So we took the plunge

[binford4000]

Probably info you won't use, but a 110 is the difficult brother of the 90 which is the kind of bad brother of the 70 which is a kind of usable reef tank. All have an 18 by 48" base and heights of 20, 24, and 30". Light falling off by the square of the distance from the source to object being lit is a very difficult concept to grasp but the bottom line is that approximate twice the lumens will be needed for the 110 rather than the 70 for a given light intensity at the usual placing of the photosynthetic animals, not even considering the extra water need for exchanges with no advantage in tank and animal appearance. In my personal opinion, a reef tank should be wider than it is tall which prevents avalanches among other benefits, but they are hard to find. JMHO, Dick

+1 the taller the tank the stronger the light source you will need. I like my tanks to be 18 to. 22 inches tall and now that I have set up a three foot wide tank I will never buy a standard width tank again!

[kmbyrnes]

I can always count on good info here.

I guess I will just have to see how this goes. The price was right.
The 20 gallon sump, and AquaC Skimmer alone were worth $100. And now with LED taking over, I guess I can probably fine some good deals on MH fixtures.
And if not, then the worst I am out is time and experience.
If I acquire all the things I need to run a 110 tall, then a switch to a different tank will be a PITA, but doable.

[MizTanks]

If your short like me a tall tank is definitely going to be a challenge. My 26g is 21" and I am up to my arm pits trying to reach the SB-lol.

[Tankster]

I can always count on good info here.

I guess I will just have to see how this goes. The price was right.
The 20 gallon sump, and AquaC Skimmer alone were worth $100. And now with LED taking over, I guess I can probably fine some good deals on MH fixtures.
And if not, then the worst I am out is time and experience.
If I acquire all the things I need to run a 110 tall, then a switch to a different tank will be a PITA, but doable.

The tank will be the inexpensive component. Get the right size from the start.

Sent from my SPH-L710 using Ohub Campfire mobile app

[kmbyrnes]

Miz,
I'm 6'4", but still up to my armpits to reach the bottom. I'm thinking I will go with a deep sand bed.

[kmbyrnes]

Actually, you'll be seeing less things. At least concerning fish. That "mushroom" forms a ball like shape, usually at night, with a small fish size hole in the front, which often tempts a fish to enter. The mushroom then closes the hole and eats the fish. Sorry.

You were so right !!!
My wife bought some new creatures yesterday, one of which is a Fire Shrimp. He is very entertaining, jumping around all over.
She also bought some pulsing Xenia, which were nowhere to be found this AM. I read online that they sometimes get trashed but manage to survive. So while I was looking for the Xenia, I noticed the mushroom was in his 'eating' position, closed up with only about a 1/2 inch opening. What's inside? Bright red Fire Shrimp! I was able to save him by slowly expanding the mushroom opening with tongs until the shrimp was able to escape. I immediately fed the mushroom some shrimp, which he devoured.
The shrimp has not been near that end of the tank since!
Wonder how many other newbies I won't be able to save. I guess that's the price for reef keeping

[pjr]

Nice use of the "jaws of life" to save the shrimp. Quite a story!

[MizTanks]

Woot woot for the shrimp! Way da go dad!! Lol

[kmbyrnes]

My Blue Tip Sebae died today. Not a surprise, really. He never found a home,stopped eating last week, and yesterday I found him face down in the sand, all shriveled up. Early this AM he looked like he had 2 mouths, and this afternoon was almost all liquid in the center. Got him out before he did too much damage to the water.
I will try to do my best to keep the tan one alive, and maybe even healthy. He seems to be doing well these days.
No more sebaes until I get more experience.

As time passes, I am beginning to realize the LFS kind of set me up for failure, and I took the bait.
The tank looked really great there. But they have expert caregivers and all the right tools at their disposal.
So now a few creatures have died, and have learned some lessons.
More research before attempting to keep anything that everyone says is for experts only.

On the bright side, all the mobile gang got together for a group shot last night:

[ReefTech]

How long have you had the blue linkia? Those are usually pretty hard to keep alive, even for advanced aquarists. They usually don't live that long.