Switching to Salt!

[Cheechako]

Hello everyone!

I'm a long-time lurker, first-time poster. I've kept fresh water cichlid and mixed community tanks for 15+ years and have always wanted to make the switch. I've been researching it off and on for a few years, but never had the "disposable" income or time. But now! YES! It's time!

It's a 46 Gallon Bow Front tank with glass top. Currently running two HOB power filters. At first I was just going to use those and do a FOWLR setup with my current std flourescent 10k bulb, but the allure of the reef tank got the better of me! I'll be ditching the power filters in favor of a sump made out of a 10 gal aquarium that was left over from my kids' failed hermit crab venture.

Here's what I'm in so far:

$100 (ebay) Coralife T-5 fixture (2 10K, 2 Actinic, LED moonlight)
$85 (LFS) eshopps overflow
$60 (LFS) Rio 1700
2 x $35 (ebay) Koralia 750
$100 (Home Depot) misc. plumbing, drain hose, return hose, power strip, acrylic for baffles.
$179 (LFS) Tunze DOC Nano 9002 Protein Skimmer

Here's the "before" shot:

I got my light fixture in the mail and was excited to see how it worked.
Here's with just the LED moon lights:

10 Gallon Sump:

Inlet on the right, bubble trap, fuge/return section combined and separated by a short acrylic piece and egg crate. I followed a Malevsreef design. I want a larger return section so I can go several days between top-offs (being an airline pilot, I'm away for days at a time).

Here's the sump under the tank:

I plan on making a plywood "floor" since the grate on the bottom won't support the sump. On the left a top-off water jug.

Behind the top-off jug is the power center. I've labeled the cords and am trying to keep it as organized as I can:

Tomorrow I'll start on the facade going in front of the stand to hide everything. It'll be a three sided cabinet-looking thing with doors. I'll post pictures of that as it progresses.

I haven't made any definite stocking plans, but for sure want a couple Clowns and a cleaner shrimp. One of my daughters really wants a green fish... any suggestions? Also maybe a flame hawkfish and a sixline wrasse... I like the neon damsels, too. As the tank matures and I can propigate pods, I'd like to get a Mandarin.

 

[TJL]

Hey, and WELCOME to Reef Frontiers it looks like your off to a fine start. Keep it slow and easy and us all informed and we"ll help you along the best we can.

Todd

 

[eww]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers. Looks like you are moving int he right direction. Looking forward to seeing it develop and I must warn you... This hobby is about as addicting as they come . There are lots of good people here to help you along if you have any questions and make use of the search feature of this site. Tons and tons of stuff to read.

 

[NC2WA]

Cheechako,

Welcome !!!!

I would strongly suggest you read the following book:

Conscientious Marine Aquarist

You need to understand the basic concepts of pH, temp, salinity and how they work together. For corals, add Mg, Ca, and Alk for concepts to understand.

Also, you need a high dose of patience...go slow in this hobby and it will pay you back 10 fold, force it and try to rush it, it will frustrate you and may force you out.

 

[thatguy559]

welcome






.

 

[stalefish]

Welcome - glad to have you here. Well mandarins are green, if your daughter can wait a little while until the tank matures. I was reading somewhere online where somebody made a little mandarin feeder out of an olive jar. He'd lower the jar into the tank with food and that'd give the mandarin a protected place to eat at its leisure w/o all the other fish swarming around grabbing the food. Haven't tried it myself, but it sounded like something worth looking into.

A melanurus wrasse is more peaceful than a 6-line (and kind of green!). But it might need a little more room than you've got. Mine used to get in a funk every few weeks in my old 100 and constantly swim into the glass for a few days before going back to more normal behavior.

Have you thought of a watchmen goby and a pistol shrimp? That's one of my all-time favorites, they don't need much room and watching that shrimp excavate and build burrows is just loads of fun.

I've always been nervous about hawkfishes 'cause I enjoy my little critters so much.

-Don

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

Welcome to Reef Frontiers! As was said above multiple time up above, take it slow. Be patient, and make sure to go for the right equipment, and not cut corners to save money. This will simply end up costing more.

And pick your livestock wisely. It's not the smartest thing to do, when you walk into a fish store with 50 bucks and pick out some random fish. Every fish will limit you from other fish. For example, I chose to keep a Snowflake Eel in my tank, and now I cannot keep anything in my tank that is smaller then the eels mouth. Plan everything out, and it will help so much

 

[tat2z_21]

Welcome to the most addicting adventure ( and I mean adventure) out there. From now on you will think about nothing else besides fish, nothing else will be the same. You find the shrieking screams of kids will turn into muted background noise as you stare with a blank expression at the bottom of your tank with the lights off. Either way welcome, and know that there is a lot of knowledge here. Do not be afraid to share your knowledge and to ask for other's.

 

[ntswift]

Don't do it! Go back to freshwater! JK!!! Welcome! There is a lot of great advice on here and a lot of good info to research on here as well. Like the others said, its on heck of an adventure and take it really slow! If you rush it will cost you way more in the end..Trust me! You've definitely come to the right forum to start off. So good luck and I look forward to reading up on your build!

 

[pewpewlazerbeam]

Don't. Do. It

 

[Cheechako]

Thanks for the encouragement! I like the idea of the watchman goby and pistol shrimp. Someone also suggested a Green Clown Goby, would the two be compatible?

NC2WA, thanks for the suggestion of that book. Maybe I'll grab that when I'm in Seattle on Wed...

I built the wood facade for the tank stand today. It's a U-shaped piece that just slides in front of the stand. It'll be nice to just pull the whole thing away when I need to really get into things under there. I'll be putting doors in for easy access to top off or check on things. Next I'll stain and finish it dark to match the other pieces of furniture in the room:

(the flash on the iPhone 4 is not too bad; this was a completely dark room!)

I've got 5 days off next week. I think I'll give my cichlids away, take out the river rock, and get everything in place for a fresh water run to finalize placement of the plumbing, etc. Meanwhile I'll stain and finish the facade... stay tuned...

 

[xraymatt]

Looks great so far. Good job on the stand! Nice to see that you're taking your time. That's one of the most difficult aspects of this hobby.

 

[pewpewlazerbeam]

Stand looks great!

 

[sullest]

Welcome to SW.

 

[NC2WA]

Nice to see that you're taking your time

I couldn't agree more with this statement...I have seen more than my fair share of people who switch to saltwater, and do the following (most likely w/o reading anything):

1. Get tank
2. Add live rock
3. Fill tank with water
3. Maybe wait 4 wks
4. Dump way too many fish in at once

Then they wonder why they are having fish to die or they have an algae bloom which they have no idea how to control. This is followed by the statement: Saltwater is too hard.

This might be alittle dramatic, but my point, time with saltwater is your friend, and go slow, it will reward you in the end.

I have a 375g tank and have 16 fish in my tank. I took me almost 1.5 yr to get to the current level I have. All the fish in my tank were planned and added in a way to limit the stress level. At present time, all fish get along and no real troubles.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

1. Get tank
2. Add live rock
3. Fill tank with water
3. Maybe wait 4 wks
4. Dump way too many fish in at once

I think 2 and 3 might be backwards Yeah I did the same thing...filled my tank with way to many fish and yeah I lost 2 clowns and all the damsels....2 i gave away but the other 3 damsels died.

But now I have 4 fish and they get along great

 

[NC2WA]

I like adding rock first as it gives me something to pour the water on so that it does not stir up the sand as much (personal preference), but I am glad to hear that your fish are doing good now.

 

[mcdonaldjosh7]

I cut the bottom off of a Milk carton, and then put that on the bottom and pour the water onto that...then even as it is floating you still pour on it and that worked fine for me haha

 

[Bosco83]

Looks really nice! I made the same sump for my tank too works great. One thing you might not get a Sixline if you plan to get a Mandarin later he will out compete it for food.

Brian

 

[Cheechako]

It's been a busy few weeks, but I managed to finish the stand surround and build a Durso inlet for my overflow:

Here is the finished piece:

I made it so I can pull it away from the stand for any kind of "heavy" maintenance:

I had an extra LED light strip from another project and hung it underneath. I'll put it on a timer with my moon lights to come on at night (I've read that's good for the Cheato? will that be enough light?):

Durso overflow:

Question:
I've got a the valve that came with my Rio pump on the inlet to control flow in the system. Is that okay on the inlet, or will it damage the pump?