Those of you who know me know that I just don't have enough hobbies/interests. *cough*
So, here's the new one for 2004...a salt water reef tank. Eventually, I hope to have live corals and friendly fish in it.
These pages, like my HOUSE pages, are to be a chronicle of the journey.
May 16th, 2004
140 Gallon Oceanic Systems Reef-Ready tank, stand & canopy...empty.
Sitting next to the 60" rear projection TV, which gives you a good idea of the size of the beast.
Jerry (my reef/fish expert), me & Drummer Dave (therealheydave).
It took all three of us and the steadying hand of my wife to get it into the house.
May 24th, 2004
The tank with a single coat of paint on the back.
It actually took 12 coats of paint to get it opaque. That photo next.
May 30th, 2004
Do you have any idea how hard it is to take a picture of an empty tank...
trying to illustrate the new painted blue background?
It's a bear. This is the best I could do! You can't see the white wall behind it, which is the key.
I've also added about 160 pounds of substrate to the bottom of the tank (about 3 inches deep).
It all has to be thoroughly rinsed before putting it in the tank.
Sand, crushed coral, calcite and various aragonite colors/sizes...I wanted a mixed bed.
I'll have to blend/mix it more with a hose when I put the water in.
I also added two fans to the the hood. One blows, one sucks. ; )
The lights can get hot, so this'll help keep things cooler.
June 3rd, 2004
I'm kinda stalling at the moment.
I'd hoped to have water in the tank by now, but the protein skimmer was on back order.
It's been shipped now...so it should be here in the next few days.
Then Jerry's going to come over and we're going to plumb the sucker and get it filled up.
June 5th, 2004
The core parts are all delivered now, but after messing around with the parts for a while,
Jerry and I found we needed more fittings. I did a Depot run for those this afternoon.
Hopefully we'll get the plumbing done tomorrow or early next week.
I got the lights installed this evening! NOW you can see the blue...
...and the dirty glass! I still need to secure the lens cover properly.
For now, this is a VERY expensive night-light.
June 6th, 2004
Well, we got it all tubed-n-hosed-n-wired up today!
Here's Jerry at the final stage of filling the tank.
We're both very pleased that there are no leaks...
...and that the tank didn't fall through the floor to the basement.
Filled, the tank setup weighs around 1500-1700 pounds.
Now we let the filters clear the milky water.
Next step is salt...then the live rock!
June 9th-???, 2004
Yeah, okay...so I haven't updated in a while. I've been taking pics...but have been really busy with silly things like WORK.
These are the pics odf the cycle process...after I added the 155 pounds of live rock.
The day after I added the rock, my sump dismantled and I had to remove it and repair it.
Oh...and the house smelled like EXTREME low tide. The term 'gag a maggot' never applied more...
That only lasted a few days as nuclear winter reigned in the tank.
It started clearing (and stopped smelling) shortly thereafter.
I was also re-arranging the rock every chance I got during this period.
July somethingth, 2004
After the cycle completed, I added some snails, a Scooter Blenny,
three (no...two...no...five...no...four...no...I repeat...)three Green Chromis (hello BAD POWERHEADS!),
Some small hermit crabs...and, later...Baldrich...an anemone hermit crab.
He was awesome until I discovered he'd essentially destoy my tank.
He's presently in isolation pending relocation.
July someotherdateth, 2004
My buddy Jerry brought me over a bunch of goodies from his tank,
So those got added right to the tank!
July 18th, 2004
These were actually taken today. The tank's a lot clearer and the gifts Jerry gave me are doing well!
I have the quarantine tank cycling in the basement. Once that's ready to go...we're going to be placing
orders for more STUFF! I have an RO filter coming this week I have to install.
July 25th, 2004
Lots of new additions this weekend...and some better pics of stuff.
I found a mated pair of Maroon Gold-Stripe Anemonefish and a green bubble-tip anemone for them to call home.
I also picked up a couple more corals (a toadstool and a blue finger leather), a Ricordea mushroom leaf (orange),
a yellow goby and two Zebra Dart Goby fish, a blue-knuckled hermit (REEF SAFE!)
and a beautiful red & orange serpent star.
I got the RO system installed as well and did a water change. A productive weekend...
July 31st, 2004
Stuff
August 21st, 2004
Stuff
September 6th, 2004
Stuff
September 10th, 2004
Stuff
September 14th, 2004
Alright! I finally got some more pictures up. When I get more time, I'll replace the STUFF
comments with some actual text of what was added (or lost!!), etc. during that time-frame.
Overall, things are going fairly well.
Outside of a disaster, I'll be adding three more small fish from my quarantine tank this Sunday...
