michaeltx
Moderator
so youve answered some of the questions here and were totally confused.
So youve decided to create your own tank This is a good place to start having a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself to start out with.
alright so you decided to setup the tank. Now you need to figure out where to put this tank!
weight is going to be a major factor on where you put it look at it this way a 100 gallon tank weighs about 100# give or take estimate. Now once you add water to the tank its going to weigh 900# water weighs 8# for one gallon of water!!! If your floors are weak your going to need to beef up the floors where the tank is going to be. Now once you start to add the sand and the rock to the tank you can see the weight of the tank is going to increase!!!!
next make sure where you want to put the tank is a level surface if its unlevel it can create tension in the tank and eventually it can bust the seams out of the tank. there are ways to level slight imperfections but for large ones you will need to select a different place for the tank.
you want to chose a place out of the sunlight. Even though we put lights on out tank to mimic the real sun. the real sun coming through windows can and will cause algae problems in the tank.
Next thing you will want to do is test fill the tank.
There are a number of things that can go wrong with the tank from manufactureing all the way down to shipping that can cause the tank seams to be weakened. So a Test fill somewhere the water wont cause problems just in case will keep you from ruining your hardwood floors or carpeting. A test fill of about 24-48 hours is recomended.
So know we have the tank a place to put the tank lets talk about ways to cut costs on setting up a tank. As we all know and you as a new hobbiest will know its not cheap.
before we go on did you remember you QT or hospital tank not sure what these are read up more here to see what these are and how to set them up and their benifits. here. Thanks Beth
Everything can be done alittle bit at a time. You dont have to buy everything at one time for your new tank.
Lets talk about money saveing options available to us hobbiests.
lets talk about some of the most expensive items
Live Rock at 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of rock per gallon this can be very expensive!!!!! for a 55 gallon tank your looking at about 82 pounds of live rock recomended for it. @ $6 a pound that would be almost $500 bucks. alittle expensive huh. well there are differnt ways that you can cut that cost by alot.
1) You can buy the rock online Right now Saltwaterfish.com has Ultra Premium Fiji Live Rock 45-50lbs for a sale price of 199.99 with a $20 store credit Saltwaterfish.com's live rock page this price includes shipping. *as of 12/12/07 and subject to change. This option will need to be cured as there is dieoff during shipping.read more about live rock here Here Tanks to Mudplayer useing this type of rock has many benifits including a more diverse amount of life in the rock.
this is one way to save money.
2) another way to save money is to buy base rock and seed it with Live rock doing it will take time though the life in the rock will slowly move from the Live rock to the base rock in time it will look the same as regualr live rock. the price of base rock veries by market but is usually about 1/2 the price of regular Live ROck. this rock is usualy devoid of any life other than the bacterial buildup that helps maintain water quality
3) Dry base rock is another cost cutter. This rock is sold completely dry with absolutely no life in or on it. it will take alot more time to build up the bacterial levels needed for water quality, This option will also look just like all other live rock in time. with all the benifits of it. This type of rock will need to be seeded as well with Live Rock.
4) make you your own rock this is the cheapest way to fill a tank with rock but its also the most work needed to make it and its time consuming. Here is a link to where you can read alittle more about it.**if someone call find this link I will add it here.
So youve decided to create your own tank This is a good place to start having a lot of questions that you need to ask yourself to start out with.
alright so you decided to setup the tank. Now you need to figure out where to put this tank!
weight is going to be a major factor on where you put it look at it this way a 100 gallon tank weighs about 100# give or take estimate. Now once you add water to the tank its going to weigh 900# water weighs 8# for one gallon of water!!! If your floors are weak your going to need to beef up the floors where the tank is going to be. Now once you start to add the sand and the rock to the tank you can see the weight of the tank is going to increase!!!!
next make sure where you want to put the tank is a level surface if its unlevel it can create tension in the tank and eventually it can bust the seams out of the tank. there are ways to level slight imperfections but for large ones you will need to select a different place for the tank.
you want to chose a place out of the sunlight. Even though we put lights on out tank to mimic the real sun. the real sun coming through windows can and will cause algae problems in the tank.
Next thing you will want to do is test fill the tank.
There are a number of things that can go wrong with the tank from manufactureing all the way down to shipping that can cause the tank seams to be weakened. So a Test fill somewhere the water wont cause problems just in case will keep you from ruining your hardwood floors or carpeting. A test fill of about 24-48 hours is recomended.
So know we have the tank a place to put the tank lets talk about ways to cut costs on setting up a tank. As we all know and you as a new hobbiest will know its not cheap.
before we go on did you remember you QT or hospital tank not sure what these are read up more here to see what these are and how to set them up and their benifits. here. Thanks Beth
Everything can be done alittle bit at a time. You dont have to buy everything at one time for your new tank.
Lets talk about money saveing options available to us hobbiests.
lets talk about some of the most expensive items
Live Rock at 1 to 1-1/2 pounds of rock per gallon this can be very expensive!!!!! for a 55 gallon tank your looking at about 82 pounds of live rock recomended for it. @ $6 a pound that would be almost $500 bucks. alittle expensive huh. well there are differnt ways that you can cut that cost by alot.
1) You can buy the rock online Right now Saltwaterfish.com has Ultra Premium Fiji Live Rock 45-50lbs for a sale price of 199.99 with a $20 store credit Saltwaterfish.com's live rock page this price includes shipping. *as of 12/12/07 and subject to change. This option will need to be cured as there is dieoff during shipping.read more about live rock here Here Tanks to Mudplayer useing this type of rock has many benifits including a more diverse amount of life in the rock.
this is one way to save money.
2) another way to save money is to buy base rock and seed it with Live rock doing it will take time though the life in the rock will slowly move from the Live rock to the base rock in time it will look the same as regualr live rock. the price of base rock veries by market but is usually about 1/2 the price of regular Live ROck. this rock is usualy devoid of any life other than the bacterial buildup that helps maintain water quality
3) Dry base rock is another cost cutter. This rock is sold completely dry with absolutely no life in or on it. it will take alot more time to build up the bacterial levels needed for water quality, This option will also look just like all other live rock in time. with all the benifits of it. This type of rock will need to be seeded as well with Live Rock.
4) make you your own rock this is the cheapest way to fill a tank with rock but its also the most work needed to make it and its time consuming. Here is a link to where you can read alittle more about it.**if someone call find this link I will add it here.
