30G Bow Tank.....Leaping into the darkside

OK guys... I got home from my visit to the UK ... and what do I find...OH HELL!!... my beloved has bought me a brand new Aqueon 36G bow front tank...and stand!! What can you say?....OH....Hmmm... My.....(OK I didn't quite sweep her up and swing her around the room, but dammit, I'd been up for 23 hours traveling, and I get home to that!!)
So guys, it's simple, it will take a 10G sump tank (yes she even measured the cabinet to make sure it would take a sump tank...dam got to love her), now I need to read up on SW. I don't know how to find out if it can be drilled, if it can be, how to drill it. I know..... nothing, other than what I want in a marine tank...which I guess is a decent start.
2 Clowns...got to have!
Goby's.. the tank size will determine what I can have
Shrimp.... plenty of them please
Clams.....I have never seen anything so beautiful in marine life, I must have clams... I will work around them and shrimp
SPS....Others types...I have no idea... I need to read up, read up, read up....and read up.
So here we are, what can I do to make it marine, do I drill and how? Do I do as Matt has, and put in a built in Refugium?
How does one put it.... Help!
ps who has those books on setting up a Marine tank... I would love to read them....need to read them

Here are the full reef & general marine sections of the "New to Saltwater" post I put up in the General Reef section. These articles will help a whole lot. I'm not sure on the books. I don't know that they ever got passed around.

Full Reef Setup - More expensive. Addicting! (you can think of that as either a pro or a con... depending upon if you're married! Lol) Awe inspiring.
Extra Reading on Reef Setups: Introduction to Reef
Reef System Setup
Reef Filtration
Invertibrate Lighting Note: Corals are Invertebrates
Coral Lighting
Reef Livestock

General Marine Articles:
Water for Marine Use
Water Quality
Frequent Partial Water Changes
Marine Maintenance
Marine Scavengers
Macro-Algae in Marine Aquariums
Food and Nutrition for Marine Aquariums

Ask tons of questions! The things to really make sure you understand are Reef Filtration & Water Quality. You'll get plenty of help picking out equipment and such bud. :-)

Congrats!

Yeti
If it has a tempered bottom it will have a small sticker on it somewhere on that bottom glass just like the safety glass in your car windshield or anywhere else, I think by law tempered glass has to have this sticker not sure on that. If you can't drill the bottom for a corner or center filter, there is always the option of drilling the back glass up high to attach a filter box there. Many ways to do it if the bottom is tempered, only bad thing is if you have to drill the back you might as well use a hang on siphon box because you will loose room in the back anyway, Look for the tempered sticker, it should say on the paper work too.

One point I would stress big time is to figure out what kind of corals you want to keep before jumping because the lighting and filtration for sps and lps and softies are different so figure out what corals first, the fish don't really matter, they can go in any type coral setup, its the coral that are picky!

Yeti,

AWESOME. I'm so excited for you. Bowfronts are so cool. I would like to see play by play pictures... LOL.

Well done Yeti... welcome to the Dark Side All kidding aside, anything I can do to help :0)

OK this looks like it's officially starting this weekend.

Water is coming in 3 stages. I bought 3 x 4G of Purified Water (RO) from Sam's Club, this will be stored in my "fish only" 5G buckets with lids. Friday ( it's my work late Friday & early Saturday weekend) & Saturday after work I'll go to Brookshire's and refill these, making 36G of water....what a hassle! I've got a bag of Instant Ocean salt, so some baking will take place...I wonder if Mrs Yeti would object to me using her food mixer j/k :-)
As I don't have a sump ready I'm starting the cycle off with a new Aqua Clear 50G suitable HOB, which can later be used on my FW tanks.
A Pro150 Heater suitable for 50G will start life in the tank, but move to the sump, when built.

So on Sunday I'll have water in the tank, filter and heater going, and a really boring looking tank. Makes note I need to buy some "egg crate" for the rocks.

Sunday I'm hoping to hit Longview. Petco does the Natures Own Aragonite sand which looks courser than normal sand but not as course as the crushed gravel. (And way cheaper than buying bags of live sand).
I'm understanding that this may be the better balance between what the inhabitants will like and at the same time ease of keeping clean.
I'm looking at a shallow bed, less than 1 inch to try and avoid the troubles I've read of, "old tank syndrome".

Whilst in Longview I'll see Jason and pick up the T5 lights and some live rock....oh, and a cup of live sand too I hope. If he hasn't any, then look out folks in Tyler!

Question. Whats the best means of transporting the live rock? I was thinking of taking the then empty buckets over, but do I need to have water in them, or will the rock and occupants be OK for a few hours without water?

Sunday will then be busy. I'll wash the sand, then play at rock building, and finally add the lighting/sort out what needs to be done to the cover for the lighting. Fortunately I'm off on Monday, so if the lighting has to be delayed I can work on it then.

For the back of the tank I'm going to use some black fabric I have and use velcro to attach it, (I have this for my cichlids, but never used it) this way if I decide I don't want black, but another colour, I will have the option.

Question If I can grab some Cheato from Jason or Matt (if Jason's out of it, and Matt's around), is there any reason that I can't put a clump of Cheato in a Filter Media Bag 3"x8" and let that soak in the tank until the sumps built? It would save me a future trip in search of some.

I think that's the plan so far, if I've forgotten anything please shout!

Naturally pictures will be taken and posted as each stage occurs

I'll give you a styrofoam cooler for your rock and enough water for cover. No need to tote buckets. Typically, wet newspapers around the rock and bagged will sufice.

Don't buy ant Egg Crate yet... if white is ok, I'll give you plenty.
Cup of LiveSand... done.

Cheato..... Matt? Or if anyone else can "Donate" some? Running on the low side myself until it grows back. Your "Bagged" plan will be fine, may not even need the bag. Healthy Cheato will stay clumped up pretty well.

I'm getting excited to see what happens with your build. To me.. the "Build" is the most fun :-)

Yeti
If you are going to keep corals, I wouldn't use the instant ocean unless you are going to boost the alk and calcium. Instant Ocean is made for fish, it does not have the boosted alk and calcium and trace elements, thats why instant ocean made reef crystals to take care of this short fall, might as well start out right so no problems later. As for holding the Chaeto, Walmart carries a clear plastic soap dish with large suction cups on it for like $2.00 makes a perfect container for Chaeto, I used one myself for mine in the main tank, keeps the pods in the chaeto safe. Look in the bath section. Please do yourself a favor, no matter where you get live rock from, brush it a little and cean it to remove any algae you see, easier now than later and you won't hurt the bacteria that you are buying it for in the first place, just use some salt water to clean it in.

Wrapping the rock in newspaper is all thats needed, thats how most ship it anyway. Be sure you mix and AIRATE the salt water overnight before adding even the live rock as fresh mixed salt water has "0" oxygen and will kill even the bacteria on the live rock, lots of tanks were doomed because of fresh mixed water. Please don't forget the cycle, its gonna take at least two weeks, maybe more for the tank to be safe for anthing other than maybe a Damsel or two for cycling purposes. Some folks may disagree with the info that I just gave but believe me if you do it this way you will have less problem later down the road, especially the salt, if you are gonna keep coral please use reef crystals or red sea coral pro or any of the salts made for reefs, instant ocean is not a reef salt.

I know I live in Marshall but I have plenty of Chaeto if you can't find it in Longview, I can get some to Jason next week if need be but I'm busy this weekend planting on the deer lease. Just let me know.

I've got PLENTY of chaeto. Just let me know when you'll be in town and I'll get you a good bag. :-)

Jason - Yes please on everything. Styrofoam box, egg crate & sand.

Donnie - Thanks for the heads up on the salt. I'll head into the LFS and either exchange or get the reef crystals if they don't have the Red Sea Pro. Also thanks for the warning about running for 24 hours before adding the rock, and cleaning.
My time line for adding anything was going to be "play it safe", setting this tank up is both exciting and scary. I want to do it right, and I'm on a budget, so I'm trying to take my time, my patience will cost me nothing, rushing and everything dying will spoil the whole experience.
I am expecting it could be up to a month of just running the rock and sand, as I watch the water parameters. During which I will add the sump and plumbing (probably the part that scares me most). This will allow the dead sand to change to live sand. I've found nothing in my reading that gives any indication of how long sand takes to become live.
Then I was thinking add a cleaning crew, and again watch what happens with the water.
Another 2 weeks, and then add the clowns.
How long I then wait, before adding any corals, I don't know, I'll let the water tell me I guess.

Matt "the Cheato farmer", I'll give you a call/text on Sunday, to say when we should be getting over to Longview, thanks, I'll willingly take your Fall harvest.

Let me know if it'll be before 2 or 3 for sure. If so I'll have to run some over to Jason's tomorrow sometime. :-)

I'm not sure Matt what time, but I'm guessing probably more likely towards 3, so if you'll be out, then it would be great if you could drop the cheato off at Jason's, thanks.

OK so it's midnight. The tank is now wet. Salt mixed with the water from Brookshires, SG is reading 1.022 & surprisingly only holding 30G, with less than2 3/4 inches to the top of the framing, so the claim of 36G is slightly optimistic.
Either way, I've left the space to accommodate rock and sand. The gap at the top is also useful currently, as it's creating more of a waterfall effect from the HOB filter.
Heater is in and set at 80F. I'll check that in the morning with a digital thermometer to see just how accurate it is.

So I guess that's it, I have officially joined you on the Dark side.
Pics, though boring, have been taken, and I'll be posting them probably on Sunday or Monday.

It's 1AM, and I'm off Monday, hence being up at this time.

Today I got the crushed coral substrate from Petco and washed it for..ohhh 40 minutes at least when I got home.

Got some interesting pieces of live rock from Jason.. Cheers mate..as the pics will show, the pieces you kept for me, have made a nice simple wall. The coraline is showing beautifully.

Matt dropped by and gave me two bags of Cheato, Farmer Matt has a system that grows that stuff so well. Thanks Matt, both clumps are sitting there, seeding my tank and rocks.

So I sat, had dinner, watched a DVD, did more online research....looked at the tank, looked at the clock....did more research, this time on Black Clowns, as Lady Y really likes them, and this is definitely "our" tank. (Guys you understand "our". Lady Y says what she really likes, and as it comes within our own "like" category of what's OK, we run with it, especially if what she likes I really like too, just it's way more than the regular Clowns.) "OK love, if that's what you'd like in there, I can go with that".... (Yes she choose one of the more expensive clowns... arghh to start off with!)

So at 12, I opened the live rock box.... dam although I had picked each piece, it felt like Christmas. OK I had added the bag of live sand, but here it was. Life entering the tank. No longer am I just adding rock, even if it is very pretty rock, or "holey rock" in a tank for Cichlids. This rock has is alive!

I start to pick out pieces, gradually building up the simple wall across the back of the tank, trying to create caves, trying to think like a crab... hiding places....like a fish... entrance, cover and escape.

Coral.... light, light; light and foooood!

Get out my tape. Minimum distance from top of water to rock is 12". I need a couple of bigger pieces of rock I think, when I can find them. I also will need to get some rough sump rock, I found Petco doing their $1/Gallon, so got a 10G sump tank. Now to design and build that. (Anyone has to much sump rock, let me know, please)

I put the two clumps of Cheato into the tank.... colour, and will add pods.

Addictive hobby.. no way.

First lesson learnt from setting up a Reef Tank. Patience..

Next projects.

Lighting. I got the 24" T5 Actinic's off Jason, and now I have to adapt them for the 30" tank.
Finalise the sump design. I have my own ideas, staging live rock and Cheato in stages..we'll see.

Ahh, and so begins the addiction! Good luck Yeti looks like you got a great start. Welcome to the dark side!

Empty tank, with convicting evidence of a path chosen.



Finally wet.


Sand and rock, now to wait and see how it will look.



And now I can see how it looks. Probably like to add some more live rock, but in general I'm satisfied with the initial appearance. Naturally I will have my hand in there soon, no doubt, to try alternative arrangements.

Looking good Yeti but remember for liverock to be benificial in a reef tank you need about 1.5 - 2 pounds of rock per gallon, looks like you may be a little short. The arrangement looks good but you need lots more rock if you are ever going to make it work. How many pounds of rock are in there?

Looking good!

I've got some Black Percula and live rockthat would look awesome in that tank!:-)

Keep up the photos - great to see the progression

Donnie, I was thinking that I probably need to about double the rock I have in there, from memory it's about 30lbs, and yes it looks empty for a reef tank.

Jeff let me know how much your live rock is, and the black Percula. We like them, but they seem to be damned expensive for first fish i.e. High risk for a newbie. Anyway, it'll be a while before I'm ready to go "fish live".

Also saw my first Brittle Worm this evening, trucking over the rock, and what looks like a tiny white rams horn shaped shell, attached to the rock, from which a very small, fine, anenome type of thing appeared, then shot back in when one of the dogs tapped the cabinet.
"It's life Jim, but not as we know it".

Yeti wrote:

Also saw my first Brittle Worm this evening, trucking over the rock, and what looks like a tiny white rams horn shaped shell, attached to the rock, from which a very small, fine, anenome type of thing appeared, then shot back in when one of the dogs tapped the cabinet.
"It's life Jim, but not as we know it".

Spending hours staring at live rock...you are officially one of us.

Yeti wrote:
"It's life Jim, but not as we know it".

I do so enjoy reading your posts!

J.Davis wrote:

I do so enjoy reading your posts!

So do I! I just now noticed the Star Wars DVD in the tank.

Yeti wrote:

Mrs Y looked at me strangely when I grabbed the DVD, I said "I've got to, just to see if anyone notices, they'll know why". I got the roll of eyes and "yes dear".

I think she's showing signs of being the perfect Reefer's wife. Loves joining me on expeditions to get stuff, nods and smiles saying "That looks lovely" when I show her the now clean and clear U Tubes for the overflow (Thanks Jeff, it's cleaned up a treat with a long soak and just a little vinegar in the U Tubes).
Is almost as active as myself on looking at which fish we should go for (Black Clowns are still the favourite, drats), and even comes and watches the Bristle Worm, well for a moment.

Gotta love it when the Wife joins in the fun, you are a lucky man Yeti! I can remember when my Wife used to stare at my reefs for hours, Our babies would lay in front of my 110 reef and watch till they fell asleep, after being together 32 years she don't care for them much anymore. She knows I have to have a reef tank though, it truely is an addiction, I have tried it without them but the urge stays with you forever I guess. Enjoy the time you two spend together in front of it!

Thanks Donnie, I really do.

OK Question time Skimmers?
I have the 10G tank to make my sump, and have found some acrylic I can get from work to make the baffles/partitions but before I start on the sump I'm thinking I need to find a skimmer. as it would suuuuuck, to make the sump and then find the skimmer doesn't fit in.
Reading online it seems that there are about 10 in sump skimmers, and everyone has a differing opinion. The AquaCUrchin seems good (nice swap there DaveE, it looks like a good one) but new it's $175!
Coralife super skimmer has such mixed reviews, and seems to take up to 3 months to get it fine tuned so you don't suffer an influx of bubbles into your tank.
So if anyone has used a skimmer that worked well for them about 35G of water, please let me know so I can look at the reviews. Thanks.