Hi everyone and thank you for the great site.
After years of drooling over marines and talking about "someday" my wife has decided to surprise me with my first marine tank. I've enjoyed many of the threads on MASA and thought I would have a go at starting my own.
Any advice or assistance would be great. If you notice I'm screwing it up please let me know. I don't want to intentionally cause any harm.
Tank: Red Sea Max 250
30 kg of live rock
Live rock spread on two black plastic bags. Found lots of long red worms and a little pink crab between the rocks. The worms look like "bloedwurm" but that from a fisherman's point of view. Long, red, look segmented with what looks like short little legs on the side. Got rid of all of them but saw another one in the tank the next day.
Washing and washing and washing the sand. I had to do this with tap water due to the shear amount of water needed. I drained the sand completely afterwards but it was still damp when I put it in the tank.
I scaped outside of the tank first. My main concern was instability and therefore I didn't balance anything for fear of later avalanches. I also had some of the rock touch the back glass but didn't let anything lean against it. I suppose this compromises flow. Hope it'll be ok. Lots of caves and crannies.
Rushing to make RO, mix salt and get it into the tank. Managed to break one of my containers and spill about 40 liters of mixed water on the driveway.
Mixing station. RO unit from the The Waterboy (Thanks Marco!) He has been lots of help. Seachem Reefsalt.
Salifert testers
Refractometer.
Saga two float ATO with time related cut off for safety. Looks great, but I haven't set it up yet.
The dust is starting to settle
Right side from the front
Left side from the front
My first skim
First adjustment (saw it at the lfs). Disconnect two air tubes form valve, feed tubing from skimmer pump out the bag and attach small air valve. Easier to remove skimmer cup, easier to adjust air flow.
After years of drooling over marines and talking about "someday" my wife has decided to surprise me with my first marine tank. I've enjoyed many of the threads on MASA and thought I would have a go at starting my own.
Any advice or assistance would be great. If you notice I'm screwing it up please let me know. I don't want to intentionally cause any harm.
Tank: Red Sea Max 250
30 kg of live rock
Live rock spread on two black plastic bags. Found lots of long red worms and a little pink crab between the rocks. The worms look like "bloedwurm" but that from a fisherman's point of view. Long, red, look segmented with what looks like short little legs on the side. Got rid of all of them but saw another one in the tank the next day.
Washing and washing and washing the sand. I had to do this with tap water due to the shear amount of water needed. I drained the sand completely afterwards but it was still damp when I put it in the tank.
I scaped outside of the tank first. My main concern was instability and therefore I didn't balance anything for fear of later avalanches. I also had some of the rock touch the back glass but didn't let anything lean against it. I suppose this compromises flow. Hope it'll be ok. Lots of caves and crannies.
Rushing to make RO, mix salt and get it into the tank. Managed to break one of my containers and spill about 40 liters of mixed water on the driveway.
Mixing station. RO unit from the The Waterboy (Thanks Marco!) He has been lots of help. Seachem Reefsalt.
Salifert testers
Refractometer.
Saga two float ATO with time related cut off for safety. Looks great, but I haven't set it up yet.
The dust is starting to settle
Right side from the front
Left side from the front
My first skim
First adjustment (saw it at the lfs). Disconnect two air tubes form valve, feed tubing from skimmer pump out the bag and attach small air valve. Easier to remove skimmer cup, easier to adjust air flow.