YOTN's 10g Economy-Build Tank Diary

[yearofthenick]

Well I have some news... because it was mothers day today, I told my wife we could do whatever she wanted... somehow the planets aligned and she wanted to go fish store shopping!
So we went to this one fish store in Sacramento and it was pretty lame. BUT they had a 20g high for $38 so we bought it. the black paint is drying on the back of it in my backyard right now. I'll be giving it a vinegar bath soon and we'll be moving everything over probably tonight.
Still no CUC or inverts.
My wife said she wants this to be a coral tank and wants to have more places to put corals. I told her the crap 15w stock lighting won't do the job, so she's also told me to order a 24" Dual T5 light... One question though, is 48 watts enough for softies and lps in a 20g high?

 

[swimmer4uus]

Congrats on the new tank. Not sure about the lighting with a 20 gal high. Which store did you pick it up at? Did you just go shopping for LFS's, or shopping AT LFS's? I've only been to 4 here in Sacramento, but are told there are a couple more outside the city.

 

[yearofthenick]

We only went to Capitol Aquarium... it was 5:30pm and most of the stores close at 6 so we didn't have the chance to look at any others. I live in Vacaville so it's a bit of a pilgrimage to Sacramento.
I was pretty disappointed with Capitol Aquarium. All of the tanks were in very poor condition (A LOT of algae and poor lighting), their prices were ridiculously high... $65 for two clowns that are supposedly "paired"? Really looked like a scam. They can't be paired if they're the same size. They had a few corals, but most of them were brown or half dead because they were under old PC's which were like 3 feet away from the water surface. Their live rock looked terrible.... covered in diatoms, no flow, entire tank was a urine yellow... yet it was supposedly fiji premium for $9/lb. Yeah right.
Are there any lfs's that are well-maintained in Sac? I just want to give my money to a store that has a good clean environment... a store that hasn't lost their passion for the hobby like Capitol.

 

[swimmer4uus]

Jeez, yeah that's one of the worse ones. I was in there the other day actually showing my roommate their "selection" if that's what you wanna call it. I saw the clowns you where talking about. I'm even skeptical on one of the pairs if they are both Occelaris. I only go there to look at the big koi they have at the entrance. The two places I recomend are Exotic Aquarium. 6643 Franklin Blvd, Sacramento, CA‎. They are really good. A little pricey, but they have their tanks really maintained, always looking nice. Good quality stuff. Plus the guys that work in the salt water section really know their stuff. The other place I visit is the Coral Reef Shop. Ste L, 2920 Arden Way, Sacramento, CA‎ . They're exclusively salt water, and mostly specialize with live goods, as their dry goods section is very small. The only problem I have with them is they have a lot of aptaisa, so watch anything coming in on a rock that you get from them.