Juice’s 54 Gallon Build

[novanosis]

yeah thats what happened to me! Well equipment wise. If I bought the stuff I brought from there online I would have saved $200!!!! ahhhh

The only thing I will buy form there is fish and a coral that I really like, for the most part the corals online and here are nice, affordable, and good colors.

 

[jgking21]

Today I am planning the first water change. I've got a storage bin next to the tank and I started 15 gallons last night. Salinity is correct, I'm just waiting on the temp to come up, nice and chilly in NC last night!

The Peppermint Shrimp is doing just fine, been in for a week now. I dropped in a small frag (pink monti) from the 25 on friday and it seems to be doing good, full polyp extension. I also added a snail that was covered in Coraline, I'm hoping he can start some of it growing. If not I'm going to break a rock from the 25 that has a bunch, I just want to get a piece without any algea on it. Later this week I'm hopefully going to get a Purple Monit frag and maybe some GSP from Stacef.

Custom Clean Up Crew should be here Wednesday, I place an order on Reef Cleaners (great service!).

Skimmer is working great! I'll try to get a picture of the skimate next time I take some. I'm still dialing it in, for now it seems a bit wetter than I would like.

I'm progressing very nicely I believe, just not in a huge rush which has been great! Oh, and I think the first fish will probably be a pair of clowns, I love their color. I'm affraid to get a blenny or goby until I cover the tank, right now its wide open and I don't want one of them to go carpet surfing! I am hoping to go to The Asheville Aquarium next weekend or the following, hopefully I can get a nice pair then!

That's it for now!

Keep on reefing!!!

 

[brikeibur]

Nice Tank....good job on the rock work too, very nice look you got there!!

I am looking forward to seeing more!!

 

[jgking21]

FTS - 5/27/09

I'd like to get my first fish this weekend, looking at either a Clown or a Diamond Goby. I'm affraid the goby may be second since the sand bed is still semi fresh. The final fish I hope to have is a Kole Tang. Please input on my fish stock as I'm only looking for about (3) fish in the tank!

No real updates, did another water change and will do another tomorrow, Nitrates are still over 10 ppm. Clean up Crew is doing a great job, I am seeing Brown Diatoms at this time.

I've put in a few frags from my 25 gallon tank. Some Pink Monti (2nd rock down on right & middle of right tower) and a Green Cane (bottom right corner). I'll super glue the monti's when I'm sure they are ready, you can see the bigger piece did lose alot of color, but is coming back nicely! I've started all frags on the sand bed and slowly move them up, coming from PC to a M/H. I'll try to post close ups later, when the lights come on.

Also, pods? I'd like to pick some up at the store today when I get water, what is the best type to purchase?

Any input on fish stock will be greatly appreciated, as I would like to purchase a fish this weekend!

 

[brikeibur]

Our first fish were some chromis... :goofy:

Not too exciting, but I know I was scared to put an expensive one in first!! LOL.

 

[jgking21]

Yeah, I did Chromis in my 25, those buggers are too hard to catch so I'm not going with them. I saw a nice clown yesterday at the store, if he still looks good on Sunday (or is still there) I'm going to get him.

Here are the shots of the corals:

You can see the lower piece is pale, but looks much better than it did when it went in. It was still alittle stressed from the move from Florida.

Got this one in the corner while it adjust to the lights.

I'm going to get a fish next, then an RODI Unit, then supplemental lighting. I can see some shady spots and just the M/H isn't cutting it.

 

[brikeibur]

Very Nice!!!

 

[TylerHaworth]

I love corner tanks... I wish I had a big enough corner to house something like 120 gallon or so corner tank... so much depth, and so many angles of view!

 

[jgking21]

Thanks for the compliments! The corner is great, but if you look to long and hard you can get a little dizzy.

Went to the store today looking for a Clown, they didn't have any in so I came home with this little guy:

Some type of Blue Staghorn I believe.

 

[jgking21]

I just went to a lfs (frank and peg's) in Charlotte and they were getting ready to go out of business. So I picked up a Spotted Hawk Fish for $12! Pics to come tomorrow, he's acclimating now!

 

[brikeibur]

That's awesome!!

I love when I find fish stores going out of business, you can get great deals on stuff, that's how we got our 76g 1/2 circle oceanic tank.....found it while browsing through some stuff at a going out of business sale at one of the LFS.

Congrats!!

 

[stonedfish]

Those hawkfish sure can be mean. And fast too. They sure are entertaining though, good luck with him. I like the look of your tank.

 

[Reefmack]

When lfs go out of business you do get great deals, but when enough go under the prices at those that remain open will increase due to less competition - it's a double edged sword.

 

[jgking21]

Reefmack, that is true. Being in Charlotte you may know that Frank and Peg's was more of Pet Store than a Fish Store, so hopefully it won't drive Fintastic's prices up. I hated it for the employees, sounded like they only found out a short time ago. I would rather spend $24 for the fish and they still be in business than get a deal!!!

I aclimated the Hawk Fish for about 1.5 hours and in he went. I dropped in a few flakes last night (all I had) and he ate nicely. Swam around pretty happy looking around and since he's the only fish, hopefully he will stay stress free. He is about 1.25" so he's relatively small. I'll try my hardest to get pictures tonight.

 

[Reefmack]

jgking21 - I wasn't even aware that Frank & Pegs went out of business. I hadn't been there in a while. I used to go there 20 years ago when my son was young and we were running a FW tank. I guess it was just a matter of time till the chain stores and other lfs drove them out of business - sad situation. Nemo's is probably the lowest cost saltwater lfs in this area, but the selection isn't as big as Fintastic. Well run though.

Nice setup you have! Good luck with the Hawk!

 

[jgking21]

I'll have to check out Nemo's, I haven't been up there yet.

Picture as promised, he seems to by shy. He's been hanging out along the side of the tank, so this was the best I could get. He's pretty much right in the center of the picture:

 

[Reefmack]

I got confused as to who's tank thread this was and fixed my above post - duh! The Hawk looks great! I'd guess he'll be shy for a while.

 

[jgking21]

No problem reefmack, Brian and Stacey's build is really nice! I went to Nemo's this afternoon, nice little shop. They had alot of fish in there, I'll probably get a Clown from them in about 2 weeks. Thank you for suggesting that!

Just feed the Hawk some frozen brine shrimp, it was awesome to watch him dart around for them! He is so fast!

 

[Reefmack]

Sounds excellent on the Hawkfish!

I haven't been to Nemos in a while, since Chris enlarged the store a bit. How was he on corals - did he have many? He's only about 5 minutes from where I work, and I should make a trip over there soon. I need some small pieces of live rock and his price was good when I messaged him last week via RASOC.

 

[jgking21]

Didn't see many corals at all and didn't look for rock so I couldn't give you any updates on that. There were alot of fish though. If your looking for some rock, I'm taking my 25 down and I have one semi small rock and this:

There are probably 14 heads on it and some are splitting now. It's got some algea on it, but I don't have a great CUC so maybe yours can clean it. Looked at your tank and would love a frag of the Green Acropora! Let me know if you'd be interested.