Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

[Buffy]

Lights..Camera..Action..Pictures

Here we go. Fluval 405 Installed, Evolution 750's installed, and Nova Extreme Lights on.

Pic one is all lights on.
Pic two is only switch 2 on
Pic three is only switch 1 on

 

[Gregcoyote]

Looking good. I usually position the outflow in such a way that it disturbed the surface for good gas exchange

 

[carey]

Looking great! It looks like a real tank ready to go now!

 

[Buffy]

Thanks, I'm not sure of the flow though. Sure doesn't seem to be that much.

 

[Grizz]

That looks great and dont stress the flow just yet as you'll be moving things around for a bit

 

[jsmith]

Great pictures ..tank looks great... was it just me or did anyone else take a double look at the right hand side... looks like cat

 

[stouty6969]

Can u mix ro water and distiller or spring water bc my lfs salted my ro water wayyyyyy to much and everything is going wrong

 

[Buffy]

That looks great and dont stress the flow just yet as you'll be moving things around for a bit

Ok, thanks

Great pictures ..tank looks great... was it just me or did anyone else take a double look at the right hand side... looks like cat

I just looked again, I can see it too. Though you can tell it was not intentional. I just moved the rock out of the way so I could get to the back glass for installing the filter.

 

[Buffy]

Can u mix ro water and distiller or spring water bc my lfs salted my ro water wayyyyyy to much and everything is going wrong

Yes I don't see why not. Do some pwc's to bring it down. What's your salinity?

 

[Buffy]

So, after I redo the rock, what's next?

I think I still need a quarantine tank; a refugium; a protein skimmer; and a refractometer. I think the canister takes care of the sump part for now.

Can I set up a tank just as a refugium and use it for more than one tank? Kinda like a planted aquarium but it would be a "food" generator for any and all my tanks?

 

[Buffy]

I'm thinking I'm gonna need to rig something up for the light. I'm thinking probably from the ceiling. Why? Because lifting the light off the tank and putting aside hurts big time. If I need to get inside fast I need to get it out of the way. I almost dropped it in the water last night putting in on (well some did touch but not enough to cause a problem). I just lifted it off again to redo the rock and bout killed myself (back that is). So ...

I have light hanging wires (I forgot to put them back in from the light I returned oops). But I am wondering if I hang from the ceiling, how to rig a pulley type thing so raise and lower as needed.

Any suggestions?

 

[Buffy]

I'm biking to a couple of stores. Don't know which ones yet. I think better on my bike. I'm trying to figure out how I want the rock in my tank. After doing more research I'm not so sure I want to use anything to connect the rock, so gotta think this out alittle more.

How high is too high for the rock? I don't want to burn anything that I may put up higher.

Thanks

 

[carey]

They have these for the lights

Aquarium Lighting Accessories: Hanging Arm Assembly for Current-USA Light Fixtures

 

[Buffy]

Thanks Carey.

So I bought a magnifying glass, see if I get dizzy now lol.

 

[Grizz]

My rock is about 10 inches from the top this lets me remove about 40% of the water if needed.

 

[Gregcoyote]

None of our 150 pounds of rock in my reef are tied together. Part of the fun is stacking it and getting the pieces to interlock in interesting ways. Start with the big rocks and build up. Have pieces in mind to attach coral frags to. It is inevitable that you will move stuff around, so don't tie it together. Leave lots of caves and overhangs. I just tore down and cleaned my 100 gallon algae scrubber/sump for the first time in a few years, I found many strange things and am exhausted.

 

[jsmith]

I don't know if anyone else does this but I place frags not already attached into barnacle... works well when have corals like frogspawns hammers.. etc..just put them in there and move around.. plus the barnacle is already pinkish purple so it doesn't look odd right away..

 

[Buffy]

My rock is about 10 inches from the top this lets me remove about 40% of the water if needed.

Wow, if I leave that much I won't have any where to put anything, I wouldn't think.

None of our 150 pounds of rock in my reef are tied together. Part of the fun is stacking it and getting the pieces to interlock in interesting ways. Start with the big rocks and build up. Have pieces in mind to attach coral frags to. It is inevitable that you will move stuff around, so don't tie it together. Leave lots of caves and overhangs. I just tore down and cleaned my 100 gallon algae scrubber/sump for the first time in a few years, I found many strange things and am exhausted.

Kinda cloudy in there now. Gonna let it settle a bit and start mowing back yard.

I don't really want to tie or glue anything. I just want to use the rock. I want caves, overhangs and maybe a tunnel, but I can't get the rock to stay let alone have some hanging off without falling. Now dang it, I'm pretty good with puzzles, but this puzzle is kicking my tooshie. lol

 

[huma-huma]

Buffy would tllt brackets work for your fixture? I've seen some pretty basic tilt hinges that move the fixture up and back away from the tank

***edit**** they do sell aquatic putty, you can use it to hold rocks together but its ot a permanent putty, kinda just makes em stick.

 

[Buffy]

Buffy would tllt brackets work for your fixture? I've seen some pretty basic tilt hinges that move the fixture up and back away from the tank

***edit**** they do sell aquatic putty, you can use it to hold rocks together but its ot a permanent putty, kinda just makes em stick.

Thanks, I'll look into them. I'm still kinda leaning toward the ceiling cause then I can definitely get them out of the way. As clumsey as I am, I may knock the til off the back lol.

I'm just gonna keep working with the rock, it will go eventually.