income tax time sry long post

twnship · 01-15-2006, 10:34 PM

Being income tax time i am going to seriously upgrade my tank.

Ok here is the deal on my tank. This could be long so sorry. First its only a year old at the end of this month. When i first started this hobby i had never had a fishtank before and was totally clueless. The tank is a 55 and was given to me from a friend who was moving and didnt want to take it with him. With it came a Tetratec 500 filter and some regular lights. At that point in time i didnt know of any forums to get advise from so i went to the lfs. To those familiar with greenville it was the one on rt 14. I now go to the two best ones in g'ville O.F. and A.O.

Well i went in there and came out with a new stand a bag of cc 40 pounds i think a seaclone protein skimmer and a dual strip light and the rest of the stuff needed to get it going(salt, hydrometer heater and such)

Well its a yr later and this is what i have in my tank. I still have the tetratec 500,seaclone 100 skimmer and i went and bought a penguin 170 bio wheel plus the n.o. lights that equal 90 wtts. Livestock i have a false perc 3 blue green cromis a royal gamma a sebea anemone and some anthellias and a greem mushroom of some sort which was given to me. I also have snails and red leg hermits and just got a cleaner shrimp. I only have about 40 pounds of lr. marshal island figi and tonga.

This is what i want to do and dont have a clue how to. Much less in what order to do it in. I want to get the cc out and put in a dsb. i want to get rid of that noisy tetratec filter get rid of the biowheel and mostly get a better skimmer. I am going to get some t-5's a sls teklite 4x54 for sure and would like to get a sump and fuge going as well. I have a 30 gallon tank that was also given to me i can use for the sump.

So bout the only thing i know i need is a overflow for the sump some sort of pumps to run the thing. I know i need more lr if i want to take off the filters. I need a diffrent skimmer. Cant forget i need the stuff to get a qt tank goin for sure. Some sort of hob fuge and pumps for that. Also my only flow in the tank is from the filters so i would need some power heads for when i take the filters off oh and some type of sand to replace the cc.

Sorry this is so long but its tax time as i said and i want to get this tank up to par. If yall can just give the names of some of the pumps,sand and some of the other stuff i mentioned that has worked well for you i can get this going in the right direction

Thanks to those who reply, Tim

stang5_o2002 · 01-15-2006, 11:23 PM

I cant tell you much about everything else, but I did just change from CC to DSB. My tank wasnt even fully cycled yet when i did it, so I dont know how to tell you to change yours as far as amount and time, but I can suggest a cheap alternative to buying sand at the LFS. I went to walmart and bought Garden Basics Play Sand. It looks great in the tank and has a variety of grain sizes. It also passes the vinegar test, so its ok to use. Just make sure if you do use it you WASH IT. Over and over again a little at a time b4 you put it in the tank. Then, just seed it with a small bag of live sand and over time, the play sand will become "live". But i think you'll be very happy with the DSB over CC especially in the looks department.

twnship · 01-15-2006, 11:26 PM

just got dont chattin with yall and wanted to say thanks

stang5 whats the vinegar test your talkin about

phiberop840 · 01-15-2006, 11:31 PM

CPR makes a great overflow and mag drives do well on the return. Just my input.

Mike

skeety · 01-17-2006, 03:40 PM

I think you nailed it. Better skimmer, and set up a sump. Sounds like a good start to me! Was there more questions? Do you know how you want to do your overflow/sump? Going to get a new tank? or just add a HOB overflow to this one?

As for skimmers, do you have any idea's which one(s) you want to get?
(MRC is my recommendation!! http://myreefcreations.com )

stang5_o2002 · 01-17-2006, 04:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by twnship

just got dont chattin with yall and wanted to say thanks

stang5 whats the vinegar test your talkin about

Take some sand, put in in a cup and add some white vinegar. If the mixture bubbles, and or the sand disolves slowly, then its good sand to use. I learned that on here, but i cant remember what it proves. I think it means the sand isnt synthetic. Mines still looking great by the way with the walmart sand.