Paul Tomko's Saltwater Reef Tank



This is a page dedicated to my newest way of throwing away hard earned money. I've had freshwater fish and turtles off and on since I was in first grade. But I always liked the color of the saltwater fish and was also interested in the anemones and shellfish in the ocean. Recently, I started reading a lot about the saltwater hobby and decided to try my hand at it.

My first acquisition was a 180 gallon tank. I ordered it from Petco, and week after week I was told it would be in next week. Finally, after two months of this, I went to Petworld in Milwaukee. Four days later, I had my tank. About a week or so later, Petco called and said my tank was in. Too late!

I ordered most of my supplies from Champion Lighting. I like their prices and they have just about anything you can think of for keeping a reef tank. I probably went overboard on my hardware as usual. here is a list of the hardware on my tank:
40 Gallon Breeder tank as a sump
ETS Gemini skimmer
Iwaki 1200 gallon per hour return pump
Iwaki MD100 skimmer pump
Solar 1000 lighting controller/monitor
Rotating returns
4 300 Watt Metal Hallide bulbs
4 160 Watt 10000k VHO bulbs
Knop Calcium Reactor

I purchased "The Package" from Tampa Bay Saltwater. So far, I have received the first part of the shipment. With this, you get your larger base rocks along with the live sand. Later, after my tank has cycled they will ship the second half of my order which includes the smaller, coral encrusted rocks and also the sand sifting cleanup crew.

The rocks that came with the first part of the package were large and had lots of life on and in them. Even the base rocks were really nice to look at. I have several live creatures in every square inch of sand and rock in my tank. I don't even know the names of all of them. Some of the ones I do know the names of are periscope snails of which I have at least 3. Bristle worms, of which I have dozens in red, green and other colors. A hermit crab, several other small crabs. Tiny starfish, I think they are banded starfish. A mantis shrimp, several other small shrimp. Lots of little tiny worms. The rocks have some plants and animals that are unknown to me. Some look like mushrooms. There are hundreds of little filter feeders which put out a fan and then pull water toward their mouth. I don't know what these are but there sure are a lot of them. I plan to take pictures and hopefully other people will be able to help me identify these.

See the Pictures!!!.


paul@tomkoinc.com

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