Dean's Lake Reef

[danewell]

Here is the start of my 110 gallon reef tank at the condo by the lake.

Picked up this tank off craigslist, thanks to a lot of help of dmatt88, and his wife. (8/6/11)

Two hours later all cleaned up! (8/6/11)

First fish! Ok maybe not, but still fun. (8/6/11)

Inside dmatt88's house until I move with sand and water. (8/10/11)

Real first fish, only for cycling the tank. (8/10/11)

Live sand and live rock, nicknamed the mud puddle. (8/14/11)

Clearing up! Thanks Matt for the pic. (8/15/11)

 

[dmatt88]

Nice dude. Water lookin good. Lots of critters crawling and its clearing up well. Found a few starfish, turbos, hermits n bristleworms n mushrooms everywhere. Buying the tanks of a 10yr old running system helps huh? Trites n trates -0.

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[mcentire1123]

Great start!

 

[danewell]

dmatt88 and I picked up a bucket of sand off the kid I bought the tank from; and then we picked up close to 50 gallons of live rock, 15 gallons of live sand, and some red and blue mushrooms off of a guy getting out of the hobby over the weekend. His tank was 5+ years old, and the sand has all sorts of weird crap in it. So far we have found a couple of crabs, several types of snails, lots of worms, and at least 1 starfish. Now to find a sump, fix the lights that came with the tank, and build a top for the tank.

 

[dmatt88]

Betcha its 125 or so lbs or rock. 50 lbs old critter filled sand. Nice buy.

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[danewell]

To get the tank, stand, and first bucket of sand we went to the north side of downtown Indy. We ended up turned around and also got to drive through the hood. Haha. Once we got back to the house we set the tank up, filled it with water, and let it sit for a bit to remove all the silicone that had been put in the tank when the previous owner had put in his 3D background. 2 hours and a couple beers we had it all cleaned up, just let it soak and rescrubbed it again for good measure.

To go get the live sand and rock; we drove about 20 minutes past the middle of nowhere, then went another 10-15 minutes. He had an awesome cabin and had 1 seperate tank, and two tanks that were stacked. There were corals, mushrooms, and algae everywhere; which imo makes it that much better. The ride home we spilt a little water, and were threated by dmatt88's wife. After several hours and a several more beers everything was in mine and Matt's tanks. Mikey, Matt's friend, also picked up some cool stuff on this adventure.

Thanks again to dmatt88 for all the help of going to pick up the tank, storing it, helping me find stuff, hell pretty much everything that has been done to it and for the next several months. Check out Matts 220 Adventure!

 

[danewell]

Oh and so far this is a combination of 5 tanks. The tank (craigslist), shells and future contributions (dmatt88), and the 3 tanks we got rocks and sand out of from the guy on the southside of the lake. I'll keep you posted as I continue to grow the number of combinations from different tanks.

 

[BigAl07]

Great start

 

[dmatt88]

So the wife is asking when were getting this monster out of the study. Next weekend sounds good since u closed on the house I told her!

 

[danewell]

Matt tell her as soon as its clean we will start moving it, maybe some paint too. Though I promise to get it out of the house asap. Wait isn't that your room? Haha jk.

 

[dmatt88]

With the new fish smell gradually leaving she'll forget about it!

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[catran]

Nice tank and cabinet guys!!

 

[danewell]

Ok. So the project continues, I closed on my condo. Now the project is cleaning the condo, fixing the lights, figuring out a sump, moving, and then coming up with an aquascape. Any ideas on the aquascape and pump location would be greatly appreciated.

Plus ordered actual fish today to keep the tank cycled and healthy. Ordered two false clowns from Premium Aquatics out of Indy.

 

[danewell]

For the sump I found one that is cheap that I can put some dividers in to put caeyto algea and some of the live rock. The one I found was Platinum Series Basic Sump 180 [PSBS180] from Salt Water Eddies. Any ideas on this?

 

[dmatt88]

Spending a few extra bucks now will save u a ton in the long run. Plus a sump is a real important piece.

Anyway your trates trites n ammonia are 0. 10 gal water change ur golden. Let the excitement continue.

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[danewell]

ACTUAL FISH IN TANK! (All pics from 8/23/11)

Their ride home.

For those concerened that the tank has only been up a few days, remember sand and rock is from 5 year old tank. My tank is thriving, and here is the proof.

Oh yeah the fish, two false clowns.

 

[danewell]

ID Help

I was looking in the tank today, and I have no idea what these are... Please help.

Thanks

 

[danewell]

New pic, they are becoming more active!

 

[mcentire1123]

Looks great!

 

[Robzilla]

Glad to see I'm not the only one who makes my critters wear a seatbelt! Looking good man, but I'm no help on the polyp ID