Matt's 55 Gallon Build

[Harry_Y]

That looks like PetCo rock, have you checked out liveaquaria.com

They have a special on Select Fiji Premium rock right now.

The price is pretty good,

I have about 65 lbs of it , and it has little feather-dusters, peanut worms, clams, etc. all through it

[Fat Tony]

now that you already have a couple pieces of LR, i would just get some Marco base Rock and seed it with the curret LR...

[Loverotties]

It's looking good.I'd raise the lights and get ride of your glass top.

[mluna785]

Well last night I put on the legs for the lights and they are about 5 inches above the top of the aquarium and I opened the glass lids as well as took off the back plastic strips. The reason I have the glass tops is because my dog's hair gets EVERYWHERE and I don't want it in my new tank. Another reason is I will be getting 2 or 3 more Firefish once I get the tank done as well as add the two from my other tank.

[mluna785]

Okay, so tonight all I got accomplished was fixing the blue LED cord for the lighting. It's working fine. Tomorrow I am going to finish filling the tank and get the salinity level right. Then I will probably be out of money so I will have to wait awhile before I get any more LR or a substrate on the bottom.

[mluna785]

Quick question: Will it affect the water chemistry at all if I add the substrate after there is LR and fish in the tank?

[mmn_usn]

I had that exact light when I was in Guam... it was a nice setup.
Also.. I grew up in KS. Scott City to be exact. I also went to college in Lindsborg... Glad to see reefers in my home state

[mluna785]

Originally Posted by mmn_usn

Also.. I grew up in KS. Scott City to be exact. I also went to college in Lindsborg... Glad to see reefers in my home state

Really? That's cool.

[Bloke]

No Matt, adding substrate later wont be a problem, but do calculate that adding substrate will displace some of your water. As you add the substrate, your water level will rise as it will when adding more rock.

[mluna785]

Yeah. I knew that. I wasn't thinking with my first tank and I had to take out some water when I added the LR.

[gfxslayer]

Originally Posted by mluna785

Well everything bad seems to be happening on this build. I left to go to the LFS tonight and when I got back I tried to plug in my new lighting and found out that the cord for the blue LED's had become a toy for my dog who chewed the end up. So, I have to fix that now and then I need to get more salt and water. Hopefully the tank will be full tomorrow and the lights will all be working. Here is the tank so far with my new lighting.

Looks great !
Love the lighting




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Saltwater Fish Aquarium Guide

[mluna785]

Originally Posted by gfxslayer

Looks great !
Love the lighting

Thanks. I really like my new lights. They're so bright at night.

[mluna785]

So tonight I went to the LFS and picked up some more salt to finish filling the tank and I also got a Marineland Penguin 350 Bio-Wheel Power Filter. I am planning on ordering some more Fiji LR within the next week or so, so that I can start aquascaping while the bottom is still bare. I'll post some pictures in a little bit.

[mluna785]

Well I added some more salt and filled the tank up but the salinity is still a tad bit off so I'll need to fix that tomorrow. Everything else seems to be going all right I guess. Right now I am talking to a guy that is wanting to sell 60 pounds of Fiji LR with coralline algae all over it along with a bangaii cardinal fish, a yellow tang, and a couple of other fish. So, I might have my LR pretty soon and at a better price than I thought. So now I guess it's just wait for the tank to cycle so I can stock it. *Sigh* Here are some new pics.

[mluna785]

Well I put the Prizm skimmer from my other tank on this one as well as put on the power filter. I checked the water parameters tonight and ammonia still hasn't gone up yet. Jeez this takes forever.