new to sw, my "budget" setup

[7808]

i got a email from a local guy i was planning on picking up some rock at a good price from him, i asked him more about it and got this, should i still get it? its Z$2somthin a pound

"Hello (my name)
The rocks are Carrebian rock, unfortunately the Fiji have been sold out.
No need to be seeded. However, they have been dark cured so no algae is attached.
See you tomorrow.
Thanks
(his name)"

[7808]

its up and runnin, now i wait.. so far i have about $250 into this so not bad

i know my rock isnt very ecrusted with stuff but it came from a established tank from a local guy who seemed to be a pro and i got a good deal, he said it has everything i need on it , gave me some good advice, and even threw in a crab and some micro alage?



and the 1st thing in there

[Kryptikhan]

Originally posted by 7808
its up and runnin, now i wait.. so far i have about $250 into this so not bad

i know my rock isnt very ecrusted with stuff but it came from a established tank from a local guy who seemed to be a pro and i got a good deal, he said it has everything i need on it , gave me some good advice, and even threw in a crab and some micro alage?



and the 1st thing in there

I think it looks great. How well it performs is another thing only time will tell. Also, in my limited experience as part of this community....I have noticed this is a very "purists" site, where the hobby advice, coming from experienced people (staff or not), are very serious about the hobby. Always consider the source from the advice you get on here.....but that's what makes the site very informative, the serious people are here...the "pure" advice, how pure I don't know, is always intended to help the community here maintain healthy tanks.............money at times is part of that advice. For some it's an investment for furniture, for some it's the chemistry part, for some it's whatever they want it to be.

With this "fly by" like post, I think some of the people who have responded could well possibly be offended in the hobby's form itself. And from your perspective, maybe correct me if I'm wrong, I am not sure if you are taking the hobby as serious as some others on here. It's something you would like to have, and you are gonna try it and you are going to use the Reefcentral web site to help you maintain some damange control on your tank as you rush into the hobby............that's your take on the hobby. Live it, do it as you please, but understand the people here are only going to give you the best possible advice they can in order for you to enjoy the hobby, and if part of your enjoyment is learning by errors (not stating you will make any) and costing you more in the long run floats your boat....let me jump on for the ride

With that said, with the number of posts you have (not stating the more posts you have has -complete- effect on your knowledge base), I would assume you did not do -that- much research before jumping into the hobby. And that's ok in my book. Would i reccomend it? Nope (I probably went overboard on research). Would I still try to help if I was an experienced salt water expert? Sure. Empathy for failure? No way....but as stated in some posts above, sometimes failure is success in it's own right.

Good luck and have fun.

[7808]

ya my a.d.d. kicked in half way through that. i will tell you i dont take anything too serious thats another story though. as for my post count, i dont rely on this site alone to learn, i find my self blowing hours in the internet reading and absorbing as much knowledge untill its confusing and i have to get away from the computer ha

if i had money to burn im sure i could come up with a setup more acceptable to the "purist", but i think its better/funner to do stuff my way sometimes

[ouuduy]

yes freshwater = boring , but get ready to dig into your wallet and a second morgage and forget about putting your kids through college. haha but oh so fun

[7808]

ok i did my 2nd test, looks ok so far. numbers were:

nitrate between 0-5 (api kit, think its in ppm)
nitrite 0 or slighly over
ammonia 0-0.25
ph 8.2-8.4


and i have some growth, not sure if its good or bad? its kinda of a rusty color covering some rocks and some of the sand in the front of the tank. also theres little pod like formations on the larger rocks and i seen a beak type thing in one moving whatever that is

[stevelkaneval]

the rust colored algea is totally normal it means your tank is cycling. you could put a damsel in to help speed up the cycle. but if you dont wanna keep the damsel dont put anymore liverock in there becouse they are a pita to catch. i tried the budget setup but then got bit by the reef bug, now i have to tell my fiancee yea that was free he traded me when in reality it may have costed an arm and leg. good news though i can now balance our checkbook, lol


good luck and welcom to the addiction
steve

[steven_dean17]

So how's it going? How much so far?

[jamiep]

I didn't plan on spending that much on my tank, but any money I made on eBay went into it. Its good because I've managed to buy a power head, a mushroom frag and I have 3 zoas coming on Saturday! I also bought a few other things off eBay which has been great, you get such good deals!

Another way round things to keep it a bit cheaper was to D.I.Y. I have to admit though, I've spent money on tools etc. and some Ideas really haven't worked! I'm going to start a custom canopy after Christmas however but I wasted $30 on an overflow which upsets all my rock work and looks naff!

The best thing about trying to do things cheap means you really do take you time in doing things, and reef tanks just don't happen overnight!

[7808]

Originally posted by steven_dean17
So how's it going? How much so far?

how much spent? im still roughly around 250, id say its going good, i might get a damsel or 2 this weekend not sure, i was just going to let it go do its thing but if fish will help i'll get some.

[7808]

budget sump now operational. total cost: about 20-30$. seems to work great, but not very functional right now but im hoping to stash some of the eqiupment there thats in the tank now (like the power head is already) and some filtration and keep it silent in a stand im probly gona build. i guess this cap idea of mine wasent supposed to work well from my reasearch but it seem to be completely silent and probly has the skimming surface area of a small skimmer box if you "unfolded" it, i guess? once the end of the tube is actually in water we'll see how it works.

everything used was found at local hardware stores like home depot. couldnt find a bulkhead or whatever those are so i had to improvise.

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/IMG_2287.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/IMG_2289.jpg

http://i114.photobucket.com/albums/n...k/IMG_2290.jpg



hole was cut using a $6 dremel bit, while the tank was about %70 full of water..

also have 2 damsels in there. one killed the other one now one.

[stevelkaneval]

what did you use instead of a bulkhead? that looks really good for low bugdet keep goin.

[steven_dean17]

Looking good, keep us up to date.

[MR PALM BEACH]

Looking good one suggestion, the overflow should be sticking out of the water more at least another Inch or so. What you could do Is put a an stright pipe on top of that and drill a bunch of more holes or slits In the side like you have now. It looks like now you might have a fish get stuck In the sump or even the overflow drain, thus causing a quick overflow in your display. Also you could get yourself a filter sock for down below or even build a fuge and elminate the HOB filter. You have a pretty nice start, good Luck.

[7808]

the overflow keeps my water level right at the top of the glass just out of view so you dont see a water line, i used some threaded 1" pieces and 2 rubberish gaskets i found by the sink parts to sandwich the glass.

i used 1/2" ID pvc tube to return water with my maxi jet 900 wich i may upgrade later to a higher flow one but i liked this one because its only like 8 watts and 230gph

[stevelkaneval]

nice man. i never thought of that i think i may do the same thing. im going from my 36 gal bowfront to a 20 gal long.

[7808]

figured i throw in a update, still going strong and cheap. 2 clowns and crab. found a feather duster in there the other day too. been about 5 months?



all ive been doing is chaging out a couple gallons every couple weeks, sometimes straight water sometimes salt mix. really havent had to do anything, picked out some algae the other day, it grows in the deadspots where my powerhead doesnt move enough water, in the area in front of my filter. lost 1 clown i think due to me rushing it into the tank, new one seems happy and eating for 2 months or so, just added the 2nd one a few days ago and they seem to get along good. both eating and they like to stay close to each other

[kau_cinta_ku]

looks good for a budget setup. can you explain your water changes? as you said sometimes straight water and sometimes salt mix? are you saying you take out a couple gal. of water and add plain water back with no salt mix? sorry just confused a little on that.

[7808]

i usually dont add much salt i mean, if i take out 2 gallons, i put in one gallon plain ro water, one with half the recommended salt mixture

[SkyPapa]

Looking good.

Have you checked your salinity or specific gravity?
Should be at least 33 ppt or 1.024 SG for FOWLR
Sea water is 35ppt or 1.0264 SG
You should replace evaporated water with just plain RO water.
When you remove salt water you should replace it with new salt water that is the same salinity.
Those clowns will probably be OK with lower salinity, but if you are only replacing SW with half SW and half RO water, eventually you will have all fresh water.

Don't mean to sound "preachy".
Just trying to help.

[reyno26]

Did I miss something? Did you drill the hole in the tank or was it there all along?

[7808]

ya i had a home made budget overflow with a 10g tank under the 20g but i scraped it for now, it worked well though i just didnt have enough flow in the tank and the sump wasent exactly nessisary