From beginning to End

[Zer0]

Yeah.. believe it or not.. im having a little bit of a rough time even trying to keep up with the expenses at the moment. I got a little bit lucky because my birthday was on saturday, so i got some money to support it. But after that money is burned through, i'll be left out to dry. We'll see how it goes, but i hope i won't have to take it down due to money shortage. That would suck lol.


But there is sad news. I do believe that i will have to take down the tank in the oncoming weeks. So if in fact i *DO* have to part with the tank, i will be looking for people to take my livestock off my hands.

[fishmonkey]

is the tank still up?

[Zer0]

Yes.

[Etunes]

Any updates?

[Zer0]

Well it's been a while, so i guess i might as well do one last update.

Sold the tank.. :/ Couldn't support it and i didn't want to see anything die.. so i gave em away to good people.

Thanks for all the information and support from everyone at AA. I've learned a great deal about saltwater aquariums and it's all amazing. You guys helped me a long way, and i know for sure that somewhere in the future i'll have a saltwater tank of my dreams. Hopefully.. ;D

So with that being said.. Bye all!! Hopefully see you guys around some time in the future! :>

[InfernoST]

Sorry to hear about your situation, but one day you will have a nice SW system. Good luck to you and take care, it's been a pleasure.

[Mitchell0605]

Indeed I quite enjoyed following this thread. Sad to hear of the outcome. May you oneday have the SW tank of your dreams!

[Etunes]

Thats sad. Does that means that you are leaving the forum for good?

[mfdrookie516]

hey, just because you dont have a tank doesnt mean you cant come around and spread your knowledge!

[Tank2379]

Man You gave up just like that??? WOW!!!!

[Zer0]

Well, i had no choice. I couldn't support the tank financially and my parents weren't going to help. So i wasn't going to let all my livestock just die lol.

Well, i'm back here at the forums. And i'm starting a 10G nano. I'll make a thread about it soon lol. Once i get all of the equipment. Gotta get the lights and the heater.

[Etunes]

Glad to hear about that. You had too do what you had too do. Cant wait.

[harmy4993]

i know this tank is done but i just got thru reading all 58 pages. up and down adventure.

if you had to do it all over again (which im sure you will) what things/equipment ect would you have done diffrent.

i also wanted to ask about the nitrates and the water changes but ill ask that some where else.

[Zer0]

An adventure it sure was. -_-

First off, i am doing it again lol. Still got that itch

As for what i would have done differently..

I would have not purchased rock from drsfosterandsmith. Their rocks are FILLED with way too much mud and gunk and decay. Plus.. they state you can tell them what size rocks you want, and i asked for baseball sized pieces as a general guideline to the type of rock that i wanted and they sent me 4 gigantic boulders.. clearly that is what i asked for right?

The rock kept my entire 55G tank dirty for the three months i had the tank. I did almost everything i could which involved thoroughly cleaning the sand and tank, but somehow every time i cleaned both, more dirt and grime just seemed to fill the spots i cleaned like i had never cleaned it in the first place.

Also, i would have not purchased nassarius snails because they destroyed just about everything in my tank, coral, feather dusters, the glass, etc.. They also tried going after my emerald crabs.. but the crabs were too fast for them. And i know they were going after the crabs because the snails were following the crabs wherever they went. That story came to an end when i captured all 8 snails and through them in a bucket of ice cold freshwater.(call me crazy.. )

To finish it off.. i would have never bought that size tank. I only bought it because it was a great deal on the tank and alot of other stuff that came with it. First off.. the tank dimensions are just garbage. 48x12x21Tall Those dimensions are terrible because the tank is too tall.. and too skiny. Which made scaping a real PIA, and even after a ridiculous amount of variations i still couldn't get the rocks to look nice.

The Nova Extreme Pro was an awesome light, and i recommend it to anyone with a 4foot tank that is pretty deep. The HOB skimmer i had which was the Reef Octopus BH100, was awesome and worked like a charm so i would also recommend that skimmer to anyone.

Oh.. i also would have made the stand a little nice lol, because it was a nice table that i modified with a couple 2x4's which made it look ugly as heck..

All in all, it was a nice experience, but there's a ton more things i would have done differently, and will do differently when i start my new tank back up in 6 weeks.(Summer break which is 3 1/2 months )


I did 15% water changes weekly, and my nitrates were around 10-15ppm(Dropped from around 25ppm right after the tank cycled). When the tank was up of course.

[harmy4993]

well im glad your getting back into it. and sooner rather then later. what size do you plan to do next?

the thing to remember about nitrates isnt they really only bad in really high doses and 40ppm isnt outrages. which is what i think it was at the time of the biggest issue. and doing a 50% change will take it to 20ppm. not to 0. and if i remember right i thought your water had a 5ppm reading? i may be wrong on that one thou cause i read ton adn ton of build threads cause i love to see tanks develop. so a 50% pw change with 5ppm in the water would give you a 25ppm reading. and also nitrates are always going to go up which is one of the reasons for a pwc. not really important now but something to remember in the future when you get frustrated with nitrates.

[Zer0]

Not sure on the size yet, but i'm batteling between a 40 gallon breeder, or a 24 gallon shallow square rimless.

I know all about those darned nitrates. Thanks for the advice.

[harmy4993]

im a fan of the 40 breeders. i like the size and the lay out. not as tall but still have alot of room to work with.

[Zer0]

Exactly. You hit the nail square in the head with my thoughts on the dimensions of a 40 breeder.

[Mitchell0605]

About time Zero!!! Cause I wanna see that build!

[Zer0]

Hardy har. Indeed.. the build will begin shortly. However, i'm actually stuck on what i want to do next.

I may be doing a 10G or a 15G. Not really sure. I like the 40G breeders, but it may just be too large for my taste. I'm trying to take a minimalistic approach to reefing this time around.. so i really have to think on what i want to do. Plus, i have a really nice fixture for the 10G so... yeah idunno yet.