Took the plunge yesterday

[chkltcow]

Over the last week, I cleaned out an old tank a co-worker of mine gave me and while joking with the wife, we put it at the end of our garden tub. It sat there while she took a bath, and she loved how it looked, and gave me permission to go ahead and setup the SW tank I've been thinking about doing. I filled it Thursday with a heater at 76 degrees, and then yesterday spent way more money than I wanted to getting the salt, hydrometer, live rock, powerheads, and sand. The guy didn't sell live sand, but I got a bag of Caribsea Aragonite. He said with the live rock and the sponge he'll give me out of one of his saltwater tanks, it will seed the sand with what I need just as well as "live" sand, but it may tank a bit of time for colonies of pods. That sound about right to you guys?

Anyway, I hadn't planned on buying everything so soon. I had intended to mix the saltwater and let it run with heater and powerheads until Wednesday (next time he's open) and put the LR/Sand in then. The problem right now is that I don't have sufficient lighting for much of anything. I'm building a custom canopy for the tank, and the Current Sattelite 65w Power Compact I ordered hasn't come in yet So, right now all I have is a Current Nova T5 flourescent that I picked up as a "I need it now... and it will make a nice extra light" purchase. It's only 14w, but that's a BRIGHT 14w!!

So what's my next step guys? What kind of inverts/cleaners should I try to get for the tank? I'll probably have to request he order them for me, as I think the only thing he keeps around are hermit crabs. If I take the sponge from him and use it to seed the tank, how long should I wait before adding the cleaners or a small blue damsel?

I'll get some pics up soon, but there's not much there except some bare LR and makeshift canopy until I can finish the good one.

 

[jimdogg187]

is yout lr cured or uncured? when i set mine up, my lfs (who gets all my money anyway) sold me cured rock for the price of uncured. i let the tank run for three weeks dosing it everyday with b-ionic calcium and once a week with reef complete and coral-vital. i took my water back to the shop, they tested all my levels for me, then added a beginning clean up crew. one algae blenny, 3 turbo snails, 5 hermit crabs. perhaps it was too early for the blenny; however, it is doing just fine buuut, if the live rock is uncured, it may need to run in your tank with a good protein skimmer for 1-2 months. you can tell when the rock is cured by taking a piece out and smelling it. if it smells rancid, it's still curing. don't worry about the light. honestly, you won't need a good lighting set until you get corals and anemones, which sould be a pretty long time from now.

 

[chkltcow]

It's cured. It's been in a tank since he got it, and it smells just fine. The only thing I could smell was the standard saltwater smell.

 

[jimdogg187]

thats good. i'd give it some time to let everything in the tank balance out. wait one week, then test your water. consult your lfs at this time. if everything is okay then start off with your clean up crew. just remember, in this hobby, patients will often be rewarding, while haste will often cost you lots of money. jim

 

[Max]

cool... FOWLR or reef?

 

[chkltcow]

For now, fish only. I don't know enough about corals and what's aggressive to try to do anything in a tank that small. Once everything is settled with it and it's cycled and the LR has some time to show grow out, I'll consider some corals.

 

[chkltcow]

Pictures:

Those were taken not too long after adding the coarse arogonite. It hadn't finished settling yet. I've also added 3 more small fragments of live rock that were covered in a reddish/purple coraline algae, and even noticed a bit of purple coraline on the live rock that was in those pics as of yesterday before adding the new pieces. I also added a bag of Arag-Alive fine sand on top and mixed it around a bit... about a 2" sand bed now. It settled quick and it's crystal clear this morning.

 

[parker313]

That's awesome! I'd never get out of the tub

 

[hyrookin]

wow! thats the most unusual place I've seen a tank!
lookin good!

 

[chkltcow]

The guy at the LFS said to go ahead and add 1 or 2 damsels to cycle the tank... but with the LR and all it should have been pretty much done to begin with. The fish have been in since Wednesday and not a trace of ammonia showing up... so apparently it's already cycled!!

Here's the current inhabitants...
Blue Damsel:

Three Stripe Damsel:

And the wife is already asking about doing a large (120+ gal) saltwater tank in the dining room area!! She likey the marine fishy!! SCORE!!!

 

[jimdogg187]

sweet, 120+ gallons in the dinning room. thats where i have my 125 set up. it creates a nice evironment when i have guests over or just want to snack on some food and watch the fish. do you want to do reef or fish only? i love my reef tank, but my fish only is my true pride and joy.

 

[chkltcow]

I'd prefer a fish only. I love how reef tanks look, but I simply don't know enough at this point about corals to feel comfortable doing a reef tank. Besides that, I already have a planted 55g and a planted 20g.... and I know how overwhelming it can be just taking care of the plants, you kinda miss out on the fish because of the plants. I imagine a reef tank would be a lot like that, where corals become the main focus instead of fish.

The 125g is still a bit off in time. I've looked at glass tanks, and I've considered building a plywood tank. Depending on price, there's a chance I could even do a 200g tank in the space we have.