How not to start a reef tank, my first reef tank build

[living_tribunal]

I never thought this day would come.

Saved a few gallons if the salinity matured outside of 1.024-1.026.

Going to do a little aquascaping, run one of the powerheads, and take an ambien.

 

[living_tribunal]

Well this is unfortunate. After spending about 7 hours or so getting this thing set up, I come across this. When I was checking for silicone I don’t remember any being at the top. I’m thinking this is a crack :/

Edit** False positive, came off with razor.

My tank is half full.

 

[living_tribunal]

The rear view mirror is always clearer than the windshield.

 

[living_tribunal]

Powerhead, heater, thermometer, sand, rock, and salt in place.

Unfortunately, I was a little low on salt. I only purchased 7lbs. The salinity is 30ppm at 77 F. I hope it’s not too big of a deal that the salinity won’t be right until tomorrow.

I’m just relieved the tank is up and level. Took about 4 or so hours to get it right.

 

[living_tribunal]

Welcome to R2R! Following along. Tank is looking great, what are you thinking for livestock?

It’s been hard to think about livestock when the avicii song levels has been running rampant in my mind for the last four hours.

I believe I want to make my primary focus the rockscape to begin with.

I have effectively nil tank experience other than giving up after making 5 gallons of ro/di water and miraculously putting together the cesspool you see before you.

What I do have is a lot of wood building and rock/landscaping experience. Since I will surely mess up everything a good reef tank daddy should be on top of, my initial focus will be a stellar rock infrastructure.

Too many people just slop rock across the back of the tank and toss corals around in a manner consistent with elementary kids submitting their fine art to the poor teacher that must grade it.

I want a dynamic yet relatively open rockscape where water and currents can easily flow, as will the fish.

I’ll put up some sketches here tomorrow, would love yalls feedback before I stock up on more dry base rock.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Welcome to R2R! Nice choice on the Bowfront. I have the exact same tank set up as a QT. I'm always telling my wife how nice the tank looks and someday it will become a DT.

 

[flchamp89]

Welcome. Nice tank and build thread. Your at a great place for help.

 

[motortrendz]

On your way. Good luck.

 

[living_tribunal]

I woke up and the tank is both cloudy and cold.

I don’t plan on maintaining stock native to the coast of Greenland.

Going to purchase a uv sterilizer and increase the flow of my powerhead. It’s a 70, so should be able to assert its dominance over this 36 gallon tank just fine.

I will also begin construction of the rocks cape today. Don’t even bother wishing me luck, this is a feeble attempt of salvation from myself.

-LT

 

[living_tribunal]

And daddy said, “Let there be light!”.

The one thing I’m quickly noticing is this habit will be a fantastic means of dealing with my hardy napoleon complex.

Making the mad dash to my eagerly awaited lfs fiesta to purchase more salt, dry rock, and some glue.

I’m going to continue to run the power filter for a while to try and speed up the process of clearing the tank before applying Dr. Tim’s.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

We have light!!! Congrats!

 

[living_tribunal]

We have light!!! Congrats!

Each step is a miracle my friend. The power filter and running the powerhead at Max seems to be helping the visibility clear up.

My guess is since I decided to start with live sand, the 40 lbs just bombarded the tank with dead organisms. The power filter should clear that up.

Side note: do not trust me to pour sand in your tank.

 

[flchamp89]

It will clear up. Just takes time. Going to be nice and clean.

 

[hdsoftail1065]

Each step is a miracle my friend. The power filter and running the powerhead at Max seems to be helping the visibility clear up.

My guess is since I decided to start with live sand, the 40 lbs just bombarded the tank with dead organisms. The power filter should clear that up.

Side note: do not trust me to pour sand in your tank.

Some people rinse the sand to eliminate the cloudiness. I done mine like you did, it will settle.

 

[Rick.45cal]

Welcome to Reef2Reef and welcome to the wonderful world of reef keeping! The cloud in the tank will subside, it will just take some time, sometimes several days. You’re in the right place to find success.

 

[living_tribunal]

“I’m going to build a budget reef tank”, they say.

Facepalm.

~30 more lbs of dry rock, sand, epoxy, and glue just acquired.

I had a misunderstanding of dry rock and how it interacts with your initial cycle. I need to cure this dry rock first before starting the Dr. Tim’s. My incredibly helpful, and active reef2reef quarantine contributor, lfs manager informed me of this.

I’m debating whether to attempt a bleach cure. I’ve heard/read good things. If anyone has an opinion, I’m all eyes.

Till then, I will start this aquascape. Stay tuned for progress on its development.

 

[living_tribunal]

After some thought, I want to incorporate bonsai styles I’ve used on trees into this rocks cape.

The approach is what we call “cascade” in bonsai. You have your apex on one end and you cascade the tree lower and lower.

To implement this approach, one corner of the tank will be stacked quite high. It will have many small shelves and 1-2 “branches” into the next mass of rock which will be somewhat smaller in height.

I’m currently shaving, cutting, and busting up dry rock for the three sections and the “branches” that connect them.

 

[living_tribunal]

Not entirely sure if this saw can cut through Marcos.

I’ll let the manufacturer know.

 

[flchamp89]

Hammer and chisel works. Old school lol

 

[living_tribunal]

Hammer and chisel works. Old school lol

Pshhh