Hows my tank look?

[schulze]

Here's my finished tank (as far as LR is concerned). Im sticking at 78F for temp and 1.0235 ppt salinity. Its a 20 gallon tank with 25 lbs of rock.

Been cycling the tank for almost a week now, gonna make a water change tomorrow cuz my live rock came with a little anemone and muscle on it.

Any comments?

 

[EdgarMedina1010]

looks really cool!

 

[lando]

Looks like a good start. I would try to control your temp down a bit. 87 is pretty high. Most try to keep theirs at 78-82.

 

[AquaJoe]

I'm no salty but that sure looks like a great start! Lots of hiding places and all, I like the arrangement.

Best,
Joe

 

[roka64]

Looks good, like Lando said 87 is kind of high. I would shoot for about 1.5-2LBs of LR per gallon, for great filtration. Do you have a test kit?

 

[schulze]

opps I ment to say 77-78F for temp. I do have a test kit "Freshwater Masters test kit" by Aquarium Pharmaceuticals, INC... guess thats okay?

 

[lando]

opps I ment to say 77-78F for temp.

that is better...

 

[dianeww]

"Freshwater Masters test kit"

I hope you mean Saltwater Masters!

 

[schulze]

I actually only had the freshwater because of my other tanks but it seems to be reading fine...

I also got one more piece of LR... here's the tank now. The place im gettign my LR from is awesome (Staunton, VA). The guy there sorts through every piece in all the tanks looking for the best ones with the most life (featherdusters, muscles, coral, etc...).

It is hard to tell but the left side sora wraps back around in the front a little

 

[ntswift]

The freshwater test kits will work but they have different readings than normal. I know with the strips you have to look on a seperate chart to get your readings for saltwater. The tank looks good by the way! What are your plans going to be for it? Reef, FOWLR?

 

[schulze]

For now, FOWLR. I have a 50/50 PC bulb on it giving me 65W so a little over 3 watts per gallon. Would that be enough for a reef?

 

[AutumnPine]

I'm fairly new to this hobby myself, but if you are still cycling imo I think it would be better to wait til the cycle is complete before u do a pwc. If I'm not mistaking doing a pwc in the middle of a cycle will slow down the cycling process.

 

[schulze]

Whats pwc?

 

[Fluff]

partial water change

 

[tundar]

Good start for your tank. I personally would add a few more lbs of LR. Usually about 1.5 to 2 lbs of LR for every gallon of water. Most saltwater aquarist will agree. Just remember with SW aquariums, patience is the key.

 

[ntswift]

3 watts per gallon is a little low for a reef tank depending on what you want in there. You could have some zoo's or shrooms maybe in there.

 

[schulze]

update

My Baserocks are already showing evidence that they are becoming LR. Here are some pics.