help a 150g newb - let's do this reef together

[jon in alberta]

another pic.



here is a close up of the arches, before I put in the rock behind. Again, I am still filling in the seams between the coral with little rocks to make it look like one big continuous coral.

still have to find room for the live rock ... I wonder where I'll put that.

[Nano]

I would put the live rock in your sump, that way you can keep the open space in your tank for coral, and swimming, plus the live rock will still seed your tank. thats just my opinion though

[parkinsn]

Originally Posted by reefwars

+1 i use the pink 1" rigid styrofoam

Not to be a downer as you have come this far. But you should NOT put styro under a tank with the black plastic trim on it. Its creates uneven pressure on the glass which can crack the bottom (if I remember correctly that is the reason). Also use the pink stuff if your going to use any styro as it does not compress as much as the white.

The build looks good so far though.

I may retract that looking closer at your pic's. Do you have the gap between stand and glass or is it a L shape on the bottom and the glass sits flat on the plastic, if that makes sense?

[parkinsn]

Does it look like this or is flat on the bottom? If its flat, forget my other post and continue on you doing great!!

[jon in alberta]

Originally Posted by parkinsn

But you should NOT put styro under a tank with the black plastic trim on it.

Good point Parkinsn. I looked closely at that - and here is my reasoning why I don't plan to change it: this is the 3rd build with this styro (this tank is 3rd hand). I was worried about that same thing, that is until I looked closely at the styro underneath. it seems to have compressed to 'fit' the tank above perfectly. IMO I can't get a better fit and better support!

I hope that makes sense. I would take a photo for you - but I don't want to have to move all the coral in place.

[jon in alberta]

Originally Posted by parkinsn

Does it look like this or is flat on the bottom?

Perfect!

thanks for the photo.

it is flat. maybe compacted the styro an additional 2mm from where the glass compacted it. Good catch tho. if it was like your photo, i really would have been sorry.

[Brandon5555]

I agree about the stand, IMO even if you put 2 4x4 center braces in, being that you wont have a sump underneath it cant hurt. Good luck and welcome to canreef! If you have any questions feel free to PM or just mass spam canreef haha

[jon in alberta]

So I thought I would post some pics, as I have reached the next stage. I spent a considerable amount of time this weekend on the tank (and the stand), and am about to add live rock.

Here are the photos:



and here is the one during the Vertex's 'purple' demo cycle



I really like the Vertex LEDs (as long as I don't think about how much I paid for it!)

I will likely add the live rock in a couple of days from now - presuming the 'cloudiness' is gone. I will be adding it to my sump as per nanomano's suggestion. I don't want to break up the consistency of the Marco rock I have in there now.

Any ideas on the first critters I should add? snails ... a hearty fish?

[jon in alberta]

Hi all,

back from holiday (10 days). I was really excited to see what the live rock I put in my new tank did.

Well here is a close up picture:



as you can see from this close up of a small fragment, there is some algae growing. Also, there is a whole bunch of brown 'film' all over the place.

My plan is to monitor water chem (to see if it has settled down) and maybe introduce a snail or another invertebrate. Suggestions please?

[jon in alberta]

calling all lighting enthusiasts ... share your thoughts about my lighting set up. What should i be doing at this phase of my tank (or does it really matter?)

I would be happy to try out your Vertex program file - if you want to share it with me.

Below is a screenshot of the vertex control panel, for the 'day' settings. as you may be able to see I have blue, royal blue, and white. How would you tinker with the timing, ramp time and intensity?

Thanks!