The home straight: Anyone interested in my first aquarium

[xfactor]

So I have been lurking around this forum trying to get my aquarium off the ground, for about 6 months now. In the next few weeks I could well even have a fish to show for my troubles. So here's a thread to document my experiences so far, and let you know my progress as things fall into place...

This thread is as much for my own amusement as yours, but I hope you get something from it. None the less, I think I will stick in some titles so you can decide which parts you'd like to read or skip

In The Beggining ... My wife and I had these oversized vases left from our wedding, which we had no idea what to do with, until she saw a local 'Stevens' keeping goldfish in them. She became set on the idea of having fish in vases, so I had a look into it...

... And decided on a THREE FOOT MARINE TANK!!!

[xfactor]

Shopping List

Tank 920L x 350W x 600H with corner overflow (Greg)

Cabinet Custom made from local kitchen maker

Sump*

Skimmer Deltec MC500

Pump Eheim 1206

Lighting Atman MG600 combo

Water movement Tunze Turbelle Nanostream 6025*

Rerfractometer*

Thermometer*

Test Kits*

Rock 15kg

Substrate 6kg coral sand

Salt 10kg makes 300L

I was pretty surprised about how large this list ended up being. There really is a lot to starting off a tank, and there's not a lot of oppertunity to cut corners that you wont regret. I'm a fan of doing things once, doing things right, so I went for trusted brands like Eheim/Tunze. Managed to save a fair bit on tanks with Greg, and the cabinet.

[xfactor]

[davidb]

looking good... where is your return gonna go? you also forgot heater- You'll need 300-400watts. my tank is pretty much the same size as yours... what corals are you looking at keeping? and what fish

[wilson]

yea it looks good good luck with it

[reef]

Using NSW will help speed up the cycle as it will have live bacteria however dont rush to get stock in early as this is where so many hobbyist have problems.

Maybe it would be best to get a big bin now and add dry rock and fill with saltwater and add a small airpump.

This way you can just let the rocks cycle and work on getting your main tank setup and gives you aa chance to woke on the tank without having water going all over the place.

After say six weeks move the rock in the bin to your maintank and afetr about another 2 weeks you should be ready for some stock.

[xfactor]

looking good... where is your return gonna go? you also forgot heater- You'll need 300-400watts. my tank is pretty much the same size as yours... what corals are you looking at keeping? and what fish

Sorry that pic is decieving with the pipe going off to nowhere. There are two bulkheads in the overflow, so that pipe coming out the overflow is the return line, it just needs to be cut off at a better length.

I am hoping to keep 2 percs, 1 firefish, 1 yellow tang, 1 blue tang, 1 royal gramma, and 1+ yellow tail damsels. I'm pretty much going to try go through that list in order until bioload won't allow more. I'm not so fussed about corals to tell the truth, I am told soft corals will have neglegeable bioload. I'm pretty much just going to pick up corals as I see ones I like.

[reef]

Firefish will not do well with tangs as they are very shy fish.