Nicole's 29g Reef Build

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Wednesday and Thursday I started painting the background on and due to a heat wave we had here in Toronto, the humidity bubbled the paint and it looks terrible. Today I'm going to have to scrape it off. I'm really upset and hope it comes off easily. I think I'm going to try black gift wrap for the background instead. Less hassle. And cheaper. That was $4 of paint in the garbage.
Best way to remove krylon from the glass? I've heard a glass scraper or hot vinegar.
 
I would go with a dedicated aquarium background rather than gift paper. Water will eventually get on it and soak through. You'll have to replace it quite often.
 
So luckily I got all the paint off and am now going back to the drawing board for a background. No more paint for me. I always find that those vinyl backgrounds get bubbles and look terrible and they're very over priced. Any other suggestions for something plain black, cheap and easy to apply?
 
You could change the color of your wall to black ^_^ But other than that, im out of ideas.
 
Here's a little update.

Starting fresh with a nice clean tank, I went to walmart and found a piece of foamy-cardboard like board stuff for $4 that I will be cutting to size and using as the background. I also went intending to buy some RO/DI or distilled water. Both were effing expensive so I left without it. They had that culligan machine which didnt specify TDS or that it was even RO. For all I know it can be filtered spring water. Anyways, it was $15 for the 19L jug and $3 for each fill. I would need 4 of those just to initially fill my tank and I would have to make multiple trips if only buying one jug. I'm not about to spend $40 on water. The distilled water was $4.17 for 10L which would again put me at around $40 to fill. On the way out I found pre-filled culligan water cooler jugs for $4.97 with a $10 deposit which would put me at $20 to fill. I can manage that but again it didn't say that it was RO. The label said 0ppm fluoride and <10ppm TDS. Is that good enough?

How crucial is it to use RO or distilled or whatever? Should I have my tap water tested to see if its even necessary? Or can I use normal spring water? Could I get away with tap water treated with Prime and some carbon or anti-phosphate media in the filter?

Cost so far: $209
 
I am a big advocate of ro-di water - if its going to be a reef. I have never heard of anyone having long term success with tap water. This is just my opinion and I personally would never run a tank with tap, even if it tests ok. Good water is the key to a successful reef tank ;)
 
I'd strongly recommend that you use ro/di water for startup and going forward. It's a basic building block of your entire system, the water and to have it as perfect as you can will make a difference, not a small one but a large difference. You dont thend to have as many algae issues with ro.di water and your corals will appreciate it. Phosphates are just one thing the ro/di will remove. It can get out other impurities that will affect your corals.

Now I know it's expensive, but to be honest, almost everything is expensive in this hobby, specially regarding saltwater. You can get a portable unit for less than $100 which will save you a fortune in the long run if you have to buy your water at anywhere from 50 to 1.00 a gallon. I was the happiest camper when I got mine, no more trips to the store and lugging 5 gallon jugs outta my car. lol It's also nice in case anything ever goes wrong and you need water like NOW, to do a water change.
 
I just ran the numbers on my rodi because people were asking if they could buy it (no store around here sells it) it costs less than 11c a gallon. It also includes the cost of waste water. A rodi system will pay for itself in no time if you are considering paying 50c or more a gal
 
One thing you really need to think about is if youre worried about the cost of this hobby don't do it. Salt water tanks get expensive if you're going to buy the right equipment and keep a successful tank. Tap water is a no no. No matter what is said bad idea. Don't buy budget salt, don't use budget water or sand, take your time and a good rule of thumb in saltwater is... For every gallon of your system plan on spending 40-50 dollars per gallon to set it up right. So 29g would cost 1400-1500 so set up right after salt, water, sump, skimmer, powerheads, lights, testing equipment, and so on and so forth. It's not cheap. Good luck to you.
 
I think 40-50 might be high balling it a bit. Total cost for my upcoming sps capable 40b reef is running me about $900 including tank, stand, and refugium. Add an extra 150 to count in a ro/di unit. That puts it at about $26 per gallon
 
Testing supplies, sand, rock at around 4/ pound so 150-160 there. Enough powerheads for flow, skimmer, it all adds up. I have a 180 I picked up used with almost everything for 1200. I got a great deal on it. But I still needed 150 pnds of rock, 100 pnds of sand, 4 powerheads for inside flow. New return pump at 200. Skimmer at 350.... After all said and done in about 2500 right now. If it was all new tank alone would have been 2g. All added up it would cost about 7500 to get it all which would be about 40 a gallon.
 
But you forget, you don't need all of that from the get go. Including that much lr, fowlr understocked in terms of gallonage is not a problem. Instead of 45lb for a 30gal tank only 15 lb, and stocking at a 15gal level works and when the aquarist can afford more they add more. Many people run successful tanks with just a hob filter, a sump or refugium is better but not the only way. Lights for fish can be very cheap as well and upgraded down the line all a fish needs it for is day/night cycle.
What is really needed. Tank, lights (don't have to be special), heater, some sort of mechanical filtration, substrate and rock (keep an eye on ebay and Craigslist, it can be really cheap and does not need to be live), and I would say access to rodi water. (I would definitely agree best to have your own), salt and a test kit (not expensive and lasts a while.
Continued cost include, water, salt, electric. Does more need to be replaced, yes but not often, such as lights 9-12months, test kits, filters.
I have one 28gal tank, and run a qt when I get new stock, i still have my first test kit. As far as salt, by it by the bucket! 60 bucks for 175 gallons last nearly 6 months.
This is not a hobby only for the rich and snobby, almost anyone can do it, just at a slower pace. If you don't have an extra 40-50 bucks a month for improvements and general maintenance it might not be for you but it certainly doesn't have to be expensive either.
 
Well I already had the stand and I got the tank super cheap. As for salt I use instant ocean reef crystals. And I ordered those LED lights from eBay so I won't have to replace bulbs. I have 60lbs of brand new aragonite sand that I got for $10 on clearance at Petsmart a while back. All I need is dry rock and water at this point.
I can't seem to find any RO di units under $150-200. Can someone link me to something cheap?
 
http://www.purewaterclub.com/catalo...d=270&osCsid=a3a5ae04abc6bd1f0631697f0086a04f

Thats what I started with, and replaced the cartridges with stuff from brs, every time I got new filters Id add a new canister as well. I no longer have cartridges, just regular canisters with standard 10" filters. Cost more in the long run but 60 bucks with an extra ten every 6 months wasn't bad at all, and now nobody could tell that I didn't pay 150.
 
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