I've been wanting to get back into aquariums for a while, and last year for my son's 3rd birthday I got a 28 gal bowfront freshwater aquarium. Of course, every time we would go to an LFS, he would ask me why we couldn't take home a "Nemo Fish", and each time I'd explain that our tank was FW and that the Nemo fish would die.

Well, a buddy of mine from work had a disaster in his reef last year. He had a 50 (ish) gallon cube aquarium that he'd setup as a reef and had kept it alive and flourishing for several years, and even moved it from Huntington Beach (CA) to Bakersfield (CA) without losing any livestock. However, when he was out of town on vacation, a contractor that was doing work on his house noticed that the water level was low, so he added a bunch of tap water to top the tank off. (It's okay to feel the punch in the gut, I sure did) Pretty much everything died in the tank. All of the corals, fish, inverts, everything except one particularly hardy clownfish. Realizing that it would take a tremendous amount of time and money to restore the tank, my friend took the whole thing down and put it into his garage.

Earlier this year, he and I were talking about my desire to start up a SW tank, and he said I could have the tank and all of his accessories (stand, hood, skimmer, lighting, chemicals, additives, etc.) if I just drove up and picked them up. After convincing my wife to allow another tank into the house, I borrowed a friend's minivan (no way it would fit in my Prius) and headed to Bakersfield with my son. When we were driving up, he asked where we were going and why. I told him we were going to my friend's house to get a tank. He asked, "can we put saltwater in this one, please???" When I said yes, he was thrilled.

So, I got all of the stuff loaded into the mini van and headed back to Costa Mesa (where I live). The tank was in serious need of cleaning as my friend had emptied the water and live rock, but left the sand and skeletons of critters that were in the sand at the time of the crash. When I got home, I got busy cleaning everything up and seeing what worked, and what didn't. I also started planning my plumbing.

My friend had run the tank with LR, a Remora hang on back skimmer, and a Fluval canister filter. I decided that I wanted to put in a sump and also wanted to try and work in a fuge as well, but that hasn't worked out due to space constraints.

Before you ask, I wussed out and didn't drill the tank. I should have. Really.

I got a hang on the back overflow and a (not so) Quiet One 2200 pump to return the water to the aquarium.

Then I lost my mind. The noise. The gurgling. The head banging against the wall. Holy Crap. I had the thing in my garage running FW and it was driving me insane. (Did I mention that I should have drilled the tank?).

Back to the internet I went and I tried all sorts of things and nothing was working. I was about to call defeat and spend (what I thought would be) hundreds of dollars getting the tank drilled, when I found the Durso Standpipe site, and in there is a picture of someone who modified an external overflow to work like a Durso. I tried that and it mostly worked. Enough that I decided to bring the tank into the house.

I bought some Live Rock, Live Sand, and a bunch of premixed SW. I know I can mix it myself, but at $3 for 5 gallons, I decided to just splurge and get the prefab stuff and save the energy that I would have spent mixing.

Into the tank everything went and it's going pretty well.

Here are the photos so far...

Cloudy tank:
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1301.jpg

Clear tank on day 1:
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1309.jpg

My Sump (protein skimmer not in the photo, but it sits on the back wall of the sump, with the powerhead submerged)
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1307.jpg

Signs of life starting to appear on day 9: (is the green guy calerpa?)
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1312.jpg

More signs of life on day 11: (is this some sort of sponge?)
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1316.jpg

Brown algae bloom in full force on day 11:
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1320.jpg

This past weekend, I added four hermit crabs and four snails from the LFS to go after the brown algae. After a couple of hours of acclimation, I dropped them into the tank and within seconds, the crabs were partying down on the brown algae. I really wish I had taken before and after photos.

Here's the same rock from the last picture on Day 11 that I took tonight (day 18): (sorry about the focus, point n shoot cameras are hard to manual focus)
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1330.jpg

Here's one of the hermit crabs:
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1333.jpg

My other regret is that I didn't get photos of my overflow assembly before putting the tank up against the wall. Here's an overhead shot I took that should give you some idea:
http://chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1337.jpg


My challenge right now is that I'm still having problems with the overflow. I'll detail those in another post.

that is looking outstanding !! i love the cube tanks, they are perfect for "nemo" and anemone tanks (i ma sure that your son would LOVE that).

OMG... a newbie with a cluebie :)

Welcome aboard Chris! That is a sweet system. I JUST ordered, and will be picking up my 56 gallon column tank this week. I believe that it is the same tank as yours!

I like the idea of modification on the overflow. If you could point us to that thread where you found the concept, that would be great.

I like the Hydor pump that you are using. I have the same in my bowfront and LOVE it.

Your "greens" do look like caulerpa stems. The pink looks to be foraminiferans. Check this article out: Foraminiferans by Ronald L. Shimek, Ph.D. - Reefkeeping.com (http://reefkeeping.com/issues/2003-07/rs/index.php) However, they have a little clubbed end that has me excited thinking it may actually be an SPS coral, Montipora Digitata. Can't tell just yet, because the "scale" or size is deceiving in the picture, but watch it, and let us know how it is growing.

Nice diatom bloom :) You already see the signs of it clearing, and noting that you are educating yourself into the hobby, you are probably aware of the fact that it is a normal part of cycling up a new system.

I am really looking forward to watching your project develop. I've subscribed to this thread. Again, welcome aboard. Please do continue to visit and by all means, pass along any other info you dig up. It's all about the sharing my friend!

Dave

I like the way you've aquascaped. Nice pix of your hermit. They are always fun to watch.

Hello Joyride :cool!: I'm glad that you were able to get the tank and that your son really wanted a marine tank! He will really enjoy watching it come alive before his lil eyes. I enjoyed your pics to take us on your journey so far and look forward to your future progress. Welcome aboard!

Thanks everyone for the encouragement and kind words. It's nice to have some support on this stuff.

I also just posted a thread over in the Marine Tank Problems area about my overflow challenges. Here's the link: http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/marine-tank-problems/6143-gurgle-gurgle-flush-problems-my-overflow.html#post72857

Dave,
You asked about my green growing thing. Interestingly, it isn't looking all that great at the moment and is not looking as well as when I took the first picture. A the tank has been cycling, I haven't had the lights running at full intensity, but after I noticed a couple of days ago that my greenies were looking a little thin, I set all of the lights to come on during the day. We'll see what happens.

Thanks again,
-Chris

Nice setup

looks like a recipe for a beutiful reef tank to me ;)

Chris,

The macro algae is probably dying off as a result of your cycle and the transport of the live rock. No worries. In all actuality, if you think you want a "reef", you're better off without it. It is invasive and a pain in the butt to keep under control. It will be everywhere in short time. If you like the look of a marine "planted" tank (though they are not true plants) then you could try and foster the growth of the macro algae, but you'd end up pruning it from time to time.

The tank is too small for a tang, but you could figure out other natural ways to introduce herbivores that will make a quick dinner of the macro, and rid your system of it.

By the way, are the tank dimensions for your system 30X18X24? I'm interested in knowing if we have the same system.

Dave

Tank dimensions are 24" wide, 24" tall (the front pane of glass is 24" square) and 18" back.

I am hoping to introduce a herbivore to control the macro algae as the tank is on a tall stand and is pretty tall itself, with the top edge being just under 6' off the floor. It's kind of a pain to get into it to get things on the bottom. Better to have something in the tank that eats that stuff, I think. If you look at my flower gardens at my house, you'd see that I'm not the best at weeding. :D

I think I've solved my gurgling issue. Read more about it in my thread dedicated to the gurgling issues.

Here's the link: http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/marine-tank-problems/6143-gurgle-gurgle-flush-problems-my-overflow.html#post72857

Things are progressing nicely. I took some more photos yesterday to share with everyone.

This first photo is of some greenish stuff that's growing on the rocks. I'm not sure if it's an algae or something else.
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1342.jpg

This next one is of the same rock as above that had the calerpa(?) growing on it around day 9. Whatever it was started to look a little wilted, then disappeared. Not sure if it was eaten by a crab or just died. The red (hopefully coraline) algae seems to be coloring in nicely.
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1343.jpg

This next one is another that I'm not sure what it is. It's similar to the first photo in this post, but completely pale in color. Anyone have any ideas? Am I just looking at the rock itself?
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1344.jpg

Here's another on that looks like kind of the same stuff
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1350.jpg

One of the hermit crabs happened to be posing right in front of the tank, so I snapped this one:
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1347.jpg

I had a rough time yesterday with my overflow and the noise associated with it. To the point that I came pretty close to throwing in the towel and just using powerheads in the tank, an HOB skimmer (which I already have), and putting the heater into the DT.

I know I'm going all OCD, but the noise coming from the overflow was starting to drive me freakin insane. I finally got it to a more reasonable level by putting a valve on the output of the return pump and closing it off some to restrict the flow. I starting to question my DIY intelligence, as this seems like a totally solvable problem.

I'm also trying to decide what to do about my protein skimmer. I've go an HOB Remora skimmer that my friend gave me, but I've got a couple of problems with it.

1. The plastic is opaque and I can't see inside to determine if the bubble size is correct.
2. When I hang it on my sump, the water coming from the skimmer has a 6" fall to reach the water level in the sump, making more noise AND more bubbles that end up in the DT. Not cool. For a while I was running it with one of those filter socks like I've got on the water intake into my sump, but I removed it because I got to thinking that over time it would become a nitrate factory.

So, now I'm looking for skimmers and am open to suggestions. I need to keep the cost below $150. My total (actual) water volume in the tank and sump comes to about 45 gallons. I'd like something that hangs on the back of the sump or, if it's got a small footprint, goes into the sump directly. I also need a way to have the output not cascade down into the water. Did I mention that I want it to be as quiet as possible?

Looking over at the Drs. Foster & Smith site, I saw this Coralife (http://www.drsfostersmith.com/product/prod_display.cfm?c=3578+4392+13924&pcatid=13924) skimmer and wonder what peoples' experiences are. Are there other skimmers I should be considering?

Thanks,
-Chris

The skimmer you have is better. Are you handy? I use the same skimmer and drilled the overflow lip with two holes, cut some thin acrylic into a 6 inch 'slide' with the same width, drilled matching holes in it and zip tied it together. This way, the water effluent runs down the acrylic to the water line and doesn't splash down into it.

Dave

I really try to be handy and have been racking my wee little brain to find a solution. This sounds promising. Can you post a pic?

Thanks!

Hey Chris,

It is hard to tell from the pix but I have some pale green sponges. Do you see pores in it?

Chris,

In the piccy below, on the left side of the sump, and parallel to the overflow PVC, you can see where I used a small square of acrylic to "catch" the waterfall from my Aqua-C Remora, and guide it silently into the water. I just rested it on baffles, and lodged it between the output from the skimmer and the hose from the pump feeding it. You can drill holes and use zip ties or something and position it in any way you like, I'm sure.

http://i35.photobucket.com/albums/d176/JustDavidP/Sump1-1.jpg

Dave

Well, I've finally added life to the tank.

Today I picked up two clownfish, a green bulb-tipped anemone, and a xenia frag from my LFS.

The picture was taken about 45 minutes after everything was placed in the tank.

http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1358.jpg
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1360.jpg
http://www.chenry.com/tankphotos/IMG_1361.jpg

The photo of the anemone got a little washed out and it is more green than the photo shows.

Interestingly, the anemone has also relocated itself about 14 inches away from where I placed it. I'm guessing that it "jumped" into the current from where it was and "landed" in the new spot. Does this happen because it didn't like the original spot? What about that spot might make it move somewhere else? Too much/little water flow? Lighting? Desire for new scenery?

The clownfish are doing well. They hid under the live rock for the first 30 minutes or so after getting introduced into the tank, then came out together. They are pretty much always together, no matter what. In the LFS, they were two of three that were in a small tank together with a bunch of rose anemones.

I haven't tried feeding them yet, am planning that for in the morning.

The Xenia had a bit of a toss while I was getting them situated in the tank. For some reason, I kept dropping them and had to fish them out of various nooks and crannies in rocks structure. I eventually got them situated and they were looking worse for it initially, but were starting to come out when the photo was taken.

We'll see how the next couple of days go. Wish me luck!

...Does this happen because it didn't like the original spot? What about that spot might make it move somewhere else? Too much/little water flow? Lighting? Desire for new scenery?

Yes, it didn't like the original spot. It could be any of the above, or a combination thereof. They like flow, just enough to make them "sway". Not too much to make them "whip". They take time adjusting to lights. It may have moved because of too much light, or too little. It all depends on where they were before you owned them, and where they want to be in your system. I'd not be surprised to hear that it moves a couple times. Make sure that there are no powerheads nearby while it acclimates. You may have to temporarily move them here and there if the anemone gets too close.

Dave

I'm starting to really regret the Anemone purchase.

Here's the update:
On Sunday morning, I woke up to find it split in two and the pieces in different parts of the aquarium. I took it back to the LFS and we decided that splitting was a bad thing. So, they gave me a different one.

I took this one home and did acclimated him over a 90 minute period to the new tank water, then placed him into the tank. He looked good for several hours, but then closed up entirely. I took this as a sign that it was unhappy and relocated him to another place in the tank with less flow and more light, hoping that it would be more suited. In the LFS, it was in a small cube tank with a lot of light.

All was going well until I turned on my protein skimmer, which just happens to empty right into the area where the new anemone was placed (I am kind of a dumbass sometimes). The new guy wasn't anchored down yet and got tumbled *behind* all of the live rock in my system. <expletive deleted>

So, knowing that I couldn't just leave it back behind my LR to die (and possibly seriously foul up the system, I took the fairly extreme measure of removing into buckets most of the LR to get to where the little dude had fallen. In order to create a safe environment for the clownfish, the Xenia, and the Anemone, I got my 10 gallon spare tank out and filled it with some of the LR from the DT as well as water from the DT. Once I got the anemone rescued, I had pulled out most of my LR and the water was getting REALLY cloudy. I was able to catch the clown fish as well and got them into the 10.

At this point, my entire DT was in shambles, but the livestock was looking good. The anemone opened up and the clownfish were playing inside him.

Since the DT was a disaster with all of the floating sand, etc., I decided to re-aquascape my DT to create a more stable structure that would have less likelihood jumpers. As of this morning, the DT is mostly settled and I'm planning to check the water parameters tonight.

I'm not sure how long I'm going to leave the livestock in the smaller tank. Right now I'm thinking that the earliest will be tonight, but it will depend on how things look. I may leave things be until tomorrow night just to let things settle out a blt. My biggest concern is that I'm going to get a lot of dieoff from this event.

Argh.

The anemone bit it yesterday afternoon. My bad for diving into such a complicated animal so early in the tank project.

I've realized that my problem was a lack of clear goals. After some thinking and research, I've decided that I will focus my energies for this tank primarily on reef-safe fish and inverts, at least for a while. At some point in the future, I may do some corals (hence the reef-safe fish), but for now will focus on the fish and cleaning crew.

I also decided that this tank is not well suited for corals on a large scale. The tank's dimensions are 24" square on the front glass, and 18" front to back. It sits on a stand that puts the top edge of the tank right about six feet off the floor. So, not only do I need to go into the tank up to my armpits in order to get my hands to the bottom, I've got to be standing on stuff to do so. Additionally, the hypothetical water capacity is 45 gallons. I've got 50 lbs of live rock in the tank, and the rock barely reaches halfway up the back of the tank. I'd like to have the LR reach 2/3 to 3/4 up the back, but to do so would require quite a bit of rock.

So, pretty much FOWLR for now. Of course, I do the the Xenia frag I picked up over the weekend and it is looking really good, especially given the abuse of my tank disaster. While I was fishing the anemone out of the back of the tank, the xenia frag fell into a crevice in the LR as well. Getting it fished out wasn't easy and the xenia was pretty beat up. One of the polyps actually was scraped off of the rock fragment and ended up in the 10 gal tank. When I put everything back into the DT last night, I put that little polyp in, but had to just release it close to the bottom and hope for the best. Tonight when I got home from work, I found it stuck to the bottom of one of the pieces of LR and pulsing away happily.

So, my advice to myself right now is to calm down, slow down, and stay the heck away from anemones. :)

Sorry about the anemone. It is always a good idea to research before you add anything to your tank. And, research is not what the LFS tells you. Or at least not if it does not agree with what you have read or been told on TR or at your club.

Just going on what the clerk or owner at the LFS says may get you something totally unsuited to your tank. Most LFS owners and employees like fish and want to help. But, most don't know what you have in your tank and won't take the time to talk to you and determine your level of expertise, tank maturity, stocking list, lighting, flow, etc, etc, etc. Some sellers are uncaring and others lack knowledge. Do I think they are "bad"? No.

I think that we have to be good stewards of our tanks. This includes everything in this article nine-rules (http://www.theculturedreef.com/nine-rules.htm), stocking with the adult size of the fish in mind, knowing your own ability, not overstocking and having a master plan.

I think that planning is really important and often overlooked. For instance, if you know that you want a specific fish but it should not be added until the tank is mature you want to be sure to leave room for that fish and to not stock something that will compete with it.