75 gal Holy crap what have I done? Errr, make that 90gal.

[fishytime]

Originally Posted by Dez

Welcome to Canreef.

It really doesn't have to be as complicated as you think. Big Al's is quite pricey for everything. Look out for used stuff on here. You can pick some quite cheap live rock for $4 - 5/lb on here. Check out Marine Aquaria in Edmonton (you can look them up on here - one of the sponsors). Often times they'll have cheap live rock even $3/lb from their client tear downs.

Ask lots of questions. Start simple. Simple live rock and lots of flow will do for a FOWLR tank.

Hope this helps for now.

Welcome to the dark side of fishkeeping.....

I agree with Dez, except for one thing .....ask your questions here

[Beza]

Thanks for the comments guys!

I will be posting pics as soon as I can grab my camera back from work (it's waterproof too, so there may be some interesting experiments!). I would love to have someone ID the fauna for me, or at least point me in the right direction for cichlid species keys on the net, so that I could make up little lame plaques with spp. names on them! Yeah, that's right - I just finished up a degree in environmental science, so I am a latin nerd still... hope I don't embarrass myself too much!

Oh, and yes... I am starting to remember how much I friggin love fish! Four days back in and I'm already thinking of another tank! Sigh. The reason is that I am starting to doubt I could take care of an empty tank for 6 months just to start growing rock, ha ha. I suppose I'll just focus on building the stand for the time being.

Other things on day 4 that are beginning to occur to me include a short list of what I want to find:

- more power heads! I need more of these, right? The more current in the upper strata of the tank, the better? Does a 75 gal even have enough volume to have upper strata? I am pretty sure I just made this whole strata thing up.

-I must begin to find another smaller tank to use for something that sounds like it might be called a berlin reservoir filter system, right?

- Obviously I need to set up a cool pump system... oooooh I can't wait! Why the hell did I throw out that wicked 1 1/2" pool jetpump I refurbished years ago?

- Definitely some sort of digital water testing system that can show me interesting things like salinity, tds, and whether or not I am pregnant.

- Lights. Damn you, expensive lights!

- a skimmer... I see these things used everywhere... should I be throwing one on my tank before it is salt water?


Anything else I am obviously unaware of, aside from my blatant status as yet another excited newb?

[Beza]

Uh oh, I also just thought of something else that might be cool... what about some sort of timed electrical system, so I could run things like lights on the sump or regular tank in opposite cycles (yes, it is quite obvious I am reading Myka's newb guide). What about midnight laser shows with giant inflatable pigs or devils that activate to the music of the artist formerly known as Peter Frampton?

Hmm... my excited dreaming usually offsets my laziness, and I end up somewhere in the middle, between doing nothing at all and creating some sort of magnificent golden calf for people to worship. So excuse my deliriousness.

[no_bs]

Well you sound like your on the right track, getting your first tank. Keep up on Myka's guide. Research the threads, you should be used to that. Think of this as another degree. Good luck, and keep us posted.

[Beza]

I am going to try to post some pics I took with this weird camera I have, of the tank, just to show you guys that it is a plain old boring 4' jobbie. Hopefully I can post some rough drawings of the stand plans this week for random internet approval.


Here it is! Hidden in the storage room away from the prying eyes of my female life control system! Perhaps this christmas gift will somehow diminish her random female anger...





I felt like a jerk using the flash like that... I'm sure they're ****ed with me now.

Also I have no clue whether or not that worked... I suck at this.

[Beza]

SO things have taken a turn for the worse with this project...

By "turn for the worse", I of course mean "turn towards the expensive".

I am now undertaking a deal to obtain a 90 gal reef tank from some really friendly people! The bad side of this is that I paid for a 75gal freshwater tank, complete with cichlids, which I probably won't use! The tank just sits there, mocking me. The cichlids seem concerned, but not overly. I'm pretty sure that they realize that whatever happens, they'll be fine.

But back to the SW dreams...

In recent news, I obtained what apparently is a fairly decent, albeit overdone, skimmer. This thing came complete with some loc-line, and a PCX-40 pump. The random guy down at Big Al's tells me that it is a Beckett-style skimmer. To this, my reply was "Ok. Huh? Duh. Seems scientific enough."









Any info on this stuff, or even tips on rigging it up, would be appreciated. I used to be a plumber, so at least I know that fish-**** rolls downhill, and payday for everyone else is anytime I walk into a reef store.

Oh, and here is what I am getting (sorry, I took these with my cellphone):









Hopefully I can do it justice. Plans right now include getting rid of everything in the 75 gal, including the stand, then using it as a sump with perhaps a partition for a refugium or isolation tank. The 90 gal looks amazing and I can't wait to get my hands on it, but I need to have everything else set up, and the owners are nice enough to wait for me... how awesome is that?

Any thoughts? I'd love some suggestions. Especially as far as looping everything through that pump, if it was possible (except the isolation tank, of course).

[rjengen]

Just went through your first post...I'm entertained now...lol. I have several fresh tanks and love them all, and I've just started into the dark world of salt. Little tip from the noob...stalk this place like it was your super hot x-girlfriend (minus the going phyco hijinx of course) If you look in this section (The journal) you will see lot's of post from noob sauces like ourselves that are just staring out...with lot's of questions and answers. Your off to a good start though. Check the thread I have going...there's some info and a closed loop that I'm doing...still waiting for santa to bring me the final pieces though