Marks...Back to the Future..Reef Aquarium

Made some nice progress today. Finished painting bottom of stand, conned the neighbors to help me get it in the house, mounted and painted the wood to mount the lights and mounted the lights. Its going to take a while to figure out these lights though. Instructions are limited...tank should be on the stand any time...

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I'm going to have to devise some kind of cover/canopy for the lights. My retinas bleed when they are on and my desk is right in front of it. Something out of black acrylic might work.
 
Mark... said:
Tank in place...have some adjustments to make...I'd like to find something in white to hide the led wires.

tank.jpg
Click to expand...

If you run one wire across the back of the lights to the other, you can get the white cables manager from hd or Lowes and then run them down the wall.
 
Have some stupid questions:

I'll be plumbing soon and was wondering the best way to test and get ready for scaping. I prefer to test with fresh water in case of leaks during the test. But will need to remover water in order to scape. Don't want to waste 250 gallons of RO/DI and concerned about high TDS tap water leaving behind Pho food.

Do you guys scape with the tank totally dry or with some water?

During the cycle I plan on going dark for one month, I understand this helps the scape get a beneficial coat of film (bacteria), that reduces algae problems etc. Whats your thoughts?

Any suggestions on plumbing, scaping, cycling I'm listening...I do plan on dry fitting everything first...:)
 
If you are going to build some rock "sculptures" it's definitely easier to do these outside the tank. Just make sure that you have enough room above your tank to hoist the finished pieces in. They can get pretty hefty.

Try not to fill all the visible space with rockwork. Remember that you need to leave room for corals to grow and fish to swim. Too often people try to build a "finished" reef right at the start by filling in all the spaces where the coral should grow into over the next few years.

I have never heard of doing the dark thing for a month. Algae will grow where it finds food and opportunity whether there is bacteria there or not. Better to concentrate on a clean build from the start so that algae doesn't get to strong a foothold.

Dave.M
 
dave.m said:
If you are going to build some rock "sculptures" it's definitely easier to do these outside the tank. Just make sure that you have enough room above your tank to hoist the finished pieces in. They can get pretty hefty.

Try not to fill all the visible space with rockwork. Remember that you need to leave room for corals to grow and fish to swim. Too often people try to build a "finished" reef right at the start by filling in all the spaces where the coral should grow into over the next few years.

I have never heard of doing the dark thing for a month. Algae will grow where it finds food and opportunity whether there is bacteria there or not. Better to concentrate on a clean build from the start so that algae doesn't get to strong a foothold.

Dave.M
Click to expand...

Thanks...I'm probably going with a minimal to medium scape to allow for growth. I like the scapes with some open clean bed areas.

I'm going to lay out the rock work on a tarp and then transfer it.
 
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