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Cultivated Reef

My budget build Thread


gregowen420

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gregowen420

Hi guys,

 

i thought i'd introduce myself i've been lurking for a couple months now, i was given a 20H aga and w/stand and hood,

I purchased :

 

100w fully submersible heater, $10

subcurrent wet/dry filter, $25

aquatech 10-20 HOb filter $10 <----- prepping filter for QT tank

ex150 power head, $10

30lbs fine white live sand, $20 shipped from west mariculture through ebay

22lbs live rock, ordered from aloha aquariums $59 shipped 1.98x22+16 shipping WILL ARRIVE WEDNESDAY

Oceanic Salt. $20

home made clip on fan setup $0

RO water 0.30/g from local glacier machine thats checked bi-weekly.

 

it's been running with LS and 1.025 sw for the last 12 days. LR should be here wednesday according to fedx

everything seems fine, i even noticed some super tiny little white specks running around on the glass, i'm assuming it's pods or rotifers seeing as i receieved a small bottle of them with my sand. i have a medical microscope but can't seem to get on on a slide.

 

anyway i'll update with some pictures when i get the rock on wednesday

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Looks like your off to a nice start. Let me make 2 suggestions. Ditch the lights on there asap and get some nice T-5's or PC's even. Also you may want to consider putting a black backing on your tank as it will help camoflauge your equipment in there.

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gregowen420

yeah lights are going to be my biggest problem on my budget, i think most likely i'll pick up the nova extreme fixture when i can afford it, i've seen them as cheap as 60 shipped on ebay. i'm really not in any hurry though i'll add 22lbs of fiji premium tomorrow a few pounds of tonga from my LFS later this week and just let it do its thing. i'll add a CUC when the green algae starts to get thick.

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Well with those lights, the algae is going to get think fast, and not much else. Those are most likely FW spectrum lights, which are set-up to grow plants, which translates to algae in the marine world.

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gregowen420

nah that bulbs fine it's just not enough it's a rays aqua saltwater 9325k. i have several 6500k pc lights around will that help for now?

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Sexy Shrimp

Its usually advisable to put the rock in before the sand to avoid rockslides as critters dig beneath. You should be OK though as long as you kinda dig holes to make sure the rock is sitting on the base.

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goodluck, it's looking good.

 

Get better lighting though.

 

If you want the Nova Extreme make sure you get the one that is 24 watts x4

 

you can find them at Petmountain.com for a good price and usually free shipping

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gregowen420

it's gonna be a month or 2 till i can afford any sort of lighting i'm completely broke at the moment, i added a 13w pc light for now it's 6500k so it'll only help alittle, better than nothing though. as soon as i can scrounge up 150 bux sure i'll buy that 4x24 nova extreme. but for now this will have to do, i'll just cycle it and add a clean up crew and let it be till i can afford lighting

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power compacts will serve you much better if you plan on keeping any coral.

 

 

love the rockwork, keep up the goodwork!

enlighten? from what i hear... its T5's that win the lighting war with PCs. they are brighter (with idividual reflectors) and have much more light selection which will give you the spectrum you want.

 

look at this: Sundial Fixture

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gregowen420

woot i found my first hitch hiker yesterday a rather small bristleworm, this evening i'm looking at my tank and realize the pods on the glass are MUCH larger and you can actually see them without a magnifying glass

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gregowen420

identified previously found pods on the glass as copepods using my microscope.

 

tonite i found 4 very tiny fan worms on my rocks 3 are sort of a greyish color and 1 is very white

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gregowen420

HPIM1091-pb.jpg

HPIM1089-pb.jpg

 

 

these shots we're taken holding a large rectangular magnifying glass in front of the camera

 

originally i thought the small snail in pic 1 might be a cerith, but after researching it a bit. i believe it's most likely a baby nessarius

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he said up top he has pc's he could use, so i suggested he use those over the N.O. tubes.

 

as far as t5's go, much better than pc's.

but he doesnt have any at this time.

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gregowen420

went out and bought test kits this morning, i bought the API brand ammonia,nitrite,nitrate in individual boxes because it was cheaper than buying master kits

 

ammonia 0

nitrite 0.1

nitrate 20

 

i also picked up 4 dwarf blue legged hermits for 1.50 a piece.

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gregowen420

hmmm i'm really not sure yet actually, i'm still learning so much. i'm basically just going to take it slow, i'm in between jobs right now so i'm broke and i really need better lighting. i'd like a blenny or goby of sometype. i'd kill for a YWG. i'd like a colorful variety of zoas. thats basically it for now, my local petco has sargassum anglers, i'd love to have one of those someday

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