Today began my adventure in getting back into the hobby. I'm still not 100% sure what direction I'll go with the tank, but it's probably going to be a clownfish harem tank with a bunch of haddoni carpets. A few LPS and potentially a tang or two. That could all change though. Also there will be a lot of photos once it's running.
I decided to go with Waterbox honestly because I liked the dimensions of their tanks more than Red Sea and I like that the entire system sits higher. If I could design my own stand I would prefer even taller of a stand.
Which brings me to the stand. Not fun to assemble (I'm still not finished) and the Waterbox instructions are about two steps above forgetting the guide completely and just throwing in a note that says "Good Luck". And I'm pretty handy and usually don't even bother to look at instructions.
Here is my optimistic plan for the sump, I need to lay everything out to see if I can make it work.
Here is the gear so far. Still waiting on the two AI Hydra 26's, the ATO, and eventually I'll probably try to fit a carbon reactor.
This weekend I need to remove the filter sock sump divider, plumb the RO/DI system below my sink, get the doors on the stand, get the tank on the stand, cut the ABS sheet to fit the tank (something about rock on glass bothers me), silicone the ABS to the bottom of the tank, sort out the Apex basics, place everything in the sump and get the system ready to run.
The goal is to have the tank ready for salt/water Sunday night and order rocks/sand next week. I'm going to order 90lbs of real live rock from KP Aquatics and go with 60lbs of Hawaiin Black Arag-Alive sand, both choices I'll no doubt catch grief about.
But I grew up with salt water tanks and the pleasure of seeing what crawled out of real rock from coralline incrusted Fiji rock that I only just unwrapped from newspapers was always exciting to me, and I don't mind that I'll not have to wait forever to cycle the tank either. As far as the sand goes I've read the complaints, but I want a black sand bottom and think it will tie the modern look of the tank together well. Also colorful anemones will pop even more against a black background.
More to come soon...
I decided to go with Waterbox honestly because I liked the dimensions of their tanks more than Red Sea and I like that the entire system sits higher. If I could design my own stand I would prefer even taller of a stand.
Which brings me to the stand. Not fun to assemble (I'm still not finished) and the Waterbox instructions are about two steps above forgetting the guide completely and just throwing in a note that says "Good Luck". And I'm pretty handy and usually don't even bother to look at instructions.
Here is my optimistic plan for the sump, I need to lay everything out to see if I can make it work.
Here is the gear so far. Still waiting on the two AI Hydra 26's, the ATO, and eventually I'll probably try to fit a carbon reactor.
This weekend I need to remove the filter sock sump divider, plumb the RO/DI system below my sink, get the doors on the stand, get the tank on the stand, cut the ABS sheet to fit the tank (something about rock on glass bothers me), silicone the ABS to the bottom of the tank, sort out the Apex basics, place everything in the sump and get the system ready to run.
The goal is to have the tank ready for salt/water Sunday night and order rocks/sand next week. I'm going to order 90lbs of real live rock from KP Aquatics and go with 60lbs of Hawaiin Black Arag-Alive sand, both choices I'll no doubt catch grief about.
But I grew up with salt water tanks and the pleasure of seeing what crawled out of real rock from coralline incrusted Fiji rock that I only just unwrapped from newspapers was always exciting to me, and I don't mind that I'll not have to wait forever to cycle the tank either. As far as the sand goes I've read the complaints, but I want a black sand bottom and think it will tie the modern look of the tank together well. Also colorful anemones will pop even more against a black background.
More to come soon...
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