Gosling's First Saltwater - 36 Gallon Bowfront

[Gosling]

Hey all!

This is my first excursion into keeping anything saltwater, so I am definitely into suggestions and criticism. Be gentle with me.

I finally decided to just do it, and lugged my 36g Bowfront up from the basement and mixed my first batch of salt water using Instant Ocean.
A lot of my equipment needs to be replaced or modified, but I am on a very tight budget so things will be slow-going just like everything else in this hobby.

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7/15/2017
This is after the initial set up. You can see that I have two HOBs, the aqueon quietflow is being scrapped for parts.

7/18/2017
Dry rock arrived from Marco Rocks. My kitty is not impressed - I however was very pleased.

7/19/2017
I've scrapped the Aqueon HOB and have added a matching AquaClear 70. Heaters an eyesore,
will be hiding in sump when I can. Dry rock added to tank. Still need to cover up the sand color barrier.
Will be easy with my scaping tool, just haven't gotten around to it.

7/21/2017
Live rock added to tank. Not much else is happening at the moment. Starting to get diatoms on the glass.
I'm pretty sure I'm the only one excited about it. The sooner they bloom the sooner they'll leave.

I have more changes and work to do, but this is progress for the past week so far.
I'm getting ready to hunker down for the next few months and adjust equipment while tending to the water. =)

 

[Tuffyyyyy]

Looks pretty cool! What's the thing at the back of the tank in the middle? A powerhead?

 

[Gosling]

Looks pretty cool! What's the thing at the back of the tank in the middle? A powerhead?

Yes, it's a 127g p/h powerhead. I'd like to get two larger ones, but this one works for now.

 

[jp_75]

Very good start! Waiting for more...

 

[Gosling]

Very good start! Waiting for more...

Thank you! I appreciate it.

 

[SeanJ]

What do you plan to have in there after it cycles?

 

[Gosling]

What do you plan to have in there after it cycles?

I'd like to do basically what most beginners start with, which is an ocellaris pair. I'd also like to keep some shrimp as shrimp keeping has been a focal point of my hobby for many years. The tank IMO is too small to do much fish-wise, and I'm not at all experienced with keeping any type of corals. Keeping a species dedicated tank will allow me to play with variables (such as trying out a particular coral) without affecting too much.

 

[Gosling]

7/25/2017
Diatoms getting pretty gross. It'll get worse before it gets better! Water is starting to generally stabilize. You'll also notice two additional powerheads added to the lower portion of the tank to prevent any dead zones.

7/28/2017
Poseidon's Feast and Ocean Magik arrived on the 27th. Copepods are doing their thang and survived overnight.
I'll need to do some adjustments to take better photographs under the blue lights.

 

[Gosling]

8/3/2017
Got some fun stuff today.

Krunk tax