Started my 45 gallon

[andre1000]

Tank spec
45gallon
36in L x 24in H x 12in D

lighting
marineland double bright LED 600 lumens

Corallife double fixture 10k and actinic blue 78w (in the mail)

Filters
350 penguin bio-wheel

millennium 3000 power filter

45 pounds of live rock

50lb of pool filtration sand(cleaned) and 10lb broken coral mix

Circulation
900 maxi jet power-head

Heater
300watt stealth

stock
3 Astraea Conehead Snail
4 Green\Blue reef Chormis
1 oscellaris clown
1 true Percula clown
1 firefish dartfish
1 wheeler goby
5 hermits
1 peppermint shrimp


i cycled the tank for two week and its been running for 6 weeks now
i have a 10 gallon brine shrimp hatchery underneath
fish have been doing great for 3 week now no signs of stress nothing has died so far looking to get some coral soon

Any constructive criticism would be nice this is my first post

 

[uscamaro]

Welcome to the forum! The tank is looking great so far. Are you going to eventually do a reef or keep it FOWLR? I would recommend getting rid of the brine hatchery and turning it into a sump, it will really help with filtration and hiding heater/filters/protein skimmer. Since your tank is in the corner you can get an overflow box and get rid of those 2 biowheels (sump filter will work much better, and you don't have to buy those media packs). I would also get about 15-25lbs more liverock.

What are your future plans?

 

[andre1000]

iam looking to invest in a big canister filter and to get rid of the hang on filters but thats later on iam just wait to get my light and stick a couple of corals and some more live rock wouldn't hurt

 

[tyspot1000]

Welcome to AA!

Will be following this thread . Just a side note, A canister is not necessary (can bring up nitrates or be a so called 'nitrate factory'), but if you rinse the canister out weekly, it will be ok to keep and shouldn't be a problem.

 

[andre1000]

(can bring up nitrates or be a so called 'nitrate factory')

interesting someone please explain about canister would rather not waste money on a filter system

 

[tyspot1000]

You will notice a slow down in your water flow rate when the filtration material in the canister becomes dirty. You can never clean or change it too often, unless of course you are using the canister for biological filtration purposes. If not, the filtering media or material should be cleaned or changed regularly, at least once a week. If left dirty this will decrease your water flow rate, as well as allow for the accumulation of an unwanted waste load on your system, which in turn contributes to poor water quality problems, the number one being an excess build-up of nitrates the aquarium.

 

[andre1000]

cool iam looking to do a DIY Sump, Protein skimmer, over flow box ive been doing some research but if all else fails ill just abuy a canister filter and stay on top of it

 

[andre1000]

i did a DIY 10 gallon Sump ill post pictures tomorrow. only cost me 37 bucks and still got a ton of acrylic left

 

[mr_X]

the reason the cannister raises nitrates is that it collects detritus( dissolved organics, uneaten food, fish poop), but doesn't break it down. it just sits there and rots. a weekly cleaning of the filter media will solve that problem.

as for the brine shrimp hatchery- feeding the fish a steady diet of brine shrimp is selling them short. live brine is a good way to get a finicky fish eating, but the nutritional value is not there. many folks have compared brine shrimp to potato chips, in terms of nutrition. a varied diet is best.

 

[andre1000]

i mix the frozen brime shrimp with this kent vitamin liquid thing that smell like crap but it drive the fish crazy i was ganna buy some frozen squid and fish flakes and i put some long green alge plant that some pods hitch kie and no there multiplying and keeping my fisha bit busy

it looks like this and its been growing

 

[mr_X]

that's caulerpa. probably mexicana. just keep that pruned back and don't let it get out of hand. there is a possibility of it "going sexual" and releasing toxins.

 

[andre1000]

i got it from the LFS they told me to just trim it when it gets too big and ill be fine i did some research that if you maintain it properly its fine for a tank and my tank is big so its easy to maintain and looks nice when it gets longer looks like the California kelp forests

 

[andre1000]

so here is my DIY sump i made and the materials all only cost $40 including the tank and some pics of my fishy crew

 

[Unicorn]

What silicone did you use?

 

[andre1000]

just some regular silicone thats for all applications including aquariums(said it on the bottle) got it at home depot for 3 bucks

 

[Unicorn]

just some regular silicone thats for all applications including aquariums(said it on the bottle) got it at home depot for 3 bucks

Ok, thx
Was just wondering if there was a particular recommended brand that was safe for a SW reef tank

 

[XxVooDooxX]

They do carry specific "tank" silicone at LFS but it's pricey and the tubes are small

 

[Unicorn]

Figured It would be expansive when buying from the LFS. as long as the $3 Home depot stuff is safe, I'm fine with cheap

 

[XxVooDooxX]

Haha agreed!

 

[andre1000]

home depot stuff did the job pretty well would recommended it just make sure you read the bottle cause some are not aquarium safe