Build journey part 1: setup and cycling
Hi all. I just joined R2R having been lurking for a while (some really great info and advice here), and decided to post my build thread.
I got the tank in early December 2021 as a family Christmas present (read: me doing all the work, my wife and daughters enjoying looking at it), and have been able to cycle it and get it up and running with fish, inverts, soft corals and a couple of LPS with the advice and guidance of my LFS.
I have also (being an impatient and spendaholic hobbyist) been through a bit of an upgrade process, largely following information on this forum.
So, I thought I would post my journey so far both in the hope that it might be useful/interesting to people here, and also to have a document for myself.
So, I shall start by listing my starting equipment, and then do a bit of a journal of progress up to now - I hope you will enjoy!
Starting Equipment
Fluval Evo 52l/13.5gl aquarium kit
Fluval Sea PS2 Mini Protein Skimmer
EHEIM thermopreset 50 heater
Sicce Voyager Nano wavemeker
Inkbird IBS-TH1 plus aquarium thermometer
Quarried aquarium rock
Aquaforest salt
RODI water
Gravel substrate
Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit
2 small pieces of live rock from my LFS
We got the tank in the 2nd week of December, having wanted one for a little while, and decided to get it as a shared Xmas present. We were initially going to go tropical (I had a tropical tank for quite a few years when I was younger), but I had always wanted a marine tank.
I was completely unaware that nano tanks existed - what I remembered of marine aquarium keeping (from more than 30 years ago when I had a tropical tank) was hugely expensive custom tanks with sump systems, and strange old men discussing how to make chemicals for their tanks out of household products and generally pioneering the hobby.
When I discovered I could get a nano tank, I thought great! A marine tank for less money! (oh how wrong I was... ).
We had stumbled across my LFS recently and Jamie (the chap who runs the place) was incredibly helpful and informative and didn't try to push a sale on us, so we decided to get everything through him and take his advice on the build - something I have done ever since.
So, to end off this overly long first post, I shall attach a couple of pictures of the tank from early setup/cycling (a period of about 3 weeks)
Hi all. I just joined R2R having been lurking for a while (some really great info and advice here), and decided to post my build thread.
I got the tank in early December 2021 as a family Christmas present (read: me doing all the work, my wife and daughters enjoying looking at it), and have been able to cycle it and get it up and running with fish, inverts, soft corals and a couple of LPS with the advice and guidance of my LFS.
I have also (being an impatient and spendaholic hobbyist) been through a bit of an upgrade process, largely following information on this forum.
So, I thought I would post my journey so far both in the hope that it might be useful/interesting to people here, and also to have a document for myself.
So, I shall start by listing my starting equipment, and then do a bit of a journal of progress up to now - I hope you will enjoy!
Starting Equipment
Fluval Evo 52l/13.5gl aquarium kit
Fluval Sea PS2 Mini Protein Skimmer
EHEIM thermopreset 50 heater
Sicce Voyager Nano wavemeker
Inkbird IBS-TH1 plus aquarium thermometer
Quarried aquarium rock
Aquaforest salt
RODI water
Gravel substrate
Red Sea Marine Care Test Kit
2 small pieces of live rock from my LFS
We got the tank in the 2nd week of December, having wanted one for a little while, and decided to get it as a shared Xmas present. We were initially going to go tropical (I had a tropical tank for quite a few years when I was younger), but I had always wanted a marine tank.
I was completely unaware that nano tanks existed - what I remembered of marine aquarium keeping (from more than 30 years ago when I had a tropical tank) was hugely expensive custom tanks with sump systems, and strange old men discussing how to make chemicals for their tanks out of household products and generally pioneering the hobby.
When I discovered I could get a nano tank, I thought great! A marine tank for less money! (oh how wrong I was... ).
We had stumbled across my LFS recently and Jamie (the chap who runs the place) was incredibly helpful and informative and didn't try to push a sale on us, so we decided to get everything through him and take his advice on the build - something I have done ever since.
So, to end off this overly long first post, I shall attach a couple of pictures of the tank from early setup/cycling (a period of about 3 weeks)
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