Alright So I finally Made the jump. Bought the 65 Gallon tank from the guy I buy all my cichlids from. 65 bucks for a 48x18x18 from glasscages.com, Not a bad buy!
However, I let one of my friends borrow my car to go to the airport, and i accidentally left my phone in my car. So I wasn't able to let my other friend Mike know not to bring His LR up for me to buy. So, I got home from class today, talked to him on another friends phone (haha probably pretty confusing) And it turned out he was already more than halfway with all the rock and salt. Wow what a fiasco. This sent me into a shopping spree, I picked up a Hydrometer, another heater, and a few 25 gallon rubbermaids and 25 gallons of Distilled water (my LFS didn't sell any) So I get the rubbermaid up and running with the water 3 power heads and a couple of heaters, My water is at around 74 degrees. Added salt, and placed all the rock into the tub. I'm in the stages of figuring out a temporary stand for my 65 long, and the only thing I've really come up with are cinder blocks =/ Anyway here are some pics of day .5 =D
And what are these little buggers?
Does my glass look thin to you?
Anyway, Just getting started, Let me know any deas or comments you have!
It looks like you are on your way to a very nice set-up. I think your little green feathery thing is a kind of caulerpa. It is a macroalgae that is used for nutrient export. You need to harvest it on a regular basis.
My best guess is coraline algae??? or some sort of coral, cant really tell from the pic, . Good to see your tank journal starting, havent really seen ya around the forums but i like you already, i like anyone who puts "image intense" in the title
Btw, iunno how long you've been around the hobby, but usually things that are cheap (when bought new anyways), perform that way (cheap).
I imagine that $50 skimmer is only temporary becuase of the crazyness,. but hey, it may work perfectly.
I used the plans on GARF for my stand and it will be finished tomorrow morning. I'll post pix soon. Nah the skimmer was a used one that i bought from a friend. Since this is my first marine tank I'm not sure if it works. theres alittle tornado of bubbles that are going the opposite direction of the water flow, but thts all the bubbles in the chamber. Dunno /shrug
Got the stand built tonight. All I want to do is fill it with water, and i don't have enought time too =/ bummer, gues it will have to happen tomorrow =(
Yep - the skimmer is a Seaclone. Some people like these, most do not. I found them to be pretty useless. That said, there are modifications posted on Reef Central that will improve it's performance. Still, this would be the first piece of equipment I would upgrade, IMO.
Alright, SO I finally got a few minuites to Upload all these pictures!! I started out yesterday with a built stand and an empty tank and went to bed with a nice full body of blue!!
I guess the first thing we can look at is my DIY stand. My room mate and I built this out of 2x4's which we later found out were all 1 1/2 x 3 1/4.... whay they say 2x4 I dont know so we had to make some modifications. We used 4x4's as the posts, and Lag bolts to attach the 2x4s to the 4x4s. This stand is way overkill imo, and looks the part! Anyway I'm glad I have such a great roommate because I'm not nearly as handy!
Here's a Picture of the stand!
After we finished that, I went to wal-mart and painted my background with a really nice looking midnight blue type color. I love how that turned out.We ended up just throwing a sheet over the stand as i plan on adding more to it over the summer. Heres how that ended up looking, overall i am pretty pleased.
A few hours later, I went to petsmart. And god love them for price match. In case you don't have any idea to what im talking about, If you print an online ad for anything they have in the store, they will match the price on the ad. Ive had the most luck at Pet Supplies, Dog Supplies, Cat Supplies, Pet Meds and Pet Products from Drs. Foster & Smith and Fish Supplies, Online Fish Supplies, Aquarium Products, Aquarium Accessories at Big Al's Online and saved yet another 100 bucks. I bought 60 lbs of Aragonite substrate, a new powerhead and a stealth heater. I usually end up saving about 50% with the price matches. But since I dont have a RO/DI unit, I had to buy 65 gallons of reverse osmosis drinking water from walmart. I think its time for one of those bad boys. Heres a picture before and after
Before:
And after :
Filling it wasn't too bad, we figured out that the same way we shotgun beers (any college people out there)? could be used on gallons of water! this made the process go a lot faster.
We eventually got everything in the tank and running, and everything is looking pretty well off atm. heres a pic of the tank, and some close ups of my live rock.
ryan 
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