Fish hobby!

sweet fish. love the hippo tang, might have to get me one this weekend. that, or a bag! The lion fish are cool but nasty. We have sea robbins like crazy in the maryland area but no wild lion fish... caught a few mantisshrimp and a few crazy gobies.

nice setup man, lovely fish! i dabbled in fish water for a while (had a wicked chiclid setup, guess brackish) but dropped the fresh/brackish setup for a nice salt setup. it was a fish only tank n live rock as i liked the more agressive fish. Had triggers (picasso, nigers), huge lionfish, panther grouper, dogfaced puffer and a snowflake eel. most were handfed and great, but as they grew i had to get rid and cycle fishes. I packed up the tank as i was tired of the big fishes. But ive been planning on setting up a nice reef tank, just looking for the motivation. ive grown fond of the smaller docile fish as well as the crustacions (my triggers and eels woulda romped them). the corals are beautiful and its awesome watching them grow and fourish. One day i woke up and my wrass was missing his head ...i think it was the eel, he wasnt too hungy that night...its quite relaxing blazing up and watching the fish swim in and out of the rocks, slightly playing with eachother, curious crabs and shy manderins. i might just buy a new setup tho bc my old tank wasnt drilled and idk if i wana go the overflow route again.

i wanna go diving with you guys too. im a first time diver though...he showed me how to dive just the other day in the pool. it was so fun and cant wait to hit the ocean!

man, i saw the title of this thread, and instead of coming to check it out right away, i thought i'd get my stuff together and take a few pix so that i'd be ready when i got to the thread..
you've no idea of how disappointed i am right now....

the diamond core bit is $12.00 on ebay and drilling is much easier than you'd think. the thicker the glass, the easier. I was always afraid and built all kinds of crazy PVC self draining syphons.....in the end, a hole in the bottom of the tank is the easiest way to go. Start the drill pretty slow rpm, approach the glass at a 45degree angle, the bit will start to bit and you can level out the bit. dont push, let the diamonds and the weight of the drill do the work. Maybe slight pulsing motions if its taking a long time. Keep the hole hydrated either with a damn made of putty or just have some water in the bottom of the tank (1/4" or so) it will sink through effortlessly, like a spade bit through plywood. For 20 buck worth of pvc through-hull fittings and a bit, you can turn your tank into a drilled tank with a sump. Sumps are great places to grow plants, or treat the water. the water enters the main tank from the pump in the tank below, and the hole in the bottom has a 1" slip fitting with a length of PVC long enough to always keep the display tank filled. No 2" scumlines near the top like in fresh water tanks. The only tank that needs to be monitored is the sump.

Sometimes people complain about gargling of overflows. you can buy nice looking plastic corner pieces that get the sound way way down. I personally used a 1" to 3" PVC bushing and drilled holes 1/2" in diameter 3/4" from the top on center. used a jigsaw to cut out the top to make it more of a U - cutout. I have 4 of these holes with gutter-guard mesh materil zip tied in a circle. I cant hear my overflow at all. The only noise from my tank is the motor hum. You can buy a quality quiet motor but if you dont mind a gentle humming through the night, its no worse than an over-the-back filter. Those and power heads can get noisey!

dam612: sounds awesome. I throw a fiddler or baby blue crab in the tank once in a while to see the trigger and dogface battle for each part. The corals are nice but very very expensive!!! talking $20k+ for a 300gallon set up. A nano reef would be a nice project. My 20 long actually takes a large amount of water presser from the overflow by syphoning a 3/4"PVC drain tube into the 20, which is drilled to drain back to the main sump. I would keep corals in here but as you know, the shrimp-fenzys make for spiking nitrates, too drastic for a reef. Maybe one day!

hey man! we're all fisherman too, if we have tanks. Nice gear! I sleep next to my barefoot rod with shimano calcutta. you ever get into shark fishing or mostly in land - fresh water?