ribbie Posted April 3, 2009 Share Posted April 3, 2009 This is my first reef aquarium. So far I've made a few mistakes, learned some tricks, and enjoyed the entire journey. Please post in my thread if you have any comments, positive or negative. I have pretty thick skin so feel free to criticize. Specs: Custom Glass 15G 24"x12"x12" Hydor Koralia 1 Hydor 100W Heater Hagen AquaClear 70 w/AC20 impeller 24" Nova Sundial T5 4x24W CUC: 3 Astrea Snails 3 Trochus Snails 12 Nassarius Snails ( 3 suspected 0 confirmed deaths) ~14 Cerith Snails (2 confirmed deaths) 1 Tuxedo Urchin 1 Emerald Crab 1 Blue Hermit Crab Next Addition: TBD FTS Compilation Link to comment
yeast Posted April 5, 2009 Share Posted April 5, 2009 Looks like a good start. I really like the rimless tank you have. It will look very serene when it is filled. Hope things go well for you and update when you can. Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 12, 2009 Author Share Posted April 12, 2009 My package came from JL Aquatics on thursday. I was hoping to get the tank filled up and try out the koralia but unfortunately I wasn't able to get my stand set up. I purchased a iron stand from Petland on Wednesday but decided to take it back after my parents offered a nice wooden stand they weren't using. It's got three slide out drawers and is 35.5". There will be plenty of room using it as a stand and I'll also be able to store some things underneath. - 75W Ebo - Koralia 1 - AC110 - Mag float 125 I also picked up a 20lb bag of Caribsea carribean live sand. I hope it's enough. I also just ordered my lighting. For those interested, I purchased a Current Sundial 4x24W 24" fixture. I chose this model because I like the fact that it comes with one cord, built in timers, and built in moonlight leds. I shopped and shopped around and the best deal I could find was through opentip.com. I also used a 5% off coupon to save an extra couple of bucks. All said and done it was $250 shipped to Canada, which is pretty good. I'm going to run stock for a while as I get used to the hobby. I'm probably going to hold off on implementing the refugium for the first little while. I still need to purchase a submersible light but I think I'm going to go with this single 10 watt. Now that I have most of the equipment I'll need to get started I'll start looking for a place to purchase my live rock from. There's a place in town but to be honest I didnt see any shapes that really grabbed me. If anyone has any good suggestions for buying live rock online I'd love to hear it. I'm only going to get 15lbs. Preferably 2 large pieces Link to comment
Carinya Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 nice tank & solid plans. good job. Link to comment
lacassiere101 Posted April 12, 2009 Share Posted April 12, 2009 good luck with your rock Link to comment
Khayman Posted April 13, 2009 Share Posted April 13, 2009 Good job so far, solid plan and build. Also I like the coral plan. I happen to have alot of those coral in my 24G Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 13, 2009 Author Share Posted April 13, 2009 Thanks for the comments folks. I picked up some test kits and a siphon today to help with the water. I wanted to purchase some salt and mix my water today but unfortunately the LFS doesnt sell it. So I'll have to resort to shopping online again or I'll check with one of the two specialty salt shops in town ($$$$$). My plan this week is to move and set up my new stand, move the aquarium to its home, and add water to get my temps up.Once I can get salt, mix it in the main until I get desired salinity. I know that you should NEVER add salt to your main display but because I'm starting bare bones I thought it would be easier to mix the salt in the main display instead of in three seperate 5 gallon pails. Oh, and my light was shipped LAST NIGHT! Yippee! Hopefully it'll be here before next weekend! Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 So I set up my tank today. The stand: The syphon was a big POS so I ended up having to get creative. Added the koralia: Added the salt and the heater: Tons of salt sitting in the bottom of the tank still. I couldnt believe how much salt I had to use. I added 9.5 gallons of water so I added 4 3/4 cups of salt as per the label. There's still a BUNCH sitting at the bottom of the tank after I stirred it around a whole bunch. The water temp was only around 65 at the time so I'm hoping the heat will help with absorbing the salt. I checked it at 8pm and it was a little better and I checked again just now and it's a lot better. I purchased a refractometer from my LFS today along with the salt so I'll probably check it tomorrow after work. Link to comment
Qwank Posted April 15, 2009 Share Posted April 15, 2009 why did you siphon the water into the tank? you can just dump it in you know. lol Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 15, 2009 Author Share Posted April 15, 2009 why did you siphon the water into the tank? you can just dump it in you know. lol My gf said the same thing. I just thought it would be easier to do it that way for whatever reason. It's a learning experience. Water is at 79 and there's a lot less salt in the tank now. Going to do a salinity check after work and maybe reposition the powerhead. NHL playoffs tonight means that I wont be doing a whole lot with the tank. Link to comment
bruce922 Posted April 20, 2009 Share Posted April 20, 2009 It looks like your off to a good start. Keep posting pics so we can see how your moving along. Bruce Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 21, 2009 Author Share Posted April 21, 2009 It looks like your off to a good start. Keep posting pics so we can see how your moving along. Bruce Thanks Bruce. I added 20lbs of CaribSea live sand. The water is 1.026 @ 80, so now all I can do is wait until my lights arrive and then order my live rock. Right now I'm debating buying locally or ordering online. If I order online, I'll pay ~$60 more for the shipping but I'll get nicer rock. I'm debating between Bali Alor, Vanuatu, or Irian Jaya. The rock I've seen around here has little life, blocky shapes that are dense, and lacking character. Here's a pic from a few minutes ago: Link to comment
moto826 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 looking good i like rimless tanks they look clean Link to comment
got2envy Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Very clean tank! I am hooked so far Link to comment
Kraylen Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Looking good, I cant wait to see how your reef experiences develop! Link to comment
Brooklyngal Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 looks like it'll be nice, rimless tanks really are great looking, one day... Link to comment
Kimberly63 Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 What really worries me is the AC110 that you are making into a refugium. When full of water, the AC110 is very heavy - I have it on my regular 10g and when I set up my rimless DIY 20g tank, I wouldn't risk it myself putting it on. I'm too worried the weight will weaken the silicone seams. Just my 2 cents though. If you definitely want a hang on fuge, I'd go with an AC that's smaller and lighter in weight. Link to comment
racerfreak Posted April 30, 2009 Share Posted April 30, 2009 Nice tank... the rimless looks great I'd say order online unless your Lfs has LR, my Lfs has horrible LR for $7/lb and I still won't buy from him no matter how nice he is because you can pay just under $5 a lb at premium aquatics when shipped for uncured fiji. Link to comment
ribbie Posted April 30, 2009 Author Share Posted April 30, 2009 Brief update: So after two weeks, I'm still waiting on my lights. I just checked the USPS tracker and it says my lights are finally at customs! I'm hoping that they'll show up today or tomorrow but I have a bad feeling they won't show until monday. I still need to purchase some aquarium silicone and construct a baffle for the refugium. I originally wanted to keep my heater in the refugium but the ebo 75W is just too big. I'm going to see if a 50W stealth would be a better option as I need to get another heater to help stage my water. I'm going to order some live rock online but it might have to wait a little bit. I'm optimistic that I'll have a cycle started by mid may. What really worries me is the AC110 that you are making into a refugium. When full of water, the AC110 is very heavy - I have it on my regular 10g and when I set up my rimless DIY 20g tank, I wouldn't risk it myself putting it on. I'm too worried the weight will weaken the silicone seams. Just my 2 cents though. If you definitely want a hang on fuge, I'd go with an AC that's smaller and lighter in weight. You're absolutely right Kimberly. The AC110 was just too big. I've exchanged it for an AC70 for two reasons. First being the size and weight. The Second, for the fact that I can easily buy a smaller impeller for the AC70. The AC110 was going to take some mucking with the impeller to reduce the flow and I just don't want to chance breaking it. Link to comment
Rocker Posted May 2, 2009 Share Posted May 2, 2009 Awesome tank! I ordered those lights & got 'em yesterday. It's pretty sweet you'll definitely be satisfied with them. Link to comment
ribbie Posted May 7, 2009 Author Share Posted May 7, 2009 Awesome tank! I ordered those lights & got 'em yesterday. It's pretty sweet you'll definitely be satisfied with them. My lights finally arrived monday. I took out the hob today and removed the media to start getting ready to make the fuge. The water clouded a bit: Both Whites Actinics The LED's have anywhere from a 5-7 second delay which concerns me. :/ note: I took the first picture with manual settings, looks a lot better than the following 3 automatic shots I think... I'm just getting used to my camera as well but hopefully I'll be able to take some good photos. Link to comment
MGDMIRAGE Posted May 7, 2009 Share Posted May 7, 2009 Man i wish i had a 15g light looks guud! Link to comment
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