Here We Go Again!

[Melanie]

My biggest news today is that there is NO news today! Yeah!!! No disasters! I count that as a great day.

I scooped out all of the sand except the little bit I couldn't get at the bottom. A little bit fell onto my bare foot and burned me and gave me hives all over the top of my foot. Tomorrow is dismantle the tank and clean it out with vinegar and water.

Oh, and I was very happy to see that I didn't get divorce papers today AND the tank was still in my house when I got home!

[mps9506]

It's the little things that can make us happy

[DrHank]

Hooray for a good day! You'll have many more.

[lcstorc]

Still having a tank after yesterday is not a little thing.
Glad you had a good tank day.

[Melanie]

Well, today's job of cleaning the tank and sump and tubes is done! It is now on my lanai (fancy word for back porch in Florida) air drying.

I figure now is a good time to repaint the stand and tweak the squeaky door since the tank is empty and off of it. I may never have that good of an opportunity again. I'll have to do that tomorrow because I'm actually feeling a little sick today and I don't want to overdo it.

I have a couple of questions:
1. When should I put the live sand in? Right before the live rock (once it's cured) or should I put water and sand in while I'm waiting for the rock to cure?

2. Can I put my plastic rocks and synthetic corals in the tank while I'm waiting for the live rock to go in? I guess I'm saying it will look a little boring with just water while I'm waiting. The fake corals will spice it up.

3. My sump is flat on the wood floor of the stand. Can I add an egg crate under it to allow for water evaporation if any splashes down there? Or do you have a better suggestion?

[DrHank]

How much work are you looking for? Ideally, 2 coats of Kilz (or equivalent) oil based primer followed by a coat or two of white latex enamel. That way the stand will be protected from water spills. I put 2 pieces of firring strip about 1/3 of the way from each end of my sump to allow for air circulation.

Plastic rocks and synthetic corals should be ok to add whenever you like. Personally, I like mine completely covered by sand or rock to decrease visibility. In your case however, I can see that a tank half full of water with possibly sand on the bottom might be a tad boring.

You can put your sand in at any time. I usually add mine just before or after my rock goes in but I see no harm in putting it in now if you want to. Remember though that whenever you decide to add it, you need to have circulation going. Also if you completely fill your tank now remember that water will be displaced into your sump when you do add your rock.

[lcstorc]

Sorry you are not feeling well.
I vote for putting the sand in now. Get the sandstorm over though the good DR is right about the circulation. The one thing you do want to keep in mind is that you wan the rock to be very stable when you are aquascaping. That is why many people do the rock first and then fill in with the sand. IMHO I re-scape to opften so it dpesn't really matter for me. I just make sure the rocks are solid and go from there.

I don't know anything about painting stands or fake corals so I will leave those alone.

[Melanie]

Originally Posted by DrHank

How much work are you looking for? Ideally, 2 coats of Kilz (or equivalent) oil based primer followed by a coat or two of white latex enamel. That way the stand will be protected from water spills. I put 2 pieces of firring strip about 1/3 of the way from each end of my sump to allow for air circulation.

Plastic rocks and synthetic corals should be ok to add whenever you like. Personally, I like mine completely covered by sand or rock to decrease visibility. In your case however, I can see that a tank half full of water with possibly sand on the bottom might be a tad boring.

You can put your sand in at any time. I usually add mine just before or after my rock goes in but I see no harm in putting it in now if you want to. Remember though that whenever you decide to add it, you need to have circulation going. Also if you completely fill your tank now remember that water will be displaced into your sump when you do add your rock.

Quit putting ideas in my head! I had planned on spray painting it. ha ha ha.

GREAT idea on the firring strips. Of course I had to google it because my husband wasn't home. (He's a general contractor.)

Yeah, I was wondering if I should wait to add the water/sand because of the displacement. Then I don't have to worry about overflow or wasted water when I add the rocks. I promise to have salt water pumping when I put the sand in.

I haven't tested the water in the live rock coolers yet. I have another small set of LR rubble coming at the end of the week so I figure I'll scrub it and change the water then.

[Melanie]

Well, lots of updates. I did spraypaint the stand and it was a learning experience to say the least. Looks much better now, which is more than I can say for my hands.



I replaced my return hose MYSELF and it doesn't leak a bit. I replaced the rusty metal clamp on the drain hose with zip ties but that needs to be fixed...slow leak. I fixed my new/broken skimmer and I'll test that tonight. I filled the tank with saltwater, live sand, and my mostly cured LR. (That was because hubby was either going to divorce me or pitch my tank if I didn't get all the LR out of the dining room.)

It was hard arranging LR with super cloudy water, but I think it's not too shabby now that the water has cleared.

Day 1


Day 2
(If you look on the far left you will see a little pink shrimp that I added to start the cycle.)


Looks like I have very little re-arranging to do and plenty of room for corals and fish.

Tests last night about 6 hours after LR and LS were added were as expected:
Temp 80
SG 1.025
Ph 8.2
Ammon 0
Nitrite 0
Nitrate 0

Gotta change the water in my QT tonight! Can't forget those little guys.

[Dentoid]

WOWIE-WOW-WOW-WOW! That looks great! You've come a long way in a short time. It won't be long before you are showing off your new reef with a smile from ear to ear. And/or just sitting back with a big ol' cocktail, watching your tank and acting like you are kicking back on an Aruba beach!

[mps9506]

Looking good. It's on it way

[Melanie]

Hey thanks Dentoid! I couldn't wait for you guys to see how nice it looks so far. I'll have to ask Lynn when I'm supposed to take the shrimp out.

I'm so thrilled the hard labor part is over. I couldn't take another weekend of moving that tank and the rocks!

[caitrina]

Cool, you can see the wall behind it now. That's a great feeling after you think it will never clear....good job and some Karma for a great reef.

[bluespotjawfish]

Melanie, your tank looks nice! Did you get your additional rock yet? Is it in there too? I want to see it when you get it, so post a pic of it when you can. I'm looking to add some more to my tank. Need to make sure it has holes like their stock photo showed before I do though.

Keep up the good work.

[Melanie]

Thank you so much Caitrina and Mike.

Water tests tonight...

Ammon 0
Nitrite 1.0
Nitrate 0

Hmmm....not quite what I expected. I thought perhaps all 0 or a slight increase in ammonia. Very interesting.