my big plans :)

[Snider82]

Oh MY!!  so i went to like 5 diffrent places to see what my choices are for live rock.  i bought about 35lb or so of rock! YEY!
i just got home from a long day of shopping in the big city, and im exausted,  ill post pic's when i get it all set up for sure!!  ill even post the before picks lol.

[Vincenzo.]

thats great. im looking forward to see.

[Hookup]

sweet!  now... "SHOW ME YOUR ROCKS".. hahahahaha.

[Snider82]

Here it is,  this is a photo of my final results so far, i love it! I think it turned out awsome for my first tank.  there is sme DIY rock in there, and live rock.   If already have signs of Nitrites in my tank.   and my first peice of rock as some babby coral growing on it.. im suprized of that.   theres lots of stuff happening on some of that rock


im trying to figure out how to post a link to all my photos at photobucket so u can see my picture journal.

[Dave and Diane]

you are well on your way now.

Just remember to follow most of the advice ............Go Slow good things will happen.

Sit back wait for things to happen.

[Snider82]

Thanks Dave and Diane.  i cant wait till i can move a CUC in there,  i dont think it will be tooo long, 1-2 weeks im guessing.   guess ill just have to keep testing my water.

[PMurphy]

This build is coming along quite nicely. Love the vortechs and your rock work is looking pretty good as well. Personally, I'd loose the airwand ASAP but that's just my opinion.
I'm sure you will be rearranging the rock work numerous times before your two weeks or so is up. An empty tank is hard to resist.

Keep us posted with pics!

Cheers

[Snider82]

im going to keep the bubbler in there for now,  it gives me somthing to watch.  the vortech makes the bubbles move all over.   once i get some fish i might give the bubbler to the wife

[Hookup]

The air-bubbler, imho, is not a bad thing, but I personally love the ultra-clear look of the water and the micro-bubbles that get swirled around and distract from that clear view... again, that's just me...

and wait a g-darn minute!

.... So far i have sand and a 10lb live rock.  i know, thats not enough live rock,  but i find it expensive. I plan in getting more live rock when i can afford it.

... i will probably pick up 20lb more of live rock on Friday/Saturday making it 30lb's.  then another 10 within 2 weeks from that...

OK, question... WHAT THE HECK HAPPENED!!!

30+lbs of new LR, and a VORTECH pump! 

You SOOOOOOO blew the budget!  Like not even remotely close!  Definitely a man after my own heart!

[salvini55]

That vortech sucker punched me soo hard in the face. Is the background painted on?

[Vincenzo.]

the rock work is looking good for sure. but fyi i have never seen a bubbler in a sw tank before.

[Hookup]

LOL... yeah, it happens...

Wut background R U talking about?

the rock work is looking good for sure. but fyi i have never seen a bubbler in a sw tank before.

There was a design that called for just airstones in the main tank as the primary filter.  For the life of me I cannot remember the name and I am way to lazy to go get the book (Julian Sprung/Delbeek).  Either way, it definitely is not common, that is for sure...... but nothing wrong with that...

The biggest down-side will be salt creep... loads and loads of it... the bubbles break at the water-surface, this causes a micro-splash to occur, which splashes salt-water on "stuff" at the surface of the water, which evaps, and leaves salt-crust (salt creep)... It'll be a real problem on your tank at the top/waterline area.  One you'll have to stay ahead of by cleaning...

*WARNING* A hunk of Salt from Salt-Creep can go back into your tank (I do it in my sump all the time) however, if a hunk fell on a coral, of just about any kind, it'd burn it pretty badly if not kill it... so be careful...

[Snider82]

I guess i did blow the budget a wee bit    or by a long shot.  i remember a time when I used to whine about my wife spending 10bux at the LFS, i understand now  , and i guess she has something to use against me now lol. 

I didnt want to go and buy a cheap pump, and know that water flow is very important,  so on the spot i decided i should get somthing.   MP20 Vortech was a very sweet addition to my tank.  yea i have a background on my tank, it was there when my wife gave me the tank, so i left it.  I had to cut a circle in the background and clean the glass very well before putting the pump on.  it is hold there very well and i have the cord tied above the pump  incase it dose fall *knock on wood*.

The bubbler IMO is intersting for the mean time, i didnt know about the "salt creep", i will take it out very soon. 

[Snider82]

So, i checked my readings today,  im down to almost 0 amonia, down to 0 nitrite, and no sign of nitrates. 
I decided to go pick out a CUC.  I got a Decorator Crab, a scarlat hermit crab, a west indy snail, and another snail that i am not sure of yet lol.


they seem to be happy, the snails are sucking on each other, the hermit crab found a place way at the top of my LR to hang out, and the decorator crab has a nice cave like spot he looks out at me from. 

I picked up a protine skimmer, coralife super skimmer 65.  I set it up according to the instuctions (hang on) did my best to get the pump 2 inchs fromteh surface. im trying to tweek it out to work better, im getign micro bubbles in the tank and at the moment the bubbles arnt very high in the skimmer.  i want to run it for 48 hours or so like the instruction sais, then ill try tweek it out some more.

[Snider82]

SO i picked up a bit of a CUC but couldn't get a picture of the scarlet hermit crab- he went hiding.

Here is an updated pic of my tank:


Here is my Decorator Crab.  i love him!



2 snails i picked up:

[Hookup]

That's awesome.. i love watching new tanks start up... very cool.

[Vincenzo.]

so far so good man. the decorators are bad ass and quite interesting to see creep around

[Snider82]

thanks!  im pretty happy with it,  i would still love tt make rock walls for the back pannels...  i gotta see whats involved for that.  also going to see if i can find someoen to drill my tank.

[Vincenzo.]

How u gone glue ur overflow on. Let alone drill it while its up n running? Glass shards will fall in. And the evaporation from a sealant can be harmful, and if wet sealant touches your water..buh bye to life in there. It'll cause a spike.

As for foam wall u can use that pink sty-foam with some toothpicks and epoxy/glue for the layout and use a sharp blade to carve ur wall. Making ledges easy to put coral in the future. And with the proper paint, paint it..and over time itll cover in coraline.

[Snider82]

im going to empty everything into a new garbage can that i prepare..  im going to have my flow box all done and dryed before i even start, so that when i get it toren apart, drilled, put over flow box in,  little bit of sylicone, 24 hour wait and put it back together,  hopefully that is long enough and nothing die's off..

im hopeing that would work..  rockwalls.  thats another time,  im not sure what im going to do.