So, New tank......

[oneradtek]

So today i set up my first 55 gallon, and ive had previous salt water tanks but smaller. Its a beautiful black finish custom made with a wooden top and bottom. Standard 55 gallo, with 2 250watt metal halide and 2 actinics with moon lighting......40 lbs aragonite and 50 lbs live rock. That rock comes tomrrow and i cant wait. Also i have 2 rio power heads that are really strong. looking to get pics up soon, but until then.......ill keep u posted

 

[farslayer]

So you going reef with this tank?

 

[oneradtek]

well not reef but maybe a few small things such as zoos or mushrooms, something that is photosynthetic and not too much maintenance. probably adding 6 fish, im thinking a lemonpeel angel, 2 perculas, and 3 green chromis, i have my live rock in my living room, tryin to think of a good setup....any ideas? i was thinking somethin such as a c shape . i will have pics up in a lil bit

 

[farslayer]

Aquascaping is an art where I fail miserably, so I'll leave that to the experts Now I would caution the angel, they can be iffy, especially around zoos and such. I had a half black years ago that I had to ditch since my zoos kept disappearing.

 

[oneradtek]

Well heres the first of many

Tank prior to anything

Pre setup, but with water and pumps and filters

Live rock 50lbs

my electric with IPS

 

[oneradtek]

Im now gonna go construct my aqua scape, wish me luck

 

[farslayer]

Looks good so far! Make sure you post more pics of the rockwork.

 

[oneradtek]

Hers some rock work, not sure if im gonna keep it this way yet.....i was thinking of maybe like an island in the middle thats tall??? let me know people

 

[oneradtek]

So heres the finished product, i kind of moved the rock on teh left up and stacked it more but pretty much left it the same, i got the light on and the wooden top on too for some pics.....hows it look people?

 

[nereef]

looking good so far. a black background would hide all that equipment.

 

[oneradtek]

ditto, thats next, quick question, is it a cooked shrimp that i can put in my tank to jump start teh cycle or what? i forgot

 

[dischirm]

That is nice looking rock you have!! The rock should start your cycle off just fine. I would suggest that you "feed your invisible fish" everyday to keep the cycle on track.

 

[sporty99]

you bought some nice rock. where did you order that from if you dont mind.

 

[oneradtek]

well i got it from a local store "fairmount Acquarium" but the rock is from Fiji and the company is Walt Smith, and the email is********* so you all think that the rock-work looks ok then? another thing that has started botherig me is that the tank is used and the calcium on teh glass previously would not get off teh glass with lemon, or vinegar. so now im left with a slight haze, nothing too bad but enough to where i notice it and it pisses me off haha
Please remember that this site is hosted by a store and linking to competitor stores is not allowed. Thanks

 

[jonthefishguy]

Last time I checked, Walt Smith did not sell to individuals. They are a wholesaler and sale only to businesses such as myself in order to keep the market fair. Now, the boxes say WALT SMITH because nearly all the fiji rock comes from them and in order to make it fair, the businesses that sell LR by the box uncured is not supposed to open the box and cherry pick it.

 

[oneradtek]

yea well i just wrote what the box said and i got it for an amazing price, 200 bucks. and its a huge store dedicated to fish and ponds its awesome. he told me to keep my lights off for a month so im only puttin on moon lights at night for show but it makes sense while the rock cures.....io was really happy with the quality of the rock though

 

[oneradtek]

So i must say that the tank has now cleared up and ive been feeding my "fish" everyday, and i got a nice background which i have yet to fit on my tank permanently, although i did try it on for size and it looks good, so thank you for the suggestion. I got a water change scheduled for next week to cycle. Im planning on doing this about for 3 weeks and get my water tested to see where my nitrates and ammonium stand. im keeping my lights off and the temperature without heater is around 76-77 so im figuring with lights on it'll be perfect without a heater. I might get one for backup in case. i hate the cloudyness on the tank from a prior tanks calcium deposits. But i guess i'll have to deal with it until my next tank. it might go away after i buy a nice scruber because it might be just the sediment from my aragonite washed up on the glass but it doesnt look that way, but still should help. So, im thinking.....when will it be okay to add inverts? im thinking 3 weeks. and i wanna get a few crabs and snails along with a emerald crab. i think that they are really awesome looking and have amazing character. then followed by 3 green or blue chromis.......then a percula......and then......idont know.....anyone got any ideas?????? butterfly??? idk i know thats a ways down teh road for those but just ideas
jon the fish guy, my rock came alone in the pack and we just opened to compare the two boxes to see which one had better stuff, we didnt swap anything though....it was a nice box of rock though

 

[oneradtek]

 

[oneradtek]

so i re-aquascaped my tank into two seperate islands on each side of the tank......id say it looks alot better and im now going into my second week of cycling. Should i maybe in a week or so get a few crabs? Fenner says that the second week or so you should add your clean up crew to keep algae booms down. But since im cycling uncured rock i dont wanna poison them to death

 

[dragonzim]

You should add your clean up crew when you are done cycling and not just by the time that has passed. Did you get any test kits to check the water yourself or are you just taking water to your LFS? Once your ammonia is back to zero you can start adding some inverts...