Fishroom build (240 DT)

[rininger85]

I'm not sure how exciting it will be... I'm kind of just not feeling like posting anymore... there are so many things I don't like about all of the forums I'm on now... if only I had the ability to set my own up with the best from everywhere else to make a really good forum that had it all! =)

I'll repost these pics here that I posted over there this morning, but don't think I'm going to go back and try and bring this thread up to date with everything else...

 

[rininger85]

here are some pics that didn't want to post on TRT... after reading the latest response saying I'm throwing an "hissy fit" because I complained about not being able to upload pictures easily anymore, then seeing even after they claim it's fixed it doesn't work... I'm just going to post all my pics here now...

 

[rininger85]

the really green pic of the zoas is taken using yellow safety glasses/shooting glasses... really made the color pop! The Kenya is yours April if it does OK since I removed it from the rock and put it on a frag disc.

 

[aprilmeyetterussell]

Yay!! Very excited about getting some corals from you, Rob! And those zoas are gorgeous.

I've been trying to get on TRT and can't. Says the website is down. Maybe they are really working hard to update it. Updates always take awhile and always come up problematic at first, so maybe they'll get it sorted soon. Crossing fingers anyway! I've been thinking of starting a thread here for my 90 gallon.

Are you enjoying the snow we're getting?? It's so beautiful! Probably covering up your solar panels though, which wouldn't be so nice...

 

[Poriferan]

Looks great! I love the in-wall look.

 

[rininger85]

Are you enjoying the snow we're getting?? It's so beautiful! Probably covering up your solar panels though, which wouldn't be so nice...

I wasn't home while the snow was coming down. I was in Minneapolis for work/training. They had almost zero snow... had maybe an inch of accumulation there in the 5 days I was there... came home to 2ft+ snow drifts in my driveway. The bottom of my solar panels are covered by a drift, but the panels are mounted vertical above the garage on the south wall of the house, got home about 1AM Thursday morning and haven't felt the urge to climb up on the roof yet to clean it off.

 

[rininger85]

The tank is now active! I have moved my fish and corals over... most of my corals went in to my frag rack in the sump until I get the rest of my rock that I am going to add...my fish look so tiny, all I have is 3 blue/green chromis, 1 black occ clown, 1 yellow watchman goby, 1 neon blue goby, 1 green clown goby, and 1 dalmation molly in the DT and a dalmation and black molly in the frag section of my sump. 8 litte fish in an 8ft tank just looks funny...need more fish! But need to pay down some credit cards first... and waiting until after the lansing frag swap before I buy anything more.

 

[Mahnamahna]

Oh man you missed a really cool snow storm! Paul and I were loving it! It can snow more. And we need some new pics!

 

[Mike J.]

I'm going to follow this build, just like watching builds progress and dream of one of my own. Really do appreciate you sharing it.

 

[rininger85]

Not much going on with the tank for a few weeks until I get some money... Lansing frag swap is the 22nd which I plan on picking up quite a few corals and maybe a fish or two if I see any that are on my list. Here are a few pics with the tank running... apparently you can't insert pictures inline anymore... so much for me bragging about how much better picture posting was here LOL...

 

[rininger85]

still have some clean up work to do with wires...I had to set up one of my 10 gal tanks as a freshwater to rescue a cichlid from my coworker who was going to flush him... I've almost finished draining my 40B, just collecting snails and hermits as I see them moving... then I'll start building my QT stand. I decided to toss a bunch of PVC in my sump / fuge to let them get coated with bacteria so I can hopefully use them to seed my QT tanks when needed.

 

[Mahnamahna]

Looks awesome! It has to be an incredible feeling having a frag tank. I can't even fathom having one right now, but it would be neat to have one. Everything looks great. Have you considered blocking out the fishroom window or cover the back of the tank so it doesn't shine through the tank from the living area?

 

[rininger85]

Looks awesome! It has to be an incredible feeling having a frag tank. I can't even fathom having one right now, but it would be neat to have one. Everything looks great. Have you considered blocking out the fishroom window or cover the back of the tank so it doesn't shine through the tank from the living area?

Surprisingly, I do love the frag rack already... I'm leaving my frags in there until I get all of the rocks in place (I still plan to add at least another 50lbs of rock) and wait until the algae backs down in the tank a bit... having the frag section of my sump I don't have to battle keeping algae off the frags (at least not yet, but since there is no rock/sand there I don't expect to have algae there either).

I might eventually make something to hang on the back of the tank, but I want to be able to view the tank from the back too, because it is very hard to work in this tank while looking down, you need to look from the front/back to make sure everything is how you want it, and having to walk around to the other side to look sucks...so whatever I hang on the back to block out the room has to be removable.

 

[Mahnamahna]

That's a smart idea. Something light and easy but does the job. I'm worried about battling algae on the corals when I get them, but I'm sure I'm worrying myself over nothing. Last week I had a major algae outbreak (I'm thinking from the clown digging holes in the sand.) The clown is still digging, along with the nasarrius (sp?) Snails, but whatever nutrients they kicked up must have depleted itself because it's cleared up quickly. Water parems have remained stable and perfect. So I know it was just a short lived thing, but I've never ventured into corals so I'm a bit nervous. I've been researching and reading my brains out though. Should be fun!

 

[irvol]

Looks great. Hope someday I have the room to do something similar.

 

[rininger85]

Thanks, I was very fortunate that 1) My wife is tolerant enough to allow me to do this... and 2) we found the perfect house to do this... we had been renting, so when she said she wanted to buy a house I made sure I said OK as long as I can have a bigger tank... =) so we looked for the house with where we would put a big tank in mind...

 

[rininger85]

Family room getting a facelift!

Goodbye red! Hello blue and light gray. Still need to put a second coat on it all, but my wife is having surgery on her hand this week so she wanted to get painting done since we're not sure how long it will be before she can use her hand again afterwards... hopefully we'll get the second coat on in the next couple days as well as staining the trim around the tank to match the rest of the trim...