RETURNING TO SALT TANK AFTER 32 yr HIATIS!

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pravdaseeker

Active member
Joined
Nov 6, 2010
Messages
31
Location
arizona
Greetings Fellow Aquarium Nuts,

Have had fresh water tanks most of those 32 years. I had 4 Pacu', all weighed almost 9 pounds!! We had to move, and I found a home for them at a Motel 6 in our old town. (couldn't bear the thought of clunking them on the head.) My hillbilly buddy from Kentucky, was looking for recipes on the internet! And he found several, and an article on how much Teddy Roosevelt enjoyed Pacu for dinner on one of his trips.! He was only kidding, "I think"..he he.:lol:

So I decided to take the plunge back into salt tanks. Setting up a FOWLR tank right now with intentions of making it a reef tank as time and money allows.

Fish I have in it now are just 6 "Baggy" Cards, a maroon clown female, a juvenile Convict Blenny, (very busy rascal, and so great to watch move sand), and three different kind of shrimp. Cleaner, fire, and banded coral.

Checked all my numbers again on the tests, all looking like zeroes to me...

Coming along ok, so far. 210 gallon with a sump below, a nice MONSTER of a protein skimmer that BARELY FITS in there...I mean barely now..

Just saying hello, and have enjoyed immensely the info I have gleaned these last several hours from this great site. I just had to register, and get involved with you all.

It will be interesting to see how this project evolves. Lord, is it fun though! Terribly addicting, I knew I was in big TROUBLE when I decided to go saltwater again.. he he...

What the heck eh? We only live once??

The wife got a new car, soooooooooooo..... by the time I get done with this project, (do you EVER get done? No..), I coulda bought a new car too! HA!

It already makes the living room a real nice place to be. 6 foot long tank..well lit with a $1000 hood...I got it set up to mimic the suns path across the sky for the critters. On three separate timers.

I have some real unusual shaped live rock, some of it looks like deer, or elk antlers..and aprox 18 inches some of them; or calcified tree limbs. And the other rock is the normal type, with holes and etc in it. about 180 pounds..

Some really cool pics I have seen in some posts too. I have a nice Nikon digital, and a super nice digital video camera... wonder if a video or two down the road might be possible to post.. just a thought.

Anyhow, have enjoyed so much the info here, and look forward to soaking more up from the forums... I AM A HUMAN SPONGE at this point, absorbing a lot of info..

One thing is FOR SURE... It is a lot easier than it was in 1978!:D

Pravdaseeker
 
Hi, just read the how to post pics thread... sigh, my camera does jpg pics, but almost always nearly 1k, or TEN times the allowed data... fantastic detail, but... too much data per pic. Dont know how to shrink em down to 100k or less...

Sorry, technically challenged on that one, I KNOW it can be done, but...knowledge is the key..lol.

Pravdaseeker
 
I put mine in Photobucket.com then shrink um down to 800 MP?
copy the IMG tag and paste in the response box.
 
go to cnet.com, go to downloads, on the search topic, type in picture resizer, theres one there thats free to use. picture resizer is the name. very simple to use.
 
Installed first powerhead, working on downloading pic resizer.

Hello all,

I put in the first powerhead today. A koralia 4, nice action...

Will put one in on the other end, and probably put them on timers also. Simulate the tides better eh what?

The fish seem to be "happier", (perhaps in my mind..lol), and acting more normal. duh... currents are in the ocean too.

Will try the download thing for pics now.

Pravdaseeker
 
Sumore pics

Try this again seemed to work ok..

Maroon clown and fire shrimp

Royal Gramma

Moroon Clown closeup

Reason all look a bit cloudy is there is a thin film of macroalgae on glass..and flash was some interference too.. Will work on techniques of pics, tripod and NO flash I think... for the next time..

Will clean later, did not want to disturb the kids prior to trying to take pics.

Pravdaseeker
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next piece of equipment is.... drum roll

Dear all,

Next gadget will be a UV sterilizer... to help get rid of macro algae. Itty bitty suckers single cell thingies in the water.... makes a film on the glass of lovely green color..he he. sigh.

And MORE live rock... the kind with lots of hidey holes in it I think.

A few more test kits too... to get water ready to add a coral or something like that down the road..but might prefer to save up for a calcium generator set up first...so when its time to go for reef critters all I gotta do is dial it in to maintain a certain range of calcium in the water.

Expensive dang hobby, but lord what a blast.. the creatures are just something else. Cleaner shrimp hanging out together.. since last post, a cleaner shrimp and a fire shrimp both molted... old skeletons removed with the tongs of death...the fish do NOT like the grabber tool. Even when I go super slow, they disappear to other side of tank..lol. The shrimp are doing fine from molt, just chilling out on the rocks.

Pravdaseeker

 
UV Sterilizer in place now, and second Koriola 4

Hello All,

Finally got a UV unit, a Coral life 38 watt, says good for up to 500 gallons, mine is 210..

Already seeing the water become clearer... after just a couple of hours running.

Added second Koriola 4 to tank, fish seem even happier now.. more currents for them to goof off in.

The lawnmower blenny is a fat little sucker...

MORE live rock arriving any day now, another 55 pounds worth..

Pravdaseeker
 
Welcome back.

How do your shrimp get along with each other? I am also new and wondering a little bit about the compatability of shrimp with each other and also with fish.
 

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