Title graphic for Sea and Sky's Saltwater Aquarium Guide

My Sea: My Aquarium Hobby

My name is J.D. Knight, and I am the creator and Webmaster of Sea and Sky. I currently live in Orlando, Florida where I work as a graphic artist, web designer, and Flash programmer at a local technology firm. A few years ago I decided to create my own Web site. When it came time to choose a theme for the site, I decided to base it on my two favorite hobbies. I have always had a fond interest in the oceans and sealife, and spent many countless hours watching the Jacques Cousteau specials when I was a kid. I figured that if I set up a hobby site I could share my passion for aquariums and marine life with the rest of the world. Thus, Sea and Sky was born. From its humble beginnings as a few pages with pictures, it has evolved into what it is today. It is my sole creation, and all of the work on the site has been done by me alone.

Photo of my 90 gallon reef aquariumOn this page I wanted to share some of my personal experiences with my aquarium hobby. I call this page "My Sea". Back in the mid 1990's, I contemplated setting up a salt water aquarium. I had always wanted to try one, but everyone always told me that they were too hard to take care of and all kinds of weird things could go wrong and cause all of the fish to die suddenly. But after talking to many aquarium dealers and reading a lot of books from the library, I learned that technology has made the hobby a lot easier for the beginner. I decided to go ahead and try it. My first aquarium was 30 gallons, and consisted of only fish and dried coral. But eventually I was bitten by the reef bug, and decided to go all the way. I have had a lot of catastrophes and learned a lot of expensive lessons, but I decided to stick with it until the bitter end. I now firmly believe that the people who are successful in the hobby are the ones who do not give up, but instead learn from their mistakes. I now have an All Glass brand 90-gallon reef tank with live rock, live corals, and some beautiful fish. I have discovered that the larger tanks are easier to take care of because the water is more stable. My ultimate goal is to one day have a 300 plus gallon reef tank built into the wall.

About My Reef Tank

I currently have my reef set up in a 90-gallon All Glass brand aquarium with a matching stand in an oak wood texture. I use live rock and live sand for filtration with a 5-gallon sump. Debris is removed from the water via a Euro-reef protein skimmer. The system is illuminated with four T-5 fluorescent lights, two white and one actinic blue. They are mounted in the canopy above the aquarium. I have a Pacific Coast Imports brand inline chiller that keeps the water at a constant 79 degrees Fahrenheit. I also use a pinpoint electronic PH monitor and a digital thermometer with an alarm that goes off if the temperature exceeds the established parameters. The tank has a two-one inch layer of live sand on the bottom, and contains 120 pounds of live rock. So far I have had great luck with coralline algae, it is growing in abundance on all of the rock in the tank as well as on the glass. Below are some photos of my reef tank. All of these pictures were taken with a Canon Digital Rebel camera.

Photo of a banded coral shrimp scavenging for food

Photo of my banded coral shrimp searching for leftover scraps of food among the rocks.

 

 

Photo of a cauliflower coral with polyps fully extended

Closeup photo my cauliflower coral. This small specimen is only about 3 inches tall.

 

Closeup photo of yellow gorgonian coral polyps

Closeup photo of my yellow gorgonian coral. This species is nocturnal, opening only at night.

 

  Photo of a clownfish swimming among the coral

Photo of one of my clownfish. I have two of them and hope they will become close.

 

Closeup photo of a blenny hiding in a rock

Closeup photo of my blennie. This curious little fish makes his home in a hole in the rock.

 

  Photo of a torch coral with polyps fully extended

Photo of my torch coral. This specimen is about 8 inches across when fully extended.

 

Photo of a flame angelfish swimming among the rocks

Photo of my flame angelfish. Notice the striking deep blue colors on the fins.

 

  Photo of a leather coral with polyps fully extended

Photo of my leather coral. This specimen is about 10 inches in diameter when fully extended.

 

Photo of a yellow tang swimming among the rocks

Photo of my yellow tang. This guy is great for helping to keep algae under control.

 

  Photo of a six-line wrasse swimming among the rocks

Photo of my six-line wrasse. This one is very hard to photograph because he is camera shy.

 

Cleaner shrimp on a pice of leather finger coral

Photo of a cleaner shrimp perched on a piece of soft leather finger coral.

 

  Closeup photo of a jawfish in his borrow

Photo of a jawfish. These fish like to build burrows underneath the rocks.

 

Closeup photo of a purple tridacna clam

Photo of a small, purple tridacna clam. In the ocean, they are also known as giant clams.

 

  Photo of a colony of yellow coral polyps

Photo of a colony of yellow coral polyps growing on the live rock.

 

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