Putting together my "future" 75 AGA RR (progress)

[Travis L. Stevens]

I personally think that you should just leave the tank to cycle on it's own. It will be a good idea to do a water change after the cycle even if you do a water change now, so don't waste the saltwater on it. Let the bacteria do their job.

 

[JerseyWendy]

I thought it was time for another update. Last Thursday I had somewhat of a scare because I had accidentally ingested some saltwater the day before, and at noon I began feeling ill. It started with an agitated caugh, and the stuff I was hacking up tasted really salty. Additionally my tongue had turned white. By 5PM I had a sever headache, couldn't focus, and my tongue had turned black!

My husband took me to the emergency room that evening, and all my vitals were normal. I had brought along a water sample, yet the (morone) physican on duty decided to send me home without any further tests, medicine, and without as much as looking at the water sample. :eek2:

Friday I literally spent asleep most of the day, feeling extremely weak and sick.

Saturday I went to my family doctor because I had developed a fever as well. She ran a bunch of tests (blood included), and put me on antibiotics, short-term steroids, and decongestants. She does believe my tongue had turned black due to a chemical reaction from the saltwater, however, she believes the other symptoms may not be related.

So here I am, feeling MUCH better. Below is a picture of my tank with the actinics on.
Today's readings were:
Temperature: 80
Salinity: 1.025
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: 1.8
Nitrate: 10
Alkalinity: 200

I have yet to see anything "move" in my tank. I have found numerous dead little wormy thingies.

---
Wendy

 

[EWC88]

What size wood did you use for your stand frame? And what kind of wood did you use for the sides and doors?

By the way love it so far!

 

[severseas]

EWC88

Start on page one of Wendy's post, everything is well documented.

 

[matthew1048]

Wow, nice looking setup!!! I love your rock-work!!!!!

I'm about at the point you were at when this thread began, except I don't have anything besides my tank bought. I too will be building my own stand, here's the plan: http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/75g_stand/index.shtml (it will be highly modified though). It's nice to have a well documented startup like this for reference!!!!!!

Congrats and goodluck!!!!

 

[JerseyWendy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9646325#post9646325 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by EWC88
What size wood did you use for your stand frame? And what kind of wood did you use for the sides and doors?

By the way love it so far!

Thank you, EWC. For the framing of the stand I used 2 X 4s. Then the reinforcement is build from various pieces of pine, measuring anywhere from 1 X 3 to 1 X 6. The back is a solid piece of pine, and so is the bottom and the doors.

Hope this helped.

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9647024#post9647024 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by matthew1048
Wow, nice looking setup!!! I love your rock-work!!!!!

I'm about at the point you were at when this thread began, except I don't have anything besides my tank bought. I too will be building my own stand, here's the plan: http://www.arbreptiles.com/cages/75g_stand/index.shtml (it will be highly modified though). It's nice to have a well documented startup like this for reference!!!!!!

Congrats and goodluck!!!!

Hi Matthew, and thanks a bunch.
It really does help to have plans to go by, doesn't it? Believe it or not, I actually had fun building the stand (minus the part of the dog hair and paint bristles getting stuck on the varnish :rollface: )

Make sure and post tons of pictures when you get started, ok? I LOVE reading through threads where folks start from scratch.

---
Wendy

 

[sgallagher7]

Glad to hear that your feeling better wendy. That sounds like quiet a scare. Now you can relax by sitting next to your tank with a red filtered light lookn for critters. BTW. Rock looks awsome. Im t minus 3 weeks away from firing mine up. Hope to document it like you did.

 

[first-chevalier]

Tank looks great Wendy. Hope you have some 'movement' soon, LOL. It's really quite fascinating what these things (tanks) do to us. My wife and I sit infront of ours for quite a while each looking intently to try and find something new to point out to the other. Lots of fun. We mostly enjoy 'Feeding Night'. The whole family gathers round to watch missis or cyclop-ease get consumed in a matter of seconds, lol.

 

[trpigg]

wow...just joined in on the thread...looks amazing so far wendy...i cant wait for more pics...good luck.

 

[JerseyWendy]

Thank you very much, everyone.
I probably should have known beforehand that this new hobby of mine could possibly become addicting.....but never in my wildest dreams did I think I'd be spending THAT many hours glued in front of a fishtank. :eek2: But it's all good!

Time for an update, too.
My water parameter became stable last Thursday, meaning that my Ammonia and Nitrite continued to test at 0, and my Nitrate is nearly non-detectable.

Calcium was a wee bit low, so I began supplementing very, VERY cautiously and will continue to test for it daily.

Here's what's new in my tank. Got some cleaners, a variety of little critters, but only 20 of them so far in total:

They are pretty darn busy because there's one heck of a lot of Diatoms that magically appeared. :rollface: I know it's supposed to happen - and I also know that patience is the key.

....to be continued

 

[JerseyWendy]

Today I went out on a venture, in search of a little, peaceful damsel. Not really, just kidding. When we had our 58 gallon Oceanic Saltwater Setup nearly 20 years ago I learned my lesson about those cute, colorful, little Damsels. :furious:

No, I was looking for a young, captive-bred false Percula, and ended up coming home with 2 of them. :hmm2:

I was REALLY nervoes because I was adding 2 fish at the same time, but after acclimating them slowly for 2 hours and then releasing them, they seemed perfectly happy. They've even eaten for me already, whatever few, VERY few morsels I threw in there. Of course now I'm petrified of overfeeding only 2 fish. Don't want to feed the system, ya know.

And yes, I did read up on those guys here: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=215098

All righty, without further delay, here they are (don't have names, suggestions are very welcome )

Furthermore, my friend Tom was kind enough to give me some Macroalgae for my refugium yesterday, and low and behold, today I spotted a bristleworm AND a baby ruby brittlestar in my fuge. I didn't touch the bristleworm, but I placed the brittlestar into the display tank. The poor guy/girl was missing 3 legs, and I really REALLY hope he'll be ok and regenerate those limbs.

Well - that's it. For today anyway. Now someone please come and peel me away from my fishtank already.

---
Wendy

 

[SaltyNovice]

Well - that's it. For today anyway. Now someone please come and peel me away from my fishtank already.

Wendy



Sorry can't help you get away from the tank NOW!!! You are now going to be worse than before. Once I found something in my tank then I spent 10 times more effort trying to find something else that I had not seen yet. I'm sorry you just fell off of the proverbial "deep end". I hope you can swim!!!

 

[leebo_28]

I have my framework for my stand built..and my new 90 drilled for closed loop...but no camera , your rock and display are beautiful . Thanks for the "play by play" .. I keep learning and reading , learning and reading...lol..ok I am done!

 

[JerseyWendy]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9705963#post9705963 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by SaltyNovice

Sorry can't help you get away from the tank NOW!!! You are now going to be worse than before. Once I found something in my tank then I spent 10 times more effort trying to find something else that I had not seen yet. I'm sorry you just fell off of the proverbial "deep end". I hope you can swim!!!

:rollface: Yep, I can swim - in deep water, too. :rollface:

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=9710348#post9710348 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by leebo_28
I have my framework for my stand built..and my new 90 drilled for closed loop...but no camera , your rock and display are beautiful . Thanks for the "play by play" .. I keep learning and reading , learning and reading...lol..ok I am done!

Thank you very much, and it's AWESOME that you got started. Isn't it fun?

Ok, I'll prepare myself to get hit over the head with THIS update, but I'm willing to take that chance.
Took some trips yesterday. First I visited Ilia, who promptly offered me 4 Zoo frags. How could I resist those?

....to be continued

 

[JerseyWendy]

Once I got them home and acclimated I took another road trip, despite the pouring rain. I should have known better, but how could I have possibly resisted THESE?

Kenya Tree Coral

Haddoni Carpet :eek2:

I got 2 gorgeous mushrooms, too. They're turqoise (sp.) in color, but they're currently still lodged in between rockwork until they get some sand on their feet. Then I can superglue them to a rock.

Why did I start off with an anemone? Wellllllll - since there wasn't anything in my tank yet really I figured I can give it time to find its spot without "destroying" anything in its path. I did research it extensively, and am hopeful it'll do fine. It hasn't moved (very much) yet. It is attached to a nice little rock, and I placed it where it gets random, abundant waterflow. Fingers crossed. Joe, you ROCK! Thanks for everything, and you know I'll be back, don't ya?

My parameters this morning:
pH: 8.2
Temp: 80
Salinity: 1.026
Ammonia: 0
Nitrites: 0
Nitrates: 0
Alkalinity: 10 dkH
Calcium: 400
Phospates: non detecable, but I know I've got some because I still have some diatoms and some hair algae.

Ok, I'll duck now.

---
Wendy

 

[Travis L. Stevens]

You're REALLY testing it with that Carpet Anemone Good luck with it though.

 

[Wett Hands]

Fanfastic job so far Wendy! I'm green with envy :wavehand:

I was't sure if anyone mentioned it or not, but get a red light or a flashlight with a red lens cover and check the tank with all the lights out.

I found life in my tank that I had no clue about. :mixed:

 

[sgallagher7]

wow wendy. I cant believe how your tank is just exploding. It looks awsome. I can understand how hard it is to just sit back and not want to create a beautiful tank. about 3 more weeks for me, and I will be in the same boat. You got me jacked! The polyps look great.

 

[JerseyWendy]

It's been too many days since I updated, and boy do I have updates.

Travis, I don't know what to say....please, PLEASE don't tell me "I told you so." My beautiful Haddoni has eaten a fish! Yep, that's right - I was dumb enough to add a Bicolor Blenny to my tank, even though I had read that Blennies are "VERY" iffy with carpets. The poor Blenny lasted less than 2 days. :rolleye1:

Other than that the tank is doing well. The diatom bloom is done - and now it looks like the rain forest, full of hair algae. NO - I'm not attempting to achieve this look, but I haven't quite gotten it under control yet either. I've cut down on my lights (as much as I can since I have some SPS in there), and am literally starving my 3 fishies. I also added many more cleaners. I guess I just have to be extra patient now.

Even though my Phosphates continued to read zero I added Phosban, since it's pretty obvious I've got something going on in there. I am also running 2 Chemi Pure, and change the collection cup of the skimmer daily (and boy does is STINK).

I have spent so much time in front of the tank, and discovered many things I didn't add.
Numerous brittle stars
1 Bristle Worm
1 hermit crab (got him out and put him in the refugium out of fear he was no good)
TONS of Copepods all over my glass

Here are some pictures. First of the entire tank (remember, I'm not trying to go for the "green" look...)

A mushroom, which has doubled in size since I've got him:

...to be continued

 

[JerseyWendy]

Some new Polyps:

My gorgeous fish eater:

Some Frogspawn and a Hammer:

Neon Green Acro Frag:

Purple Nana Frag:

I think that's it. It sure is enough, isn't it? :rollface: Like I said, everything and everyone is thriving and the parameter have been super stable.

Now I only need to get rid of that jungle look.

---
Wendy