Look what I got for my anniversary!

[sugarfox03]

We picked up this gorgeous 105g Oceanic tank, with predrilled overflow, and Oceanic cherry stained oak stand & hood. The stand and hood are brand new, whereas the tank used to be a reef tank. Can't beat this combo for $250 huh? I'm excited. My bday is soon, so I am getting lights then. I'm going to go VERY slow with this tank. I wont even add fish until next year. I plan on making 50% of the rock to save some money. LR ain't cheap, and I'm on a college student budget! This will be a fowlr, reefs are too difficult. I'm still planning my stock list, so far I know I want a dwarf fuzzy lionfish, coral beauty, a maroon clown, maybe some type of fairy wrasse and/or anthias, yellow tang. I really want a blue hippo, but I am not sure this tank would suit one. Its only 48.5" wide, 28.5" high, and 18" deep (I think). Anyway, here are the pics of the tank. Any ideas on how I can build a refugium, and how to get the water back inside the tank? This is my first go at a large tank.

 

[sepulatian]

Wow, that is an awsome tank!!!! Your hubby treats you good!!!!!! You trained him well

You have so many possibilities open to you right now. Take your time and think about it (as I see you are already doing) Sweet tank, keep us posted!!!! And yes, you can definately make your own live rock mixing it with base rock. Base is like 2.99/lb :joy:

 

[sugarfox03]

I was going to buy 50+ lbs of LR (I already have around 20 in another tank) and I want to make 50-75 lbs from the concrete and shells thing, if I can figure it out. Base rock is still a bit expensive at 2.99/lb, you can find some places on the big auction site where you can get LR for that price. I'm going to get my LR from this site though, everyone always speaks so highly of it! And yes, I will be taking my time. I am having a "great" time with my 24 gal tank right now, I now see what rushing into things can be like. I'm not adding fish for a good 3-4 months (want the rock to be completely cured), after that, at most it will be 1 fish a month, but that may be too quick. I do want to decide on my stock list before I start adding fish though, so I can add them in the right order. I forgot to mention that I would like to add a small school of green chromis (between 3-6), would these be ok with the fish I listed? What do you all recommend for fish for this size tank?

 

[poniegirl]

That tank is cherry! No pun intended. 250.00 OMGosh what a great buy!
Congrats on the anniversary, also!

 

[bigblue69]

Very nice tank and not bad on the price

 

[xdave]

I love that stand. Don't look now but i think your cats are planning something.

 

[qreef]

Sugarfox
Don't make your own rock because I did and I think is a waste of time and $$$. Its took me 8 months to cure the rock and constant change of water. where u live in palm beach? I live in boynton beach and I have a refugium you can alway welcome to see my refugium. I trims the vegi in my refugium all the time and you can have them to start your refugium.

 

[sugarfox03]

Originally Posted by Qreef
Sugarfox
Don't make your own rock because I did and I think is a waste of time and $$$. Its took me 8 months to cure the rock and constant change of water. where u live in palm beach? I live in boynton beach and I have a refugium you can alway welcome to see my refugium. I trims the vegi in my refugium all the time and you can have them to start your refugium.
Really? I have heard from people on here who had a lot of success making their own rock. I plan on keeping the rock I made with live rock & live sand. Would that help? I live in west Lake Worth, not too far from ya! I'd love to check it out, I have honestly never seen one in person, and I'd like to get some ideas, so I know what the heck I am doing.

And thanks for the compliments everyone! I'm in love with it! Its one of those like I have seen here, that I always thought, "man, I wish that was my tank!" and now I'm like "man, that is my tank!" I'm going to tape some pics of fish in there so I have something to look at!
The sticker on the inside of the stand said "Cherry Oak"? I worked for a cabinet company, and it sure looks like Oak with a cherry stain. It looks nice whatever it is!
And yes, the kitties are ALWAYS into something! Especially the crazy bengal, he's nuts. He's teaching the little foster kitten how to get into trouble.

I can't open a cabinet, or bring in a box or bag without those two jumping right in.

 

[mandarin w]

I think somebody LOVES you.

That will be a beautiful tank when your get it up and running.
May I make a couple suggestions. You can get some Krylon spray paint, and paint the back of the tank glass BLACK. Outside of course. just get painters tape the blue stuff and tape off the trim and the side. Also get some cardboard and cut them to fit in where the glass tops fit in. and tape it down. That way no overspray gets inside the tank. The krylon drys fast and does run. The tank will look so sweet. and it also helps make the fish just pop.
Second suggestion I would make is if you can. You said you used to work at a cabinet shop (so maybe you will have a good ideal of how to do this and make it look good) is put doors on the side of your stand. Once you have your equipment in there and it is packed in tight you need to get in and under to do some maintainance. (tighting bulk head every few months, fix plumbing problems.) Anyway when the time comes you will be very glad you put doors on the side of the stand.
My cats always opened the doors and got into things too, I finally had to put those child saftly latches on all the cabinet doors.

 

[qreef]

Sugarfox
shoot me an email when you would like to come pvymailatyahoodotcom

 

[acrylic51]

Second suggestion I would make is if you can. You said you used to work at a cabinet shop (so maybe you will have a good ideal of how to do this and make it look good) is put doors on the side of your stand. Great idea have seen it done, but being with the factory finish might be tough to match the stain good.....You can get close, but you'll be able to tell, and why destroy a nice looking piece for a doorway!!!!!

 

[xdave]

Boy, i don't know how many times I wished there was a side door too.

 

[sugarfox03]

I'm pretty little, so I'll probably be doing most of the work under there after everything is installed. The door thing does sound like a good idea, but I would hate to cut on that stand, its too pretty! I do plan on painting the back black. Will do that probably this weekend. Thanks for letting me know what kind of paint to buy, that was my next question!

And I got a "hey, when are we setting up the big tank?" today. He's not much of an animal person, but I think he's just as excited to get this thing up and running as me!

 

[sugarfox03]

Can anyone recommend a good return pump?

 

[acrylic51]

BlueLine........

 

[readster]

nice tank, but $250 seems kinda high.

 

[joshradio]

man... that makes the bowling ball with my name engraved on it I got for my wife seem sorta crappy! lol
What, I wanted her to think of me as she was throwing that 16lb'er down the lanes! ...swear!

 

[acrylic51]

Originally Posted by readster
nice tank, but $250 seems kinda high.
Not really considering the average of $1.00 per gallon and then a nice looking stand and such.....Good deal IMO

 

[readster]

yeah, i guess i'm just a tight wad, i look for the bargain basement, bang for the buck category.

 

[sugarfox03]

The guy we bought it from paid $1000 for everything, he never used the stand/canopy (still had papers in it) and the tank was used as a reef tank. I think its an awesome deal, considering I paid $250 for my 24 gal tank (and still replaced everything in it, so I paid $250 for a glass cube tank - no stand! I could have just bought a glass tank and made a canopy/stand, which I planned on doing, but this was just too good to pass up, and we don't have to work on making anything. All we have to do is reseal the tank and we're good to go!