New Tank Journal

j trigger

Member
9/27/04

[hr]
+
Okay im just starting my first saltwater tank, and i will start posting my progress throughout the cycling time, and hopefully throughout the year.
Maybe this thread can even turn out to be educational. :)
I bought the tank (29g) about 3 days ago and today I finally added sand (about 40lbs) and water today. I will hopefully be getting some LR thursday to start the cycle.
I have not added any salt yet, I will when the sandstorm settles (I made the mistake of adding more sand after the tank was half full).
Here first is a picture of the tank right when I took it out of the box:
(Also sorry about the quality of pics... Someone stole my Nikon, and now I have to use a sony 1mp...)
 

j trigger

Member
Here is a picture of the tank just filled with water and sand.
Notice the support beams I added to the bottom of the desk...
 

j trigger

Member
Here is a pic of the top of the tank with the sand sitting, and that foam im guessing is caused from the sand?
 
B

big911dog

Guest
IMHO, i would suggest the LR directly on the glass bottom, not on the sand. Prevents avalanches when critters get into the sand under the rock. do ur rockwork and work the sand around the rocks.
Good luck with ur new tank!
 

robchuck

Active Member

Originally posted by j trigger
Here is a pic of the top of the tank with the sand sitting, and that foam im guessing is caused from the sand?

The joys of fresh sand! Congrats on getting the tank started.
 

j trigger

Member
9/28/04

[hr]
+
Tank is still cloudy after about 30 hours... The sand has definately settled some though.
I also added some foam to my filter and started it up...
Hopefully all the sand will be settled by Thursday (thats when I pick up some LR).
 

j trigger

Member
9/29/04

[hr]
+
Drained all of my tank today and refilled (more carefully this time) and there is hardly any sand cloud right now.
Went and bought a hydrometer and a corallife digital thermometer today.
Tommorow I get some LR!!! :D
Ill post a picture tomm with the LR...
 

j trigger

Member
9/30/04

[hr]
+
Added the salt today, and went down to the LFS to buy some LR. I only bought 6lbs because it was $7.25/lb...
One of my friends is buying 1,000lbs next week and selling it for $5 , so im gonna wait till then to get at least another 20lb.
Still a little sandy from mixing up the salt and adding the rock.
Temp right now: 79.2F
sg: 1.024
Just took this pic at 8:41pm:
 

j trigger

Member
10/1/04

[hr]
+
Tank is finally all clear now, all the sand has settled.
Now im just trying to keep the temperature stable, im having a hard time keeping it at one temp.
This weekend:
-Im gonna buy some timers for my lights.
-Hopefully buy a small moonlight.
-Maybe a few more lbs of LR.
-I want to add a black background, but im wondering if this is gonna be hard now because there is not much room to apply the backing between the wall and tank. Whats a good method to applying those backgrounds?
 

j trigger

Member
10/10/04

[hr]
+
Okay its been ten days since my last post and Ive gotten some new stuff.
I saw a classified ad in my local newspaper that someone was selling LR, so I went and bought 30lbs of it.
Its nice looking, and has a lot of purple coraline, and quite a few very small feather dusters.
I also got 4 red leg hermit crabs, and 3 snails.
I have to work on the aquascaping, and I might take that big piece on the right and trade it for a smaller one. That one big piece is 20lbs.
Here are the most recent pics:
 
Top