my first marine

[slyforestfire]

decided 3 months ago when i began the process of quitting cigarettes that i should find a new hobby. something to keep my brain and hands occupied. i also wanted a reward system, after discusion the wife agreed to let me have 100% of the savings for the first month. 30 days later i had over $300 in hand! i purchased a full setup from a friend of a friend. 49 bowfront, stand, canister filter, powerhead, cc, partial bucket of saltmix, and a bunch of fw decorations. it was left empty for a couple weeks while i went back and forth about what type of setup to do. im writing here so i dont really have to tell you which way i ended up going. waited another week while i researched my decision and finally filled it with water, than crushed coral. shortly after that i was able to invest in the skimmer. everything has been up and running almost 2 months now empty.

 

[slyforestfire]

tomorrow is going to be an uber exciting day for me..... finally get to take the next step and begin cycling the tank. found a posting on craigslist for someone who had cooked extra live rock and was selling it off. gonna make the hr drive and pick it up right away in the afternoon tomorrow. cant wait to get it home and begin aquascaping. pics to come when im happy with the result.

 

[james30ct]

Welcome to the hobby and looking foward to pics. Its good to see your going slow because nothing good happens fast in this hobby. Congrats on quitting smoking.

 

[Bry]

Congrats! Looking forward to watching the build. What a great way to change habits and reward yourself. Good luck with the tank and staying smoke free!

 

[slyforestfire]

thanks bry and james30ct appreciate the words of encouragement.

 

[slyforestfire]

60 lbs of "cooked" live rock added 2 days ago. yesterday i threw in a bottle of bio spira just for good measure. bout how long before the corraline starts to appear?

 

[slyforestfire]

here it is my first published photo. day 2 of live rock

 

[james30ct]

Looks good. You might want to spread the rocks out a little to create some caves for the fish.

 

[that novice guy]

that looks real good yea you should spread out your rocks and congrats on the switch

 

[slyforestfire]

there are multiple openings along the bottom and a very large cavern along the back of the tank. cant really see much detail crappy camera on phone.

 

[slyforestfire]

bio spira and live rock seem to be working.. tested this afternoon, zero across the board.

 

[revsgirl]

Looks great!

 

[slyforestfire]

Looks great!

thank you revsgirl

 

[slyforestfire]

my wishlist keeps getting bigger and more expensive. overflow bow and sump, led lighting, ro/di unit, ciculation pumps and wave controller. wish i could find a lender to give me all the money i would need to make my vision for this setup into reality. people can finance a purebred dog why not this?

 

[that novice guy]

That would be such an awesome idea but i have a current nova extreme Pro if you're interested

 

[Jpurpz831]

nice set up looking good

 

[slyforestfire]

That would be such an awesome idea but i have a current nova extreme Pro if you're interested

feel really dumb but i have no idea what that is.

 

[slyforestfire]

nice set up looking good

thAnk you

 

[slyforestfire]

tested tonight again. zero ammonia and nirite. nitrates were 5. everything is getting a light brown color to it with splotches of purple.

 

[slyforestfire]

feel really dumb but i have no idea what that is.

ok better now. lighting is my next must on the upgrade list. cant add coral under a single standard flourescent. so i guess yeah i interested if the price is right.