Azfishgal New Tank Diary!

[azfishgal]

OK, here are the long awaited pictures......well, long awaited for me! I feel like things are finally starting to come along and I wanted to start one thread to share the journey of our first saltwater tank! :cheer:
First we have the 125 gallon tank. Boy, was that bad boy heavy!

The sump came next (still a little disappointed that my refuge is on the small side, but we'll make it work. From right to left it goes like this: water flows into lr > refuge > skimmer > filter sponge between black grids > return. This is actually backwards and will be turned around once it's in the stand.

The beginning of the stand! :cheer: (That's hubby working on it, not thrilled to be in picture.

) Top of frame there is 1.5" steel tubing.

Back wall is now on!

Joint work

Well, that's it for now. Hope to have more pics for you by the end of the day as the stand is being worked on. My husband has a new motivation to get it done. His parents are coming into town in two weeks and they are taking back our old bed frame/drawers. The tank is currently sitting on top of it, so we have to move the tank so they can take it away.

 

[azreefgirl]

Lookin' good! :cheer:
Keep us posted!

 

[joncat24]

looks like the start of a nice project...keep the pics coming every step of the way....

 

[garnet13aj]

lol, isn't it a pain putting that tank in the car? It barely fit in my roomate's dad's car and we had to put the stand in there too and I was afraid it was going to fall over and crack after all the effort I put into getting it, not to mention the money.

 

[ginarox]

yes please keep us posted,,have a great day..

 

[azfishgal]

Got my salt today and it's mixing in my QT!

With the salt came my return pump, test kit, my skimmer and refractometer from SWF. I also received my Aqua Gloves, light for my refuge, and pro acclimator. Next week I should be getting my Koralia powerheads. Hubby is doing a great job on the stand, as I'm typing this message. Will post more pics soon! Can you tell I'm excited!!!!!

After all this I get to sit with a bare tank with lr and ls for what, about 4 weeks?

Oh well, at least it's on it's way!

 

[azfishgal]

Here's another picture of the stand, it's actually starting to look like a stand now! :cheer: Outside wood is Cherry. Hubby said he can't do much more now until he goes shopping at Lowes. I guess there are a few tools he needs to buy. Any excuse will do, right?

 

[teresaq]

cant wait to see some more. stand looks good so far

 

[scubaguy]

Cool watching this thread for finished product but looks great so far. azfishgal you get a new tank stand and he gets new tools fair deal I think :hilarious

 

[clowngyrl]

looking good!

keep the pics coming..

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by ScubaGuy
Cool watching this thread for finished product but looks great so far. azfishgal you get a new tank stand and he gets new tools fair deal I think :hilarious
Oh, I'm not complaining. He can buy any tool he wants, as long as my stand gets made.

Salt was added to QT last night, but it's still cloudy. I'm assuming from what I have read it's normal and it will clear in a day or so. Is that right? I haven't done any testing yet, as I'm waiting for it to clear.

 

[beatlesfan]

looks nice so far Azfish i am just a little ahead of you. I have the equipment stand and am getting ready to start mixing salt this weekend and start cyclign somtime this week. Hope all goes well!

 

[joncat24]

are you planning on any kind of center support in your stand??? That looks like it needs just a little something more in the middle. Don't take it wrong, it looks great, I was just wondering

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by joncat24
are you planning on any kind of center support in your stand??? That looks like it needs just a little something more in the middle. Don't take it wrong, it looks great, I was just wondering

I do believe he does have a center support going in. The top part is a 1.5" steel tubing rectangle that sits on the top and then wood on top of that, where he has nailed the back to and will nail the facing to. (Edit: Oh, and the steel is bolted to the four corner posts.) Not that he weighs even close to what the tank will but he's already stood on top of it and bounced up and down several times on the top rails, not so much as a squeek. I thought he was going to break his neck, but thank goodness he didn't. Probably no more pics until Wednesday or Thursday as it's time for my husband to go back to work (works nights, sleeps days). This waiting game is so hard!

That's why I'm starting my QT, just so I have something to do, even if it is to watch cloudy water.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by Beatlesfan
looks nice so far Azfish i am just a little ahead of you. I have the equipment stand and am getting ready to start mixing salt this weekend and start cyclign somtime this week. Hope all goes well!

Well, isn't that nice!

Do you have a diary started? I'll look around and see.

 

[extremepcs]

I'm just jealous because your husband is working outside, wearing SHORTS! It's like 10 deg here in Michigan and we have 6" of snow on the ground.

I had to buy a heater for my garage just so I could get my canopy built!
Looks like the stand is coming along nicely! I bought some new tools to finish mine.

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by extremepcs
I'm just jealous because your husband is working outside, wearing SHORTS! It's like 10 deg here in Michigan and we have 6" of snow on the ground.

I had to buy a heater for my garage just so I could get my canopy built!
Looks like the stand is coming along nicely! I bought some new tools to finish mine.

Ya, well in summer you might not be jealous when it's 110 degrees, IN THE SHADE. It was actually pretty chilly here for a few weeks, I even had to scrape ice off my windshield before taking my kids to school. And I'm not talking about a little frost, I actually had to go back into the house and grab the scraper I use to clean my pots.

I've lived her for more than six years and I believe that was the first. It also looks like we lost several of our plants, we'll have to wait until it warms up to see if they are going to come back from the below freezing temps we got. BUT, all in all, yes it's pretty nice here in the winter. Of course my husband wore shorts when we lived in Albuquerque and there was snow outside, so go figure.

 

[scubaguy]

Originally Posted by azfishgal
Oh, I'm not complaining. He can buy any tool he wants, as long as my stand gets made.

Salt was added to QT last night, but it's still cloudy. I'm assuming from what I have read it's normal and it will clear in a day or so. Is that right? I haven't done any testing yet, as I'm waiting for it to clear.

It should take a couple of hours for the salt to dissolve. Do you have a bare bottom QT and how big is your QT? How many PH do you have in it to circulate the water?

 

[azfishgal]

Originally Posted by ScubaGuy
It should take a couple of hours for the salt to dissolve. Do you have a bare bottom QT and how big is your QT? How many PH do you have in it to circulate the water?
The QT is bare and it's a nano tank, stock items, so the pump I guess acts as a PH, but was told by Hot (can't remember his full name) I need a regular ph until it's cleared up. It's been 36 hours now and still cloudy. Will go to Walmart and buy a cheap ph to stick in there. From now on I'll mix my water in a trash can with my 600gph ph coming next week. Was planning on doing that for future water changes anyway, but thought since it's a bare tank it would be ok to mix the salt in there. It's a Cube Masters, so cheap tank, but it's just a QT, so didn't want to spend a lot of money.

 

[scubaguy]

Yeah I would say you need a small 214 PH to help circulate that salt and water.