Pics of my 50 Gal...Finally

[claysey]

I've got pics of my 50 Gal finally. I have been wanting to take some and get them uploaded for some time now. This tank is about 7 months old now. It currently looks a little bare, but that will change over time. Currently there are two saddle back clowns, a small colt coral, a giant feather duster and a flame scallop in there along with various snails and hermits. I don't plan to add any more fish just coral.
I have a Won Brothers Cleanup 75 skimmer(which works quite well I must say), 2 maxi-jet 900s and one maxi-jet 400 for flow. For lighting I have an Orbit 4x65w PC fixture with moon lights.
I enjoy seeing pics you all post and the different setups, so here's mine.

Clayton

 

[MikeyB]

Looks good keep up the good work.

 

[tnscuba]

great

still a newbie to sw--but did you get ur rock from liverocks.com? how many #'s is that? im lookin @ 55gal set up, and want about that much rock. thanks

tennessee

 

[thelovablebum]

Looks good

 

[claysey]

Thanks!

tnscuba, no these rocks came from petsolutions.com. I bought their 50# box of base rock and used 30# of live sand and 30# of dry sand. The cycle took a long time but it saved me a lot of money in the long run. 50# of base rock from petsolutions is $40 and shipping is cheap because it can come regular ground.

Clayton

 

[klam]

Lot's of room for on the top for corals to grow high. Plenty of space between rocks and glass for good flow to keep the dietrus suspended. Lots of open sand for corals and clams. Shaded area for low light or non-photosynthic corals. Good aquascaping design. I give the aquascaping an A+

 

[tnscuba]

clay tyhanks for teh response.
so would it be better fo my to just order 30# of live keys rock from liverock.com and start my cycle that way?
or can i add 1 shrimp and 30#liverock to start cycle?

thanks

tn

do i need a skimmer for 30# live rocks
?
reply
thanks

 

[lando]

Looks like you are off to a great start! Keep up the good work and keep the pics coming

 

[ScubaBaker]

hi i like your tank. i was wondering what type of lighting you have one top of your tank. i have a orbit 4x96 watt PC light. and i am have trouble with water temp raising.
what size tank do you have?
thanks michael

 

[claysey]

tnscuba, Your tank would probably cycle faster with 30# of live rock from lr.com. You will also get all of the cool critters that come with live rock. I went the dry rock and dead shrimp route because it was cheaper. It took what seemed like a very long time to cycle that way. As far as the skimmer, I would run it. I didn't run one for about 3 months and the nutrients in my tank got a little out of hand.


ScubaBaker, My lights are the Orbit 4x65 watt PC with moon lights. With the mounting legs, I don't have any problem with the temp. My tank is a 50 gal.

With my lighting setup I have probably limited myself on some corals I can keep, but I don't plan on keeping and SPS and probably only select LPS; mostly softies and that sort of stuff. I wish I could keep a clam but that is probably out of the question also. If someone thinks that it is possible for me to be able to keep one, let me know because my lfs is moving and has some KILLER deals on his coral and clams.

 

[phishead]

Awesome job! Is that all a balancing act?

ScubaBaker, My lights are the Orbit 4x65 watt PC with moon lights. With the mounting legs, I don't have any problem with the temp. My tank is a 50 gal.

Same with me. They don't even seem to get hot enough to effect the tank. Is your fan working?

Your tank would probably cycle faster with 30# of live rock from lr.com. You will also get all of the cool critters that come with live rock.

Except, a lot of them will die if you get an ammonia and nitrite spike. It would be way better to do both methods and be patient.

Live sand, water and shrimp. Wait a couple weeks, then LR.com! Get some base rock from them while you are at it. Also save money by calling, someone said we get a discount for being aa members.

Running the skimmer during cycling will not remove any junk, but it will oxygenate the water, and that will help the cycle complete faster.

 

[claysey]

As of now the fan still works great. I am worried that over time the fan may get salt creep buildup inside it where it can't be cleaned and will lock up.

Truly patients is the name of the game. I told myself from the beginning that I was going to take it slow.

 

[tnscuba]

clay thanks for the tidbit of information. are you in knoxville? i saw u mentioned a lfs was moving...any deals on tanks under 100gallons? i am in nashville.

def. want to buy from lr.com after seeing many posts about their great service and pictures of keys rocks.

still havent gotten the over whelming since to buy a skimmer since im going to only have a 55 or 75 gal tank. with under 30# of liverock.

tennessee
where is the closing lfs at? any phone ##'s
thanks aa

 

[claysey]

I am in Johnson City TN. That is about 1.5 hrs east of knoxville. The LFS I am talking about is in Bristol, TN. He is moving just down the street into a bigger place. I believe he has a 90 for sale, but I'm not sure.

I would definately get a good skimmer. I bought a cheap Won Brothers "Cleanup 75" which has worked well for me, but needs some tweaking from time to time. I would recommend a better one if you can afford it.


Clayton

 

[tnscuba]

aw well do i neccessary need a skimmer..if i plan to run 75gal..sw mostly fish, maybe 30lb live rock from lr.com....im buying premixed RO sw from lfs and live sand from there too. going to have emperor 400 hob running and 2 , 200 watt heaters.

thanks tennessee

have you ever purchased any live fish on the web?
also. how long do you run ur lights? all day?

 

[claysey]

I have only purchased cleanup crews online. I like to look at the fish I am going to purchase and watch them eat.

I run my lights a total of 12 hrs. The actinics come on at 8:00 a.m. and the white lights come on at 9:00 a.m. The white lights then go off at 7:00 p.m. and the actinics go off at 8:00 p.m. The moon lights stay on all the time.

 

[phishead]

aw well do i neccessary need a skimmer..if i plan to run 75gal..sw mostly fish,

Yes, you will need a skimmer. I have only four fish in my 75, a good clean up crew, 80+ lbs of rock and my seaclone skimmer (which happens to really work crappier than normal all of a sudden) produces a lot of sludge.

Unless you want a lot of algea, cyano, high nitrate levels, low oxygen levels or to spend a lot of money on salt since you will need to do a lot of water changes.

The skimmer is way more important than the Emperor filter. IMO

 

[tnscuba]

do u have this skimmer?
Seaclone Protein Skimmer, up to 100 Gallons


the lfs reccommend this to me, since im running less than 75gal sw setup, once i decide to invest.

i really dont want a sump or large rubbermaid box next to my tank...so will this skimmer, hos, work efficiently?


thanks

nashville

 

[phishead]

yes, that is what I have. I have heard that they have made improvements since I bought mine. Mine works well at best. It seemed to do well for six months, then I moved it into a sump an it worked great. Now I can't ever seem to get it adjusted correct and I am not really getting much output through it.


I might take it all apart this weekend and see if there is something going on.


Type seaclone in the search box and see what you get. I know I have read many bad reviews and a couple pretty good ones. I personally would save the money to buy a better one now. Better ones are not that much more.