chappy6107 Posted October 27, 2015 Share Posted October 27, 2015 Hey everyone. I am new to the forum and new to saltwater tanks. I have been doing freshwater for about 10 years. I am starting out with a JEBO r362. This is a 30 gallon cube style tank without the chambers in the back. Instead it has the chambers in the hood. I don't plan on using the hood at all and I do have a hob 3 chambered overflow/refugium that I plan to use. I will post pics later. So far I have bought some pukani rock and have given it an acid bath, bleach bath, and currently soaking in some RODI water w/ a powerhead. I also bought some Caribsea arag-alive reef sand - special grade. It is a 20lb bag, so I will probably need a bit more. As for salt I have bought instant ocean regular for the time being until down the road when I start adding corals. I will purchase RODI water from LFS until I can make my own. powerhead wise I bought some cheap ones off of ebay. a 4 pack cost $20 and each one is rated for 528 gph. I figured I could use a couple in the tank, 1 in the mixing bucket, 1 extra or use it in a freshwater tank I already have. We will see how long they last though. What do you all think so far? Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 here is the pics from the acid bath of my rocks [/url] Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted October 28, 2015 Author Share Posted October 28, 2015 after putting on the eye protection & rubber gloves, slowly pour the muriatic acid in a little bit at a time. it will start to bubble up it will most likely overflow the bubbles will be nasty after about 20ish minutes the bubbling activity will stop then pour the baking soda over the bubbles it will ferment again like this afterwards the bubbles will die down. I then rinsed for a Looonnnngggg time with the garden hose. and currently the rocks are soaking in RODI water with a powerhead. I will post a pick of the before & after a bit later. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted October 29, 2015 Author Share Posted October 29, 2015 So I was going to order a kessil a160we for my tank, but I was browsing craigslist and came across a kessil a360we for ($225)less than I would have bought the a160we for($239). and the bonus was that it included the gooseneck mount($35), the 90* adapter($19), an extension plug($19), AND...the kessil spectral controller($99)!!! Best news of all was that it was all unused because he bought it a month ago for his daughter and a week later she found out she was accepted to an out of state school for college. I scored a great deal $225 for $511 worth of equipment. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 here is the after pic of the rocks. Post acid & post bleach Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 2, 2015 Author Share Posted November 2, 2015 here is the initial placement in tank sorry for the glare Tell me what you all think? Link to comment
Rural Posted November 7, 2015 Share Posted November 7, 2015 my opinion... looks like you have some unused vertical space! make the most of it! Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 my opinion... looks like you have some unused vertical space! make the most of it! as in adding more rock stacked on top? Link to comment
Elizabeth94 Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 That rock looks nice and porous, good choice. A little more sand and you will be golden. What kind of light are you planning to use? You planning for a FOWLR or corals? Link to comment
Pinner Reef Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Solid start bro... maybe one more rock for the vertical. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 That rock looks nice and porous, good choice. A little more sand and you will be golden. What kind of light are you planning to use? You planning for a FOWLR or corals? Thank you, I pick up the pukani from BRS. it is def. porous and very lightweight. I plan to have corals. And just a couple weeks ago wound up finding a killer deal on a kessil a360we + spectral controller + gooseneck mount for less than I could have bought the a160we for. Solid start bro... maybe one more rock for the vertical. Thanks Pinner Reef. I will try to rearrange, but will prob have to order some more rock. Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Ya, I agree- slightly more vertical- one smaller rock would do it. Welcome to saltwater? good size tank to start out with. Just be cautious with livestock- it can be overwhelming when you first walk into a reef aquarium store- you'll want to purchase everything. Try to research corals on here and see what direction you'll want to go, soft, hard, LPS, SPS are all terms to become familiar with. This community is pretty amazing and a wealth of information. I would suggest reading through the TOTM ( tank of the month) write ups so you can see what interest you and what approach you may want to take! Good luck and happy reefing! Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 Ya, I agree- slightly more vertical- one smaller rock would do it. Welcome to saltwater good size tank to start out with. Just be cautious with livestock- it can be overwhelming when you first walk into a reef aquarium store- you'll want to purchase everything. Try to research corals on here and see what direction you'll want to go, soft, hard, LPS, SPS are all terms to become familiar with. This community is pretty amazing and a wealth of information. I would suggest reading through the TOTM ( tank of the month) write ups so you can see what interest you and what approach you may want to take! Good luck and happy reefing! Thanks Sk8n Reefer! I will def have to see about ordering some more of the same rock, hopefully I can get a small amount. lol As far as not going overboard on the fish, I have been reading up on salt systems being alot more sensitive than freshwater in the crowding of livestock. I still have a ton of research to do, but I tend to watch the hammers & torches, and some of the birdsnest. there is so much that I dont know what they are yet. So lots of research to do to see what can be put with another. I will check out the TOTM write ups as well. Thank you. Link to comment
Rural Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 think of it like golf... you can make it hard or easy. different strokes for different folks. in my easy going and fairly new opinion, i think of things this way: easy and difficult to keep soft corals easy and difficult to keep sps easy and difficult to keep lps easy and difficult to keep nps easy and difficult to keep inverts easy and difficult to keep fish then know the basic requirements (light/par, nutrients, flow, compatability with others), and note sometimes they vary based on genus/species. my plan was to get easy interesting eye candy and progress to more difficult while never exceeding my equipment. this allowed me to stairstep my way up slowly of 1 year and have a tank that has matured over that time as well, while gaining better equipment. they key is a mature stable tank. when you have that, the buffering abilities are much improved. slow and steady wins the race in my book. Link to comment
Elizabeth94 Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 Thanks Sk8n Reefer! I will def have to see about ordering some more of the same rock, hopefully I can get a small amount. lol As far as not going overboard on the fish, I have been reading up on salt systems being alot more sensitive than freshwater in the crowding of livestock. I still have a ton of research to do, but I tend to watch the hammers & torches, and some of the birdsnest. there is so much that I dont know what they are yet. So lots of research to do to see what can be put with another. I will check out the TOTM write ups as well. Thank you. I know this rock is light so even another 5bls would be more than enough I think. You can always hit it with a chisel, or do it my way with a sledgehammer (works real well on stress levels, ha!) Any extra rubble can be used as frag plugs which look much better than round disks imo. But this way you will have plenty of shapes to choose from and you can epoxy them to make a higher/neat structure. Following! Link to comment
Sk8n Reefer Posted November 8, 2015 Share Posted November 8, 2015 To make things easier and not have to wait- maybe pick up a few smaller pieces at your lfs - that would also start your biological process. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 8, 2015 Author Share Posted November 8, 2015 I know this rock is light so even another 5bls would be more than enough I think. You can always hit it with a chisel, or do it my way with a sledgehammer (works real well on stress levels, ha!) Any extra rubble can be used as frag plugs which look much better than round disks imo. But this way you will have plenty of shapes to choose from and you can epoxy them to make a higher/neat structure. Following! I will need to order some more and use some rubble in the hob fuge. I think the least amount I can buy is 10lbs. lol for the frag plugs, I am not quite there, but I dont know how to get the ones from the lfs off of the round disks though. To make things easier and not have to wait- maybe pick up a few smaller pieces at your lfs - that would also start your biological process. I am trying not to use any live rock so that I have a much better chance to not pick up any pests. I dont mind the slow and steady process. Ive had to learn that from my many years of freshwater tanks. Link to comment
dandelion Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 The sad thing is then you won't be able to get any coralline algae in your tank. Any fellow reefers in your area that can scratch off some from a rubble into your tank? I am trying not to use any live rock so that I have a much better chance to not pick up any pests. I dont mind the slow and steady process. Ive had to learn that from my many years of freshwater tanks. Link to comment
Elizabeth94 Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 The sad thing is then you won't be able to get any coralline algae in your tank. Any fellow reefers in your area that can scratch off some from a rubble into your tank? Not sure if this entirely true. I started with all dead rock in my first tank and there was plenty of coralline, but it did take a year to really start. As long as calcium is kept up it should grow. Of course, if he seeds the rock it will speed up the process much more. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 The sad thing is then you won't be able to get any coralline algae in your tank. Any fellow reefers in your area that can scratch off some from a rubble into your tank?If this is true, then I will def. seed my tank. I want coralline algae. I will have to do some research on this. Link to comment
Tamberav Posted November 9, 2015 Share Posted November 9, 2015 If this is true, then I will def. seed my tank. I want coralline algae. I will have to do some research on this. If you buy corals... more than likely some coraline algae will hitchhike on the frag plugs. Link to comment
chappy6107 Posted November 9, 2015 Author Share Posted November 9, 2015 If you buy corals... more than likely some coraline algae will hitchhike on the frag plugs. That is a good point. I may even ask my LFS for a little baggie of coralline scrapings too. Link to comment
dandelion Posted November 10, 2015 Share Posted November 10, 2015 I got some snails from my LFS with coralline algae on it too. I guess it kind of depends on the initial dose though. I got a 2 pound live rock from them half purple and I have many spots of coralline algae growing on my dead rocks Link to comment
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