Swagger87's New 55 Gallon

As some of you know, I have been trying to gather supplies for my new 55 gallon. I have successfully gotten my overflow started with help from my Wonderfully creative boyfriend
*Koff-hadtosaythatbecausehe'sreadingovermyshoulder-Koff*:
(He used a plug from his piggy bank to plug up one end of the u-tube and filled up the tube, covered the other other end with hid hand and put it in the overflow and pulled out the plug. Started 'er right up)
Anyways....I just ordered a Koralia1 and a Koralia2 online for $52.17 (with shipping) and I'm going to grab another K2 from my LFS with my nifty $10 off punch card (yippee!!!!).
My sump is hooked up and running smoothly. I still need a lot more LR and I have my pretty white sand I got from a guy who didn't know what it was for. ( I :sweethear Flea markets...)
I need to fix up my lights as when I reached into the tank I got a wee bit of a...surprise....bzzzzzt!
I also need to fix a leaky connection in my skimmer. Oh yeah, I finally got a new pump for it, Thank you Jason Mackenzie for the advise.
Pics soon to come!!! (Have no fears Luna)

 

Good news Swagger

sounds like your going to have some fun soon enough.
dont forget - when you start the build thread, do it in the show off your fish tank section


Steve

 

uk.....we LOVE pictures

 

Sorry Steve, shoulda known. Can you move this for me?

Here is my tank so far. (Yes the two heaters in there are temporary) Very humble beginnings but hopefully it will flourish.

 

looking good swagger87

Thread moved for you

Steve

 

Thank you s'much!

 

I got a few more pounds of Live rock today and I was happy to find a few little critters. I saw two 'pods and two limpets. (Possibly something else?)
One limpet is about an inch long and its shell is flatter, slightly rounded and is dark with an iridescent shimmer. The other one has nor of a point to its shell like a tiny cone. This one was so tiny I couldnt get a clear pic if it as it was only about as big as this smiley face

I also found what I think is a sea fan (about 1 inch wide) Im not sure if its alive or dead, but it doesnt really have any color to it so I'm going with dead.

There is also a yellow and flesh colored thing on the rock that is soft. I think it may be a sponge. There is another one that is a darker brownish/pink on the other side of the rock (couldnt get a pic of it)

 

Good start so far. My only concern is about your sand. Is it meant for aquariums or is it a "play" type sand. You should not use silicate based sand as you will encounter a never ending problem with diatoms, it also doesn't work well as a buffer. You need an aragonite based sand or limestone, something made of carbonate. Not sure if it's even a problem, just want you to be aware of that, especially because of where you got it from.

 

Nope, it was actually aragonite live sand that someone had given this guy to sell at the flea market and the guy had no clue what live aragonite was. All he knew was it had fish printed on the front. (Yes it came in the bags and both were closed and intact)
There's actually two types of sand in there, one with a small grain and he other with a finer grain.
Thanks for the concern though. always nice to have some one watching your back.

 

Ok, now I've made my egg crate top for my tank (Thank you Triplemom for the correct name, and Thank you ReefSparky for your little egg crate/egg crate Live rock/ Live Rock tutorialhttp://www.3reef.com/forums/tropical-fish/1-fish-2-fish-red-fish-blue-fish-71606-2.html)

Hopefully this will help keep those potentially air born fish in the tank. :
I put some inside the overflow to help keep fish and inverts out as well. (That is, when I get them)