Does anyone have hex tank photos?
 

Finally got enough RO water made, salted and put into our new 42 hex so I could hang the 802 powerhead on the back instead of the rinky-dink little powerhead that's been climbing the back wall as I added water. The 802's got a prefilter on and is slowly but surely clearing the fine particulate matter from the DSB that stayed in the water column as the water went in. Even cleaned the inside of the glass for the first time today :-)

Later this week, I'll shop around for rock. But I was wondering if anyone else on this board has a hex and how did you stack your rock? I'll be looking for rock that'll enable me to build caves and arched structures. Anybody have photos of their hex tanks with this kind of rock arrangement?

TIA,

On a side note Beverly, you didn't add your salt then start adding the water did you?

No. Water was heated and powerheaded in a 5 gal pail, then salted to the right salinity before adding to the tank. BTW, I first I put in the sandbed, then put a plate on the area where the water would fall to reduce cloudiness and to prevent a big hole in the sandbed. Water went in jug by jug by ever-lovin' jug. Tedious, PITA process ...

The tank's almost clear now. By morning, it'll look great and will be ready for some rock :-) I've got a couple of places lined up to hand pick the rock. From one place, the rock's cured Indonesian, but the place is closed on Wednesdays :-( From the second place, the rock's Fijian and looks almost cured if not fully cured, but it's open till 9 pm :-)

Have you been down to look at Ray's rock? (the one that isn't open on wednesday) It's not the nicest looking rock, pretty plane no coline ect.

Clinton

Yeah, we were at Ray's late last week shortly after we decided to set up the 42 hex. His is the Indonesian. Some of it has some coraline and some have interesting shapes. I'd only take the pieces that appealed to me, though. Price is $9/lb.

We're going to Big Al's tonight. Their rock is the cheapest in town at $8/lb. Some of it is already growing fuzzy green algae, though a few astreas will take care of that in no time. There again, I'd only take the pieces that looked good for the type of aquascaping we're hope to accomplish.

The rock at AI is Tonga branch at $10/lb. That's what we have in our 2.5 gal nano. It's totally uncycled and after a week in our 2.5, ammonia and nitrite levels are 5 ppm and up. I can't see much use for the Tonga branch in the 42, but I'll probably stop back there over the next couple of days just to it check out a little further. They may have gotten a new shipment of rock this week. Stopping in around noon is always a good idea since that seems to be the time they open whatever shipments they've brought back from the airport that morning. I can always call first and save a trip, but, heck, I like looking around the store at the fish and crawly critters, They're having a severe cyano attack in their large open top coral tank. Sad to see the cyano on their beautiful corals :-(

who's ray (what shop)?

why not order in from J&L or SWC? way better prices than local.

Probably cause she want's to hand pick the rock pieces Quinn. :wink:

Exactly. When we had our 180 gal, we did order a few boxes from J&L, but was unimpressed overall with the rock compared to handpicking rock from various suppliers locally. From mail order places, you get whatever they happen to pack for you and there is no choice at all in what you get. You just have to deal with what they've shipped.

I plan to take my time picking the rock, too. I don't have to get it all from one store. I don't have to go from one store to the next and have all the rock in a day or two, either. I can pick up a piece or two or three one day from a particular supplier, then go back in a couple of weeks after a new shipment has arrived and maybe bring home another piece or two.

Like I was saying to a friend just this morning, a 42 hex is a puny and strangely shaped aquarium. I want to get the exact rocks that will make the tank a piece of art over the long term. Yeah, that's the goal - to have a living piece of art to enjoy for a long time to come.

I know that most folks on this board are laughing up their sleeves at our choice of a 42 hex. But there's a challenge to aquascaping it beautifully that I find suits me. Besides, we only have enough room for that sized tank, except, of course for our 7 gal and 2.5 gal nanos ;-)

Ray is at Saltwater Fantasies. Website is:

http://www.saltwaterfantasies.com/

He operates out of his basement and the place is not remotely flashy. Have bought many fish from him in the past, but no rock or corals. His coral setup sucks, imo. The rock looks okay, though, and I'll probably stop by tomorrow when he's open again. He's likely to have new fish too, since Tuesday is his fish shipment day.