brittlestar also get shrimp or pellets once a week.

Corals:  I have tried to pick easy corals since I am new to the hobby (although I kept freshwater for years).  Most of my corals look fabulous (amazing expansion after a water change).  I've had problems with a small pink star polyp and some orange button polyps both of which are slowly declining, a red brain that had tissue recession on one of its two branches.  Also had one branch out of five on the frogspawn receed, but the rest looks great.

Buying:  The best buys (tanks, coral, live rock, even fish) are from people who are either moving, or have grown tired of the hobby (I find them through the classifieds).  I usually pay 1/2 to 1/3 of retail store prices.

Heat:  In Amarillo it gets very hot in the summer (100 degrees plus for days on end) and I have to shorten the lighting period, turn off a power head, and put a clip-on fan on the edge of the hood blowing across the surface of the water.  Tank temperatures get up in the 80's, but I don't want to invest in a chiller.

Bad Anemones:  Don't buy live rock with glass anemones (apistasia) on it.  I've had to hunt mine down one by one and, using an 18 gauge hypodermic, inject them with boiling water.  This is tough to do because they retract quickly--you can't hesitate.  It works though!

Pictures:  I haven't had much luck with fotos. They are usually blurry and washed out looking.  I wait until night, and use a 35mm with 400 speed film, no flash.  A tripod would probably help.

Read!:  Read every book you can find and surf the net!