Jorgen's First time with a 180g!

[Jorgens]

Well I've been keepin freshwater for years and finally took the plunge. I always wanted a "built-in" tank and now it's here and it's in!!! 180g "see-thru" set-up shooting for a reef system. /equip is all listed in my sig. not much as i just wanted to "get things started". I plann on watching everything grow as thats 1/2 the fun.

I have about 200#s of dyi rock that is still curing. I put 2 pieces in and bought a small piced of "live" to get thing rollin. To everyones surprise when we fliped it over it had 2 small orange/sun polyps on it. I'm trying my damndest to keep these things alive!!!

I already lost one due to inexperience. I have a homeade refiguim out of a 55g tank. No plants yet. it fell apart and acted like a giant skimmer. To my surprise the next am the tank was filthy...goo everywhere and that claimed 1 of the polyps.
sample.JPG

Things are back under control and am patiently waiting for my dyi rock to cure so i can aqua scape!!

I have soo many little things poppin up off that pices of rock and as soon as i can downsize pics ill post them. tubeworms everythwere...lill fuzzy worms crawling...some purple polyp/anoneme type things...fuzzy tigerstriped worms swaying in the current. not sure what those are...little white bugs all over the glass and brown alge type stuff all over everything.

I'm looking forward to getting some expert advice from you all!! I already got a ton of knowledge just browsing thru. Nice crew here!!! looking forward to chatting with ya'll!!!

[billyr98]

Cool... Please post some tips on your DIY rock.. what you did? what you used.. maybe pics of doing it?

[Charlie97L]

watch out for those purple anemone things! aiptasia!!!

looks great! i too, would like more info on the DIY rock, and let's get a full tank shot!!! :-D

[Woodstock]

Can't wait to see some full tank shots!

[Jorgens]

i didn't take any pics while doing it but it's pretty simpel to make. looks great. But needs 4-6 weeks for it to fully cure. PH of water in curing vats is 9.o+ def do NOT want that in the tank too soon. It's basically a mix of concrete and any type of "fat" calcium thing. IE argonite/coral rubble/oyster shells. 4-5 parts of that to 1 part concrete and just enuff water to hold it together. Put the junk in some type of mold. Baked clay in the oven or playdough. Homemade pladough of course w/o food coloring. or even sand. Plop the mixture in let sit for 24-36 hrs and there it is. I can get ya more details if your interested but i only invested about $50 for my 200#'s of rock. And no aptasia or any other baddies!!!

[billyr98]

very neat... maybe something to try for my FOWLR i want to start...
Could make really cool caves with custom Rocks!

[Jorgens]

watch out for those purple anemone things! aiptasia!!!

ya think??? man that was why i only got a small rock to seed. it's real small not even 4mm high but managed to engulf a whole brine shrimp i fed it!!! Not sure if i canget the camera in that close!! i have to get something to downsize my pics and illput up more on the whole project!!!

As always, i apprecaite everyon's comments weather good or bad. I''m learnin as we go and am bound to goof something up!!

[Woodstock]

I've read of people using raw pasta mixed into it to create a more porous rock. The pasta would apparantly dissolve during the 'curing' process leaving a 'holey' rock. ever try using that?

[Jorgens]

i put some sand in, that washed away and left caves. the rock is incredibly porus. the 2 pale ones in my pic are the homemade. just to help get things spreading

[Woodstock]

Ahhh... I'd like to try making some one day.

[lcstorc]

JMO, but you may want more than just the one rock to seed the DIY rock. The more life you add the more quickly it will spread just be careful about the hitchikers as you already seem to know.
I am currently curing/cooking or whatever some lr in my qt tank to get all the bad stuff out before adding to my system. After almost 2 months there, I found a crab an inch across just last night. Now where did he come from? LOL Apparently he is really good at hiding. I am so glad I let this rock sit since I do not want him in my reef and he will be much easier to remove from a virtually empty 20g than a 125g reef. At least I hope so anyway.
I love the idea of pasta or sand to keep holes in the rock. Great for filtration and if large enough good hiding places for the more shy inhabitants of the reef. Could even give you good places to place corals as you go along.
Looking good. Can't wait for updates.
If by sun polyps you are referring to sun coral, be sure to target feed them. I use mysis to feed mine. I have a yellow and and orange and both love the mysis. Plus it is really fun to watch them eat.

[boozeman]

looks great jorgens... awesome diy skills!!!
yes woody pasta!! lol
but you can get better results using coarse rock salt...I experimented with both techniques a few mnths ago...eventually had the best results when I took a large hand held die grinder with a carving bit and just textured it myself.:

[blue_eyes53813]

Very informational... Thanks for sharing.....Cant waite to see full tank shots..

[Gina]

Yes, interesting!
I can't wait to see a picture of all the rock!

[Jorgens]

finally got some pics!!! not much to look at yet. The rest of my rock should go in this weekend if it's done leeching!!
http://s34.photobucket.com/albums/d1...gens/Aquarium/

Added a few inhabitants....

2 peppermint shrimp
1 "scooter" blennie
1 sand sifting sea star
1 horeshoe crab
1 emerald crab
50 hermits
10 cerith snails