Here we go! (NEW PICS Nov.3/2010)

fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Well its been a long road, I bought the aquarium in Sept.09 and here its Sept.10, finally the aquarium is up and running! Its now just waiting for my shipment of live rock to come in. Going with Bali raw and uncured live rock! Its going to be 8$ a LB so I ordered 200 LBs
. So ya where to start! I filled the tank in the first week of September and got the fuge going! Have some small bits of LR/algae in there. I dont know if this is a good idea or not but I have been adding the water from the water changes from my Bio-cube to the tank to A) break in the Skimmer and B) start the cycle and C) give the fuge some food.. Anyhoo here are some pics!
 
the tank with the lights on 3 120 watt LED pannels and right now 1 48" Glo T5 with 1 18000k / 1 actinic light :
 

 
the tank with the moon lights on:
 

 
LED moon lights them selves:
 

 
pic of the skimmer reef octo 250 extream:
 

 
first sump:
 



 
and finally 2nd sump/fuge
 
 
fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Well the Live rock is in the tank! 200 lbs of Bali live rock @ a whopping 10$ a lb :S Oh well It looks realllllly nice. The rock has been in the tank for a week and a half and I have yet to have a spike of ammonia, max it has gotten is .3ppm, .3 nitrite and 10 ppm nitrate. I have been testing every day and I'm waiting for the spike that isn't happening :) Guess that's what happens when you go over kill on the skimmer and have a fuge going before the rock comes. ;)
Things I have found are: Some LPS corals (Don't know what they are but they look really happy, oh they are too small to get a pic of with my crappy camera they are about the size of a dime.) some star polyps, some zoos, and some clove polyps. There are thousands of pods and what nots as well. Any whooo here are some pics to show you how things are going! :)
my aquarium with no light scaling!

my aquarium with no light scaling!

Some closer rock pics:


 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
WOW...that's some interesting rock.....I sure hope for $10 a lb you got some good hitchhikers with it
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
i almost got bali when i set up my tank i liked the look of it just not the price! but it looks very good, almost looks similar to tonga branch. what size tank? and what do you plan on doin with it as far as corals? im assuming youre gonna have corals because of the lighting.
 
fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Thanks for the complements, I dont know if the price was worth it I was expecting around 8$ a lb.... But oh well its a one time expence and it dose look really good.
The tank is a 125 gal :) 72"x24"x18" total volume is around 150 gal with the two sumps. I'm going to do a mixed reef with SPS near the top and zoos/shrooms/LPS down below. I'm going to upgrade the lights as well. Add 48 cree LEDs to the mix. then there should be more then enough light to do anything anywhere in the tank. Right now I'm sure that I could do any thing right blow the current LED panels but they do not have the coverage to get to all the spots in the tank.
 
tlsohio

tlsohio

Member
Really nice start!! Keep up the good work and remember "Patience is a virtue"! Especially in this hobby...LOL!!
PS. I like the pet camio appearances, chuckle...
 
fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Eh men to that slow and steady in this hobby all the way! :)
I was just wondering what to put in as a clean up crew. Everything looks to be 0 when ever I do tests :D (Man that was fast!)
I was thinking
3 Emereld crabs
50 Scarlet reef hermits
5 Electric blue hermits
5 Electric orange hermits
25 Tongan Nassarius Snail s
Thats the list that I have so far I was wondering what other snails/inverts I should add for the clean up crew.
Tanks guys!!! :)
 
tlsohio

tlsohio

Member
I notice that in the pictures, you don't have sand in the tank yet, do you plan on putting sand in?? If you do, it will probably cause a cycle to some degree. So, if you are putting sand in it may be premature for the clean up crew. I would personally hold off on the electric crabs as they tend to be a little more pricey and I would wait until the tank was a little more established before adding those. I personally don't care for the Nassarius snails I don't think they really benefit the tank that much, someone else may have a different opinion. I like margarita snails, bumble bee snails, and the big Mexican turbos. Don't put your Mexicans in until you have some algae growth or they will starve to death. I like the red and blue leg hermits they are relatively inexpensive and do a wonderful job. You could probably have 100 of those in a 180. Hope this helps.
 
fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Yes I do plan on putting sand into the aquarium but not untill the end of the month. I blew the budgit with the live rock hahaha only have 90 LBs. I dont plan on getting the clean up crew untill November some time as well.
 
btwk12

btwk12

Member
nassarius snails are sand sifting snails and they borrow in the sand so i wouldnt get them until sand also. im the opposite of you guys i dont like crabs that much i prob have 15-20 in my 110 they crawl all over my corals and kill my snails i like a variety of snails better. ( just my opinion)
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Quote:
Originally Posted by btwk12 http:///forum/thread/380477/here-we-go-new-pics-oct-18-2010#post_3320488
nassarius snails are sand sifting snails and they borrow in the sand so i wouldnt get them until sand also. im the opposite of you guys i dont like crabs that much i prob have 15-20 in my 110 they crawl all over my corals and kill my snails i like a variety of snails better. ( just my opinion)
YES...definitely wait for sand......I think a few crabs are ok.....I have a few emeralds, a couple of scarlets and some zebra hermits......they all serve a purpose, and as long as you don't get too many.....you should be ok
 
spanko

spanko

Active Member
Nassarius snails are not sand sifters, they are stirrers. They do eat detritus from the sand while burrowing through it. They are carnivorous.
"Nassarius snails are excellent for keeping the substrate stirred and clean. They usually stay buried and eat leftover food but may emerge as you feed the other aquarium residents. hey have beautiful ornamental shells, are fast movers, and are VERY hardy snails. You will see the nassarius snails emerge from beneath the sand when you drop food in the tank in a feeding frenzy."
 
fishhunter

fishhunter

Member
Hey guys, well I have added a bunch over the last few weeks. Everything is now stable and running really good calcium is a little high though.
NH3=0
NO2=0
N03=5
Phos=0
KH=11
Cal=500
Right after the pics I bought the sand (ya blew the budget hahaha) 200 Lbs of it.
Few days later I added 10 turbos 24 Nesser snails 10 blue leggers 10 scarlet reef hermits 1 emerald crab
Yesterday I added 5 firefish and 2 clowns.
Anyhoo here are some pics
The tank


A happy shroom! ( I have a bunch of other corals that came with the live rock that are really happy and growing but they are still too small to photograph)

clown fish

Firefish
 
J

jstdv8

Guest
my rock looks like that too. Ive been told that it's proabably a form of coraline algae that is green. But I dunno.
 
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