20gal FW to SW Diary

[yoshii]

Also, the other day I picked up 30lbs of dry agranite(sp?) sand for only $20
I got a background for the tank, blue/black and a 2x4' thing of eggcrate, this was the only size they had, or else I would have gotten smaller.
btw, I'm going to use the eggcrate (and some PVC my dad has) to prop up the rocks so they dont lay on the bottom pane and create dead spots.

 

[yoshii]

So today I got off from school early cause I only had 1 final today, so I got to work on my aquarium!

I put it in place, filled it with water, cut some PVC pipes and eggcrate, rinsed the sand, put the rock in, set up the filter/heater/etc so now I'm waiting for the sand storm to dissipate
Btw, the sand is not going to be that high, its mostly piled in the front, but I'm going to wait until I can see what I doing before I smooth it out
Pics!

 

[yoshii]

Ok, what I don't understand is why my sand bed isn't high enough to high the egg-crate/PVC stand. I used the sand bed calculator on this site, and plugged in numbers until I got 30lbs as a result. My sand bed should be 2.571in high. But its not. It's not even 2in high, and its not even spread evenly. I'm frustrated because I think maybe their wasn't 30lbs in that bag. I didn't weigh it before I put the sand in, but I did notice that the bag was originally meant for 40lbs of sand, and they put a sticker over it that said 30lbs.
ugh. but on a happier note, I got to go to my (marine-only) LFS today And of course, I couldn't resist only buying snails

So, I bought some "Arctic Pods" food-$20
Green monti cap w/blue polyps-$15

Orange skirted palys-$15
4 astrea/turbo snails-$10
1 weird hermit disguised as a snail -__-
and some beautiful dry tonga branch rock-$3

Here are some pics:
(note, the lights are off as to not stress the corals, so the colors look off, the "brown" monti is really green.)
more pics in next post, oh and my tank is starting to clear up

 

[yoshii]

I'm kinda impatient about the tank clearing, so I decided to try something. I put folded paper towels in my filter and let the water flow over them. I figured this would help pickup some of the "cloudiness particles" And it works! Just in a few hours you can see the color of the paper towels is darker, so I take them out and throw them away. My dad suggested coffee filter, so I have two of those in too.
I washed the tonga and put it in my tank, but its still a little hard to see, so I'll mess with it more later.
Theres also a pic of the mysterious hermit, who is very shy and has "furry" legs, and is also a very light tan/off whiteish color with a black and white head.

 

[yoshii]

So this morning, I looked at my tank and its almost completely clear

and I also realized I forgot to put the background on, but I'll do that later
Also, I took some eggcrate, scissors and zip ties and make a stand kinda of thing for my corals in quarantine. There are different shelves at different heights for different types of corals(according to their lighting needs), and also for light acclimation.
Ok, there is noooo way there was 30lbs of sand in that bag. I bet if I spread it out, its only 1.5" tall. If it was really 30lbs, it should be 2.571" tall. grrrrr Petsmart.