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| Welcome to My Sea. 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 and programmer at a local technology firm. Back in 1998 I decided it was time to create my own Web site. After several months trying to choose a theme for the site, I decided to base it on my two favorite hobbies, astronomy and salt water aquariums. 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. |
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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. |
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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. |
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Photo of my banded coral shrimp searching for leftover scraps of food among the rocks. |
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| Closeup photo my cauliflower coral. This small specimen is only about 3 inches tall. |
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Closeup photo of my yellow gorgonian coral. This species is nocturnal, opening only at night. |
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| Photo of my torch coral. This specimen is about 8 inches across when fully extended. |
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Closeup photo of my blennie. This curious little fish makes his home in a hole in the rock.
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Photo of one of my clownfish. I have two of them and hope they will become close.
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Photo of my flame angelfish. Notice the striking
deep blue colors on the fins. |
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| Photo of my leather coral. This specimen is about 10 inches in diameter when fully extended. |
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| Photo of my yellow tang. This guy is great for helping to keep algae under control. |
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| Photo of my six-line wrasse. This one is very hard to photograph because he is camera shy. |
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You can see more aquarium images from Sea and Sky by visiting our site on Flickr
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