Greetings all, just found this area a bit ago and thought I would share my build, etc. I was in the hobby fairly heavy for a long time, but then tore my tank down after a wipeout, started buying upgraded gear, but then never really set it up. About 3 months ago, my wife got a little tank for her Betta. And I started talking about getting my tank going again. While thinking this through, my wife mentioned what her hair care and nails cost monthly (if you don't know what this costs - talk to your wife) and I immediately decided, I'm getting my tank. So fast forward a bit.
I have the Red Sea Max 400 LED which I purchased from my LFS (Aquamart in Colorado - Jeff is awesome he has RS tanks up and on display and I got to basically climb through it) although, I changed out the included skimmer for the AquaMedic K1. Getting the tank home and built was a fun challenge that we knocked out in a day. However, one of the Hydra 26s was not working on delivery (fan wouldn't turn on) and I had to get that returned. I hope this comes across ok, the people at AI were awesome to work with, I was not very happy with RS immediately turning me over to them though. With the value of the tank, I feel that RS should be my main point of contact, after all it is a complete system. Is there anything else on this system that they would refer me to someone else on? Additionally, while I love the lights, the setup is kind of clunky to say the least, getting the parent child relationship with the lights setup is is still not working for me. Additionally, finding the optimum settings for this is kind of difficult, but the challenge here has made me do some fun research.
I ordered live sand and rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater - of which I cannot be happier. Not only is the rock amazing, my tank basically cycled in 2 days, flame away here but I got ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in such a short time I was shocked. I also built a mixing station in the utility room, this was actually a fun project.
We have taken our time with everything, at least I think we have, we're working on a FOWLR premise (we may get some easy corals later) but what we really wanted was fish and some inverts. So now we're pretty happy with our two tangs and two cardinals and we watch the tank more than we watch the TV.
Note: How do you guys keep the filter socks clean? I've been hand rinsing them in the sink.
BTW: I love this forum and reading about everyone and their setups, it's a great way to pass some time and learn things.
I have the Red Sea Max 400 LED which I purchased from my LFS (Aquamart in Colorado - Jeff is awesome he has RS tanks up and on display and I got to basically climb through it) although, I changed out the included skimmer for the AquaMedic K1. Getting the tank home and built was a fun challenge that we knocked out in a day. However, one of the Hydra 26s was not working on delivery (fan wouldn't turn on) and I had to get that returned. I hope this comes across ok, the people at AI were awesome to work with, I was not very happy with RS immediately turning me over to them though. With the value of the tank, I feel that RS should be my main point of contact, after all it is a complete system. Is there anything else on this system that they would refer me to someone else on? Additionally, while I love the lights, the setup is kind of clunky to say the least, getting the parent child relationship with the lights setup is is still not working for me. Additionally, finding the optimum settings for this is kind of difficult, but the challenge here has made me do some fun research.
I ordered live sand and rock from Tampa Bay Saltwater - of which I cannot be happier. Not only is the rock amazing, my tank basically cycled in 2 days, flame away here but I got ammonia, nitrites and nitrates in such a short time I was shocked. I also built a mixing station in the utility room, this was actually a fun project.
We have taken our time with everything, at least I think we have, we're working on a FOWLR premise (we may get some easy corals later) but what we really wanted was fish and some inverts. So now we're pretty happy with our two tangs and two cardinals and we watch the tank more than we watch the TV.
Note: How do you guys keep the filter socks clean? I've been hand rinsing them in the sink.
BTW: I love this forum and reading about everyone and their setups, it's a great way to pass some time and learn things.
