907 Tank & Stand Build - 55 Gallon

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Cleaning day...

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Alrighty, everything is cleaned, installed, tank is wet with fresh SW, sand, and ready for rock and livestock today! I like to let the fresh sand cloudiness settle over night so I can see what I'm doing when I stack rock on the fly in there, and this way the corals attached to rock don't sit out of water except for transfer. Going to attempt the same style scaping as the prior setup.

Inkbird currently heating up to 25.6 C, running it in Celsius since you have finer adjustments, 25.4 C to 25.6 C = 77.7 F to 78.1 F.

1694011910672.png


Part of the delay was to roll the tank around on casters to potential locations and pick a new spot in the house for it. We chose a spot just off the kitchen which gets more traffic during our day. It is closer to a window here, but that's east facing with trees so should only be getting some natural filtered light in the mornings.

New sand is Carib Sea Special Grade Arag-Alive, more coarse than the Oolite and Fiji Pink we have used but I'm excited for the swap, hopefully less to blow around onto our coral and what not.. I feel like Pistol Shrimp will dig it as well ;):grinning-squinting-face:

We also lowered quantity from 80 lbs as we used last time, to 70 lbs.

1694012029171.png


..Spent about 20 minutes digging around for clarifying packets before realizing there aren't any with this sand, like there are with the Oolite, etc :grinning-face-with-sweat:

Cutting a top today also from a sheet of egg crate - still has decent sized gaps but hoping it's better than nothing, since I have a sheet on hand here. The main cuts are made and I'll make notches for equipment and wires today before tackling the rock/livestock transfer. On the last move we had absolutely no issues the entire time, moving 300 miles in 0 degrees, until the night after transferring to the tank, our lawnmower jumped :confounded-face:

1694012572247.png


This'll be 7.5 days in dark totes (opening once for a bit daily for food). Bet I catch me some bristle worms that jumped ship in the dark when I pull the rocks out ;)
 

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Alrighty, everything is cleaned, installed, tank is wet with fresh SW, sand, and ready for rock and livestock today! I like to let the fresh sand cloudiness settle over night so I can see what I'm doing when I stack rock on the fly in there, and this way the corals attached to rock don't sit out of water except for transfer. Going to attempt the same style scaping as the prior setup.

Inkbird currently heating up to 25.6 C, running it in Celsius since you have finer adjustments, 25.4 C to 25.6 C = 77.7 F to 78.1 F.

1694011910672.png
This story is not directed at you, just sharing an experience... :grinning-face-with-sweat: :smiling-face-with-halo:I just got some live rock from @F i s h y . I picked it up between errands. I tossed it in the middle of the tank and where the pieces ended up, they ended up. I actually like the "scape" it formed. I'll definitely be moving them but it was kind of a moment when I realized, "hey maybe I don't have to overthink everything" lol
 
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This story is not directed at you, just sharing an experience... :grinning-face-with-sweat: :smiling-face-with-halo:I just got some live rock from @F i s h y . I picked it up between errands. I tossed it in the middle of the tank and where the pieces ended up, they ended up. I actually like the "scape" it formed. I'll definitely be moving them but it was kind of a moment when I realized, "hey maybe I don't have to overthink everything" lol

That's basically how I did it the first time :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

My problem was I used too much, 90 lbs in a 55g tank - it didn't leave much room for the fish to swim, and I don't have anywhere else to put the rock, and I can't bring myself to toss any (we tossed one smallish piece), so now I have to play Tetris to get it all in there with room for other things :grinning-face-with-sweat:

First scape:

1694014661599.png


Last scape, which I'll try to replicate-ish this time:

1694014833762.png
 

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Alrighty, everything is cleaned, installed, tank is wet with fresh SW, sand, and ready for rock and livestock today! I like to let the fresh sand cloudiness settle over night so I can see what I'm doing when I stack rock on the fly in there, and this way the corals attached to rock don't sit out of water except for transfer. Going to attempt the same style scaping as the prior setup.

Inkbird currently heating up to 25.6 C, running it in Celsius since you have finer adjustments, 25.4 C to 25.6 C = 77.7 F to 78.1 F.

1694011910672.png


Part of the delay was to roll the tank around on casters to potential locations and pick a new spot in the house for it. We chose a spot just off the kitchen which gets more traffic during our day. It is closer to a window here, but that's east facing with trees so should only be getting some natural filtered light in the mornings.

New sand is Carib Sea Special Grade Arag-Alive, more coarse than the Oolite and Fiji Pink we have used but I'm excited for the swap, hopefully less to blow around onto our coral and what not.. I feel like Pistol Shrimp will dig it as well ;):grinning-squinting-face:

We also lowered quantity from 80 lbs as we used last time, to 70 lbs.

1694012029171.png


..Spent about 20 minutes digging around for clarifying packets before realizing there aren't any with this sand, like there are with the Oolite, etc :grinning-face-with-sweat:

Cutting a top today also from a sheet of egg crate - still has decent sized gaps but hoping it's better than nothing, since I have a sheet on hand here. The main cuts are made and I'll make notches for equipment and wires today before tackling the rock/livestock transfer. On the last move we had absolutely no issues the entire time, moving 300 miles in 0 degrees, until the night after transferring to the tank, our lawnmower jumped :confounded-face:

1694012572247.png


This'll be 7.5 days in dark totes (opening once for a bit daily for food). Bet I catch me some bristle worms that jumped ship in the dark when I pull the rocks out ;)
The bag says there is BioMagnet... My AragAlive had a packet in each bag.
 

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Alrighty, everything is cleaned, installed, tank is wet with fresh SW, sand, and ready for rock and livestock today! I like to let the fresh sand cloudiness settle over night so I can see what I'm doing when I stack rock on the fly in there, and this way the corals attached to rock don't sit out of water except for transfer. Going to attempt the same style scaping as the prior setup.

Inkbird currently heating up to 25.6 C, running it in Celsius since you have finer adjustments, 25.4 C to 25.6 C = 77.7 F to 78.1 F.

1694011910672.png


Part of the delay was to roll the tank around on casters to potential locations and pick a new spot in the house for it. We chose a spot just off the kitchen which gets more traffic during our day. It is closer to a window here, but that's east facing with trees so should only be getting some natural filtered light in the mornings.

New sand is Carib Sea Special Grade Arag-Alive, more coarse than the Oolite and Fiji Pink we have used but I'm excited for the swap, hopefully less to blow around onto our coral and what not.. I feel like Pistol Shrimp will dig it as well ;):grinning-squinting-face:

We also lowered quantity from 80 lbs as we used last time, to 70 lbs.

1694012029171.png


..Spent about 20 minutes digging around for clarifying packets before realizing there aren't any with this sand, like there are with the Oolite, etc :grinning-face-with-sweat:

Cutting a top today also from a sheet of egg crate - still has decent sized gaps but hoping it's better than nothing, since I have a sheet on hand here. The main cuts are made and I'll make notches for equipment and wires today before tackling the rock/livestock transfer. On the last move we had absolutely no issues the entire time, moving 300 miles in 0 degrees, until the night after transferring to the tank, our lawnmower jumped :confounded-face:

1694012572247.png


This'll be 7.5 days in dark totes (opening once for a bit daily for food). Bet I catch me some bristle worms that jumped ship in the dark when I pull the rocks out ;)
Sorry about the Blenny.
 
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The bag says there is BioMagnet... My AragAlive had a packet in each bag.

Definitely no packets in these - 20 minutes is an underestimate on the search party.. Dumped and sifted each bag one by one, then sifted through all the sand together, moved it all around and around, not 1 packet found from 4 bags..

However if I see Pistol Shrimp carrying one out of a cave next week I'll be dying :rolling-on-the-floor-laughing:

Sorry about the Blenny.

Thanks - that was a bummer! He has since been replaced, new lawnmower is great also so trying to keep him in there with a new top this time..

I like sand digging critters so my rocks sit on the glass and the sand fills in around them.

IMG_20220704_114444694.jpg
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This is definitely how I'll do it when I start a fresh tank, agree with that method! I'm doing sand first here so that I can do a quick transfer of all at once - I push/twist the rock down in the sand as far as I can.. Rock first is the way to go if you can though.
 

HAVE YOU EVER KEPT A RARE/UNCOMMON FISH, CORAL, OR INVERT? SHOW IT OFF IN THE THREAD!

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