The Saga Begins!!
 

So I have officially taken the plunge.

Below are the photo's to prove it!!

So what i have is a 50 gallon tank, a Won Brother 2 Titanium heater, an aqua C Remora Pro with pre skimmer box, some power heads (hoping to get some SEIO 820's at a reasonalbe price), some Seachem reef salt and the pride and joy, my Sunlight Supply Maristar MH fixture ... a total of 578 watts. Inside ar 2 - 39 watt geissmann t-5 actinics and 2 - 250 watt 14,500K geissman DE MH bulbs. This is running off of a Blue Wave VII ballast.

I can't get over the clarity ... Already the tank is just about to start cycling and i am already hooked and probably will never go back to freshwater again ....

I am going to keep the tank a bare bottom tank (unless the wife tells me otherwise) ... WoW ... i am still in MAJOR shock.

Grats! Sounds like a good setup. :)

Just go slow and enjoy. It's a great hobby.

Looks good. And I love your lighting, where did you get your custom stand? :wink:

oh i plan on it ... my cycle time i expect to be upwards of 8 weeks ... minimum. I am not in any rush and realize the rushing = frusteration = dead tank and that is something that i don't want.

That custom stand is compliments of ziplock! LOL .. the real legs for it will be here around the 27th (or so I hope) ... i dunno ... some people love the plastic rustic look that they give off!

Congrats! Have fun with the new setup!:)

Welcome to the world of reefkeeping, where you never have spare money again. :)

I wouldn't use that tupperware there very long, it might melt depending on teh quality!

Oh it won't be there long .... i am just using it as a temporary solution for now. Am hoping to get some 2*6 pieces to use instead so some brick or rock.

I would hang the fixture from the roof, preferably on a pulley system.

That way you have easy access to your reef without getting an instand sun burn from 500+ watts of lighting.

I would recommend doing this as well (simply hanging it would be fine too..) you will seriously regret it once it comes time to work in the tank with your hands and you have the fixture over top. It's pretty annoying. And yes.. damn hot!!

I would look into it... now that I have an Aqualight Pro on my tank, I totally hate it... way too hard to work in the tank, and it's MUCH nicer to be able to view your reef "top down" .. it gives such an awesome look... JMO! Looking good so far, have fun :D

Maybe hanging it from the ceiling will work down the road, but as it stands, i live in an apartment and i don't think that my land lords will ... appreciate ... me drilling into their ceiling so that i can have it just hang there and be easily accessable.

That and i would be drilling into cement so i don't want to do that either as i don't have a cement drill (yet) and it will cause a lot of dust and debris around the tank.

Yeah.. I was in the same boat as you (kinda) I couldn't hang anything from my ceiling. So me and my dad build a mod so I had nothing hanging.

If you make a post, people will show you ways to build mods so you dont have to drill into your ceiling. You can build stands that are very simple and don't look too bad!

Yeah ... when i get some extra $$$ i am going to build a high canopy and place some fans inside it so that i can hand the fixture from inside the canopy.

But i also have the "WIFE" factor to contend with as well .... she says NO to hanging the fixture ... therefore i have the equation: happy wife = happy life

I drilled holes when I was in my apartment, easy to fill them when you leave. Just get a sheet of large plastic, or a tarp to cover you tank when you drill.

But I understand if the wife doesn't want it hung, too bad though, makes tank maintenance so much harder, and then you end up not doing it, and then it costs you money.

Amen to that. I had a 150w HQI hanging over my tank in a mod. Now I have the Aqualight Pro.... boooooooo! Honestly, I could preach all day about this. Having an open top tank makes tank maintanence a breeeeze. it was a big shock for me because I was so used to having the top open... I can barely fit my arm under my Aqualight Pro. Therefore, aptasia is growing furiously, as well as some bits of hair algae and other goodies.

I never realized or paid attention to that until you said it Rory. Not having easy access totally throws off tank maintenance.. and then things just go downhill from there.

Other hangers
 

Hey SerLunchbox,

Check this link out. About 3/4 way down the guy is using wall hangers to suspend it. I did this with my 33 and put a shelf on top. Works great, will get a pic when I get home tonight.
http://reefcentral.com/forums/showth...&pagenumber=19

Well, i like the shelf idea ... but my wife, again, doesn't want hanging cables etc from the walls ....

ah well, i WILL eventually have a canopy built for this stand! May even build "around" the stand and put some wooden slats along the front (make a hinged front) so that it retains the structure of the original stand but may look nicer

So i hit a snag ...

My water was clear yesturday and isn't so clear today ... infact there seems to be what looks like grainular leftover salt on the bottom of the tank and on the sides. Any thoughts on how to clean this up? Just took SOME water out, but i still see it on the bottom. not a real grainular feel to it but slightly ...

Will the skimmer clean that out or what?

Should i add more freshwater? Thanks

Edit: Turned my powerheads off and it turns out to be extra salt ... gotta syphon that off ... it didn't get absorbed. Note to self, next salt tank you do, don't mix in the damned tank.

What is your saline level? That is what is important. What are you measuring it with? I try to keep mine around 1.024.

mine is 1.0245 and it is measured with a refractometer.

What kind of salt are you using? Also what temperature is your water? When I set up my 230g and 190g I dumped the salt directly into the tank and did not have salt crystals undissolved after about 5 hours. I did take a small power head and directed it by hand to really stir everything up. I did that a couple of times and viola - no more salt crystals.

50 gallon ... sitting at about 81F

Using SeaChem Reef Salt

Well, here is photos from Day 3 and day 5 (today, June 25th is day 5).

I syphoned off all the salt water and placed it all in various tubs around the house (all clean). I then got rid of all the excess salt that i had ... boy oh BOY was it a wee bit too much.

Anyways, I also got 30 pounds of sugar sand to place in the bottom (the wife wanted sand .. so as a dutiful husband, i complied!) But that came with the cost of me getting a Seio M1100. What a pump!

Will be getting another one in the future ... just have to save some more cash.

So here are the photos.

Well, i have a Seio M1100 in the tank now ... i think it MIGHT be a bit too much flow though ... Any thoughts on how to adjust it ... as it stands, the sand gets blown all to hell and then clouds the tank bad.

I was thinking of putting some LR in front of the glass where the pump hits. Any other ideas on how I can do this? Any other ways i can reduce the flow of the pump?

Oh yeah ... got the LR in the tank now!

I always mix 1/2 sugar grain sand, with 1/2 of the larger size, can't remember what they call it. Doesn't look as nice, but it gives digging animals the chance to build burrows and stuff easier, they dont collapse.

Put the seio a little lower in the tank, and point it upwards towards the middle of the tank. This will break up the surface nicely for you too, otherwise organics will collect there and form a little "skin" of oils and stuff.

The sand has settled, the rock has gone in, everything is turned on (nt 24/7 yet, but close) and i am happy as a pig in the dirty mud with corn in it.

Here is an updated photo of the tank.

Well since my last post i have added some extra pieces of equipment. A seio 620 now accompanies my Seio 1100.

The Protien Skimmer is now in the tank (about to loose the collection cup soon due to the shipper breaking it) and i added 2 fans to cool the water.

The water goes from 81F to 82F throughout the day ... so that is just great for me! SG is at ~1.024 and all other numbers are in place. I had Diatoms rule the tank for 2 days, but they literally went away when i woke up this morning and looked at the tank.

So take a look at my photo bucket link to see photos from days 8, 10, 12 (2 shots) and the brown polyps and fuzzy mushroom coral in the tank!!
http://s52.photobucket.com/albums/g4/SerLunchbox/

Looking good. Fuzzy mushrooms already?

Yeah ...

it came in on some LR that i got from Cag.

Bonus! Hopefully they make it through the cycle, they look fine in the pic.

Oh i know ... the mushroom has just about doubled in size since he was put in the tank with the rock.