happy me .. i'll post pics l8er in the day

[cokevanilla]

finally, tommorrow I will go shopping for the tank Via Aqua (http://commodityaxis.com/ProductData.aspx?id=37) ; the link provided it's for u to see howw the tank looks like ; the price is 230 with taxes in ...so I guess it's ok ; be sure that the undergravel filter is going out asap

i'll post some pics tommorrow in the afternoon


yupiiii

:p
;)
:D


i'll also get a heater (won titanium), a cheap hydrometer and a digital thermometer ; i'll order some 15lbs sugar size oolitic sand (aragonite) and i've already found LR for 6$ a pound..and i'll get like 30 lbs

this is my first try at SW world and I am so excited :)

[Detritivore]

cool. sounds fun. :thumbsup: most important thing is to be patient.
good luck

[Irvine Man]

6 bucks a pound!!! that better be some great rock! Marshall?? Tonga??
try to find some figi for around 3-4 bucks a pound. those rocks add up! my two cents!

[keckles]

The cheapest rock here is $7.00 a lb.

We don't all live in Southern California ;)

[mkprice]

I ordered my LR online from Phishy Business - had it in 2 days and it's awesome rock - $4.50/lb. I got the Ultra Bali and I love it!

Michele

[cokevanilla]

found some fiji for around 8$/lbs. will see about :) ... locally

btw I live in Canada and the shipping will kill me if I order from the States; anyway I am going to set it up next week so I have time to look around; what I've seen so far it was so "dead" rock instead of live rock. there r no color on it, no coraline growth....hope i'll find something better

[cokevanilla]

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=blue.jpg this is the blue 12000k

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=white.jpg the 7100k white

and now the heater, the cheap hydrometer and a thermometer..oo and the PUMP :

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=heater.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=hydrometer.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=thermometer.jpg

http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=pump.jpg


I wonder if I can use this one too.....came with the undergravel filter : http://photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/?action=view&current=powerhead.jpg


right now i'm going to Walmart and try and find out a good stand for it...next week maybe i'll add the sand and the LR; btw what do u use to clean the tank?

see ya

[skipm]

If you can't find someplace that states that the powerhead is saltwater rated then I wouldn't use it. JMO, Skip

[cokevanilla]

i need some help already : my tank is 21g ; i will add 30 lbs live rock and 17 pounds of sand. i saw an aquarium stand and was marked for fish tanks between 21 and 25 gallons? can I buy it? it is gonna support all this ?

[cokevanilla]

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/edge1cut.jpg

i would lie to know if I can carefully cut a piece from this edge so I can hook my pump


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/pumpspace.jpg

here is my pump and u can see that the space between the clips is not much..... I don't wanna use the suction cups so hang it on one of the walls it's gonna be ok I guess;

any suggestions?


btw I got a new "member" AquaClear 70

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/aquaclear70.jpg


thanks

[impur]

There is a mod to mount the Seio to your tank wall. I don't have the link handy its in the reef discussion forum. Here are my pics when i did it to help ya.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1010019.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1010021.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1010022.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1010023.jpg

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v292/impur/P1010024.jpg

Not trying to hijack your thread. If ya have any questions let me know.

[cokevanilla]

wow..thanks a lot for the images ... helps a lot

the thing is, as I can see in ur last pic, u attached the pump to the aquarium's wall; my problem is that my tank edge is too thick and I want to cut it so I can insert the pump attachement. if I don't cut the edge the whole thing is just dangling over there and I can make the closing mecanism make CLICK :(

[impur]

Well that plate that latches down on the outside of the tank can be turned around. If you look close of the pic of the seio in my tank, i have it turned around opposite the way it is laying on the towel. I know the lip you are talking about, mine has it as well. I didn't have a problem tightening down the holder with the lip there. But there is no reason you can't remove that little section of the lip. I'd use a dremel or if you don't have one a razor blade or side cutters would do nicely.

[cokevanilla]

just going to get me some screws and washers for the "mod" that I'm going to do to the pump

ty

[MadTownMax]

after looking again at that thread, is there any part of that hanging bracket that you could "pinch" on the thin piece of plastic that you want to cut?

Or possibly drill a hole in that edge piece and use one of the plastic screws and attach it that way?

seems like w/ all the attachment parts they supply to you there should be 1000 ways to get er' done

[cokevanilla]

i'll follow impur instructions and gona cut the lip a little bit;

I was at Reno Depot yesterday and they had no plastic screws or washers...I was like :mad2:

btw just finished paiting the stand....to match the tank's silver ..lol

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/standalum.jpg

[impur]

Nice that looks really good. Is that wood? Can't even tell, looks like metal. Thats gonna be one nice looking setup!! Let us know how it goes cutting that lip and mounting the Seio.

[dymaxiun]

Bathroom paint booths! Nice work on the stand!

[cokevanilla]

it's wood; the paint that i have used it's for rust but sticks pretty well to wood too as u can see; Tremclad primer and Tremclad Aluminium paint...that's the color


about the cut..I do not know exactly where I want that pump? guess on the side..close to the front glass or to the back wall? In the back I have the filter and I plann adding a skimmer ....so won't be much room, not to mention I wanna add the stock powerhead too; from the pics that i've seen on this forum guess I'll put on the side .... any help here? :confused:

[impur]

Try hooking up the 1 or 2 you will be running. Then you will be able to see where the dead spots are and you can position the Seio accordingly.

[cokevanilla]

well..after washing 15 lbs of sand with 10g+ of RO/DI water and making 5 trips at the grocery to fill up my "bottles" this is the result:

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/pumpside.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/tank3.jpg


1. why so many bubbles?


tommorrow I'll get the live rock 29 pounds of Fiji ; this rock is light and when the LFS guy showed me how much I space is gonna take I was like :eek:


yupiii

[impur]

Looks like a great start! Thats gonna be one nice tank. Don't worry about the bubbles they will go away after a day or so. How'd you end up cutting the lip? Any problems? Keep us updated.

[cokevanilla]

well..30 lbs of Fiji rock in my tank

impur I used a dremel to cut the lip and now it's ok... the Seio is so silent


here r some pics.... one of the rocks has some green stuff on it..it's almost covered... what is it? (look at the first picture)


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks3green.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks1.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks2.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks4.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks6.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/rocks7.jpg


the top rock is not very stable...I've used some putty and hope it's gonna be ok...if not I will try it again....don't want to break my glass :(

i saw a brittle star...will it survive?

the guy gave me a small piece of rock with a little crab on it...fingernail size crab but I was too scared and asked him for another piece of rock :eek1:

[MadTownMax]

nice rock! I don't know what the green stuff is, probably just green "stuff" that will disappear after a while - very cool looking rock though.

hopefully the star will survive, they're great to have in your tank as they don't get large enough to eat your fish, but still scavenge for extra food very well.

I wouldn't trust using putty for the top rock - that stuff doesn't get hard like super glue or anything - if you can find some holes use a extra-long zip-tie to hold them togather, if you do it in like 2 or three places in the back, you'll never see it and it gets covered in coralline very quickly. - or just re-arrange your rocks over and over like I do until you find something that works :D

[cokevanilla]

the rock has lots of tunnels and caves in it.. paid 7 $ / lbs

stupid me..of course I have zip-tie extra long too ....now I have to remove the putty and try to attach that rock

ty MadTownMax

btw...what do u use to cut the remaining piece of plastic?

[impur]

Just use some side cutters or scissors. You can do it out of the water. The rock will be fine for 5 min out of water.

Great looking rock. The green stuff is probably some sort of algae. It should either go away or be consumed by your cleanup crew.

[cokevanilla]

well the rock is now attached to the bottom one so it's impossible to take it out :rolleyes:

any ideas.. maybe a razorblade ? :confused:

[cokevanilla]

i have counted around 4 feather dusters on a little piece of rock (right corner bottom); will they survive? they r so small..i feel pity for them

now I need money for a good close up lens :p

[MadTownMax]

the featherdusters are tough little critters, they'll survive, and you'll be shure to find plenty more all over the rocks as time goes on.

if the rock is "really really" solid, so that you can't remove it without worrying about moving everything else, I wouldn't worry about it - what did you use, 1/2 a tube of epoxy! :D

[cokevanilla]

i have another question for you : my digital thermometer shows 79.9 F but my heater is set at 77 ; who do I trust? I don't think my lights or the pump is having an effect on the temperature ; btw during the night the lights were off and in the morning the temp. was still 79.9

help

[MadTownMax]

heaters are notorious for not showing the right temperature, I've never known one to show the right temp, even the very expensive ones - trust your digital thermometer and go from there - sounds like you have it set just right.

-Nick

[cokevanilla]

oh...ok

big THANK you

[impur]

Originally posted by MadTownMax
heaters are notorious for not showing the right temperature, I've never known one to show the right temp, even the very expensive ones - trust your digital thermometer and go from there - sounds like you have it set just right.

-Nick

Yep very true. I have my ebo set at 75 and it holds the temp at 81. Go figure.

[cokevanilla]

ph is kinda low; should I worry at this time ? (tank is 3 days old)

ph=7.8

[MadTownMax]

A constant problem for me too

I drip Kalkwasser overnight to help keep it up, if your house is very airtight it might help to crack a window.

If you notice it dropping overnight (check it before the lights come on in the morning and right before they go off at night for the biggest swing) it is an imbalance in how much gas exchange the tank is getting, plain and simple (a difference in CO2 gas in solution).

Cracking a window will keep the amount of CO2 gas in your room down and thus keep the pH of your tank up - this can take a full day to balance out though, so give it a few days to take effect - for a quick check, take some tank water out and then bubble some air through it outside to see the pH rise from excess C02 in your tank's water.

hope that's not too confusing.

another way to help w/ the pH balance is to run a refugium on a reverse lighting cycle - Plants take up C02 and release oxygen when exposed to light (plant respiration :) )

HTH

[cokevanilla]

i'll try it and keep u posted

thx ;)

[cokevanilla]

just dropped a cooked shrimp in the tank :mixed:

[cokevanilla]

well, the newest member :

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/star1.jpg


counted 5 tonight and the biggest one is twice the size of the star in the pic ;)

thing is all my readings (ammonia, nitrate, nitrite) were 0 today so I dropped a shrimp inside (cooked). right now I see some brown "stuff" on some rocks (diatoms, right?) but I also know the there is not much flow where those things are...so do I need a power head? and second, should I remove the shrimp..cause it's still floating on the surface and drives me nuts :rolleyes:

PS: got a few spots of some green algae too (small one though)

[CPT. MURPHY]

tank is looking good :)

[MadTownMax]

sounds like you're doing fine, you'll always get a few spots of diatoms and other algae when starting up a tank - you'll even get them when moving an established tank - nothing to worry about.

The shrimp - well, due to the size of the tank, maybe use a 1/4 of the shrimp, a whole one is probably unneccessary. many people say that new live rock alone is enough to cycle - but 1/4 of a shrimp won't harm anything :D

[cokevanilla]

took it out

[fleetfoot]

hi cokevanilla. I also live in Canada (Toronto), can you tell me where you bought the tank from, with contact details. Is that $230 CDN? Thanks soooo much!!

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by fleetfoot
hi cokevanilla. I also live in Canada (Toronto), can you tell me where you bought the tank from, with contact details. Is that $230 CDN? Thanks soooo much!!


just send u a PM ;)

[Spiffyguy]

Cokevanilla your tanks looks good. I am tagging along on your thread.

[cokevanilla]

well.. my first inhabitants: 2 cerith, 1 bumblebee (could not resist), 2 red hermit crabs (1 of them is very active the other one moved 1/4 inch...that's all) and 1 margarita if I am not mistaken
just bought 12 $ invertebrates and 100$ refractometer :p

pics

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/cerith1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/bumblebee.jpg


well the hermits were hiding somwhere so the photoshoot will have place another time

right now I am gonna do my first waterchange and I was thinking what do u use to prune the algae? and do not tell me tweezers because I can find only stainlesssteel (is it good?) and the turkey baster that I sucks.....his suction is no good; I have too sorts:

mexicana

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/mexicana.jpg

and hair algae I guess

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/hairalgae.jpg


do u think an extra small powerhead it will help with the algae? i will direct the flow right to the bottom .... :confused:

btw got all the goodies with this rock : caulerpa mexicana, green algae, a few bubble algae, flatworms ... :rolleyes:

[MadTownMax]

lol, you call that algae :D I'll show you some algae ;)

nothing to worry about, next time you go to the LFS pick up a emerald mithrax crab ( I have three in my tank, but you don't have enough algae to feed more than one :p ) they eat that stuff like candy - but really, that's nothing

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by MadTownMax
lol, you call that algae :D I'll show you some algae ;)

nothing to worry about, next time you go to the LFS pick up a emerald mithrax crab ( I have three in my tank, but you don't have enough algae to feed more than one :p ) they eat that stuff like candy - but really, that's nothing

hope that the LFS will take the crab back after I use it; i am not very fond of crabs... littles hermits r ok but emerald one ... i am afraid of them ...:o

about that little rock....it's the worst in my tank right now... but I am afraid the algae is gonna take over so I was thinking what do u use to "lawn" it?
is there a place where I can buy a pair of long wooden tweezers?

[MadTownMax]

lol - calm down, take a deep breath, and it'll all be OK ;)

no need for an emerald crab if you're that opposed to them, some hermits also eat algae too.

if you don't feed much it will go away on it's own - algae doesn't just "take over a tank", it has to have nutrients - and since you don't have anything in your tank now that requires feeding -don't feed a thing and the algae will not grow out of control (the snails and hermits will forage and eat things from the live rock)

every tank has a little algae, a little cyano, a few diatoms - it's completely natural - I have a few tufts of hair algae in my tank, but I know it's not growing like crazy, so I'm not worried about it - it is actually pulling phosphates out of my water, and that's good b/c otherwise those phosphates would be impeding calcificaiton on my corals (slowing the growth). when I do water changes I will pull off the large pieces of algae around my tank and then let them re-grow and do their job again.

for now, just let your tank complete it's cycle and then go from there - just relax and watch all the little critters appear on your rock and enjoy it.

[cokevanilla]

thank you MadTownMax

i'll follow ur advice and go watch the critters;

with the help of Reefcentral i won't loose control of my tank, I know it, even if I'm a newbie :D


woo-hooo


:) :) :) :) :)

[MadTownMax]

cokevanilla - thanks to you I ran out and got a Seio 620 for my tank, I'm still trying to decide how to mount it - I think I'll be "testing" by just hanging it in my main tank before cutting out a port for it in the third partition of the "sump" area of my JBJ 24DX - who knows, if it works well, I might end up getting two ;)

[ghostbear29]

hey nice seio! how much should I be looking to pay for one. Some lfs are outrageous. And sometimes PH are just expensive. By the way, forget the mithrax, you won't need him. I had one and after the algae cycle went through, he ended up starving and had to get him out of there. Then nobody wants him(nobody seems to like crabs?) and he was a pain to get out of the LR. Good luck. Great pics.

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by ghostbear29
hey nice seio! how much should I be looking to pay for one. Some lfs are outrageous. And sometimes PH are just expensive. By the way, forget the mithrax, you won't need him. I had one and after the algae cycle went through, he ended up starving and had to get him out of there. Then nobody wants him(nobody seems to like crabs?) and he was a pain to get out of the LR. Good luck. Great pics.

thank you

the Seio I got was 54 canadian dollars...so maybe 45-47 usd for you; happy shopping :rollface:

[LeftCoast]

Great looking tank so far. What are you planning to put in it?
BTW, the current exchange is 1 USD for every 1.23 Canadian (in other words, $43.50 USD).

[cokevanilla]

got a left handed, blue hermit and a turbo :)

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/lefthanded1.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/bluehermit.jpg

http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/turbo.jpg



this is my tank after pruning the algae and the 15% waterchange


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/tankclean.jpg



right now I am running my lights 8-11 hrs a day..I will start do decrease till 5-6 hrs max cause the algae is growing crazy ; if I see no answer i will add ROWAphos

see ya

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by Spiffman257
Great looking tank so far. What are you planning to put in it?



a pair of clowns (like everybodyelse :D) and anothar small fish; i like the goby firefish but I've heard they r kind of jumpy; same way for the grammas; will see.. I will get my fish in September so it's a long way ahead...

[LeftCoast]

Lots of time for planning, eh?

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by Spiffman257
Lots of time for planning, eh?

yup
during the summer i'll be gone for a month 1/2 and I can't trust no one with my tank; second, i like takeing it slow

[cokevanilla]

using MUCHO REEF dip method (http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=451720) I have managed to open my zoas in as little time as a few minutes (15-20) ; this is my first coral

red/orange skirts with a green mouth .. love them :D


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/DSC03101.jpg


http://i3.photobucket.com/albums/y84/cokevanilla/DSC03095.jpg



thanks

[illnino]

very nice progress. i still dont get why you wanted to cut the glass so you can hang your pump off the side though...

[cokevanilla]

Originally posted by illnino
very nice progress. i still dont get why you wanted to cut the glass so you can hang your pump off the side though...


i have not cut the glass, only the plastic trim ;)

btw got a few polyps (4-5) of something that looks like a zoanthid too, brown with bright orange in the middle but they r so small I can't focus

still waiting for the close-up lenses kit;

next upgrades to my tank will be coralife mount on tank MH and Aqua C Remora skimmer; woohoo :D