The 45g Money Pit.

[Krixic]

Hello! My name is Zach, Im from California (we are as crazy as they say) near the sacramento region. I have about 7 good years of Freshwater experiance behind me, prior to that (ages 10 and under) I collected a ungodly amount of goldfish and kept them in containers of fish purgitory. I moved from those tacky blue pepples with depressing plastic plants all the way to extravegantly planted tanks with all sorts of life. Im going to be honest, I am a pretty lazy and impatient person when it comes to aquadic tanks. Yet I keep coming back to it no matter how much of a pain these tanks can give me. The beauty of Freshwater planted tanks and the rewarding feeling of watching the tank grow painstakingly for months or years is all so worth it when it gets to where you want it (or at least close to it). At the ripe age of 21-ish years of age and a few years of contemplation and preparing my wallet, I decided to give Saltwater a try.

I decided to take a used tank route and picked up a 45 gal tank with sump and stand, Kessil A360WE (and conroller), Vortech M10 QDW, Vortech Vectra M2, a lot of rocks, Some random dosing unit, and a bunch of Salifert test kits all for 750. I also picked up a Tunze ATO and a Octo Essence 130 skimmer Used from the Marketplace.

I started my cycle today (yay) using Fritz Aquatics FritzZyme TurboStart 700. Popped about half the bottle today (as per LPS instructions) and will use the rest when fish get in. I used Ammonium Chloride to feed the bacteria and looks like everything is going smoothy so far. Im probably going to switch out the plastic tubing that is being used to pump water in and out eventually but that will be later down the line.

PLEASE PLEASE tell me if im doing something wrong or if my scape needs some work/rearranging. I love criticism (almost more than praise) and will appreciate any advise you have. I'd like to avoid all the beginner mistakes I can. I will be updating this thread periodically as I reach certain achievements or more likely, failures.

 

[BeMoto]

looks like your off to a good start with setup and cycling. Aquascaping is very tricky in my opinion, and everyone likes different styles. I might recommend creating more spots for coral placement with your rockwork. It appears to be very vertical, witch may make coral placement hard down the road. Also may want to keep the over all height about half the tank height. This way the corals when growing have room. Its very tricky with smaller tanks. Dont be afraid to break up some of the rocks to make it fit. Just my 2 cents.

 

[Krixic]

looks like your off to a good start with setup and cycling. Aquascaping is very tricky in my opinion, and everyone likes different styles. I might recommend creating more spots for coral placement with your rockwork. It appears to be very vertical, witch may make coral placement hard down the road. Also may want to keep the over all height about half the tank height. This way the corals when growing have room. Its very tricky with smaller tanks. Dont be afraid to break up some of the rocks to make it fit. Just my 2 cents.

Got it! I'll try and makes some adjustments tomarrow evening and see what I get.

 

[Phil D.]

Red Sea Reefer tank?? If so then make sure you have felt filter socks which will help cut down on detritus going into sump. Otherwise, off to good start

 

[Krixic]

Red Sea Reefer tank?? If so then make sure you have felt filter socks which will help cut down on detritus going into sump. Otherwise, off to good start

Nah I wish. This is just some no name. But the tank is as nice as a red sea so maybe it is haha. Should I use filter socks anyway? I could buy an attachment or build something to hold it in place

 

[Phil D.]

Hmmm, well the try to put in some filter floss where the drain comes down at.

 

[Krixic]

Hmmm, well the try to put in some filter floss where the drain comes down at.

Got it, I try something like that

 

[OrangeCountyReefer]

Everyone always makes a big mound of rocks in the middle on their firs tank and it is not ideal for mounting coral. I’d redo it so there is more flat space to mount stuff. Coral usually becomes the obsession of the salt water tank, the fish are great too but the coral is what most really get into. So you want as much space for them as possible. Watch a lot of BRS videos.

 

[Krixic]

Everyone always makes a big mound of rocks in the middle on their firs tank and it is not ideal for mounting coral. I’d redo it so there is more flat space to mount stuff. Coral usually becomes the obsession of the salt water tank, the fish are great too but the coral is what most really get into. So you want as much space for them as possible. Watch a lot of BRS videos.

Gotcha! I reshape it today and post it. I think I'm scaping as though I would for a feshwater haha.

I just started watching their 52 weeks of reefing series and already have learned so much from the first 15 videos. They are a life saver! Although I probably should have paid more attention in the aquascape one lol

 

[Perthegallon]

im pretty sure we have the same tank so this is what I did

 

[Krixic]

im pretty sure we have the same tank so this is what I did

That looks great! I'll try and make use the top slab simular to gow you used it on the bottom!

 

[Perthegallon]

That looks great! I'll try and make use the top slab simular to gow you used it on the bottom!

I made sure to not overlap that way all the corals could get light and I could still get encrusters for the side and for the small part that is dark on the top of the slab i put none photosynthetic corals there

 

[Krixic]

Ok so I readjusted everything a bit. Hows this compare? Anything I should still change?

 

[Perthegallon]

I would ge

Ok so I readjusted everything a bit. Hows this compare? Anything I should still change?


[/QUOTE
I would get another wavemaker for the other side or it’ll just be one direction of flow and also turn them both on random. But the aqua scape looks really good

 

[Perthegallon]

I would ge

What I said is within that quote my bad

 

[Krixic]

What I said is within that quote my bad

No worries! Did you mean to say something else?

 

[Perthegallon]

No worries! Did you mean to say something else?

I said I would get another wavemaker for the other side or it’ll just be one direction of flow and also turn them both on random. But the aqua scape looks really good

 

[Krixic]

I said I would get another wavemaker for the other side or it’ll just be one direction of flow and also turn them both on random. But the aqua scape looks really good

Thanks! And yea im look around for another mp10. I saw one for 170 the other day but got snatched up quick so I'm waiting to see if another around that price pops up

 

[Perthegallon]

Thanks! And yea im look around for another mp10. I saw one for 170 the other day but got snatched up quick so I'm waiting to see if another around that price pops up

yeah they have a version 2 now tjhat connects to your phone so there will be a price drop

 

[Krixic]

Here's a little update. So I'm still cycling. Also currently in the prossess of building a controller cabinet (will post pics soon). Never realized how bad I was at staining till I started that project.

I also finally convinced myself into getting a quarintine tank. I really did not like the idea of it but I'd also rather not take any chances. I found a used but basically new 15gal bio cube with stand for 60bucks. Came with lights, heater, filter media and return pump. Very convenient and honestly kind of glad I got it regardless of what I would use it for. Just put it though some rigorous cleaning and will start cycling that sucker soon.