My 10g Reef

I have just ordered my items for my tank. I might have over done the water movment but I wanted a lot because I am planning on a BB tank however I'm fairly certain i will have some sand as a shallow bed.

I have a 10g glass tank.

Just ordered:
12 lbs of Dry Reef Rock
This LED Light Fixture.
I ordered two powerheads
Then I found this awesome filter. It lets me use whatever media I want in media bags... it's essentially a HOB canister filter. That filter apparently has a skimmer attachment but I didn't order it yet or know if I will.

It will take up to two weeks to get everything in the mail. I think I covered most of it, if not everything. Then I will start getting some pics up here. As of right now, the plan is to get in the rock and scape it until I find what I want. Then fill the tank with water and go buy 3 lbs of liverock and live sand and seed tank. Wait 2 - 4 months and start getting livestock. Probably run it as a FOWLR tank for the first month or two after that. Then I will add a coral or two. I am going to take this probably too slow for some but I want to take my time and enjoy the tank.

Before I set up everything though I will also need to build a stand for my tank. Let's see how this goes as well. I have a $50 gift card for Lowe's so that should help with parts for stand other than wood. I think I have enough wood in my garage to build a nice stand. So here starts the trek.

 

Excited to see how it goes!

 

I'm excited. I have to say 10 gal tanks and 2.5's are my favorites. Can't wait to see it in action.

 

Cool! I went ahead and got the surface skimmer attachment today I figured it's only another 12 bucks with shipping

 

I painted the back tonight. I was bored and stuck at home. Found a bottle of black acrylic paint and a small brush. Took three coats but it looks nice now. I know I could have spray painted it but then I needed to go outside and tape it all off... and actually have spray paint... . Also its dark and really cold outside.

Anyway should be some pics here if I did theirs right. Wife lost our digital camera and I'm straight loading this with tapatalk. Oh, our dog was so obsessed with what was doing he wanted to check it out I stuck him in the tank a sec and snapped a pic he seemed happy in his fortress lol.

I still have a while so I will clean the inside again closer to setup.

 

Looks like you are off to a good start. Are you getting a heater? I've never heard of the filter before, let us know how you like it. I like AquaClear HOB filters myself and you can accomplish the same thing with it. What is the surface skimmer you got?

 

I'm not sure I need it but I figured it might be useful. It skims the surface of the water kind of like an overflow. Essentially it's like a tiny overflow feeding the filter. It couldn't possibly be the worse 12 bucks I ever spent... lol. It is this: TOM Aquarium Surface Skimmer

Also about the heater. I have a few but they are too large. I might just pick one up from the LFS or try to rig one of them up as long as it isn't an complete eye sore. Pretty much all the gear I have is from a 55g fresh water tank. I will probably pick up a decent small one.

 

Yay! My light came in and I was super excited and then it hit me. They sent me the wrong one. I ended up with the lower powered freshwater version of my lights that I wanted. I called the vendor and they apologized and are supposed to send me a return label to ship them back. Oh well. Nothing ever goes perfect. Least the lady on the phone seemed nice. Now just have to wait on my label and then ship this back and wait longer. It isn't too bad I still need to cycle and get everything else in the mail so I'm not in a huge hurry but still slightly bummed.

 

Love the Atlantic Chahuafish, but isn't that tank going to be a little small for him?

 

LOL yeah, but he liked it the short time he was in there.

Well 3 hours after the conversation on the phone with the lady I was reading the web site for aquatraders.com the site says that I have to email them and get an RMA number on the site then... it says I'm responsible for the shipping. Well, if that is the case I really won't be buying anything else from them because this really wouldn't be my fault. Let's see how this pans out over the next few days.

They push too far I am liable to tell them to just refund me the difference and I'll just do a 10g planted tank or something with a betta fish in it... I have 3 tanks laying around so it isn't like I would never get my reef up. It would just be another side project but I got such a decent deal on this fixture I don't want it soiled by having to pay more in the long run.