My 45 gallon long journal!!!

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

First I'll bring everyone up to date about my 45 gallon long tank...

At first I was making it a planted tank, had everything going perfectly when one night I decided I wanted to get back into saltwater. So here's a couple pictures when it was a planted tank.

View attachment 16622 View attachment 16623 View attachment 16624 View attachment 16625


That was just 2 weeks ago, was going great as a planted tank, but I want to get back into the saltwater game again. So here's a break down of the tank.

45 gallon long (48"x12"x19")
Lighting - 48" Odyssea T5HO quad w/ digital timer (2 x 460nm TrueLumens bulbs, and 2 x 12,000k True Lumens Bright White bulbs.
Heating - 200w Hydor Theo submersible heater
Filtration - SunSun 402B canister filter w/ 9w UV, and Odyssea CFS500 canister filter
Substrate - 80lbs of Bahama Aragonite Sand
Water circulation - 2xAquaClear 30 Powerheads (1 on each side)
Rock - 40lbs of saltwater base rock

So that's all I currently have for the tank, but today I traded my Aqueon Evolve 4 planted nano tank for 40lbs of dried saltwater base rock, was well worth the trade because it spans from one side to the other with 2 medium size rocks stacked on top of the others. I've ordered a few artificial coral pieces, and a couple fake anemone's, I'll be picking up some Instant Ocean sea salt, a hydrometer, and a couple more fake coral pieces.

But because I live on disability just under $1,000 a month, it'll be a slow process getting this tank fish ready because I plan on 50-65lbs of Florida live rock and it's pretty expensive to come by. I mean $10lb here in town, and $3lb + shipping online, just freaking expensive either way I go lol. I'll get some pictures of the tank right now, and slowly update with pictures as it progress' over time.

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

45 gallon long (48"x12"x19")
Lighting - 48" Odyssea T5HO quad w/ digital timer (2 x 460nm TrueLumens bulbs, and 2 x 12,000k True Lumens Bright White bulbs.
Heating - 200w Hydor Theo submersible heater
Filtration - SunSun 402B canister filter w/ 9w UV, and Odyssea CFS500 canister filter
Substrate - 80lbs of Bahama Aragonite Sand
Water circulation - 2xAquaClear 30 Powerheads (1 on each side)
Rock - 40lbs of saltwater base rock

I meant 2x460nm TrueLumens "Actinic" bulbs lol

 

[kmcmurtry]

It's really hard to get off the salt, lol. Once i had the taste, i sold all my freshwater tanks and converted. I had 2 55's in my living room filled beautifully with cichlids of all colors - think my husband cried a little at the loss of the oscars (or more likely the impending dent to our wallets). Just could not duplicate the sheer amount of biodiversity that i saw in saltwater. I enjoy just watching a featherduster open in the morning, and nighttime flashlight hunts thrill me. Can't wait to see more pics as your fun begins!

 

[fishguy69]

Nice planted tank!

 

[CRW Reef]

Sounds like a you got a good start, keep us posted on the progression!

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

Nice planted tank!

Thanks, but the saltwater bug bit me again!!!!


Well I got the 2 canister filters cleaned out, and ready to be filled which will happen tomorrow when I fill the tank with water. Then on the 3rd I'll be picking up the instant ocean salt, hydrometer, and ordering a few more fake coral pieces. Then over the next couple months I'll be getting some Florida Live Rock to put into the tank, during the waiting time for getting some live rock the tank should be cycled by the time I finish getting live rock.

Oh by the way I'm 100% impressed with my SunSun 402B canister filter w/ 9w UV light, sure it's a bit on the cheap side, but the SunSun filters sure pack a punch!!!! I tell everyone that's looking for canister filter about my SunSun 402B, and it only cost me $65. Thanks everyone for the warm welcome, sure is hard to find a aquatic forum without people always telling you what to do with your tank, the equipment, or trying to act "a bully" with their vacuous comments.

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

[attachment=65536:name]

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

Dangit forgot to put the text lol, why can't we edit our posts?!?!

Here's some new pictures of the tank, got the tank filled today, all of the equipment is up, and running!!!!

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

Just read through the whole thread for editing, guess I'll have to come up with $25 per year just so I can edit my post lol.

 

[Dr.DiSilicate]

Just read through the whole thread for editing, guess I'll have to come up with $25 per year just so I can edit my post lol.

Or go to 2 meetings.

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

So a couple of days ago I picked up a 6 gallon Fluval Edge tank only for $20, I figure it was a steal since I have everything from my old Edge I sold a couple of years ago lol. All it needs is a decent lighting fixture, I'm leaning towards the Evo 9x1w LED fixture for it. I ordered 10lbs of Premium Caribbean Live Rock for the Edge, and my order of salt, hydrometer, and a fish acclimate system should be here today!!!!

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

Finally got the tank water salinity close to 1.024, PH is steady at 8.3!!! Oh, a week ago I ordered a 48" Blue LED flexible strip off evilbay, and today I decided to "install" it in a 48" pvc pipe with some loctite superglue, just waiting for the superglue to dry. The reason I went with the LED flex strip was to improve the "moon light" combined with my 48" T5HO moon light LED's the tank looks amazing after all of the main lighting turns off, and now I can start on my 6 gallon nano tank, but I need to pick up some more salt lol.

Than next month I can start on the actual live rock for my 45 gallon tank, but for my nano tank I'm just waiting for the 10lbs of Premium Caribbean Live Rock order to arrive next week. I'm so excited to be getting back into saltwater again, it's been around 7 years since I've done saltwater...

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

Well I'm back lol, not that I left to begin with. Tank is looking good so far, quite a few artificial coral pieces, a couple silicone fake anemones, and today I got order of 6 fake Red Mushroom pieces, and a Blue Mushroom piece. Diatoms creeped into the tank quite fast, and I'm just now starting to see it disappear from the sand, and the live rocks. I stopped by Petco JUST to look at their saltwater fish to get some ideas on what to stock my tank with, they had this adorable baby Snow Clownfish, I wanted to get him so bad but I stopped myself from purchasing him because I know better than to get fish from major pet retailers.

I always, and I mean always get my fish either from private sells, or I go to Todd's Tropical Fish where I'll only deal with Sam (because Sam is the shiznit) (he knows me as crippled Mike lmao). Don't worry I gave myself the nickname because I have multiple sclerosis, and get disability, lol it's better than my nickname before that because he used to know me as Petsmart Mike because I used to work at one :\

Anyway, back to the tank!!!!

So I'm thinking a couple more artificial coral pieces for the tank than I can get started on stocking it!!! I'll get some new pictures of the tank tomorrow!!!

 

[Andrew_bram]

Look forward to pics.

 

[ĸiŅğ of &#3]

New pictures as promised!!!!

[attachment=65907:name]