The ECC Office Reef

I had this sudden urge to start blogging again. Spent a lot of time revamping the layout, adding widgets, etc. Then couldn't think of what the hell I had wanted to write. So I figure I'll try and prime the pump with something about the office "fish tank."

We'd been talking about putting an aquarium in the office since back before I left for Kuwait. We held off pending an office move that happened the week after I left. So upon my return the discussion resumed. admittedly I wasn't that excited about the idea at first. I had been before but when faced with actually trying to plan it I was concerned about long term maintenance. I got over it though.

I have a few years experience in the hobby and a few friends who have gone on from hobbyist to LFS owner (thats Local FIsh Store). So working with my friend Mike at Aqua Addicts, we ended up with a 75-gallon tank. Since its in the lobby of the office we budgeted a little more on the tank side of things to get a nice maple finish stand and canopy. Mike got me almost everything else we started off with except the light fixture. The light fixture came at a bargain deal via the annual Boston Reefers Society auction. So in October 2006 it finally got set up:

• 75-gallon All-Glass tank, stand and canopy
• All-Glass Model 2 Sump
• EuroReef RS80 Skimmer
• MagDrive 9.5 return pump
• Aquactinics 5x54W T-5 light fixture
  
• apprx. 80lbs of new Tonga live rock

After a month of listening to "I thought it was going to be a fish tank not a rock tank" I moved my pair of percula clown fish from my 29-gallon at home into the office. They certainly appreciated the room to breathe. Since we were on an accelerated startup schedule thanks to constant harassment from office-mates within the next couple weeks the tank was fully stocked with coral and rock from my 29g and some new fish from some LFS and one online order.

Now that the tank has been up over 6 months it pretty stable and looks decent. We lost quite a few fish in the beginning (too much too soon I guess) which I'm not proud of. There is a small but persistent algae problem, particularly on the right side of the tank where flow isn't as good as I'd like it. But given the limitations of it being in the office I think it turned out damn good.