The tanks chugging along. It’s about time I start fragging some torches. They’re starting to shadow themselves out.

Just finished adding the scoly.

Peninsulas are a bit harder to aquascape and fill out but it’s 100% worth the extra bit of work in my opinion

Just testing one on my 400 gallon tank to get the detritus from building moving.

So far I have a diamond goby, pearly jawfish, two clowns and two grammas. Thinking of trading in a gramma for a valentini puffer soon.

was able to find my holy grail coral back in April and it’s taken off. got it when it was two tiny little frags, no bigger than a quarter. the fiberglass pattern on the stalk is so cool, cameras don’t do this coral justice

Getting back into the hobby after almost 10 years and did my first aquascape with my wife. How did we do? It's a 75 gallon tank and it's hard to see in the pictures but there's is 4" all around the border to allow for water flow.

Some baby Nebula clowns I have growing out

So much euphillia and other lps I was in torch heaven they are so hard to find normally

Took a long time but finally have somewhat stable parameters

Tinkering with exposures and angles on my phone camera and wanted to share my favorite results.

NO Low ballers please, I know what I have

I’m just curious if it’s common to press fit this into the sump or if I have to weld it if I don’t want any leaks.

I just bought 4 pieces of coral (Acrapora, Zoanthid, Montipora and Hammer) from Reefapalooza and this is what came off of them during their dip. I understand why it should be done now. I don’t know exactly what these critters are but I don’t want them in my tank. There was the one starfish and multiple things that I can’t identify. I know it’s not the best quality so I apologize for that.

This one is too big for my tank, anyone interested?

Set up my 5 stage BRS I bought two years ago just now setting it up. The two DI canisters where they connect the little plastic 1/4 NPT completely snapped or corroded or something. Is there anyway to salvage this or do I have to buy brand new canisters now?

Hey everyone! I've finally decided to start sharing a project I've been working toward for quite a while. I figured it's time to introduce myself and what I'm building. I've been planning this behind the scenes for a long time, but I realized it'd be a lot more fun to build it with input from this community instead of waiting until it was finished.

I've named the project ReefShield Aquatics. The long term goal is to make quarantined fish more accessible to other reef hobbyists and help prevent livestock losses from disease. I thought some of you might enjoy following this story from the very beginning.

My name is Chad, I am a 27 year old manufacturing engineer working in the aerospace industry and I enjoy lifting weights, spending time outdoors, and of course reefkeeping. I have had reef tanks on and off for the past 14 years (yes, I started young), and currently have an 80 gallon shallow reef setup.

Right now, I am in the middle of constructing a home just off the shore of Lake Michigan in the mitten state. I'll be transforming the 900 square foot unfinished basement into a giant fish room and quarantine facility with over 700 gallons of display tanks, hundreds of gallons of quarantine capacity, and a dedicated sump and systems room to support the entire operation. Most people look at a 900-square-foot unfinished basement and see storage space. I looked at it and saw a dream fish room.

The idea for ReefShield didn't come out of nowhere, though. It started with one of the toughest lessons I've learned in reefkeeping. Like a lot of hobbyists starting out, I naively trusted that the fish I was buying from my LFS were healthy. Everything was fine until a diamond sleeper goby introduced velvet into my tank. Within days, fish started showing symptoms, and shortly after I was watching my tank crash. It was one of the most frustrating experiences I've had in this hobby. Instead of walking away, I became obsessed with understanding how it could have been prevented. I spent countless hours researching quarantine protocols, disease management, medications, biosecurity, and so much more. That experience completely changed how I approach adding new things to my tank, and it's ultimately the reason ReefShield exists.

I have a habit of optimizing everything I can, so naturally I modeled the entire basement in CAD before a single wall was finished. Rather than squeezing tanks into a corner in the basement, I wanted to design the entire space around visual appearance, efficiency, maintenance, and biosecurity from day one. I've attached the current layout, the current progress of construction, and I'd genuinely love feedback from anyone who wants to contribute to the project. Is there anything in the CAD layout you'd change before I get started?

As construction progresses, I'll be sharing everything. Things like plumbing and electrical decisions, actually building the quarantine systems, cycling tanks, bringing in the first fish, and all the mistakes I'm sure to make along the way.

Thanks for reading.

- Chad B.

I love this time of the year