Hello from San Francisco

Thanks guys! Hey GeejEx, 6th ave aquarium's livestock is also moderate. It's a lot better than Aquatraders though. I've heard they use a lot of medications like copper in their fish tanks to get rid of ich and other diseases. You should check out Tropical Reef here in the sunset area, it's between 28th and 27th and Taraval. Their livestock is much better, their pricing is pretty steep, but their quality is awesome. Thanks Godbert and omard, I will definitely take things slow. Patience is the key in reef keeping. Hey Luna what's your review about their lighting? I was thinking about getting the 36" MH system, but I've been hearing a lot of mixed reviews about it.

*Edit, heres my stand for my 40 gallon. I just stained it yesterday, it's about 95% done, I just need to add wood on the bottom to prevent the legs from separating.



I ran out of stain, so I decided not to stain the back of the stand as much. I wanted to go for a simply and clean look yet cheap. This stand was in my backyard that use to hold up my brothers 100 gallon arowana tank, but he found another stand.

Plans so far are to DIY a overflow with PVC pipes and a DIY sump/fuge with a 50g rubbermaid tube. Found the ideas here too! This is such a great site!

 

Thanks! I'll check that shop. 6th definitely uses copper, one of the more honest guys that works there told me they medicate the heck out of the water. Also They get shipments on Tuesdays, so I usually go in later (like Sunday) to see what has survived

 

I didnt buy my lighting from them, but its the same brand. Alot of ppl have said that their ballast arent that great. All I did to mine was to change out the internal cooling fans. The way I see it, Odyssea lights arent that bad for the money. If your good with your hands and like to take things apart and fix things, thats the way to go. The lighting system I bought was $329.00 including shipping. Look at the brand names systems and you'll pay over $1100.00. The choice was simple for me.

 

Hey GeejEx, I heard they get their shipment every other Thursdays, or that might be for corals. And Luna, I'm not really great with electronics, but with good instructions, I could probably pull through. Thanks!

Well, I'm also back for an update. My brother brought home our drill, so I finished the stand and took some pictures with the 40 on top ;D

Sorry for the messy garage :-[, my dad's job involves a lot of paper, and the bad quality pictures. It was taken with an iphone

Front, with a piece of dead live rock from my brothers old reef


Sorry, this picture won't change, I think there is something wrong with my photobucket





The aquascape in my head is going to be what I have now in my 24 with another smaller island with a lot of swimming room. Things may change depending on how much space I have left. The 40 seemed pretty big when I first looked at it, but after the rocks I put in there, it seemed pretty small

 

Hey, guys! I'm back with an update. I've been really busy lately with school and testing this week. I just finished my DIY overflow and part of my wet&dry/fuge. Here are some pictures.

DIY overflow


the DIY sump. The pump is an Odyssea pump rated at 1000 GPH, might have to change that depending if the overflow can handle it or not.


DIY wet and dry


Should I keep the thin layer of bioballs or should I take them out? It is going to be under filter pads and carbon.

And lastly, I accidentally broke my glass cover. Luckily it wasn't down the middle. The duct tape was to hold the pieces together no one would get cut.


Anyone know if the cracks are fixable with superglue?

 

Doing great... Not sure about the superglue though....

 

Welcome to 3Reef! good looking tank well setup
About the super glue I wouldn't try it, hardware place can cut you a new one

 

Heres an update on the tank. I came home thinking about going to the YMCA, but my brother told me that he got me some rocks from his friends tank that he broke down. So I didn't any die off on the rocks, so I quickly set up the tank. Here are some pictures:







The 45 gallon sump is not set up yet, so I just added water, a powerhead, and a heater to keep the rocks live. I tried going for the trench kind of look, and this is what I got up.

As right now, I am planning the livestock that I will be adding soon after the cycle, if there is any, is done.
What your opinion on these fish. What other fish would you suggest?
2x True Percula Clown(pair)
3x Blue Reef Chromis
1x Flame or Cherub Angel
1x some kind of small and colorful Wrasse

As for corals, I'm planning on adding beginner SPS corals like monti-caps, birdsnest, acropora, etc. Lots of zoas, mushrooms, and maybe some kind of leather. I also plan on keep some clams. Maybe start off with something easy like a derasa.

 

Hey 3reef! Back with an update of my tank. I'm guessing no one is interested anymore, but I'll continue to update to keep track of the progress of my tank.

In case if you're interested, here are the pictures of the tank running right now.
FTS with only 15K MH on


Sump (Still empty waiting to be filled with macroalgae)


Water Parameters:
pH - 8.1 - 8.3
ammonia - <5
nitrite - 0
nitrate - 1

Just some quick questions. Is my tank cycled already? It has been running for almost two without the filter and sand. The tank was just running with water, LR, and a power head. I added the sand, raw shrimp, and started the whole system on Monday. Is it normal for the raw shrimp to turn to an orange color like cooked shrimp?

 

Nice work! 8)