Hella_Reef
Active Member
Hello, this will be my first build thread. Now I'm no expert, I've been in this hobby for a little over 2 years, and well let's just say the first year was definitely filled with beginner mistakes.
Hmmmm. So where do I begin, do I skip to where I'm at today or do I backpedal like Dieon Sanders and give ya a look in the past at my journey to this 180 gallon system. Now I don't have very many pictures so it won't be too far back in the past but it's better than nothing.
This was my first dip into saltwater, 100 gallon glass aquarium with a HOB overflow box to a sump. This last about 6 months before I realized the purpose of water changes was to keep everything ammonia free and alive. I did zero testing and no dosing.
The first coral I ever bought from the LFS #RIP
I shortly upgraded to a AIO 100 gallon acrylic system which quickly turned into a Fowlr tank, because I still lacked the knowledge of researching what it took to keep corals alive. Eventually after a battle with marine velvet from not QT a cow fish I tore the tank down. Angry I had given up on the hobby.
Then one day I had an itch, approximately 2 months later (1 year ago roughly) I went to the LFS and bought a used biocube 29. This is the only picture I have of it in my phone, but I finally learned the basics. I did my research, lost some corals but kept most! I gained confidence in that I can achieve what I so hardly had been wanting, a coral reef tank. All it took was building a consistent schedule of maintenance, testing, water changes, and the big one PATIENCE. So after 4 months and a fully stocked biocube (not pictured) I hsearched Craigslist and found the deal of a century.
I went out and bought a Red Sea 350. That is when I started my new journey into sps. Learned the basics of dosing, discovered how lps hated the high flow sps so called desires. But I didn't care I sold most my lps and made room for sps. But something was missing for me. I wanted a BIG show tank. The 350 is a beautiful tank but it wasn't enough.
So I found another splendid Craigslist deal and ended up buying a rimless (euro braced) 48x30x30
It sat in my garage for months but finally made the move 3 weeks ago into the house and had been wet for 2weeks
So after loading in a little over 200lbs of dry rock I Stacked it all up and ended up with this.
Now to seed the tank I have used frozen food, skim mate from the Red Sea, and flake food. First signs of diatoms started 2 days ago and this is what I have today
I plan on going barebottom and eventually will get to sucking out the rock rubble on the bottom of the tank.
I would put more info up about my tank and plans, but it's past my bedtime [emoji41]
Cheers,
Arie
Hmmmm. So where do I begin, do I skip to where I'm at today or do I backpedal like Dieon Sanders and give ya a look in the past at my journey to this 180 gallon system. Now I don't have very many pictures so it won't be too far back in the past but it's better than nothing.
This was my first dip into saltwater, 100 gallon glass aquarium with a HOB overflow box to a sump. This last about 6 months before I realized the purpose of water changes was to keep everything ammonia free and alive. I did zero testing and no dosing.
The first coral I ever bought from the LFS #RIP
I shortly upgraded to a AIO 100 gallon acrylic system which quickly turned into a Fowlr tank, because I still lacked the knowledge of researching what it took to keep corals alive. Eventually after a battle with marine velvet from not QT a cow fish I tore the tank down. Angry I had given up on the hobby.
Then one day I had an itch, approximately 2 months later (1 year ago roughly) I went to the LFS and bought a used biocube 29. This is the only picture I have of it in my phone, but I finally learned the basics. I did my research, lost some corals but kept most! I gained confidence in that I can achieve what I so hardly had been wanting, a coral reef tank. All it took was building a consistent schedule of maintenance, testing, water changes, and the big one PATIENCE. So after 4 months and a fully stocked biocube (not pictured) I hsearched Craigslist and found the deal of a century.
I went out and bought a Red Sea 350. That is when I started my new journey into sps. Learned the basics of dosing, discovered how lps hated the high flow sps so called desires. But I didn't care I sold most my lps and made room for sps. But something was missing for me. I wanted a BIG show tank. The 350 is a beautiful tank but it wasn't enough.
So I found another splendid Craigslist deal and ended up buying a rimless (euro braced) 48x30x30
It sat in my garage for months but finally made the move 3 weeks ago into the house and had been wet for 2weeks
So after loading in a little over 200lbs of dry rock I Stacked it all up and ended up with this.
Now to seed the tank I have used frozen food, skim mate from the Red Sea, and flake food. First signs of diatoms started 2 days ago and this is what I have today
I plan on going barebottom and eventually will get to sucking out the rock rubble on the bottom of the tank.
I would put more info up about my tank and plans, but it's past my bedtime [emoji41]
Cheers,
Arie
