[zacharts]

So I am re-entering the hobby after a brief sabbatical, I purchased a 26 gallon bowfront tank on a whim, as I have always admired bow front tanks & I am limited on space right now. I have quite a few years of fish keeping under my belt, so I feel confident in my planning, and excited to get started... I mean wait a month or two to get started.

I am using a sand bed, of CaribSea Ocean Direct Caribbean Live Sand & CaribSea Aragamax, at about 2.5-3" deep. I also will be using quite a bit of liverock, as I am a fan of huge rock walls in forward facing tanks, and I have quite a plethora of it at my disposal.

I have ordered a Tunze 9002 nano skimmer, of which I have heard only good things about, As well as a Kessil a150w Ocean Blue lighting setup with the gooseneck attachment - I hear these Kessils are doing quite well in the hobby. I have done my homework & extensively planned this out, and waited for the prices of LED's to come down a bit before getting back into the hobby, as lets face it, halides are just too expensive.

Also, I am planning on using a HOB refugium of my own design. I have some experience in building with cell cast acrylic, and I figured it is time to build my own stuff for a fraction of the price, rather than buying. The design will be fed by a maxi-jet, and will hold the skimmer, rubble rock, caulpera, chaeto, and possibly a heater, as I would like to minimize the presence of equipment in tank. Though the heater may have to be installed under & behind the rock work.

I may end up buying a tunze wave controller setup, and the controllable pumps, though I am not sure yet of the water movement aspect of the build. I have researched quite a few options, though I haven't seen anything reliable, nor worthy of my hard earned dollars.

Live-stock is still in question, and I wont really think about it until I get closer to the time of being able to add living things, though I will be using one large Black Molly, of which I am in the process of converting to saltwater, to start the cycle of the tank. (Mollies are a brackish fish) This should be ok, since the tank has been running for a week or so now. Also may add one(1) shrimp from the grocery store, to help out with establishing a good bio-load

Here is my progress thus far. Tank unboxed, rock work complete (for now), filled with water @ 1.024 sg. Maxi-jet 600 in the corner for temporary water movement solution during the 8 week setup period. I have another thread about my newly modded RedSea Prizm skimmer, which is currently hanging off the side of the tank HERE ,which is currently just running to see how well it is doing now after the mod, but will be replaced by the tunze in about a week, give or take. I also have a Current USA Nano PC fixture placed on cedar shims, above the tank. This is just a temporary lighting solution, and mainly an aesthetic. I know it should be blacked out, but I like to cheat a little and actually see what I am working on.

So, there is where I am at so far. Hope you all enjoy this build.

 

[zacharts]

Kessil LED Light Pendant Gooseneck

My Kessil LED Light Pendant Gooseneck came in, seems to be really nice and sturdy construction. Great minimalistic design from the logo, to the packaging, to the hardware itself. Metal surfaces are coated very well and uses high grade plastic screws for clamping to the tank rim. Can be applied to Rimmed or Rimless, Glass or Acrylic. Even comes with Zip-ties to secure the cords when you install the light, itself.

 

[dstacy9]

looks pretty sweet, the rock wall came out looking nice with still some places in and out of it. curious to see how your water flow works out.

 

[zacharts]

Thanks,

I am currently looking at the Tunze, Vortech, and some other brands. Was looking at the Koralia, but I hear they have lots of issues with reverse spool up. Though, I came across another brand (Jebao) that appear remarkably like a tunze knock off... and it is China made. There is a huge thread on RC about it, I will report my findings.

 

[LauraL]

That looks like a lot of rock for a 26. Hope it works out well!

 

[zacharts]

That looks like a lot of rock for a 26. Hope it works out well!

If you think thats a lot, dig thru my past posts and find my 125 gal. reef...

I have 500+lbs of rock, figured I would use some of it.

Also having a lot of biological filtration, is a good thing.

 

[dstacy9]

Yeah my koralias sporadically reverse. Haven't in a couple of months knock on wood

 

[zacharts]

Kessil & Tunze came in.

My kessil LED and my Tunze came in today, both amazon orders arrived intact & packaged nicely. The Tunze, which I ordered from "inTank" on amazon even had Swedish Fish in the box and a return business coupon, and I thought that was a nice touch! Marinedepot on Amazon sent me a bunch of packing peanuts and a catalog...

 

[zacharts]

I forgot to post that I picked one of these up for $5 off of amazon. I know, I know... they are not that accurate out of the box. But they are really easy to calibrate, I have a large scientific thermometer and used that to do so.

 

[zacharts]

Some may say inhumane, but this molly seems to be enjoying the tank & does not seem to mind pitching in and helping with this reef tank cycle. She eats a lot, and excretes equally as much. Also, it is interesting to see a "freshwater" fish take on saltwater characteristics when acclimated to saltwater.