New Tank

[mguiling]

I filled my tank the first of the year and it's finally cycling, thanks to some good advice and a piece of live rock. I think I finally got my rock arranged the way I want it, so I thought now would be a good time to post some photos and get some feedback.

DSCN0306_sm.jpg

The tank is 18x48x30 ~100 gallons was built in 1984 and a friend found it in somebody's back yard. I offered the owner $30 and spent $80 to get it home. That was the last inexpensive thing I've bought.

DSCN0307_sm.jpg

I built the stand out of 3/4" marine grade plywood (top and base) and Birch plywood (sides).

DSCN0308_sm.jpg

The sump is fed using beananimal's silent flow design and is 20 gal. My Pondmaster 12 makes more noise than I would like, but isn't enough to be unhappy about. I've even been told the sound is soothing. Return line is 1 1/2" as well. The elbow at the tank end of the feed is barely below the surface, so I won't have to worry about siphoning.

I originally had some more plumbing below the final elbow to direct flow, but after flooding my LR, I opted for a powerhead right below the intake to direct the return across the tank.

DSCN0309_sm.jpg

Until I go completely nuts and start adding tanks in my basement, I have room for everything I need.

DSCN0310_sm.jpg

View from above. I turned on the T5s for the photo, but don't run them while the tank is cycling.

Thanks to all of you who've helped me get started and patiently wait while things stabilize. This forum is awesome. I've visited several but keep coming back to Reef Central.

Mike

[Chuongj510]

Looks nice. Good luck with the tank. Your off to a good start. Did you already start making a stocking list?

[mguiling]

Not really, I'm going to start with a couple of clown fish and some macroalgae, talk some more to people who know the hobby and go from there. I really want anemones and tube worms, anything that waves in the flow. How about you? What are your plans?

[Ron Reefman]

If you haven't already, look into a local club. They can be a huge help in all kinds of ways.

[mguiling]

Thanks Ron, I'm planning on attending the next Delaware Valley Reef club meeting and have already hooked up with Phillyfishguy who's been a lot of help. This isn't just my first saltwater aquarium, it is my first aquarium. But, I have a lot of years experience in koi ponds.

Even while this thing cycles, I'm having a lot of fun planning, moving rocks around and envisioning my own little indoor paradise.

[agruetz]

Originally Posted by mguiling

Not really, I'm going to start with a couple of clown fish and some macroalgae, talk some more to people who know the hobby and go from there. I really want anemones and tube worms, anything that waves in the flow. How about you? What are your plans?

The anemone, do yourself a favor go slow, I just made this mistake they are temperamental in terms of water conditions. Wait till you are 100% sure the water is perfect even with fish in it. I think I finally got mine stable but I lost 3 days of my life doing water changes every 2 - 4 hours to keep nitrates and ammonia down because of the spike in the new tank (I cycled for 6 weeks). I also started filtering now with seachem purigen and I am ridiculous over filtering to maintain things, I thought I had enough natural bacteria as it cycled well etc.. but it definitely was not ready for the anemone. Just something to think about.

[mguiling]

Thanks!!! I know I want them, but I can't afford to be a slave to this thing. From what I've heard, tube worms are the same. I'm going to start with the easy stuff, stay away from the stuff that takes over and enjoy the process. I know if I end up in crisis mode over and over it won't be fun anymore and I'll be done with it.

I pushed the envelope with koi ponds and learned a lot by going through it, but if every morning I went down and just moved some things around in this tank, I'd be happy. That's the difference between being 30 something and 50 something ;-)

[alcoolaid]

Great looking setup! Good luck with the rest of the build

[mguiling]

Thanks alcoolaid. Moved my rocks around some more ;-0 Pictures to come tomorrow after the silt settles.

[agruetz]

Well you have a benefit of it being a large tank. The small ones like I have (10 Gallon) have little to no room for error, I found that out the hard way. In my experience (mostly fresh water) this is my first salt water you can keep yourself from being a slave by over filtering (I am using a 60 - 100 gallon aqua clear 110 for my 10 gallon tank) granted I am planning to upgrade to a 30 gallon. Use high quality filter media, natural balanced methods tend to be best but take longer to form and find the sweet spot. Then get a rhythm every tank is a bit different due to what is in it but, when I had my fresh water tank, I had maintenance down to almost no time. I had a schedule add this on tuesday this on wed etc... then did 10% water changes on the weekends and cleaned the filters maybe once a quarter. Takes a bit at first to figure out the routine. Also I just picked up some purigen from seachem because I was having trouble keeping up with nitrate and ammonia levels in the new tank (I thought I had given it enough time to build up proper natural filtration, I was wrong) and so far over the last 6 hours or so my ammonia and nitrate levels have dropped by 50%. Also I recommend starting the cycle with seachem stability, I wish I would have. I started seeing the bacteria colonies explode after I started adding this per the directions on Sunday. I hope this helps. (I am no expert but this is some of what I learned on the 10 gallon I just did)

[mguiling]

Agruetz,
If a friend hadn't found this aquarium for next to nothing I probably wouldn't have started down this path. I knew from koi ponds that bigger is always easier and cheaper in the long run, but spending $1k for a tank wasn't going to happen. You will learn a lot by starting small and making it work. If I were going to start with a small aquarium, I would definately go with a pressurized (closed) system with supplemental aeration.

Most of all, rely on the advice of people with the same size system you have over those who have 10+ times the gallons. The true believers always have big systems and know the best way to make them work. Their insights are invaluable, but may be impractical for you.

[agruetz]

Yea, I think I got it now. I wanted a much bigger one but I did not have room and well I do not think the neighbor below me wants a fish tank in their living room. I hope I can move to a large one down the road so I over did the filters even for this size and lighting so I do not have to buy it again. Anyway good luck cannot wait to see the pictures of yours.

[mguiling]

Good luck to you as well. You'll learn a lot that will make your next/bigger tank that much easier.

[Musing.Dog]

Feather dusters are considered to be easy to care for inverts. Their light requirements are minimal and they aren't aggressive. Some people keep them without supplementing foods like phytoplankton. Of course only the more earth-toned ones are easy. Stay away from coco worms and christmas tree worms.
Before you choose an anemone, be aware that many anemone species don't host clownfish. The general recommendation is to wait at least 6 months before adding an anemone. Longer than this is better. Anemones have bad habits of walking across the tank and stinging things as well as shredding themselves into bits inside powerheads.
Have fun planning your tank. What kinds of macroalgae are you considering?

[agruetz]

Originally Posted by Musing.Dog

Feather dusters are considered to be easy to care for inverts. Their light requirements are minimal and they aren't aggressive. Some people keep them without supplementing foods like phytoplankton. Of course only the more earth-toned ones are easy. Stay away from coco worms and christmas tree worms.
Before you choose an anemone, be aware that many anemone species don't host clownfish. The general recommendation is to wait at least 6 months before adding an anemone. Longer than this is better. Anemones have bad habits of walking across the tank and stinging things as well as shredding themselves into bits inside powerheads.
Have fun planning your tank. What kinds of macroalgae are you considering?

Hehe mine (Anemone) has done, everything but sting the other items in the tank. It likes to sting the crap out of me when getting it unstuck from places. I think he finally planted his butt today. However I came up with a nice trick to keep him out of the HOB intakes and what not. Take the fuval filter foam/floss stuff, the stuff that comes in big bricks of it, almost like a sponge. Cut it into a block/cylinder that is about 1 - 1 1/2 inches and fit it on the the intake, pump still works fine and it keeps them far enough away from the intake to get away from it. Also (if you have one that insists on trying to get stuck like mine) it pads them from getting to stuck and does not seem to leave as much damage on them. (Mine tested this last night, seems to have survived without much harm)

[twelvejewelz]

is it just the light or is the water about 6 inches below the top of the tank? Looks nice though off to a good start

[mguiling]

Originally Posted by Musing.Dog

Feather dusters are considered to be easy to care for inverts. Their light requirements are minimal and they aren't aggressive. Some people keep them without supplementing foods like phytoplankton. Of course only the more earth-toned ones are easy. Stay away from coco worms and christmas tree worms.
Before you choose an anemone, be aware that many anemone species don't host clownfish. The general recommendation is to wait at least 6 months before adding an anemone. Longer than this is better. Anemones have bad habits of walking across the tank and stinging things as well as shredding themselves into bits inside powerheads.
Have fun planning your tank. What kinds of macroalgae are you considering?

Thanks Musing, so there may be a tube worm in my near future after all. I'm thinking of bottle brush, Halimeda, and some Chaeto for the sump.

[mguiling]

Originally Posted by twelvejewelz

is it just the light or is the water about 6 inches below the top of the tank? Looks nice though off to a good start

Good eye, what you are seeing is the background on the weir for my overflow. If anything I went too deep with the water. There's only 1/4 inch between the top of the weir and the bottom of the glass edging around the top. Since the water flowing over the weir is ~1/8 inch, it's as full as it can get.

[mguiling]

I got some better photos this morning. On the left are my MarcoRocks, on the right is a piece of live rock and some coral I picked up on a beach in Peru last year thinking I would eventually have an aquarium to put it in.
DSCN0320_sm.jpg
DSCN0322_sm.jpg
DSCN0323_sm.jpg

[agruetz]

Very nice start.

[JCKoenig]

Nice aquascape!

[AB1002]

Looks Good.

[Sharkdog22]

For anemones take your time, just because the tank is cycles does not mean you are ready for them yet. I like to wait at least 6 months minimum to let your bio be there to help support them. Tube warms/feather dusters are not all that hard so that u can do sooner than later. Now on a personal note I would add a little more live rock to help with that bio load.