Chris's 29g First SW tank

[ChristianJock07]

Greetings All,

I am starting a new thread to follow along with my new 29g SW setup. I have a couple of years experience with FW tanks, but this will be my first SW tank.

After researching for the past 2 months I feel fairly confident in knowing the basics and have made friends who have helped me along.

My plans for this tank include having a mated pair of clowns, lawnmower blenny and/or a royal gramma depending on if I stay with the mated clowns or just choose one. I will also have my cleaning crew and plans for Zoo's, Leathers and Mushroom's.

This thread will be dedicated to this newbie's projects.


Thank you for looking.

Chris

[ChristianJock07]

I was lucky to score a very nice 29g Tank and Stand from Dan at Dan's Fish Co. that was taking up space and he wanted out of the store. Thank you Dan for this tank!

There is nothing wrong with the stand that Dan gave me other than it being black. My wife didn't like the idea of a black stand so I chose to make my own stand, but I ran into a problem! I had no tools after having to leave my tools behind in Wisconsin. So off to HD I went and purchased all the tools I needed! My DIY Stand went from a cheap project to an expensive one. But I did score some new tools and wife didn't complain because I actually got off my rump and started getting motivated to do things again.

My stand isn't anything complicated, I came up with the plans in my head while at work one day and proceeded from there.

However, I ran into 2 problems while building the stand. My first problem consisted of the paneling I chose. Originally I was going to have 1/8" Oak plywood as the paneling, but after putting it on it looked awful. So I changed my plans to 1x4's, 1x6's and 1x8's Whitewood. I feel the stand came out pretty good for my first attempt.

Another problem that developed was in the finishing stages. I added an extra 1" depth the to stand to accommadate the 29g, but failed to add an extra 1" to the width. Once I had my trim on the tank wouldn't fit. So back to HD for more plywood. I elected to go with 1/2" finished grade oak plywood for the top. This time I added the extra 1" to the length and it turned out great.

For the finish I used American Cherry stain and a satin clearcoat. I only put on 1 coat of stain because I really liked how the color captured the grain of the wood, 3 coats of clearcoat.

Here is my stand.

This is the frame of my stand with the top part of the frame still not connected. I waited until I took the frame into where the tank would be and made sure I had the top leveled when I screwed it in.



Here is the bottom of the frame. I added extra support between the legs.




Here is the completed stand before I redid the length on the top




So here is start to my first SW tank! Stand is done!

[ChristianJock07]

So I have my stand completed after adjustments. I had purchased my LR and LS, had my PH ready and an Emperor 280 power filter ready to use until I get my skimmer.

So what is next? Time to cycle!


My wife had been complaining for the past week to do something with the LR that was sitting in a tub in the middle of our foyer. So I moved it into the kitchen.

Seriously though, I feel I'm ready to embark on my new addiction and at least get my cycle started even though I haven't purchased all my equipment yet. I'm still debating on my lighting and skimmer.


I had about 12g of water made up already which was in my LR tub with heater and PH on it and was told to make sure I used this water when I'm ready to get my tank going. So I just got 15g more water and set my tank up.

At first, I thought I had way to much rock for the tank cause it looked like a ton in the tub, but after getting my landscaping done in the tank it looks rather empty.


But the landscaping turned out fantastic for me. I have ton of nooks and hiding spots including 2 small caves that's visible and 1 cave that is hidden. I filled my tank about 1/4 the way up and put my rock in, it took me a while to figure out how I wanted it, but the end results were great. None of the rock has a chance to fall because alot of the pieces fit together so snuggly it amazed me. I put my 2 biggest pieces on the bottom and both pieces are only touching the tank in about 4 spots each. It's like each rock is up on a pedestal and very stable.

After getting my rockwork in I then started adding my LS. The first bag I just dumped right in front of all the rock and got an even spread. Then my 2nd bag I used a new plastic cup I purchased to put the sand around the rockwork. It took a while and there is a couple of shallow spots behind the rock, but I got most of the cave floors filled up and around most of the rock.

How do you like my landscaping?

This is a picture from the left side of my tank. The tall rock on the left looks kinda unstable and appeers to be leaning against the tank, but it is not. It's the most stable rock I have in my tank. There is a nice little U shape from the red part of the rock to the tall base. A few little holes along the front of the rock will be great hiding spots for the fish and corals.




Here is the center of my tank. Notice the volcano looking rock, it has shells all over the sides! The rock directly to the right of it wrapped completing around the back of it and sat perfect on the rock to the right of it. There is a good 3" cave under this rock and it's as stable as it can be.





Here is the right side of the tank. The rock on the further right is my favorite piece. It is supported by 4 "legs" which keeps it up off the bottom by about 1". The legs are the natural shape of the rock and offered an extremely stable base. I piled the sand up around the rock but know my sandsifters will love this area as a playground. This rock also has a couple of tunnel which go completely through it. The rock to the left and on top of the base has beautiful colors of green and red throughout and and also offered me the chance to built up another 2" cave underneath. A very stable piece that won't move...




Here is the final tank picture I have after the tank running for 24 hours and the cloudiness clearing up. I feel I've done a good job for my first SW tank and landscaping.







Thank you for looking! I will keep folks posted on how my cycle goes.


Chris

[ChristianJock07]

I did a full test and here are my parameters so far.

Temp 77-78
PH 8.4
Alk 2.4 - I was in the normal range and halfway in between so I estimated
Ammonia <.025
Nitrite .05
Nitrate 2.5

I tested my ammonia shortly after setup and it was around .075, yet less than 24 hours later it's down to under .025. I believe my cycle is going good, I will test ammonia again tomorrow and wait a couple of days on Nitrites and Nitrates depending on my Ammonia levels.

I will need help and suggestions to understand these readings more because my test kit didn't come with a "normal/good" range chart. Any help is appreciated.


Thank you,
Chris

[raycityboy1]

how are things commin?

[ChristianJock07]

Things are coming along great RayCity. I hadn't really done anything else other than add some livestock and a few softer corals these past couple of days. As for livestock I have a 3" False Perc, 1 small Green Chromis, 2 emerald crabs and a sand sifter star. Also, I have numerous blue-leg/zebra hermits and Nessie/Cerith snails.

My parameters have been holding steady with PH staying around 8.3, Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates all steady at 0. My alkalinity is in the good range according to my chart, but I wish I had a more accurate way to test other than Saliferts and Red Sea test kits.

I picked up some Zoo's, Ricordia and Mushrooms from Brian on Saturday night and they see to all be doing well also. All the polyps are staying open and really love the orange Zoo's.

I've already started my planning on a 75g having picked up my tank earlier tonight and my skimmer is on it's way via USPS. I'm going with a 20L sump and picked up a Mag 9.5 pump from Mike MPHarley for my return pump. Now I'm in the stages of trying to figure out my lighting. I know I WANT to go Hallides, but the wife is really ..... ummm REALLY set against me spending any more money on this so called "fish" hobby right now, so I may go with a cheaper set up T5 HO's for the first few months then upgrade to Hallides later.


But this is pretty much all there is to update, sorry I missed your post almost a month ago. I hardly ever look at the members tanks section. Which I should be doing!


Take care!

chris