jamesbarr

on the left there is a bunch of moneywort. It will grow tall eventually. On the right is jungle val, so that will be growing in pretty soon Im sure lol, and corkscrew vals. The smatterings of green around the anubius are pygmy swords. Behind the anubius, you cant see it, are a few crypts. On the left by the moneywort is a cluster of Java fern and runners that are sitting on top of a cave I made for my plecos. Once I have my sons 20 Gallon set up to the left (where the hinged box is now sitting) I will be taking out all the guppies that are in there and putting them all in his tank. I plan of getting more danios, a few angels, and a small school of harlequin rasboras. I also plan on getting some driftwood to work in there soon for a nice hardscape feature along the right beside the red and brown rocks.

Thanks I thought 'what the heck, it weighs a ton already ' lol Heres the tank as it stands

Thanks

So away we go again. Got supplies to fix my under sized stand issue.... Took the sheeting off the side. Framed up two matching walls with extra L studs to attach them to the side of the structure. Filled it with water! I took down the 36 gallon and filled this one up. Had a canister on the other that would work for this one, so I used that. I reused the sand from that tank and my sons 5 gallon and am in the process of replanting all my plants. When you go from 36 to 60 gallons, its like culture shock. So much room! Thanks for watching. Stay tuned for the next episode, where I build a matching stand for my sons 20 gallon.

Definitely, too much money and time invested to skimp on a couple boards lol

Currently, I have 3 serpea tetras, a school of about 10 (?) danios, A bunch of stupid guppies, 3 albino cories, 2 albino hifin plecos. I plan to get other stuff now that I have more room. Havent decided, but Im leaning toward harlequin rasboras and angels.... not too sure

However careful we may be, there are set backs...... I planned for the tank to be 36x24x12. Not so, its 36x24x18..... The resulting over hang on the edges will bring forth a brand new set of walls to compensate. Im going to remove the side sheeting, build a wall that will go from the floor to the top of the stand and put my sheeting back on over the new wall. Ill have to make a 3.5in trim to accommodate the new uncovered wood. Im going to do the same thing on the opposite side as well. Pictures to follow...... arg

k, voting #8

Then I stopped and waited to it to dry, with one of these ^ Once Dry, I sanded the spots smooth and painted the top and bottom decks with black oil based paint. Slightly more toxic aroma, but the water repellent qualities are favourable Once dry, I then lifted the mammoth on to my bottom deck. I forgot to mention in the previous post that I had intentionally left this off to paint it. I then screwed it together. I then sheeted on side and trimmed the top and bottom of the door. I intend to put on a latching door to keep idle childlike hands at bay. I also intend in the near future to build a matching unit for my sons 20 gallon to sit on. This would attach to the left side where the sheeting is glaringly lacking. On the right side I have a desk that is framed, I intend very soon to put a top on there. My corner stand was designed to match my desk in height and width. Longer down the road, Id like to put together an aquaponics station to go beside that. My tank as it stands. It will be different once I move it into the 60 gallon. Ill have to post pictures later on. Especially once the desk and adjacent stand are in place. Hope you liked it .

So, Fisher had inspired me to build a corner stand for my 60 gallon. I have built it now and have taken pictures along the way, Enjoy This is the base. I know, its not uber supportive looking, but it doesnt need to be. All this is intended to do it keep the bottom square and hold my fishy junk This is the top. Notice all the studs. This is designed the same way as you floor at home (only much closer together) It will rest on little 'walls' that I will build. The studs at the angled piece are closer to together mainly because I was having fun cutting them lol. My walls. I built these the very same way that a framer would. L studs and all. Dry fitting the walls to the 'decks'. All went according to plan, so I screwed the whole thing together. Happy me Once assembled, I sheeted the tops with 3/8 plywood. I got the rough stuff. The kind with the smooth finish on top is uber expensive. Once I had the sheeting glued and screwed, I went to work with the wood filler, filling all the screw holes on the top and the bigger defects.

glad to see everything worked out for you

deadly

where did you get that rock any how?

i think that #1 or #3 are the best, with #1 being better than 3.

cycling your tank yet?

how are things looking?

Have you thought about getting a light timer?

nice man, im glad things are coming along. so what was your photo period prior to this algae bloom? I think thats what vitaminz was referring to.

id keep doing what you are doing until things look right. Blacking out is a better suggestion than mine to just reduce the photo period. Also, I think that its a waste of time to use RO. There are tons of tanks out there that use normal treated tap water. Good to hear that things are already looking up. Keep it up and remember that patience is the key.

p.s. keep me posted on how things progress.

Im glad to help. Im not sure what to do with the HOB skimmers, Everyone that I have come across has had similar issues that you describe. IMO, I think that some skimming is going to be better than none. So, as you said, it cant hurt. The only thing that I am finding that people are saying for trouble shooting is that you may be able to adjust the water lever within the skimmer itself. Otherwise, Im not too sure what to do. Sounds to me that you have enough flow to me. Sites that I have found referring to the math for GPH tend to say anywhere from 10 to 20 times your tank volume for a SW set up That seems excessive to me. but I think its really going to become evident in the future whether you have enough or too much. For the purpose of this discussion, I would call your sump pump a safe GPH. In the future, I would move to distribute that GPH from a variety of sources, maybe dialling back your sump pump when you convert over to a sump system and purchasing a couple of power heads This can prevent a cyclone from developing in your tank. All in all I think that this is going to end up well, just be patient and things should work out. It just may take a little longer than anticipated for it to be ok to proceed. On the bright side of this, all youve lost so far is a turbo snail.

I would love to see some nice driftwood at the auction this fall. Half for the intent of getting some for myself, but it seems that it really generates excitement in the crown to win it. Its fun to watch the bidding on it,

I wouldn't run your canister on there in case you have something in your tank causing this problem that you wouldnt want to introduce into your older system (cross contamination) however, if you have a sump, or a seperate canister that you can introduce old media into in order to seed the new tank, I would do that for sure. Another option that I have seen in Freshwater tanks, tho Im sure the principle would be the same, is just wringing out the old media directly into the system. That being said, judging from the picture that you posted, I would say that my assumption of an algae bloom to be accurate (not saying that its for sure, but seeing it makes me more inclined to say that). If I am right in that regard, I would say that the likelihood is that you have enough nutrients in your water column now to sustain your cycle, since its sustaining your algae now. That will be especially certain if you reduce your photo period. Algae needs light to complete photosynthesis. If there is a shorter time for that to occur, you will naturally reduce the amount of growth done by the algae itself, leaving more unused nutrients in the column for the beneficial bacteria to use up. Also, as you reduce your photo period, the shorter period of photosynthesis will cause algae to begin to lose its title on your tank. Subsequently, algae will die, introducing more nutrients into your tank for bacteria to use as well, through the breakdown of the algae. All this may lead to a nitrate spike in your water values, which is why I recomend that you use your skimmer during this process, eliminating substances that, if broken down slowly by the natural cycling of the tank, will prolong the process. Another thing that I didn't ask about in my previous post, how much in the way of current are you using? Algea is increasingly successful in tanks with low flow.

did the live rock come from your old tank, or did you source it from a trusted source? Yellow/green indicates an algae bloom, which by extension would indicate high nutrients, not too unusual in my limited experience. Depending on what school of thought you choose to follow, you may hear a couple different opinions. Some people would ride it out, waiting for the biological side of things to catch up , the algae to use up excess nutrients and die off, or for the baddies to wind up in your skimmer. Salt isnt cheap, but W/C is likely the course of action to use in this instance. Another thing to consider is that algae requires light to function. You could change your light period to a minimum or even off entirely for a while. This may be all that your bacteria needs to catch up and for the algae to starve and die off. Along with the light subject, if your tank is getting sunlight via a window that may effect your light spectrum in your tank, while that is science that Im not too familiar with, I have heard that the 'colour' of you light can promote algae growth. Again, Im not sure. Other people would tell you to buy various products to 'fix' your problem. This is something that FW and SW Aquaria share. The problem with using a product to cure the problem is that the person using it never truly understands why the problem happened in the first place. This is fine if that person doesn't mind running to the store as a first resort action for problems, but isnt fine if the store happens to be closed. I would try to go at this from a biological approach, because while you can overdose on products, you cant overdose nature.

that would be pretty sweet. I'm a bottom feeding fish fan myself. I'm hoping to see a lot more in the way of schooling fish. I got a group of 5 Burma Spotted Danios in the spring auction and wouldn't mind to get a few more to add to my school.