20gal FW to SW Diary

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yoshii

Guest
:D I didn't join this site soon enough to make a diary for my 55gal, so now that I'm going to turn my 20gal freshwater to saltwater, I thought I might as well make a thread on here

I'll use some extra stuff from my 55, like an emperor 600/400/whatever-it-is HOB filter, CC, powerheads, etc.
Right now, this is my tank:






So far as livestock goes, I'm not quite sure, I'm on a high school student's budget, so idk if I'll be getting corals in the future, but as for fish, this is what I'm thinking:
1x Black and white ocellaris ~I would get a pair, but I dont think I can afford that
1x Yellow Clown Goby~I've got one in my 55 right now, I would just move him over
OR
1x Canary Blenny
1x Neon Goby~would this be too much?
Inverts:
1x Cleaner Shrimp
5(?)x Astrea snails
I'm not sure what else for a CUC
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Update :)
So yesterday I gave all my fish (except the goldfish) and decor(except gravel) to my AP biology teacher at my school and today I emptied it, washed it and started the scrape out the silicone. Then, later today I went to my LFS with the intent of leaving with a cleaner shrimp and some frozen food, and I came out with some a cleaner shrimp, cheato, a red mushroom, a "branch" of GSP, and a rock from their display tank
They didn't have any frozen food left. All of this except the cleaner shrimp will go in the 20 gal, and its all in quarantine right now.

About to rinse out the 20gal, that's the filter I'm planning on using when it's saltwater, I was just "trying it on for size"

beautiful rock I got today :)

green star polyp "branch"

tiny little shrimp

even tinier red mushroom

some cheato, lots of pods hiding in it

quite a few astrina stars on the rock, I've decided to keep them. and i also found a few TINY feather dusters

ugghh. quite a few aiptasia too!

aiptasia kinda ruined my mood, so should I go order some Joe's Juice or is there a way I can starve these guys or something not involving chemicals?
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
well I woke up this morning and almost all of the green star polyps are out, and the mushroom it open and seems happy
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
woot woot! just ordered a 24" 65watt PC light

I cant wait til it gets here
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Wow that was fast! Light came today, and got what a paid for ($46) :/
But, I'm on a tight budget so I can't fuss much, its ok, and I can upgrade in the future, when hopefully I won't be in debt already from buying corals!

Cleaner shrimp also mottled today, for a sec when I first saw the molt, I freaked out LOL
Also, question: Would a Koralia 2 (600gph) be too much for this tank? It's also kinda big and I would like any equipment in the tank to be as hidden as possible
 
aquapod 24

aquapod 24

Member
for the aptasia you could boil some RODI water and squirt it on there... you could also try lemonjuice
i think a K2 would be a little too much flow and it might cause a sand storm
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Originally Posted by AQUAPOD 24
http:///forum/post/3255493
for the aptasia you could boil some RODI water and squirt it on there... you could also try lemonjuice
i think a K2 would be a little too much flow and it might cause a sand storm
thanks, I just found one on a plastic cup I have in there(holding sand from my 55 for bacteria) so I can take that out and experiment lol
I'm going to call my LFS tomorrow and see if they ever stock peppermint shrimp, I'm thinking maybe I could buy one then after it eats the little buggers, I could return it
I'm thinkg I should just get either a K1 or the Nano size, it's only a $3 difference from where I'm buying. I cant decide
Here's another update: I just placed an order for 25lbs of dry base rock, and I'll just get some live rock from my 55 to seed it

I've been sick for the last few days and haven't really got much done, but my dad is going to help me get the rest of the silicone out and reseal, as soon as he feels better (it seems like alot of people are getting sick lately
)
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
:D Woot woot! Rock came today!
it was funny when I took it out of the box, every piece was wrapped in bubble wrap (all 9 pieces)
I've spent about 3 hours trying to make a structure out of the rock on my living room floor XD
Here are some pics:
I think im going to go with the structure in the first pic, I made a nice cave/overhang in the bottom righthand corner, but its hard to tell from the pic




 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Originally Posted by nikeSB
http:///forum/post/3258736
ive got to say, i like pic 4 the best. nice rock btw, looks like macro rocks?
thanks, the front view of the setup in pic#4 won't upload though :/ its hard to see that there's a random rock just kinda sticking up there and it looks a bit funny, but now Im thinking of changing it again lol, I just like the main look of the setup in pic #4, but I love the cave/overhang(kinda hard to too in pics) for the setup in pic#1
maybe I can combine them somehow :p
Yeah, marco rocks :) first time ordering from them, rocks look great, and I know my clown goby will love all the hole, nooks and crannies the rock has
Oh, btw, I'm planning on adding 2-3 live rocks with the dry, not just to seed it, but I like the look of fiji live too
 
nikesb

nikesb

Active Member
im using similar rocks in mine. im pretty sure its from the same source, but theyre really great rock, super light weight for how large they are
 
kevin_bullis

kevin_bullis

New Member
Seems like you have a pretty decent start, keep it up, and just think there is alwasy time to upgrade...just have fun with it.
Kevin
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
WOW I haven't updated in a looong time sorry!
Ok so, I bought some more corals (hehehe couldnt resist), all frags, some zoas that are orange with blue centers and brownish-tan rim, orange monti cap, pom pom xenia, and I think thats it.
In a few days I'm going to my LFS to pick up some silicone sealant(FINALLY) then I'll seal the tank and finally get some water in there!!
Even though I have an extra bucket of CC that I could use to save some bucks, I'm really considering get 20lbs of live sand (should I get more or less?) because it will look nicer and help with nitrates, and also I can get some narrius(sp?) snails :)
I'm almost broke lol but as long as I spend my money on my tank, I'm good

You know whats funny, I still haven't decided on a rock structure yet XD I know I'm going to make a cave/overhang on one side, an overhang/tower on the other side, but I dont really know what I'm going to do in the middle with the other rocks, and I dont want to make a wall..
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Here's some fail pics from my phone camera(shouldn't even be called a camera its so horrible)

My Zoas starting to open up after I turned on the light (in quarantine)-Free from LFS :D

Pom Pom Xenia (in quarantine)-$10 from C'slist

Orange Monti Cap <3 (in quarantine)-$10 from C'slist
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Ok, once again I'm modifying my stock list

Will this be ok?(added to the tank in this order)
1x Yellow Clown Goby
1x Ocellaris Clownfish
1x Black&White Ocellaris Clownfish
(I'm hoping these two will host a branching frogspawn)
1x Yellow-tail Blue Damsel
 
Y

yoshii

Guest
Tonight I finally got the silicone in! :D Waiting for it to dry now, I really hope its enough :/ I got my dad to do it, but he said it was really hard to get out, and he even broke the tube(yay for duct tape) but I figure I can always put more on later.
Oh also, this is my stock list:
1x Yellow Clonw Goby
1x Ocellaris Clown
1x B&W Ocellaris Clown(not aussie)
and here are pics of the silicone drying(hurry up!)
oh, and ignore the tape in the 2nd pic, it was holding the background on the outside of the tank, I need to get that off

 
Y

yoshii

Guest
A little update
The monti has darkened up nicely, looking amazing and it starting to grow even in quarantine!

I had to put on some more sealant on two of the sides, but its dry now and I want to fill it up to do a leak test, however this week has been insane with tons of homeworks and projects for school, as tomorrow is the last day of regular school, then friday and next week mon-wed I have finals D: So I will be studying and Im not sure if I can do a leak test.
But after June 9th, its...
SUMMER BREAK FOR ME!
and I can work on my aquarium all I want!
 
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