funkehouse Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 I have been waiting a LONG time to start a thread in this part of the forum. I have been Reading and obsessing over this site for about 2 years now. My grandfather had a saltwater tank when i was a kid and i have always been in awe of them, i like a lot of people always thought that Saltwater tank = Big huge tank that is only for experts. I found this site 2 years ago and started reading more and more and i got more and more intrigued. I have spent the better part of a day MANY a time on here just reading and soaking up information. I didn't know anything more than the fact that i liked to look at fish and corals when i started, now i feel i know enough to finally get started on my own, knowing that i can come here to get any questions answered. I first thought i would i get one of the Biocubes, i thought they looked cool, had everything they needed in one little package. I saw lots of beautiful AIO tanks on here, i probably owe it to those tanks for getting me interested in this hobby, when i first saw them i sought out more info and found Nano Reefs. But then i saw my first Rimless..... and i fell in Love. My GF thinks it sounds weird to call a fish tank Sexy, but damn these tanks are Sexy as Hell! I went back and fort a hundred times though, i wasnt sure where to start, i could be happy with a Biocube, but i think i would be more happy with a rimless tank, so in the end the rimless Won. I went to Aquatouch here in Phx and picked her up today. Here we go.... and this where she will call home... I have already ordered an AC70 and the InTank media basket for it. I have the FNI 24x4 on the way with 2 blue and 2 14k bulbs, but i think i will soon be ordering some better bulbs. I also ordered a tesk kit, some chemi pure, purigen and a few other things. Its gonna be a long 2 weeks though until the next paycheck, i still have more to buy, but i am gonna have to wait for now. My old lady is already shocked at the cost of this hobby, and i have barely just begun ! haha, oh well she will love it once the fish are in it. I took her to Aqua Touch today for the first time, she loved it. Of course she likes all the things that i WONT be putting in my tank such as Sea Horses, Huge Urchins, File fish and puffers. Oh well, i will convert to the reef side eventually... I will post more pics as my items get here. Thanks for the help over these last 2 years, let the real Fun Begin !!! Link to comment
AustinV90 Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 order better bulbs first thing, i never used them. They are backups Link to comment
funkehouse Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Well my first shipment came in, i got the 24x4 Fish need it fixture. I ordered the 2 blue and 2 14k white, the light seems like a decent fixture for the price. certainly not high end, but it gets the job done it seems. I still will be replacing the bulbs, but probably not all at once, one or 2 at a time im sure. . The only problem was they sent 4 of the same mounting arms, so it works great for 2 corners, and the other corners are bass ackwards. I emailed him and he said he would send me a new set of arms tomorrow. No big deal certainly, as i dont have water or anything in here anyways. I guess it shows how much a noob i am, the lights seemed like a decent color when i had them all on. But without water and colourful colors i have no idea what it will really look like. I should be getting the stuff from Stevie T here shortly, his AC70 fuge mod looks SO nice in the pictures i have seen, that guy does a great job, stoked on Intanks for sure. I ordered stuff from him that i think most people wouldnt, i got a koralia, test kit and some other stuff, just to support the lil guy. I love that he does such high quality stuff, no one ever has a bad thing to say about dude. Me Likey. this tank will definitely be in the slow & steady category, with new stuff probably every 2 weeks (pay day !!). I WISH i had thousands just to put down all at once, but that aint the case. Im just glad i got all the hardware in place, the real fun will begin soon. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Well i got some more fun toys in the mail today. I received my fish need it light the other day, and all was well minus one thing, they gave me 4 legs all of the same type, so i had 2 corners that were right, and 2 wrong. I emailed him and 2 days later i had a new set of correct legs, Great Service and im very happy with the service of the company. I also ordered from Stevie T and received his WONDERFUL AC70 drop in Fuge, hey makes a KILLER product and i will not hesitate to ever buy something from him again. I also got my Koralia 425 today, man they are small, i haven't seen a lot of equipment in person, just online so its hard to judge the size, but they are tiny! i hope i ordered big enough. I also got my Hydor 50watt heater and some filter floss , and finally i got an API test kit, but he sent the wrong one, but im gonna keep it anyways i guess. I ordered the saltwater test kit, and he sent the Reef Master kit, but i suppose i would have bought that eventually also so will keep it, and just by Ammonia,PH and Nitrite separate. It is REALLY tough to have all this equipment here, set up on the tank and to have no water and no live rock yet !!! but alas i must wait until i get the old pay check on Friday.... then more fun buying. Good News and Bad news all rolled into one i suppose..... my old lady lost her camera... a basic Kodak point and shoot. its the one who took the crap photos above of the tank. So i have no camera for now. Good news is we will eventually get a new camera and hopefully a better one than that POS. yay for that. but boo on on pic updates for now... i may have to user her Cell phone in the mean time... oh well im going to bed, its late as hell and there is work to be done tomorrow ! Link to comment
tam Posted April 23, 2011 Share Posted April 23, 2011 Looking forward to this build thread! Link to comment
funkehouse Posted April 23, 2011 Author Share Posted April 23, 2011 Looking forward to this build thread! yay, i have a follower ! im gonna need all the help i can get once i put the rocks & liquid in, so stay tuned !! Link to comment
funkehouse Posted April 27, 2011 Author Share Posted April 27, 2011 You know what STINKS??? looking at a DRY tank everyday waiting until your next payday so you can get the final parts !! it is TORTURE seeing the Lights, the tank, the AC70..... such torture. But im getting close !! a few more days until pay day !! I think im going to order about 17 pounds of Pukani Dry Rock, or maybe the reef savers rock, cant decide yet, but i will be seeding it with a small peice of live rock from the store, i want coraline and some little critters. Maybe i will buy a bottle of Pods to throw in also once cycled. Cant wait for this thing to be wet !!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Link to comment
funkehouse Posted May 14, 2011 Author Share Posted May 14, 2011 you know whats not as fun as having a nice aquarium full of fish and corals? having a FREAKING DRY TANK that has yet to get live rock or water in it , thats what !!! grrrr..... Oh well, hopefully this thing will get filled one day soon.... if my GF will stop spending my entire freaking paycheck !!!! Link to comment
epicfish Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 if my GF will stop spending my entire freaking paycheck !!!! Get rid of her. Link to comment
pyrocreep Posted May 14, 2011 Share Posted May 14, 2011 Just spend it before she does, that's the trick. You have a lot of good beginner gear all setup and ready to go you just need to get some rock. I don't know if you've decided where to get your rock from yet, but reefcleaners and BRS are both really good places to pick some up for cheap. Edit* it is dry rock though so it'll need to be seeded. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Wow its been WAY too long. This has to be some sort of record for the time between buying the tank and getting it wet ! I never thought it would take this long... but i had some health problems and was hospitalized and i couldnt focus on the tank, so i guess it was a good thing it wasnt running. But i kept on reading and following the reef hobby the whole time. I am FINALLY the proud owner of salt water fish tank !! I decided to get some Live rock today, i heard of a newer place that i hadnt been to before, i called him and he said he had about 300 pounds of mixed live rock, for THREE bucks a pound ! whoo hoo ! so i drove there and quickly realized why it was 3 bucks a bound. it was the densest heaviest rock ever, it was pretty horrible. No way i was going to buy it, so i left and went to one of my favourite shops, Aquatouch here in Phoenix, and they had much MUCH better live rock. I picked through the rock and got about 12 pounds and also got 3 pounds of live sand to seed the bagged Special Grade Reef sand that i bought. Here is the box of live rock i came home with and i also bought a stick of the oceanic putty, here is the first rock setup in the tank. it basically set it self up, it was one of the first positions i put it in, and i loved it. it has a tiny little cave area on the left and a full tunnel that goes through. these pictures are still very cloudy, so its hard to tell. this is within a few minutes of setting up and here is one more pic I also got the AC70 with the Intank media basket. i have a 50watt heater, some filter floss and i will eventually add some Chemipure elite and Purigen once i finish cycling. I have 2 powerheads , a korilia nano 240 and also a maxi jet 1200 but it almost seems like too much flow with both of them. but what do i know ! now the game of patience begins ! im already memorized watching the tank, and there is nothing in it that i can see yet ! Im so happy to finally have this tank in my life. Its something i have always wanted , since i was a young child watching my grandfathers tomato clown and anemone. Hopefully soon i will have some beautiful fish and corals of my own. Thanks for looking and i would love to hear any advice or tips and suggestions ! thanks everyone ! Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Here are a few other pics also so you can see all 3 sides that are visible. Its on my desk to the right of my computer , so i can see it and watch it while i surf the net. It seems like most of my free time is either watching movies or reading reefing sites so i might as well have the tank close to where i sit, its going to get a LOT of attention from me.... anways here are some pics, this the Long view of the tank (and its still not super clear, plus this is a cell phone camera), and here is the other side of the tank, the side opposite of where i sit, you can see this side as you enter the room and here is a close up of one of the rock structres on that side and here is a close up of the other structure... I would still like to find a small little section of Barnacles , just a few, so maybe i can some barnacle blennys, but we shall see. I still havent decided on what livestock i will be getting with the exception of a Black & White Clown fish, i love the pure black and white colouring as they get older, so beautiful. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 9, 2012 Author Share Posted January 9, 2012 not one comment ? Link to comment
iball1804 Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 Me gusta What are your stocking plans? Link to comment
dling Posted January 9, 2012 Share Posted January 9, 2012 You do plan on removing to black zip ties dont you ? I hope you have used the puddy to bond them together and the ties are just temporary Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 14, 2012 Author Share Posted January 14, 2012 yes i will take out the black zip ties. although i dont think they would matter too much. one of the pieces of rock was from a prior tank and it had an old zip tie on it totally encrusted with coraline, you couldnt even tell what it was. but they will be taken off. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 Well i have some good & bad news... I decided to listen to everyone and have a QT tank for my fish, so i set up an AGA 10 gallon, with heater and HOB filter with carbon, this is just for the fish for the first few weeks until they are safe to go into the main tank. I added a CUC today, i got 4 nassarius snails, 8 virgin Nerites, and 8 Florida Certiths, and also 2 tiny tiny hermit crabs, like a little bigger than tic tacs. I hope that is enough snails, if not i will buy more. I have a decent amount of algae growth right now, i need these guys to get to work ! Here is some algae on the sand... do you think i should try and vacuum this up? or just let the snails go at it? here is some on my live rock... and here is 2 pics of the Ocellaris, bad quality though... and here is a tiny video of my short lived Black & White... So bummed about that. I should have looked at the fish longer at the store, they had a few and the owner suggested the larger one, he thought it would be better to pair them up with one larger, one smaller. No return policy at that shot either... dont think i will be buying from them again. He has great prices, but low prices dont mean much when the fish dies ! anyway here is a short video of the 2 clowns in the tank together... Give me some feedback ! what am i doing wrong? what am i doing right? what other animals do i need for the CUC if any? thanks for check out my build ! Link to comment
Fearlessmoto Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 an emerald crab will help with the hair algae, also consider a macroalgae like chaeto or caularpa to keep it from coming back, a couple more hermits , you have plenty of snails. as for the B&W bummer there, but other than that it's looking good thus far, also have you tested your phosphate and nitrate levels? hair algae usually means a prob with one of the two. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 an emerald crab will help with the hair algae, also consider a macroalgae like chaeto or caularpa to keep it from coming back, a couple more hermits , you have plenty of snails. as for the B&W bummer there, but other than that it's looking good thus far, also have you tested your phosphate and nitrate levels? hair algae usually means a prob with one of the two. I will be getting some chaeto soon, from someone on here hopefully. just did a test Nitrates are at 0, phosphates are at 0. Its probably my fault, i had the lights on for some of the time during the cycle. i sit near my tank, its at my desk and it just looks so much cooler with the lights on, i probably had them on for too much time. I will get an emerald crab also and a few more hermits. what about 1 turbo snail? is that too much with everything else i have? Link to comment
Fearlessmoto Posted January 22, 2012 Share Posted January 22, 2012 I will be getting some chaeto soon, from someone on here hopefully. just did a test Nitrates are at 0, phosphates are at 0. Its probably my fault, i had the lights on for some of the time during the cycle. i sit near my tank, its at my desk and it just looks so much cooler with the lights on, i probably had them on for too much time. I will get an emerald crab also and a few more hermits. what about 1 turbo snail? is that too much with everything else i have? My personal experience with turbo snails is they are too touchy, they die often at the smallest thing, i like cerith snails for algae control, and nassirius for detritus, i run the lights when i cycle a tank, that shouldn't bother anything, how long do you run them daily? I sit near my tank all the time, it drives me batty with the waiting for a new tank to cycle (link in my signature) it's enough to make you go nuts. Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 My personal experience with turbo snails is they are too touchy, they die often at the smallest thing, i like cerith snails for algae control, and nassirius for detritus, i run the lights when i cycle a tank, that shouldn't bother anything, how long do you run them daily? I sit near my tank all the time, it drives me batty with the waiting for a new tank to cycle (link in my signature) it's enough to make you go nuts. Okay noted... i had been running the lights about 10-12 hours a day. I am going to slow that down a bit though. I can already see a lot of progress being made by the snails with the algae, but im still going to get a few more small hermits and an emerald crab. I have always enjoyed watching crabs do their thing. And i will agree with you, being patient during cycle is easier said than done ! Its SO tempting to start trying to convince yourself that your tank is ready for this or that. Even with my Occ. Clown its so tempting to take him out of the boring QT tank and to welcome to his new playground, BUT i know its best to wait so i will. My GF almost made a Noob mistake yesterday... she isnt involved in this at all, she just looks at it from time to time and knows that it makes me happy, but she came home from a friends house and said " I went by a fish store by my friends house, and i almost bought you a fish for your tank" DOH ! i told her thanks for the good thoughts,but PLEASE dont do that, i want to pick out the best items for my tank, luckily she didnt. she would have made an ok choice i suppose, she wanted to get me another B&W clownfish to replace the one that died, but the store didn't have any. At least she didn't try to bring home some huge puffer or something like that... but she knows better now. Also i would like to present my first and only coral, i have been waiting a LONG time for this, my Grandpa would be proud if he were still here to see it. Some of the polyps are still closed, but they seem to be opening up one by one over the last day. I love the colours that nature provides, Its TRULY living art.... Hope you like it ! Link to comment
Alkamist Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 nice!! good looking coral and a good one to start with, what fish do you plan on putting in Link to comment
funkehouse Posted January 23, 2012 Author Share Posted January 23, 2012 nice!! good looking coral and a good one to start with, what fish do you plan on putting in nothing exotic, its my first SW tank and all so i will stick with tried and true fish that are known to be easy. the good news is that these are also the fish that i happen to like the most. I have 1A. Occ. Clown fish in a QT tank, and i will try and find another B&W clown in 2 weeks. I will get a bigger one this time, hopefully captive bred, the last one was not. Other than that i think i will be most likely getting a Yellow Watchman Goby and a shrimp to go with him. that will put me at 3 fish, at some point down the line if i think the tank can handle a 4th i may get a firefish. or possibly sixline wrasse. But that wont be for a while if ever. I HOPE to get only nicer super bright corals, and i know i want a RBTA at some point when the tank matures more, i want to be selective though and only get one that is super bright red or that has some other cool feature. I just ordered some Chaeto from someone on here, and also a light to go in with the chaeto that will run on a reverse photo period. I can already tell, the weekends right after i get paid are always going to be my favourites now... new stock every 2 weeks !! haha Link to comment
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