Jestersix

sfboarders first tank 100 gallon

sfboarders

sfboarders

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So here's my first aquarium. I wanted to start a long time ago but got too involved in my other type of hobby related to saltwater and that's surfing. Now that I have my own house I finally got into it. I bought the tank and stand used from CL for $300 and the guy I bought it from was nice enough to deliver it for me! I bought some stuff used and a good amount of stuff new. Here's a list of what I have.
  • 100 gallon truvu RR 60 x 18 x 24
  • 1 piece oak stand that used to be oak color but stained it dark to match furniture. What a PITA to move. Next time going with a 2 piece.
  • BRS RO/DI
  • (2) 65 gallon drums (thank Mark!)
  • Eheim 1260
  • Euroreef ES5-2
    Custom 40 gallon sump/fuge from Krittertanks
    4 x 48" T5 IC w/660 ballast from a user on RC
    (2) modded K4's with SureFlow 1600 props
    60 lbs dead rock from BRS, 30 lbs LR from Aquatic Central
    100 lbs of dry sand from Aquatic Central, 30 lbs of LS from local reefer
    Mag24 pump with 50ft of 1"flexpvc to pump water from garage to tank upstairs
    bunch of other stuff I'm sure I missed.


It's good to have this thing up and running. Less trips to HD, Lowes, and OSH. More time to spend with my son and also get back into surfing. Oh yea, this tank took up my 1 car garage so now my wife is happy she can park the car back in the garage.

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Is that ebony you stained? I got a can of it and want to try it, I like dark wood color most in the red but ebony seems nice, also want to try jacobean.
One piece stands are a serious PITA when it comes to move them; I just finished one stand canopy combo that barely slides under a regular door frame; I don't know if it will fit inside my brother's truck since it's a Suburban.
Keep posting progress !!
 
Hey Mario, yea it's ebony with a satin clear. The Jacobean looks a lil lighter but I could not find that color at HD or Lowes. I wanted the cabinet to be close color ad the rest of my furniture. I actually ended up staining it 2 times. The first time if was too dark almost like I painted it. 2nd time I did a lil bit better but it has some streaks but don't mind them to much. When I move to a bigger house and upgrade my tank i'll prolly build my own stand and canopy. I know you're a cabinet pro, you wanna help me out? :D
 
Looks like it's going to be a nice setup John, are you sticking with the FOWLR plan? Or is it going to be too tempting with all of the corals to not throw a couple of them in there ? ;)
 
tuberider said:
Looks like it's going to be a nice setup John, are you sticking with the FOWLR plan? Or is it going to be too tempting with all of the corals to not throw a couple of them in there ? ;)
Click to expand...

FOWLR for now. I have to see what the electrical bill is like. :~
 
tuberider said:
With the lighting your using on the tank you can keep coral.

Might I suggest a propane gas grill to cut down on energy bills :D
Click to expand...

I think I'm gonna switch the ballast. I think the IceCap 660 is gonna fry the fish. :( I don't have a chiller either or money for one. Heh. Not much room for fans under that canopy.
 
sfboarders said:
tuberider said:
With the lighting your using on the tank you can keep coral.

Might I suggest a propane gas grill to cut down on energy bills :D
Click to expand...

I think I'm gonna switch the ballast. I think the IceCap 660 is gonna fry the fish. :( I don't have a chiller either or money for one. Heh. Not much room for fans under that canopy.
Click to expand...

You may not need a chiller with the existing lights, heck I had 700w of light over a 40g tank and never needed one, although if you are running T5s with an IceCap ballast you do need a fan or your wasting energy.

http://ballastwise.com/ has some decent deals on HO T5 ballasts if you're interested in dumping the IceCap. You still will be able to keep a variety of corals under that lighting scheme.
 
Nice first tank!
Your gonna love it.
Many years ago my first tank was 10 gallons and had a chrome frame.
I was so happy then.
Good luck.
Take it slow adding fish.
 
100 gallon as a first tank.. You're much braver than me :) I chickened out of doing a pico tank (3g) and went for an easier all in one tank (28g)
 
Nice work, John.

Very good call to set up with RO and batch water mixing ability right way. Simplifying routine maintanance is a very good thing. Nice snag on the mixing drums. I'm wondering if they are made from a "food grade" material that won't leach phosphates into the water.

Very nice looking set up. Can't wait to see it with swimmers!
 
Well after my cycle I added a CUC but things turned bad for me. I added some mexican turbos, trochus, nassarius snails and peppermint shrimp and the turbos, trochus and peppermint shrimp died instantly. They didn't last more than 30 minutes in my tank. After help from RC I was advised to test my salinity. My salinity looked ok at 1.024. So I got some calibration fluid. @#@$!@!!!! with the calibration fluid it should be at 1.0264 or 35. My freaking salinity was at 1.050!!! and my actual salinity in my tank was around 1.010 so I freaking instantly killed my invertebrates with the exception of my nassarius who are still going strong for some reason. I ended up buying 5 more cause I like watching them come of the sand and eating the food I lay out for them. So I slowly raised my salinity by topping off with saltwater the past 2 weeks. I checked all of my parameters and salinity and everything looked good. The newest additions are some trochus snails, 2 cleaner shrimp, a false percula, and a Heniochus Black and White Butterflyfish. Still need to find Nemo his dad though.

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Well I've done a lot of changes to my tank. I told myself I was going to do a FOWLR but I lied. I wanted to do a mushroom FOWLR but when I bought some shrooms I got some additional corals so I said what the heck I'll start going reef. I was originally going to do a nano reef and make my 100 gallon a FOWLR but with a baby on the way I'll just stick to 1 for now.

I don't plan to go crazy with my aquarium. Just make it simple and look good with corals here and there. Hopefully I can finish it to my likings by July (when baby is due).

Some of what I added/upgraded:

ER ES5-3 -> SWC200
25W Aqua UV Sterilizer
ATO
BRS dual carbon/gfo
Reefkeeper Lite
Aquascaped twice since last posting and used rods in latest aquascape.

Livestock
heniochus
bicolor blenny
yellow tang
2 false percs
blue hippo tang
coral beauty angel
flame angel
1 more fish on its way (i'll take a pic when it arrives :))


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Thanks Monzer! I got a place planned out for the monti. Hoping I can get it to grow big. :)

Thanks Rommel! BTW I like the aquascaping in your tank. :)
 
Good work, like the stepping stones !!

Just keep an eye on the Heniochus, seems the long finned ones like to munch on coral at times
 
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