GSP in new 37 gallon tank.

[jmiller]

$100, and it came with a 150 watt heater.

That's the plan right now. I'm going to have a 1"-1 1/2" fish in a 37 gal tank so I think I'll be good for awhile. I will eventually add a external canister also. That's why I cut that notch out of the back.
Your earlier post you asked about an internal and for some reason I read external. It has two small cutouts about the size of a golfball to run cords through that I plan on using for the external piping.

The space it's going into a 36" tank would really be a tight squeeze and this is going to work much better. I think decorating a tank this tall is going to be a challenge though.

[jmiller]

sorry for some reason I thought I typed more then that LOL

I ment OT(off topic) but is that car a VW karmann ghia

Yes, it's the wife's '68. I just finished welding floorpan halves and a rear quarter panel in. That's what I was suppose to be working on this weekend instead of the new tank. Once her's is finished I'll get back to work on my '62 beetle.

^5 for correct spelling on Karmann.

[xrayjeeper83]

Nice you should start a thread on the rebuild lol.

And I have to admit that with out google I wouldnt have spelled it correctly HAHA

[jmiller]

Anyone have ever dealt with these guys?

http://www.marcorocks.com/

Saw some posts on another site that looked promising. Looks like I could get 25# of dry rock and 20# of sand delivered for $92 or the combo of 40# each for $119 delivered. Do this sound about right on price?, or who do you use?

[Pufferpunk]

I buy LR from local reefers: http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/forum ... ysprune=-1

[jmiller]

Thanks for the link but that group doesn't seem to be very active. I'll do some more checking though.

Correct me if I'm wrong but since I will initially be freshwater and slowly going from brackish to either high brackish or full marine I need to wait on the LR and just do dry rock for now, right?

[jmiller]

Okay I have a few more questions. In another thread PP said that I should use aragonite sand as a substrate to steady the PH. I was reading that it would also raise the PH but couldn't find a definite answer on how much, mine is 7.9/8.0 straight from the tap so how much is this going to change it?
Also what depth should it be? I've seen anywhere from 1" to 6".

I'm about 90% sure that I'm going to go with a marine look so the next question is about aquascaping. I've seen a few helpful sites and from what I've read so far it looks like I would be using light diffuser eggcrate & either zip ties or marine epoxy to fasten the rocks. Any other suggestions or sites that you know of?

As far rocks go, any idea how much I would need to order?

[jmiller]

anyone?

[pufferpuggirl]

Sorry I can't answer your questions, wish I could help.

[jmiller]

Sorry I can't answer your questions, wish I could help.

Thanks anyway.

[Nick]

I think of argonite this way - Argonite sand isn't so much for changing the PH, but from preventing it from changing should something go off, as a bit of backup security.

Deep sand beds are a good way to reduce wastes in salt water tanks, BUT they use up swimming and water space. I recommend only a 1" bed in the main tank, and a deep sand bed in a refugium if you set one up later.


You'd want around 40 pounds of rock, more is better as long as theirs swimming space. I've just stacked it carefully to "secure" it, no egg crate or zip ties or anything, but my GSPs don't exactly bash the rock around on me, either.

[jmiller]

Thank you for the response.

I'm not so sure about not securing it. I've got a dog, 2 cats & two small grand daughters to contend with.

I'm still looking for pics of tanks to get an idea of what I would like to do. With this tank being an "odd" shape it's become quite challenging trying to find something.

[jmiller]

I just got the call from the LFS. Here is a list of what they can get:

Dwarf (already have one in a 10 gallon)
Figure 8
GSP
South American
Fugu (large) assuming that means full grown

I'm really leaning toward that GSP but still a little unsure of ultimately having a marine tank since I know nothing about them. How much time do I have until it needs to go either to high end brackish or full marine?

I also like the looks of the Figure 8's and they would definitely be easier to maintain. How do they interact, are they as personable as GSP's?

Decisions, decisions.

[jmiller]

Decision made, I'm going with a GSP. That's the one I really want so now it's time to really start planning.

I bought 40# of aragonite sand & 40# of key largo dry rock from http://www.marcorocks.com/ and it's should be here in a few days. Once that's in I'll start my fishless cycle by dosing pure ammonia and jump starting it by seeding with mature filter "squeezings".

Last weekend I rehomed the fish in my 10 gal community tank and moved my dwarf puffer in it and then took her 5.5 gal and turned it into a snail tank. The community tank was full of snails so I probably have 100+ snails already and most are pea sized. I have been thinking about this for awhile now so I've been overfeeding the tank a little to jump start snail production. It is running an AquaTech 5-15 with mature media from the 10 gal community tank, heater and is bare bottomed with a couple rocks covered in Anubias.

Got my short list together for the switch to brackish. So it's just a matter of starting to buy everything.

The plan for now is to run the Eclipse 3 filter currently on the tank from the initial freshwater cycle through the change to brackish. I plan to use that time to research exactly what I'm going to need equipment wise when I finally make the switch over to (most likely FO) full marine. Anybody have a favorite brand, dealer, or a stay away from list that they would like to share?

[jmiller]

Look what came today:





This one is the smallest in the box.



Here is the first attempt from the front, then left and right.






Ten pieces, a total of 44 pounds, with four being larger than a football. Thanks to FedEx it is now 11 pieces with three large ones. I will probably take them apart and try it again, or have my wife try and maybe the oldest grand daughter also. The tank measurements are 30Wx12Dx22H and this ended up being 24x9x18. So size wise this worked out pretty well. I may run into an issue with the filter tube but I'll just have to deal with it if it becomes a problem.

The sand should be delivered Monday so I'll wash it the first part of the week and hopefully have my final rock layout figured out by then. Then I can finally add water and start to cycle. Once I get started I should be able to have everything ready in two weeks.