My 29g Work-In-Progress

[ellebelle]

So, I've met a bunch of you at various MR activities (drinks at Cedar, Tank Girl's party, and most recently at the Fall Frag Swap - which was so much fun, btw) and everyone keeps telling me I should start a tank thread. And thus, though I have no fish and no invertebrates and my only two coral frags are currently being housed in digitalreefer's tank, I thought I would oblige.

Everyone here at MR has been really invaluable as far as advice and help with various things for my set up. I think the only things I didn't get from an MR member are the actual tanks, a couple of test kits, and my RO/DI. So a huge thanks to all of you.

Here is the bare bones of my set up:

- Tank is 29g w/ 10g sump
- custom built hood and stand (courtesy digitalreefer and drilling courtesy bad_coffee - thanks guys! )
- AquaC EV 120 skimmer
- PC lighting - 65W 10K and 65W actinic (not planning on any SPS corals) and I may upgrade eventually to 2 50/50 bulbs.
- 32lbs live rock (hand picked, thanks Sean!)

So far the hood has been built. it has been stained since this photo was taken.

Eric (digitalreefer) in a rare industrious moment. (I was urged to include "action shots" by some members at Leslie's party)

I'm still trying to convince Claudius that fish are friends, not food!! (Don't worry, I'll thoroughly clean the tank before I put any water.)


I'm hoping to get the tank cycling as soon as my RO/DI shows up in the mail. And I'm also looking forward to my extra pure drinking water.

More pics as works continues.

 

[jhale]

liisa you can upload or attach the pics fromyour desk top to our server.

to attach go to the "go advanced" option and click the paperclip icon, pic the photos you want to upload then click the same icon again to attach them.

to place the pics on our server go to the photo gallery link and then click upload, choose your photos, select the place in members folder option then upload. go to your folder and then use the BB links to place in your threads. call me if that does not make sense

 

[ellebelle]

It makes perfect sense. I am apparently still learning the ways and means of bulletin board technology. Thanks Jon.

 

[deelucky]

nice start. i have a 29gal also no fancy hood or stand but i love it.keep up the good work.

 

[digitalreefer]

Wow! That canopy looks amazing! They guy who built that must be very talented!

 

[ezee]

Eric,

Wow! That canopy looks amazing! They guy who built that must be very talented!

lol

E

 

[ezee]

Lissa,

Excellent! Glad to see that you are getting off the right start.

E

 

[PalmTree]

Lisa.. you are starting off on the right foot. The tank looks great with Eric's canopy on it. Can't wait to see more!

 

[LeslieS]

Claudius is cute! There should be a thread titled "show us your cat inside your empy tank" LOL

 

[bad coffee]

Looking good so far.

How about some updated pics! when I was there the top was stained! in the *hot* action shot with eric, it's not done yet!

And here you go leslie! (does the cat look familiar?)

 

[ellebelle]

Updates!

Okay, a few updated photographs of the tank setup... still no fish, but I don't feel too bad about how long it's taken. I'll still probably have fish/coral in my tank before Brett.

Here is the current tank setup - we're staining and plumbing and putting a door on this baby this week/end.

Brett made this helpful label for me when he drilled the tank. Clearly, he can't spell for sht. (Also, Claudius has ignored this helpful advice.)

Catfish?
(This one is for you, Leslie!)

 

[digitalreefer]

Gotta plumb and seal... live rocks in this weekend! We hope... Although I don't think the catfish will get along with the other inhabitants.

 

[ellebelle]

New Update!

My tank is finally up and actually running!

Here is a (admittedly poor) shot of the plumbing that I stitched together from two photos.

Testing the returns - the tank finally has water!

Here's my original rockwork with 32 lbs of liverock from Aquatic Creations. I picked this up at the frag swap and it has been happily curing in Eric's frag tank for just under a month now.

I decided that I wanted just a little more rock forthe top lefthand corner, so I picked up one more piece at H20 today. Also, you can see that the water has cleared up considerably from yesterday when the previous photo was taken.

I have a ton of hitchhikers on my rock. One of my rocks has a bunch of fan worms on it, and one has some tiny zoanthids (I think). Eric had to put two of my piece of liverock into Gordon's tank because there was no more room in his QT. I grabbed the rock out of his tank so quickly, I didn't notice this little hitchhiker. Oh well, mine now. (PS: Gordon is looking less and less friendly by the day.) I also have a bunch of brittle microstars from Eric's tank.

It's like he knows what's going to go in there. Kitty TV, coming soon to an aquarium near you.

 

[fritz]

Lookin good and I like the rock work. What kind of lights are on it?

 

[digitalreefer]

It'll be a full blown reef in no time! (No really... she's been stockpiling corals and holding them in my tank)

Surprisingly... my pluming doesn't leak! Will wonders never cease...

 

[ellebelle]

Thanks! I have 65W actinic and 65W 10K PCs.

 

[LeslieS]

elly belly,

my bw cat does the same thing. he is obesessed with the tank and runs from one side to the other so that he doesn't miss anything!!!

 

[ezee]

Lissa and Eric,

Veerrry nice!

I really lke the "fsh go n here" sgn! lol

E

 

[Pedro]

On the plumbing, why no unions from the bulkheads on down?

Otherwise, it looks good. I can only imagine how the cat will react when the fish are in, lol.

 

[Nsr250NYC]

is the drain loud? i would put an external durso after the bulkhead