hey guys so i have a quick up date , ive went and did all my water tests but i cant find one around here for mg so ill have to hope for the best untill i can order one soon.



before i supplemented with instant ocean my water was as follows and this is natural seawater with me doing nothing but raising the temp.


salinity- 1.012
amonia- 0
nitrite- 0
nitrate- 0-5
phos-0
alk-7
cal-380
mg-???



as the salt was only at .012 i had to add some so i added instant ocean it was the only salt available to me here and after i added the salt this is where i stood.


salinity-1.025
amonia-0
nitrite-0
nitrate-0-5
phos-0
alk-9
calcium-460
mg-????(im assuming around where it should be)



today i started to run carbon in the tank and added a handfull of established sand to my refuge to kick start the bacteria into reproducing.


ive also added a couple yellow tail chromis as my tester fish and will be monitoring them closely over the next week or two. so far they seem very happy and are eating some flke food soaked in garlic. they were also very healthy looking and i got the two i thought were most active and responsive.within minutes after acclimation they were swimming about and eager for food and attention.they come to the top alot looking for flake so i believe they are familiar with people.



to help on the build up cost i am bying a tank from some one here locally its a 55g with all kinds of goodies including 75-100 lbs of live rock .....350 but a 7 hr drive so i will be taking lots of rubber maids with me and a heaters/ powerheads.....there are only two fish and no corals so im not worried to muc about casualties. the cost of the rock i need from an lfs is more then it is to buy this whole set up so i figured tim to start playing it smart;);)


the pet store here has also agreed to get me some mangroves as i noticed they had some on stash out back but the are not for sale and after some begging he has agreed to order me in a bunch with their next order.....:) sweet so now i will be plumbing a mangrove trough into the tank and toilet sump:):)



heres the pics hope you enjoy:)



http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1300999418


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1300999513


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1300999418


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1300999513



http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1300999513

Its good to see it coming together Denny, love the black sand

thanks john shes a slow progress but its coming together, i have the stand enclosed now and im gonna start looking for some cool stone work for the shell. both fish are really doing awesome and i have a pile of stuff coming soon from another set up.

im gonna try my hand at a diy reactor and a diy fragtank now the once and my roomate is setting up her own tank she will use the 55g im buying next week and start from there.....



i also have something really really cool cooking up, my roomates mom has an old fishplant bin its about 6 ' cube and is sealed tight i want to cut it down in height to around 24" and set it up some how lol :):) hehehehe

would go small rays if i did:)

nice setup denny

Nice to see you salty again =)

Now just imagine the resale value if you made a steel stand and new canopy? Just sayin :lol:

looking good Denny.

I have a Sal. mag test kit if you wanna borrow...it's past exp. by a month but should still be good..

thanks friend, im going to be placing an online order soon and i will get one then but if it turns out to be a long time then i will def take you up on that:):)


wouldnt mind coming to see your set up here one of these nights too , nice to get some feedback from those here who have them running already:):)

cheers buddy:)

nice to finally have a set up that hasnt cost me a fortune or constant planning thats for sure , but i have some plans for growing the system bigger so we will see how that goes and ill have to learn to budget a little better:)


today im enclosing the sump around and building a stand for my roomates tank all the tanks will be one huge system sharing the same sump,refuge and mangrove trough. then i will be putting some sort of stone or tile around it all and then we are gona do the room its self with a nice couch and lots of plants plus all my guitar crap lol:):)

thanks little buddy the cube is slowly growing on me as im starting to enjoy the design, how ever i know a much larger tank will be built as soon as this one and the room is done:):) cheers!!:)

you're going to be placing an online order soon? Let us know when , will you Denny? then we can get in on it too! I'd love to come down and see your setup some time soon. I'm really interested in your mangrove trough - it's something I've been interested in for a long time too.

The rums are on me tonight that's for sure... I had to correct my spelling like 100 times for sure! God help you all if you had to read my original post!

yes im hoping to be placing one here soon with oceans direct and anyone can get in on it i wouldnt mind at all, i was talking to them a while ago and they said they could do it easily:) they are in need of updating their site though so ill have to get them to give me a list of what they have:)


and i was given a handful of sand from a friend yesterday fred but thanks anyways , its funny i didnt even know he had a tank untill he seen i was building one lol then i wasnt long hitting him up:)

i love the mangroves and ive seen a few set ups with a " trough" so im interested in building one my self, they have them at pets unlimited but wont sell them and i was talking with the gu there and he said he is ordering an order in the first week of april and if i want he will call me just before he places his order and he will order me what i want......i bugged alot lol :) he can get them with leaves or without:)

if i had to guess i would say not all that cheap though:)

yeah, no worries about the sand - glad you got some. Will you shoot me a PM or something when you get the updated list from Oceans Direct? I'd be interested in a few things...

add me in on the oceans order if you have room....like to pick up a frog or torch if he has any on hand

cheers

just let me know if needed.....and you're welcome to drop by anytime, well as long as I'm home lol

cheers!

Nice to see some fish Denny! Awesome progress, tank looks great!

thanks wayne buddy:)

so after a couple days my two fish are doing great, the very day i put them in i also added 2 lbs of rock it was a very nice shape so i really wanted it but that and the addition of the fish sparked a very small amonia spike but im glad to say it was gone the next day so my liverock is doing its job and the fish are always out and about. their colours are getting really bright alot more so then at the lfs .


i also added two small frags for testing out my water i added a small ricordia mushroom ,very bright orange and blue ...ive never had any bright rics before only brownish and green ones so im not sure what kind it is .i also picked up a zoa frag its about 30 heads of an ugly blueish brown but its a start.


once these guys do good for a bit i will think about placing an order for some nicer and bigger things:)



heres some newer pics i staind the plywood for now untill i decide to do the outside or as soon as funds will allow lol:)




http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301407902


http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301407902



http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301407902
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301407902
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301408106
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301408106
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301408223
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301408223

so picked up a tank from someone, came with a 50g tank and all the goodies to run it plus around 80lbs of liverock and an enormous clown.i picked out the rock i wanted and gave the rest to my roomate who is setting up the 50g for herself. both tanks are now running and the clown is in my cubetank. the clown had been in the guys tank for 11yrs(apparently as i got my doubts) and is just huge im guessing around 5-7 inchs.


heres some pics of the new rockwork and the new clown, on a sadder note one of my chromis has kicked the can this morning, the other chromis had been picking on him and he woudnt eat and now with this huge clown in there he was stressed and scared untill he died......so long yellow beard!!!


my roomate has too big of a heart for this hobby me thinks lol she made a tiny wooden casket from paint sticks and super glue and buried the little fella...my way was to harsh she said ;)




again heres some more pics:):)



http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956541

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956541

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956541

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956582

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956582

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/a...g?t=1301956541

LOVE IT Denny!!!!

Looks good Denny, I like the rockscape :biggrin:

thanks guys ,lots of little caves and ledges for coral was what i was going for took me a long time to get it right and stable. its def different trying to figure out a look in a cube tank that fits without going the usual one stack in the middle.

Yeah, cube scaping is definitely a challenge. I like how this one turned out!! Nice work!

It does look pretty nice Denny. Will look fantastic with some coral growth.



My thought though.... you have three sides being touched by your scape. Are you concerned about ease of cleaning any of these?

I like to have three viewing sides and do not care much about the back. Always good to be able to see whats going on "behind the scenes".