help anyone? Newbie looking for supplies.

[phenom5]

Agreed, I prefer black because it makes everything pop. Blue tends to wash our the colors IMO.

[aquaph8]

I've always went black cause I'm scared that blue would get old to me eventually and it's too hard to repaint it later. I had Leemar epoxy coat mine.

[hellfish01]

awsome! thank you all. i use a black bg on my freshwater tanks for the same reason, (makes the green of the plants and the smaller fish and shrimp "pop" ) but i rarely see a saltwater in black. plastidip it is then! any other tricks and tips you may have? im still far from this but its good to know. im slowly getting things ready. then one day when the tank is drilled, BAM!! Right in the kisser! BAM!! Right in the kisser! BAM!! Right in the kisser!

[hellfish01]

How do you guys feel about diy overflow boxes? I've made canister filters, hob filters, and Lily pipes before so I know what I'm doing. And for what I need its only 2, ¹/4 thick panels, a rectangular in the front with 1 by ¹/4 grooves cut and a 45° triangle for the bottom. That will set into the glass from the tank itself. Let me know if this makes sense..

[hellfish01]

also one last thing and im getting ahead of myself here but, i wanted to know what you guys thing about this for an aquascape. i believe its called shelving?

[sillygoose]

I think shelving looks cool. Just remember that your shelves will create shadows where photosynthetic corals won't be able to grow. That being said, if you plan right, you can avoid much of that.

[hellfish01]

Originally Posted by sillygoose

I think shelving looks cool. Just remember that your shelves will create shadows where photosynthetic corals won't be able to grow. That being said, if you plan right, you can avoid much of that.

Awesome thank you! I was thinking about that just so i Can grow some of the lower demanding slow growing stuff. if there is such a thing in saltwater stuff. i know in freshwater i had problems with some slow growing plants that require low light getting overrun by algae on them.

btw you gotta love my paint spray-can shadowing.



i plan to use pvc pipes those plastic egg carton things or something strong as a structure and/or jv weld water weld to keep things together. if i can make the structure with just the jv weld and stacking it would be much better. also im looking for shelf looking rock if anyone has any for a good price.

[hellfish01]

okay so im at the point were my tank is going to be drained of freshwater and prepped for drilling, overflow, and setting up the sump.
today or at least by this weekend. hopefully ill have it up and running by Monday night.
what do i need to get and keep on hand?
hardware - pluming, fittings, so on...
chemicals - bacteria, minerals,....
extras - dry rock glue, super glue for coral, light defusers,...
filter - chaeto algae, purigen, sponge,....
you tell me...

[EmeraldReef86]

So hellfish how is the tank going? Did you get it all set up and running?

[Raptor72]

Here's an example of some shelves on my 30, before and after.

[hellfish01]

haha funny you should ask..... i broke it

i added a valve on the drain pump as well.



im going to be going up to pnx today after work to get one like it. aside from that i had the plumbing up and running everything was ready to go but when i was fine tuning the drain and fill valves to get it a bit quite (as my beautiful wife insisted). Murphy decided to pay me a visit. I think it was a combination of over tightened bulkheads, frustration, eagerness to get it going, and my shear stupidity.
the return pipe popped off and in my panic i gave it a slight tap, nothing i hadnt done before but it was enough to start a small crack that with the water pressure turned into a giant one.....

hopefully ill have it up and running by wends.... fingers crossed

[hellfish01]

Originally Posted by Raptor72

Here's an example of some shelves on my 30, before and after.

thats very impressive. at the moment due to the situation i may not focus as much attention to setup as i was planning to. but i will rearrange the rock latter once i can see were all my $$$ went. but thank you, thats very inspiring.

[hellfish01]

Also quick question, i got some live rock from Miguel and found 2 of these little guys and i dont know what they are. i havent bugged him about it yet, just saw them a day or two ago. These pictures are of the same one open and closed about a quarter inch big. Theres another one about a half inch big as well but its in an area were the camera doesnt get it. that one has a light blue hue to it but that can also be a reflection of the lights...



oh btw i have a 30g full of live sand and live rock.
Special thanks to David and Miguel.

[Raptor72]

Those are Strawberry Anemones, filter feeders.

[hellfish01]

very cool! do they get big, or spread?

Never mind i think i found some Information.

[savageAJC]

Yea I would kill those things as soon as you can. I would scrape them off completely (screwdriver chip the rock under them off)

[hellfish01]

so there not good to have? why is that?

[phenom5]

IDK, looks like a little ball anemone. Generally pretty harmless.

[Raptor72]

I've never seen mine sting anything, especially since they grow in the shade where nothing else does.

[hellfish01]

I was thinking of just isolating them. i found this article assuming this is what everyone is talking about and assuming its correctly id-ed. I have no idea about any of this so i have no say....for now.
im going to just isolate it for now and once it gets bigger and we have a def id ill see what needs to be done. remove, it keep it, separate it, or what have you. But if it is the cold water anemone and its alive and growing along with its friend with a slight blue tint to the transparent tentacles then it sounds like my water cycle is going well (?) i wonder if once its set up the temp may rise and kill them off. either way im not going to worry to much about them just yet.

[phenom5]

Personally, I don't think that's a strawberry nem. I think it's a pseudocorynactis or ball anemone.

[hellfish01]

you may be on to something phenom5 i found this picture that someone saying its a ball anemone



and thats what the bigger one looks like, keep in mind bigger is still smaller than a dime... thank you all for the feedback.

side note: they open nicely on mid to low light. When my bright lights in the mid of the day turn on they tend to close a bit, i fed them with a turkey pastier but they didnt like how much current it made and when i did it slow the tentacles closed a bit slowly and opened back up like it was eating.

[hellfish01]

btw i got my second tank yesterday.



ill try not to break this one.....

[savageAJC]

They spread pretty rapidly in one of my older tanks, Ive never liked them since. they do look cool under blue less though

I think I saw a corner on CL that was drilled, not sure how many holes/location. But i think it had tile glues to the back or something. Although I could have been dreaming I was up browsing late last night lol

[azdiver]

So hows the tank going along?