kudora
thread reader
quick story intro:
during october of 2007 i was playing a game called "walk my plank" and joined a fleet called MARSH. i didnt know much about MARSH but had played long hours with many of its members. After joining i found out it stood for Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston. i quickly joined the marsh boards and discovered SW tanks. i have spent sometime in okinawa and loved snorkeling the reefs there but had never had a SW tank.
With the help of MARSH members answering all kinds of questions for me(reefrus, aggie, shane) i though i was ready to dive in. i waited for months reading RC and any books i could get in my hands then i saw an add in the paper for a SW tank in late feb. i took a look at the tank and handed the money over(i had 2 brute cans and 4 totes ready to go in the van plus i had cleaned out my old 30 gallon FW tank) and my very own sw tank started to take shape.
"The Tank" included an 84 gallon tank(60x18x18) stand and canopy
29 gallon diy sump/refuge
90 pounds of live rock
2 65wx2 PC lights
aqua remora C pro with a mag 3 skimmer
rio 2100 return pump
rena canister filter
300 watt stealth heater
2 aqua clear 802 power heads
CPR CS90 over flow box
various test kits, salt and lots of extras
fish:
GSM
hifin goby
cardinal fish
coral:
toadstool
mushroom
frogspawn
i had to transfer it all to my house around 20 miles away. i took the coral and the fish and put it in a tote, then started filling everything with water and putting live rock in it.
i put the fish and coral in my 30 gallon at home with a hob filter
then i put all the rocks in the brute cans with the original tank water.
moved the tank stand sump and equipment on the next run.
i tried to clean the sand out as well as i could and put it in the tank.
i didnt have a ro/di unit that night so i went and bought 50 gallons of distilled water from walmart to mix over night.
i mostly topped off with distilled water(expensive) but bought a filtration unit(think of the first 2 stages of an RO unit) on clearence that would get me by for awhile.
here is a pic of the tank after a couple of days and the live rock back in the tank.
After two weeks of it doing mini cycles i was able to put the fish in the tank.
for my first order from F&S i got some new bulbs for my pc fixtures, a K3, and a new heater.
a couple of things i would do differently on the tank transfer
1) get new sand, after the first day the skimmer went nuts and the water turned black for about 10 hours
2) replace most of the sand in the refuge
3) i should have build a new stand, i only have 22" of clearence under the tank and it has made working under the tank very difficult
4) while i was building the stand i should have drilled the tank
edit 5) put a back ground on it, the tank sits between and wall and fire place, its not going to be easy putting a back ground on it.
I will update this thread by doing monthly updates, tommorrow i will put pics up of what happend in the month of April and so on.
enjoy!!
during october of 2007 i was playing a game called "walk my plank" and joined a fleet called MARSH. i didnt know much about MARSH but had played long hours with many of its members. After joining i found out it stood for Marine Aquarium and Reef Society of Houston. i quickly joined the marsh boards and discovered SW tanks. i have spent sometime in okinawa and loved snorkeling the reefs there but had never had a SW tank.
With the help of MARSH members answering all kinds of questions for me(reefrus, aggie, shane) i though i was ready to dive in. i waited for months reading RC and any books i could get in my hands then i saw an add in the paper for a SW tank in late feb. i took a look at the tank and handed the money over(i had 2 brute cans and 4 totes ready to go in the van plus i had cleaned out my old 30 gallon FW tank) and my very own sw tank started to take shape.
"The Tank" included an 84 gallon tank(60x18x18) stand and canopy
29 gallon diy sump/refuge
90 pounds of live rock
2 65wx2 PC lights
aqua remora C pro with a mag 3 skimmer
rio 2100 return pump
rena canister filter
300 watt stealth heater
2 aqua clear 802 power heads
CPR CS90 over flow box
various test kits, salt and lots of extras
fish:
GSM
hifin goby
cardinal fish
coral:
toadstool
mushroom
frogspawn
i had to transfer it all to my house around 20 miles away. i took the coral and the fish and put it in a tote, then started filling everything with water and putting live rock in it.
i put the fish and coral in my 30 gallon at home with a hob filter
then i put all the rocks in the brute cans with the original tank water.
moved the tank stand sump and equipment on the next run.
i tried to clean the sand out as well as i could and put it in the tank.
i didnt have a ro/di unit that night so i went and bought 50 gallons of distilled water from walmart to mix over night.
i mostly topped off with distilled water(expensive) but bought a filtration unit(think of the first 2 stages of an RO unit) on clearence that would get me by for awhile.
here is a pic of the tank after a couple of days and the live rock back in the tank.
After two weeks of it doing mini cycles i was able to put the fish in the tank.
for my first order from F&S i got some new bulbs for my pc fixtures, a K3, and a new heater.
a couple of things i would do differently on the tank transfer
1) get new sand, after the first day the skimmer went nuts and the water turned black for about 10 hours
2) replace most of the sand in the refuge
3) i should have build a new stand, i only have 22" of clearence under the tank and it has made working under the tank very difficult
4) while i was building the stand i should have drilled the tank
edit 5) put a back ground on it, the tank sits between and wall and fire place, its not going to be easy putting a back ground on it.
I will update this thread by doing monthly updates, tommorrow i will put pics up of what happend in the month of April and so on.
enjoy!!
Last edited:
