Reef System in Progess

lizarddoctor · 02-05-2007, 01:33 AM

I finally got a small page built on my website to showcase the development of the saltwater reef system that I am putting into my home.

http://www.saigonesl.com/FishTank/tankdocs1.htm

Hopefully when it really gets off the ground, it may be useful visually for someone with new setup ideas. Nothing in the tank as of this post as I had to re-order a new tank since the one pictured showed off a large scar right up the front pane of the glass when we got it up on the stand.

Ares24 · 02-05-2007, 01:41 AM

that is going to look sweet!!!!!!!!!!
i hate you

lol

gm333 · 02-05-2007, 08:01 PM

Very nice, any reason you decided to go with coral substrate instead of sand?

lizarddoctor · 02-06-2007, 12:16 AM

Not really any reason for the coral substrate for the base of the tank other than that is what they had in the tank at the store that is building the system for me and their system looks pretty sharp. Come to think of it, I have yet to see a salt water tank here that uses sand at all. All of the fresh water stores use sand in their tanks for sure though.

Is there any word of caution running with the coral substrate or does it actually enhance the environment other than the visual?

gm333 · 02-06-2007, 12:51 AM

No, lots of people love the crushed coral substrate, once the tank has established keep an eye on the nitrate levels if they keep getting higher than they should between waterchanges the substrate could be causing the problem. I have not ran a salt system with crushed coral except in my refugium/sump and never had any problems. Still I have read a lot that have said the crushed coral base can become a nitrate factory.

lizarddoctor · 02-09-2007, 01:46 AM

Well, the set-up process is nearly complete. It took a complete day to get the filtration, live rock, and water. At 9pm last night, I was a little suprised to see a water truck pull into my house and start pumpimg away. It is just how they do things here. Finally there is some action in the tank

. Tonight will be a few additions and we will fine tune the tank to make sure that everything is running smoothly. I got up at 6am today and was amazed at how it looked when I came downstairs with some fresh eyes

.

BTW... I am not in any of the pictures since I am hosting it on my own website and want a regular life out in the community. That is a whole different story for another day though.

http://www.saigonesl.com/FishTank/tankdocs2.htm

Ares24 · 02-09-2007, 03:48 AM

like i stated above.... i envy you lol.
cant wait to see the finishes product!

lizarddoctor · 02-09-2007, 05:52 AM

lol, just hope that it may inspire you to build the tank that you want in the future. The process I am going through over here is also a first for myself and I am glad that someone is watching the tank when I am in class (the live rock that I have loosely named "Ol' Grandpa" at the moment due to it's cartoonish face and wide open 'eye'). Once I am done and put a complete price list on the completed project, then you can let some envy flow

. Lol, just kidding of course. I'm glad that you are enjoying my project as much as I am.

Radom · 02-09-2007, 07:08 AM

Sure looks nice

Aquascaping done nicely and I really like your sump/chiller configuration.

lizarddoctor · 02-10-2007, 10:41 AM

Thanks, the scaping really took life once we noticed that the one rock actually looked like a cartoonish face. I requested the shelving and actually sent some back to the store since they brought over a lot for me to choose from. I did put it all in there at one point, but I thought that it was too busy and a bit of an overkill. Having some open space on the top will come in handy if I run across anything else in the future that I just can't live without.

The filtration system underneath is a standard set up here. Each section has a small gap in the base leading to a small break between troughs where the water flows to the top and back through the next. My protien skimmer has been virtually non existant so far since the substrate and cotton filters are cleaning out the water pretty well on their own. The AC is pumping quite a bit of water into the right hand top of the tank and is creating a nice circulating current. They wanted to put some fish in next tuesday (lol, the water has only been cycling for 2 days so far), but I told them to hold off till I get back from vacation near the end of the month and we will try a few small ones.