Day 4 and Critters!

We have lights! This is a 24 hour Satellite Lighting system with timer so the 50/50 lights are on during the day and automatically at night they turn off and the moon lights kick in. Very handy...




Oh I have critters!!! They are so fun to watch. I had no idea I would have critters in my live rock so soon, I just bought the little things yesterday but this morning I have all kinds of activity.



Hrm, wonder if I have to feed them... I should go find out.

Day 3

After talking to the local SWF Store I decided to not do the hanging dead shrimp trick to cycle my tank but to put in Live Rock. Sooo.. I added 1.5 lbs of Live Rock to the aquarium in 2 pieces. The temp is good (right at 80 deg) and the SG/Salinity is right on track. I'll start water testing tomorrow probably to see if we have any ammonia from the rock yet.










In total I'll need 55 lbs of Live Rock before I can cycle it for fish but that's coming this week hopefully with some Live Sand. My Crushed Coral is dead now (it was kept in a bucket for over 2 months) and the Live Sand will revive the Crushed Croal so I get all those cleaning critters in it.

Day 2

Woke up to a pretty, clean tank then by nightfall (as you can see below) it's awful! I dechlorinated the water before bed with a Stress Coat.

First thing was to clean up all of that crushed coral we inherited with the tank. This process took 3 LONG hours and it was disgusting! I was cleaning out carcases and dead coral, the smell was beyond atrocious. So 2 cups at a time Kyna and I cleaned the coral and it turned into this really pretty white substrate with thousands of tiny sea shells.

After pouring the crushed coral into the tank I added a heater and thermometer so I can put in some live rock soon and start the nitrogen cycle. I just hope the tank clears soon, it's so murky!




Oh, best explain the hydrometer on the bottom of the tank. It has to stay in saltwater for 24 hours before use so what better place than in the tank? :)

Starting

Ever study and study something and when it finally comes to fruition you notice that you know nothing about it? Welcome to my world of Saltwater Fish! Been studying for 6 months and today I started it's setup and decided to blog it... figured why not?

So today my girls and I began the long process.... First (with Daddy's help) we set up the stand and tank... it looks dirty but they are salt spots so with some water it'll clear up nicely.




I was a little concerned after adding the backdrop.. hoping everyone was right that the glass would clear up with water...





Next step was to add the Penguin 350 Powerfilter and 2 Maxi-Jet Powerheads... that part was easy.


Kyna's favorite part! She got to fill the tank using the Python (which is normally reserved for Mommy use only)



55 Gallons takes a while to fill.




Best recruit your sister to help...




It's full! Well.. as full as we can get it... the substrate and live rock should fill the tank the rest of the way. We added salt and turned on the powerheads to stir it all up. Now we wait...

Oh yeah... mental note... papercuts + saltwater = OUCH!!



1 hour later... "No honey, there's no fish in there, I promise!"