Starting the Addiction! 75gal Garage Build

[Gboy66]

Ya I am pretty much 100% going with the goby over the hawkfish and tang.

That was my idea to the left there is actually a small cave on the left and am going to extend it out.

Make sure thought, with your scape that your caves provide cover, but not too much cover. You know? You want the fish to have a spot of protection, but still open enough so that you could see it no matter what. Give the engineer too many hiding spots, and you might not ever see him lol.

Heres kobe

 

[shady3210]

He looks great! And few years old too.


Just got my purewaterclub RO/DI unit hooked up in the laundry room. It is reading 0-1 tds through the DI! Couple minor problems with leaks and me not pushing the tube far enough into the quick connect but otherwise was simple to get installed.

 

[shady3210]

More progress, my powerheads came in yesterday and work great! Also found a local guy breaking down his tank and willing to sell me some live rock for 2.00 a lb will be going to check it out tomorrow. About ready to add water and watch the magic....

 

[shady3210]

Just to push this to the top. I am still working on the tank but my wife having our second child kinda put a halt on things for a couple weeks! Live rock fell through so still need to pick some of it up but I managed to get my sump and plumbing setup. Put sand in yesterday and started filling the tank with water. If all goes well I should be filled by this weekend and I will get some pictures.

 

[shady3210]

Tank is filled, SG is at 1.024, sump is running, and I added the ammonia! I have officially started cycling! Pics coming tomorrow. Also going to try and work on my ATO and screen top this weekend.

Amo: 2.0
Trite: 0
Trate: 0

 

[shady3210]

Big update with pics!

Well like I said I started cycling yesterday and I am using a bacteria booster that actually works really well. I actually had to use it a few months ago when I was starting up a brackish tank and killed the bacteria by raising the SG too fast. It cycled the tank in a week(with daily water changes and constant monitoring) with my fig 8 puffer in the tank with no visible stress to the puffer.

Anyway it seems to be working again as these are my readings after 24 hours with no live rock or sand:

Ammo: Somewhere around 1-1.5
trite: .5
trate: 5-10

Here is the booster:

Shot of my ammo and trite tests:

How the tank currently looks. I do need to still clean the glass but haven't bothered since i'm in and out of it so much right now:

And my simple sump. This will be replaced in a few months:

 

[shady3210]

Well went to petco yesterday and they were having their $1 gallon sale so I picked up a 20L to turn into a sump!

What do most use for a bubble catcher? Just a filter pad? I am having issues with micro bubbles so looks like I need one.

 

[shady3210]

No clue if anyone is still checking this but it is nice to keep a journal going so on I go!

Ordered 20 lbs of live aquacultured rock from sealife.inc. They were awesome and answered all my questions. I got some of their partially cured rock shipped priority mail and it arrived in 2 days(today). My lovely wife had the honor of unboxing it and putting into some buckets of water I prepared. She was quite terrified of something attacking her so I didn't tell her about everything that can come on the rock... lol

Tonight I am going to rinse and get the rocks in the tank. i will get some more pics then too!

 

[pcdebb]

I'm following . I'm going to be converting my 75 soon and this helps

 

[shady3210]

I cleaned the rock up and got it into the tank tonight!

Right off the bat can anyone help me ID this? Looks like some kind of coral maybe:

As promised a new full tank shot:

 

[Jlsardina]

Looks like it's a coral skeleton. I don't see any polyps tho

 

[shady3210]

Looks like it's a coral skeleton. I don't see any polyps tho

Thanks i'll keep an eye on it.

Woke up and had what I thought was a dead worm hanging out of the rock but then it appeared to extend. Its probably 3 inches long pinkish in color. I tried to snap a quick shot before I went to work but my blackberry's camera is pretty terrible.

See if anyone can help ID:

I can try and get a better pic tonight.

 

[Jlsardina]

Probably a bristle worm. Compare what you saw with a google search

 

[shady3210]

Probably a bristle worm. Compare what you saw with a google search

I need to get a better pic but I didn't see any bristles on it and was roundish. My wife said it has gone away now..... hmmm could it be a serpent star or spaghetti worm?

 

[shady3210]

Well the worm thing hasn't come back so who knows!

We did find today a nice red sea squirt happily filter feeding on a rock. Can these guys move because I swear it wasn't there yesterday. Have found several feather dusters too.

As the cycle goes my nitrite is spiking and the ammonia is starting to taper off. Have around 10 on the nitrate so getting closer.

 

[shady3210]

Went to my LFS today with the family and me and my 3 year old fell in love with this guy:

Tank Bred Clarkii Clownfish (aka nemo to my 3 year old )

I decided to get him today as I had a 20 gal long setup for QT and wanted to QT for about a month. He seems ok in there been hanging around the corner and is understandably skiddish. Swims well though and he ate very well at the LFS

 

[Scott F]

You had to have know you were going to name him Nemo !!

I thought that was almost mandatory with small children in the house

 

[pcdebb]

I have no kids in the house, but my first two clowns will be nemo and marlin, a shrimp named jacque, blue named dorie, a yellow tang that loves bubbles, etc lol

 

[shady3210]

You had to have know you were going to name him Nemo !!

I thought that was almost mandatory with small children in the house

Haha ya he was mandatory although I do have her at least calling him a clownfish named nemo lol. And I have already said no "Doris"!

 

[shady3210]

Woke up this morning and he has moved out of the corner and is swimming around the tank. So far so good!