Goodfuga Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Well i am an (F-ing New Guy) FNG to the site and figured I would say hello. I am a Marine Biology Major at UT and served in the Coast Guard for six years. Been interested most of my life in reef habitats and ecology but was never able to keep a reef tank because of the constant travel that comes from serving ones country. Once i got out i was a poor college student so I did not have any money to start one then either. Now finnaly I am in a postion to finnaly take up a long wanted hobby and have just finished setting up a begginer 70 gal(36x18x25) reef tank. I built the tank stand myself and all the plumbing which i am very proud off. i know there are tons of people out there who have done the same and have done way more complicated setups than me, however being a newbie to the hobby and this beeing my first set-up, I feel very proud of the progress thusfar. I am planning on starting a thread to chronicle my journey into the reef tank hobby so look for it. I cant even begin to express how helpful others out there who have done similar things with their systems have helped me in designing and working bugs out of my setup. I am posting a picture of my setup thus far so otheres can see where i am at. I have a 70 gal tank with a sump/refugium for filtration, 130 lbs of LR (Half fiji, half carribean), Aquaticlife T5 6x36W with built in timer and lunar lights, Mag 9.5 pump running everything. Tank has been up and running for about a week now. Ammonia levels have spiked and returned to < .2 and I am just waiting for my Nitrate levels to fall. Nitrite has been zero for a few days. Hopefully i can start adding some cleaner critters this week. Let me know what you think. Here is a picture of my first critter that was lucky enough to survive the oddessy to my tank. Its a purple sea cucumber. He's kinda hard to see because he insists on stayin ghidden in a hole but you can kinda pick him out in the middle just under the retracted feather duster in the middle. He isnt very photogenic There was also a ton of Isopods that where living in the rock. They are fun to watch but i wouldnt take bets on how long they last once fish and some corals get in there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pbnj Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Looks well put together for an FNG. Welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JamesL Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Welcome! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfuga Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Looks well put together for an FNG. Welcome. Thanks. I took my time with it, about 21/2 week process from my first trip to HD to putting rock in the tank. Still early but its been running fine for a week now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfuga Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 I got lucky and was able to grab a good picture of my Purple Cucumber peeking out and figured i'd share, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheKipf Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Looking pretty good and clean! That set up should treat you well. Just a thought - I see you have your power head facing the same flow direction as your return. You may find it best to face that power head against your return to get some random turbulence / current in your tank. I've always seen best results having opposite flows - helps to eliminate 'dead spots' in your tank. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goodfuga Posted November 15, 2010 Author Share Posted November 15, 2010 Looking pretty good and clean! That set up should treat you well. Just a thought - I see you have your power head facing the same flow direction as your return. You may find it best to face that power head against your return to get some random turbulence / current in your tank. I've always seen best results having opposite flows - helps to eliminate 'dead spots' in your tank. It's hard to see in the picture but I have one input pointing up into the flow from the powerhead and another one pointing down towards the rocks. The powerhead flow passes through the top input and over the bottom one.The glass screws up the angles when taking the picture so its hard to tell. I had read and heard that it is better to have the flows crossing and opposing, and have been considering moving the powerhead to the other side, but I need to get an extension cord to run the power over there (about 6 in too short) Thats where i originally had planned to put it. After already spending countless hours just staring at my tank, i have been watching the water currents and flows in the tank. It is made fairly easy because there is alot of small particulates and baby isopods that like to ride them. I have noticed that it does seem like there are multiple random currents that get generated and I have yet to notice an area that doesnt get a flow around it. I also forgot to mention that my powerhead is a 900 gph unit and it seems like it is easily keeping the water moving efficiently. Although with that said i probably will still end up moving it. Thanks for the advice and the warm welcome. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Laura Posted November 15, 2010 Share Posted November 15, 2010 Welcome!!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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