This is my first saltwater tank and Richard at TBS has made it a really pleasant and fun experience. I have a 50 gallon with a sump, ASM G1X skimmer, Hang on tank overflow with circulating pump that by my calculations moves 400 GPH, 2 Koralia 2's and 1 Koralia 4 for flow.
I was a little worried after part 1 arrived at Southwest and the guy who called me said that the boxes had leaked. I was really worried when I showed up and saw how badly they had abused these boxes clearly marked "LIVE TROPICAL FISH". They even had thrown the box away on one package because it was damaged so badly, but these things are packed so well, most of the water was still in the bags when I got them home.
Here are some shots of the boxes upon arrival at home.
And a shot of the tank right after putting in part 1.
Here is a little hitchhiker that jumped out of a rock. I rescued him and put him in the tank.
And here is a shot of the tank and sump after one day.
The tank cycled in 7 days. I monitored ammonia twice a day and it went up to 1 PPM, and stayed for a couple days, then dropped eventually to zero. I did 5 gallon water changes to make sure it dropped. After it hit zero, I let it go for a few days over Labor Day weekend and contacted Richard about part 2 after seeing that the ammonia was staying at zero.
I was a little worried about how part 2 would get abused in shipment, but this time, they must have actually read the boxes, because there was very little box damage.
When I got them home, I was totally blown away by the color and life on the part 2 rocks as well as all of the stuff I got! There was a serpent star, peppermint shrimp, 2 anenomes, 2 cucumbers, lots of turbo snail and hermit crabs as well as a branch coral and many sponges. Add that to the hitchhikers from part one (5 nice-sized porcelin crabs, 2 mithrix crabs, 2 large keyhole limpets and other snails) and it is quite a bit of stuff.
Here are some pictures from part 2:
I can't wait to see what comes out of this rock next. After 24 hours, the tank is clear and ammonia is still at zero. I will keep monitoring and probably wait a few weeks after it stays at zero before getting any fish.
Thank you again, Richard!
Pete
I was a little worried after part 1 arrived at Southwest and the guy who called me said that the boxes had leaked. I was really worried when I showed up and saw how badly they had abused these boxes clearly marked "LIVE TROPICAL FISH". They even had thrown the box away on one package because it was damaged so badly, but these things are packed so well, most of the water was still in the bags when I got them home.
Here are some shots of the boxes upon arrival at home.
And a shot of the tank right after putting in part 1.
Here is a little hitchhiker that jumped out of a rock. I rescued him and put him in the tank.
And here is a shot of the tank and sump after one day.
The tank cycled in 7 days. I monitored ammonia twice a day and it went up to 1 PPM, and stayed for a couple days, then dropped eventually to zero. I did 5 gallon water changes to make sure it dropped. After it hit zero, I let it go for a few days over Labor Day weekend and contacted Richard about part 2 after seeing that the ammonia was staying at zero.
I was a little worried about how part 2 would get abused in shipment, but this time, they must have actually read the boxes, because there was very little box damage.
When I got them home, I was totally blown away by the color and life on the part 2 rocks as well as all of the stuff I got! There was a serpent star, peppermint shrimp, 2 anenomes, 2 cucumbers, lots of turbo snail and hermit crabs as well as a branch coral and many sponges. Add that to the hitchhikers from part one (5 nice-sized porcelin crabs, 2 mithrix crabs, 2 large keyhole limpets and other snails) and it is quite a bit of stuff.
Here are some pictures from part 2:
I can't wait to see what comes out of this rock next. After 24 hours, the tank is clear and ammonia is still at zero. I will keep monitoring and probably wait a few weeks after it stays at zero before getting any fish.
Thank you again, Richard!
Pete
