jcastle Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 So after being successful with my picotope i decided to try my hand at a bigger tank so i can keep fish as well. So i bought a 20 long from petco since they are having their dollar per gallon sale and i have a AC50 that i already had for the chemi pure and purigan. i have two 100 watt heaters, a koralia 550 powerhead and a aquaclear powerhead for circulation. Right now i have an LED wholesalers par 38 bulb shining on it but i will have rapid par 38 bulb in a week or so. i haven't decided if i want to put my pico and this tank together so i only have one to deal with, i love my little pico, but i'm leaning towards a merger lol. so my plans for livestock is mostly mushrooms zoas and other LPS coral i'd also like to get a pair of clowns, maybe a six line, and a small group of nice colored schooling fish. I'll get more pictures as the tank progresses but for now i have one of the rock scape. FTS June 2012 FTS March 2012 Link to comment
vash028 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 love the simple rock scape. U should just do a small island on the left and then your schooling fish can swim in the vast open space u have there. Just my opinion Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 love the simple rock scape. U should just do a small island on the left and then your schooling fish can swim in the vast open space u have there. Just my opinion thanks! yeah i'm definitely going to be putting some rock over there, but i haven't decided if i want to just put my pico in this one or keep the pico and get a a little bit more LR and make a smaller island. i'll give it a few days and i'll make up my mind lol Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 i just built an overflow box. wasn't very hard to do and it looks great. i'll put up a picture when the glue and silicone dry Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 17, 2012 Author Share Posted January 17, 2012 took some more pictures of the tank and scape. tell me what you think!! Link to comment
GioReef Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 paint the back or hide the cords somehow! looking good though Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 18, 2012 Author Share Posted January 18, 2012 yeah i'm going to get a black backing....kinda too late to paint it Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 i got the rapid par 38 in today so now i have the rapid light over the LR and the other(LED wholesalers) par38 lighting up the other rockless side...if i move my pico to this one i'll have two rapid led par38's lighting the tank, should be enough. Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 The tank is cycling well. Nitrates and nitrites are up as expected as well as the ammonia(not very high but some) and the PH is down but it was up a few days ago but that's normal. temp is 80-81. and the SG is 1.025, everything seems to be going well. i added a couple pieces of dry rock that i glued together to make another small island on the left side of the tank, i like the way it looks but i might still take it out and merge my pico into the tank, yeah i still haven't decided lol. here are some pictures for you guys Link to comment
brad908 Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Looking good. You can still paint the back, I did after I had mine set up. Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 That looks awesome! So far, I have yet to have any ammonia, nitrite or nitrate. The rock I got came out of a year and a half old established 60 gallon, straight into a bucket of aquarium water and then it stayed in a bucket with lots of circulation and a heater, so I didn't get any die-off. I think I'm safe to start moving over the contents of my pico, but I might wait another week just to be sure. I'm about to frag my really nice pulsing Xenia into three pieces. It's actually about to frag itself right now. PM me if you'd like some of it and I'll figure out how to ship it. Today is the first day with my lights fully on. Last night I took the pico off of the reef keeper lite and it's now controlling the main tank's actinic, daylights and moonlights. The pico is running off of a 25 watt hydro theo and a basic timer for the light. I'm still dying to build a mantis shrimp tank. Not sure the fiancé is ready for a creature that violently kills its prey. Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 Looking good. You can still paint the back, I did after I had mine set up. i don't know if i'm up to it lol i was excited to start it up so i forgot about the background. i'm going to go to the LFS and get a black background or i might do what i've done in the past and take a black garbage back and cut it out but we'll see. That looks awesome! I think I'm safe to start moving over the contents of my pico, but I might wait another week just to be sure. I'm about to frag my really nice pulsing Xenia into three pieces. It's actually about to frag itself right now. PM me if you'd like some of it and I'll figure out how to ship it. I'm still dying to build a mantis shrimp tank. Not sure the fiancé is ready for a creature that violently kills its prey. yeah i'd wait a week and test the water just to make sure. i wouldn't mind some xenia, let me know about shipping and we'll figure something out. zip code 44256. looks good! Thanks!! Link to comment
miniwhinny Posted January 20, 2012 Share Posted January 20, 2012 Love your 'scape! It's going to look awesome when you start stocking. Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 20, 2012 Author Share Posted January 20, 2012 Hey, Thanks! i'm looking forward to stocking it for sure! Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 Diatoms have shown up the past few days and the water test are just about stable. i'm going to test again tomorrow but i'm expecting zeros across the board! ammonia is already 0 and the nitrite is less than 0.25ppm nitrate are at 10ppm but i'm ok with that as that is what my pico has been at from the beginning. it's my understanding that zoas and mushrooms like a little bit of nitrates and that it's not bad on snails....actually i put 2 ceriths in there when i noticed the first signs of algae and they are still moving around the glass. reefcleaners here is come! Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 Exciting! I just fragged up my Xenia into three pieces today. One piece is just the original trunk of the Xenia, then I got a small single branch that I was able to super glue to a rock. The last piece was sort of a double branch piece that didn't have enough of a trunk to glue easily, so it's held on to a piece of rock with a piece of bridal netting. I'm planning to send you one in a couple weeks when they're all healed up. :-) Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 i won't turn you down lol thanks! Link to comment
Islandoftiki Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 One added benefit of Xenia is that it soaks up nitrates. If you frag it regularly and sell it to your LFS, it's a good means of nutrient export. Link to comment
Reef Casa Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 digging the rock work deff not too late to paint the back good choice with the Rapid Bulb Link to comment
asting Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 If you frag it regularly and sell it to your LFS, it's a good means of cash import. FTFY Looking very cool. It's hard to be patient to add things, but so worth it. If you ever want interesting rock I'd suggest BRS's rock. I bought a few lbs of it and it's great stuff. Have you ever heard of blue fish aquariums? They're a saltwater only store on mayfield not too far from me. I'll be checking them out friday for some LR rubble and cheato, and was wondering if they're pretty decent. They have good reviews, but no website. Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 One added benefit of Xenia is that it soaks up nitrates. If you frag it regularly and sell it to your LFS, it's a good means of nutrient export. Well that's good, the nitrates in the pico are always a little up, not to a dangerous level but still. when you are ready to send them out let me know and we can discuss shipping cost! digging the rock workdeff not too late to paint the back good choice with the Rapid Bulb i really like the rapid par bulbs i have one on my pico and as soon as the tank is ready i'll transfer it over. i'm going to use the pico as a quarantine tank and put some LR rubble so i'll have some rock to attach coral to when i need to frag. as for the back; i don't have any way to paint it. i'm going to go to the LFS in a few minutes since i'm at work and it's right down the road and just get the regular plastic/paper background. FTFY Looking very cool. It's hard to be patient to add things, but so worth it. If you ever want interesting rock I'd suggest BRS's rock. I bought a few lbs of it and it's great stuff. Have you ever heard of blue fish aquariums? They're a saltwater only store on mayfield not too far from me. I'll be checking them out friday for some LR rubble and cheato, and was wondering if they're pretty decent. They have good reviews, but no website. i've never heard of that one. i'll definitely check it out though, when you go let me know what you think of it. i would strongly suggest you check out Aquatic Technologies in Columbia Station..they have a lot of new and used equipment if you need any and tons of fish and coral, kind of a hole in the wall place but they have good stuff. also check out RMS aquaculture in middleburg hts. that's usually where i go for fish, hermits and other random stuff, they don't really have a selection of coral but their fish look good and their prices are good. also i've heard of a place called Jurassic Pets and Aquatics that is in mayfield...haven't been there but i'll definitely check both out. Link to comment
asting Posted January 24, 2012 Share Posted January 24, 2012 i've never heard of that one. i'll definitely check it out though, when you go let me know what you think of it. i would strongly suggest you check out Aquatic Technologies in Columbia Station..they have a lot of new and used equipment if you need any and tons of fish and coral, kind of a hole in the wall place but they have good stuff. also check out RMS aquaculture in middleburg hts. that's usually where i go for fish, hermits and other random stuff, they don't really have a selection of coral but their fish look good and their prices are good. also i've heard of a place called Jurassic Pets and Aquatics that is in mayfield...haven't been there but i'll definitely check both out. Sure thing, I'll update friday. Right now I don't have a vehicle, but I'll have one in like four months, so I'll start checking those out then. Another one I saw was Pet's general supplies, which apparently has saltwater fish (according to their website). Something fishy does not (even though their website advertises it). Link to comment
jcastle Posted January 24, 2012 Author Share Posted January 24, 2012 Sure thing, I'll update friday. Right now I don't have a vehicle, but I'll have one in like four months, so I'll start checking those out then. Another one I saw was Pet's general supplies, which apparently has saltwater fish (according to their website). Something fishy does not (even though their website advertises it). yeah there are a lot of fish stores in ohio but most of them i find are either not worth going to or by appointment only. there is one in akron called captain larry's if you want to drive that far. i'm in medina so i'm only 20 min from there. i'm also planning on checking his out, i heard its cool Link to comment
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