Before It Was Mine...

I'll be honest, this tank isn't my original creation. I bought it used and it came with most of the livestock that is in it now. I have added a fish, a clam, and a few corals. When I bought it, it came with

Tank, Stand, and Canopy
29 Gallon Sump/Refugium with
    Cheato/Live Sand
    Mag 7 Return Pump
    Two T5s for Lighting
SWC Skimmer (Don't know what kind, but the seller told me it was rated for 200 gallons)
400 Watt 14K Metal Halide driven by HID Electronic Ballast
Three Actinic VHO's driven by Icecap Ballast (440?)
Two Maxi Jet 1200's. One modified for 2,000GPH Output
API Test Kits and Coralife Hydrometer (Death Glare at seller)
Bag of Old Carbon in the sump
Petco Algae Scraper and MagFloat
Various Calcium and Alkalinity supplements
100 Pounds of Fiji and Tonga live rock
80 pounds of sand

Livestock:

Fish:
Yellow Tang
Blue Tang
Sailfin Tang
Scopas Tang
Pair of Ocellaris Clowns
Coral Beauty Angelfish
Two Blue Damsels in the Sump (dissapeared after I put the britte star in the sump. hmmmm)

Inverts:
Coral Banded Shrimp
Skunk Cleaner Shrimp
Various Snails and Hermits (too many to count)
Harlequin Starfish
Brittle Starfish (thrown into the sump)

Corals:
Pulsing Xenia
Blue Xenia
Red Acans
Various Zoanthids
Various Mushrooms
Finger Leather
Branching Hammer
Green Star Polyps
Snowflake Polyps
Some sort of SPS frag. I think it's a pocillopora or digitata

When buying the tank, everything looked healthy, so I didn't hesitate to take the tank and everything in it. BUT, there were some things seriously wrong with the way the seller was keeping the tank.

1. He never did water changes
2. He never tested his water. He just watched the fish and corals for signs
3. He used TAP WATER
4. He had too many tangs in the tank, some of which would eventually outgrow the tank
5. He cut the grounds off of the plug for the metal halide ballast so they would fit onto a timer. That's WAY too much electricity to not have a ground
6. There was no auto top off system, which probably caused him to have salinity swings
7. His test kits were garbage. He was using API test kits and a swing arm hydrometer, both of which are VERY innacurate


Obviously some things had to change. This was going to cost MUCH more than I originally though. This is what I have changed so far (not necissarily in this order)

1. Replaced cheap API test kits with Salifert and Hanna Checkers
2. Replace the swing arm hydrometer with a BRS Refractometer
3. Buy an RO/DI unit
4. Started doing water changes
5. Added a BRS Dual GFO/Carbon Reactor to bring down phosphates and nitrates
6. Added an auto top off system and started dosing kalkwasser
7. Sold the Blue, Scopas, and Sailfin tangs
8. Moved the brittle starfish into the sump
9. Replace the plug on the metal halide ballast
10. Bought timers for the lights
11. Modded the canopy to raise the metal halide bulb ~10" off the water and make the canopy more visually pleasing
12. Added a digital thermometer

And I still need to

1. Mod the skimmer to allow for control of the water level
2. Add another Maxi Jet 1200 with the 2,000GPH mod
3. Buy a Hanna Phosphate Checker

As of now, the tank is actually in very good shape. Nitrates are undetectable, SG is holding at 1.026, calcium and alkalinity are generally more high than low. All of the livestock has been very healthy. The fish are fat and eating like pigs and the corals are not only open, but growing. I'll give you more details of the tank in the next post :)