ticklemyelmo
Member
Hello all, I've been researching saltwater for a month or so now and finally have my head wrapped around the basics, or so I hope
I've had plenty of experience working with freshwater ( since its my job ) but I decided to go to the salty side since I'm bored with freshwater being around them all the time. I take care of the animals in PetSmart ( so if you have any questions about petsmart policies or prices or anything feel free to ask me...)
Anyways, I'm 17 so the first thing I had to do was convince my dad to let me do it. I asked and he sighed deeply, then replied with a "Find somewhere to put it and you can do whatever you want..." ( You can tell he's used to this by now )
Anyways after making my sales pitch that us teens are so good at giving, I told him I wanted to start with a 75 gallon. Fast forward a week and at breakfast I mentioned I wanted to get started and I was going to buy my tank today.
He replied with " Only 75 gallons? I thought bigger was better or cooler or something?...." so he said he would pay for it and that we might as well do it right the first time. My sales plan had worked
Anyways the two biggest tanks we could find around here were a 155 gallon bow front for $1300 with stand and cover or a 125 gallon for $250.
We eventually decided on the 125 because it was pretty much the same size as the bow front just without the obvious bow. We bought a nicer stand online for a total of $476 for the tank and stand. We had a new one delivered to the store which we picked up this past wednesday.
I took him to a very nice local saltwater store 2 weeks ago and even though he won't admit it, I can tell hes pretty excited about it too
Although I didn't mention the water/electricity bill yet
By the way, the tank is an AGA 72x18x24. 6 feet long, 2 feet high and 18 inches wide.
Today is my day off so I would have been setting it all up right now but I'm still waiting for the stand to get here ( being shipped freight ) and Im also waiting for the live sand, test kit and mats. I got 3 of these mats to put under the stand to act as a cushion and to absorb water.
Also, my Proclear Aquatics filter got here on Thursday but it was missing a piece and the protein skimmer had a huge crack in it so I called and they said they would overnight the replacement parts to me at no charge
Also, since my tank is not drilled, I hear if the siphon stops my display tank will overflow? Is there any way to prevent that or at least reduce the chances? My dad would not appreciate a second swimming pool, I say it'd be fun
Also, what if the wet/dry filter overflows? Is there anything I can buy like a check valve or something to prevent that?
Here's some pics of the unglamorous tank wrapped in bubble wrap with a 10" TV remote as reference...
So anyways thats my short novel- hope to learn a whole bunch more!
I've had plenty of experience working with freshwater ( since its my job ) but I decided to go to the salty side since I'm bored with freshwater being around them all the time. I take care of the animals in PetSmart ( so if you have any questions about petsmart policies or prices or anything feel free to ask me...)
Anyways, I'm 17 so the first thing I had to do was convince my dad to let me do it. I asked and he sighed deeply, then replied with a "Find somewhere to put it and you can do whatever you want..." ( You can tell he's used to this by now )
Anyways after making my sales pitch that us teens are so good at giving, I told him I wanted to start with a 75 gallon. Fast forward a week and at breakfast I mentioned I wanted to get started and I was going to buy my tank today.
He replied with " Only 75 gallons? I thought bigger was better or cooler or something?...." so he said he would pay for it and that we might as well do it right the first time. My sales plan had worked
Anyways the two biggest tanks we could find around here were a 155 gallon bow front for $1300 with stand and cover or a 125 gallon for $250.
We eventually decided on the 125 because it was pretty much the same size as the bow front just without the obvious bow. We bought a nicer stand online for a total of $476 for the tank and stand. We had a new one delivered to the store which we picked up this past wednesday.
I took him to a very nice local saltwater store 2 weeks ago and even though he won't admit it, I can tell hes pretty excited about it too
Although I didn't mention the water/electricity bill yet
By the way, the tank is an AGA 72x18x24. 6 feet long, 2 feet high and 18 inches wide.
Today is my day off so I would have been setting it all up right now but I'm still waiting for the stand to get here ( being shipped freight ) and Im also waiting for the live sand, test kit and mats. I got 3 of these mats to put under the stand to act as a cushion and to absorb water.
Also, my Proclear Aquatics filter got here on Thursday but it was missing a piece and the protein skimmer had a huge crack in it so I called and they said they would overnight the replacement parts to me at no charge
Also, since my tank is not drilled, I hear if the siphon stops my display tank will overflow? Is there any way to prevent that or at least reduce the chances? My dad would not appreciate a second swimming pool, I say it'd be fun
Here's some pics of the unglamorous tank wrapped in bubble wrap with a 10" TV remote as reference...
So anyways thats my short novel- hope to learn a whole bunch more!
