New to the hobbie

[kaitain]

I've been working with Kevin at Aquatic Dreams in Spokane, WA. and just last night added snails and hermit crabs to the tank, as well as some lighting.

Here are a couple of pics one without the lighting and one with...

 

[Scooterman]

Nice looking set-up, welcome to RF!

 

[CarlaW]

Welcome to RF, I hope you enjoy it here!!!!
Nice tank, can you give us a few more specs? I love the stand and cabinet, had my eyes on that one, but I don't have any room any more.
You have a very good mentor in Kevin, I have been around him enuf to tell you that. Good luck and keep up the good work. What kind of rock is that, Pukani?????

 

[ReefJunkie]

Welcome to RF. I agree with Charlie in regards to Kevin and Aquatic Dreams. He is unmatched to his dedication and service toward the Aquatic community. And he knows his stuff! Best LFS in the area. (Kevin: mail the check to my PO box)

 

[brady816]

love the rock work man keep the pics coming

 

[Dr. Dee]

Nice set up,Great seascaping work and welcome to RF.

 

[Krish]

Welcome to RF! Your tank looks great!! Good luck with it and I hope enjoy it here

 

[kaitain]

What a response...

Thank you for such a warm welcome.

I guess I should offer some details with all of the interest, I am really new to the hobbie, so I still have a lot to learn.

The tank is 125 Gallon, with a 55 gallon sump. The pumps for the system consist of two 950's for the water flow and one 1200 for the skimmer. I also have two power heads to keep the current up.

There are 125lbs of sand in the tank, with a 'grate' below for the rock to rest on. (Kevin told me about this little trick to keep the rock more stable) The is only 70lbs of rock in the tank, I will have to find out what kind from Kevin, I forgot the name.

It has taken me a month to get the tank this far, 2 weeks were spent getting the noise level low enough to stand being in the same room as it.

The first thing I did was to put the sump tank on an inch of insulating foam to isolate it from the wood case. Then I picked up an aquarium mat from PetSmart and put a piece under the pumps. finally the water coming from the drains sounded like Niagra Falls, so I built, out of PVC a manifold (see attached picture) to disperse the air entering the sump tank. Finally a found a large piece of filter to float above the bubbles. The tank is now so quiet that you can hear the fan on my computer over the tank!

I have one Mixed clown and one 'half-stripe' black and white clown that will be added on Wed of this week. I will post pics after they get unpacked.

Thanks again everyone for the warm welcome.

 

[jake65]

Welcome to RF, Nice looking tank! You picked the right person to help you get your tank going. Kevin is a great guy.

 

[cwby416]

great looking tank, reminds me of stone henge!

 

[DaBrowns]

I'm interested in the lighting...what did you go with? Is this going to be a reef or a FOWLR tank? I too started working with Kevin...ours has been up for a little over a month now. I will post some recent pics today hopefully. We have a Copperband Butterfly, Pearly Jawfish, Lawnmower Blenny, Royal Gramma, and of course a True Perc clown...also 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 conks, probably 10 snails and 5 crabs...and everything came from Aquatic Dreams...he REALLY needs to think about adding a store on the south hill (hint hint Kevin) :razz:

 

[Herefishyfishy]

great looking tank, reminds me of stone henge!

Randy, reminded me of same. Love it.

Welcome to the forum, you will love it. Feel free to ask anything or bring up any discussion related to the hobby.

 

[kaitain]

I'm interested in the lighting...what did you go with? Is this going to be a reef or a FOWLR tank? I too started working with Kevin...ours has been up for a little over a month now. I will post some recent pics today hopefully. We have a Copperband Butterfly, Pearly Jawfish, Lawnmower Blenny, Royal Gramma, and of course a True Perc clown...also 2 peppermint shrimp, 2 conks, probably 10 snails and 5 crabs...and everything came from Aquatic Dreams...he REALLY needs to think about adding a store on the south hill (hint hint Kevin) :razz:

I am currently just using regular lighting, I do plan to upgrade and make it a reef tank, but for now, just fish and rock...

BTW, I like the Stone Henge comparison... wasn't my model... but I wanted lots of room for frags later...

 

[Quigley]

Kaitain,

Beautiful tank! My wife and I are also in the process of building a reef tank. Kevin has been a great help and source of information for us also.

This coming weekend we want to sea-scape our live rock, and wondered how you connected all your rocks together. How did you do it?

Merry Christmas
Randy & Deanne

 

[kaitain]

Kaitain,

This coming weekend we want to sea-scape our live rock, and wondered how you connected all your rocks together. How did you do it?

Merry Christmas
Randy & Deanne

Randy & Deanne,

Lots of trial and error... lol

First thing, we laid out the rock at Aquatic Dreams. Once we had a plan, I took pictures and brought the rock home.

I put the rock in, rearranged it 4 times and it looks nothing like we laid out in the store..

But to answer you question... I looked for smaller rock that would make good supports, and then placed the larger rocks on top...

My Design was to get as many or as much arch as possible ... according to Kevin the fish feel safe if they can go under the rock, doesnt need to be a cave, so arches work nice... I happened to get two long and flat rocks, and due to tank design, I placed them one on either side (where the lights for coral will go) and then filled in the gaps with supports and keystones...

As I placed them, I would test them for stability, to make sure the would not be affected by the currents or at some future time, larger fish.

I hope this answers your question.

Good luck, I look forward to seeing some pics... make sure you let me know.

Troy