139 replies to this topic

[Wip]

So my buddy is moving and had to get rid of his tank he had in his garage. Gave it to me for 100 bucks so I had to grab it. I got it last week and cleaned it all out\water tested before bringing it in the house.

Here are the pics after washing it all out and doing my first in house water test.

Came with:

37g tank, canopy with halide socket\wiring(needed ballest, reflector, 2 X VHO (currently Actinic).
specs: 24 X18 X20

Sump, not sure size guessing 20g. PVC pluming for closed loop, 2 scwd's, close valves and what not.

He also threw in a Quiet One pump (3000 I think) for 10 bucks to get it started. I went to Neptunes and picked up LED lighting and removed the Halide socket and VHO bulbs(not sure if they are going to be permenently removed or just left in for emergency). Also left in the reflector for now.







I spent about 20 bucks on pvc to make some (Jawfish) caves and finish up the pluming. Made two cave systems, one with 5 entrances and a seperate one with 3. Glued rocks on these entrances and placed them in the tank.

Added 30lbs of Live sand and also added about 10lbs from my existing tank. Added the chempure\filter bags from established tanks hoping that would also help. Moved about 20 lbs of Live rock from nano tanks.

Kept out most of the corals. Only tried to grabe live rock that didnt have much on it. Some easy softies made their way in and are all doing well. Two small hermits also hitchhiked over from nano's but they seem fine also. Took a couple days for the, (am) and nitrite stablize back to 0. Some browning on the sand bed already.

Trying to decide if I want to buy more live rock from neptunes for this tank or just use the remaining rock in my nano tanks in this tank and start the nano's over from scratch with the new rock and let it cycle properly.

If I choose to move the remaining established rock, how long should I wait before doing so?

Pics as of today.








The LED lights are looking nice, and seem to be a good fit for the tank. I still need to get a 2nd pump for running the closed loop scwd (only top scwd to sump running atm.

Also want to get some type of cover for the tank as I hear Jawfish are big jumpers. I was thinking of a glass cover to keep the evaporation low, but Roc mentioned using screen instead. Going to research that before making decision.

After that, I think I am set for now. Possibly get a skimmer in the near future, but that can come in time I figured.

I will add more soon......

[Mavjoy]

Sweet set up! Those lights are awesome!

[awcasper]

Schweet!

[Rick]

Another tank Looking good.

[nessbuilder]

Sweet deal on a sweet setup

[Roc]

Since your going with the LED light you can remove the reflector, if you do decide to add VHO or T5 back for some extra actinic, I would do indivual reflectors for each light. That looks like a great lil package, and the price is amazing

[Wip]

Made a few changes in the last few weeks.

The 12g nano started looking bad from taking a portion of the LR out for the cube. So I decided to move rest of the rock and some substrate. Added pvc caves as well. Corals went to the tank I felt would be best for each piece. Slowly moved a few more into the cube as I felt more comfortable that it is stable.

Also changed the lighting a bit. Removed the reflector and other lighting. Added a second LED light this time the black 120w version so I can have a high light side of the tank. some pics of it coming together.







watchmans new home



Added the rest of the corals over time.



played around with aquascaping a bit.


Added more rock that I have been cooking and makeshift moonlights.




FTS with new rockwork


side

http://[IMG]http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/wipndry/new%20tank%20lights/leftsidesplit.jpg[/IMG]

i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/wipndry/new%20tank%20lights/Nightshot.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/wipndry/new%20tank%20lights/hawaiianfungia.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/wipndry/new%20tank%20lights/LeftFrontside.jpg[/IMG]


[IMG]http://i665.photobucket.com/albums/vv17/wipndry/new%20tank%20lights/rightsidesplitview.jpg[/IMG]

[IMG]http://i665.photobuc...iewallCaves.jpg

[Rick]

You are becoming the LED master Maybe I missed it, but what are the pvc caves for?

[Mavjoy]

Those lights are sweet!

[nessbuilder]

Wow looks really good.

[Roc]

Wip is there a reason you went with 2 LED fixtures instead of something like the reffbrite led units?

[Smiley]

Im sure they are for the watchman goby. Looking pretty sweet so far. Cant wait til it grows out!

[fshkllrz]

I see tons of potential here, looking great.

[Wip]

Well I bought the 50w version thinking that is all I would need a couple weeks ago. Then a few days ago I see on craigslist that Neptunes was selling the 120w for only a few bucks more then the 50w I just bought. Grrrrrrrrrrr. So I bought that one instead thinking I would sell the 50w or possibly try to retrofit my biocube. But once I got home I found that they both fit in the canopy quite nicely and it looked cool having a light side and dark side of the tank so I can do SPS if I decide to in the future and keep a nice size area for my LPS corals. Still dont know if I will keep em both on the tank yet, but for now I will. It seems the 120 is much whiter looking on tank and the 50w shows more of a blue ting to the tank so they actually compliment each other nice. I talked to Robert about the reefbrites and other possiblilities and he said this canopy would give me more light for the investment. Regarding the caves, I was planning on putting a Jawfish in the tank at some point in the future (after I get a screen top and the tank matures a bit more). Right now I have: dutati clownfish yellow watchman goby Coral banded shrimp some hermits and snails Anyone have any recommendations an addition fish wise for the tank. Again, I was thinking of a Jawfish but not 100% on it yet. What do you guys think? I am guessing I have room for 2 more fish if they are not too big.

[nessbuilder]

Get a Yasha and a pistol to go with it.

[Roc]

get the coral banned shirmp out, trust me..............

[Wip]

Im kinda pistoled out. I have a YWG in my biocube with a family of tiger pistols. Not sure how many but at least 3. Saw a little baby one the other day, so cute.

Then in my aquapod I got



The Yasha looks cool though. I will think about it and see what the family says.

Ohh BTW my daughters have decided they want Dorry in this tank.........Waiting for the tang police to attack. I assume this tank is too small, but just wondering what is the smallest size do you want in a tank to keep a tang successfully? 75g?

Hey Rock, whats up with the coral banded? will he jack my corals? Just wondering cause I have had this guy for some time in my small tank and he seems to not be an issue with the fish or corals.

[nessbuilder]

Roc is just scared of them because he has one that he thought was dead months ago and just found out that is some huge monster he can't get out of his tank.

[Wip]

I see, a coral banded monster.

[Roc]

the coral banned shrimps commonly attack poyps at night, they can be the cause for SPS not growing as much as they should, plus I have this monster one that no one believes me about which I cannot get out of my tank. As far as Tangs, they should be kept in a min 4' long tank, and I would say min volume would be 100 gallons