My Salt Water Addiction - Intervention Needed!

[CJ*]

I have dead rocks, live rocks, dead sand, live sand and salt water. Still moving furniture...... but I'm close to figuring out where to put the tank. I hope anyway! lol

I went to Jay's fish store today, he wasn't there but his Dad was and they had live base rock on sale for $2 a lb. He said it will be gone sometime tomorrow. So I was glad I went today. He was so nice, he moved all the rocks in one whole side of the tank for me after I moved all the rocks in the other side looking at each one. It felt good to have my hands back in salt water, even if I was in a long sleeved fleece Pat's sweater today. Just rolled the sleeves up and got in there. Apparently I looked like I knew what I was doing because 2 random people in the store thought I worked there and kept asking me questions. LOL

I had to keep reminding myself that I only have a 30 gallon because I already had a big box of rocks in my car and I had picked out another 56 lbs of live rock..... I had to put some back after I looked at all of it. I may be returning an unopened bag of sand too..... but not sure yet. I brought home 80 lbs of dry and 40 lbs of wet, plus some live sand that Rusty gave me when I bought the tank and KPC gave me some dry sand too.

I want this furniture moved so I can level the tank and play with my rocks!!!!! I love playing with rocks.

 

[ScottyD]

Wow that is a lot of sand!!! I put about 25lbs in my 29gal and it is around 1" above the black!! Sounds like your having a great time setting up your new tank. Have fun good luck...

 

[Reefried]

yeah that is lots of sand, and with the leds i def think you wont need a chiller, I would try to do whatever possible to avoid a chiller, they are heat machines which if kept in the same room as the tank just ends up heating the room up more then running to cool the tank down cause the room is so hot, plus they use a lot of power...do you have air conditioning?

 

[CJ*]

No central air, but I put a window unit in my room. The window unit would be about 4 feet away from the tank.

 

[CJ*]

I think I finally found a spot for my tank. I moved stuff every way possible and then put it all back then moved it again and again and again....... It ended up angled in the corner. It's visable from my bed and my desk both. I do worry about my laptop being so close to it (yes, that's a Red Sox laptop) but I guess I'm going to have to find a new spot to leave my laptop, or leave it on the other nightstand, or *gasp* actually put it on my desk!

 

[CJ*]

I'm 5'8" which isn't really short for a woman, but my tank is too tall for me, it makes me feel short.
I need a step stool to reach in the tank. LOL

Ummm.... this is what 40 lbs of sand looks like in my tank. I'm so not use to a cube! I think I'm gonna be returning 3 unopened bags of sand..... >_>

 

[CJ*]

OMG..... I didn't realize that Rusty gave me so much sand with the tank. I thought it was mostly water in the two buckets he gave me. I thought I heard him say that he had a few extra lbs of sand, so I didn't think it was very much. Well it was wet but it was about 40 lbs worth of sand and then I had 5 lbs of dry sand that KPC gave me too. I shouldn't have opened that 40 lb. bag that I just bought but I thought I was gonna need it...... :: So now I'm wondering what I'm gonna do with 58 lbs of dead rock and 21 lbs of live rock (I weighed all the rocks and sand). I haven't even gotten the water in the tank yet and I already need a bigger tank..... dang! I think I'm gonna scoop some of this dry sand out and just save it for something else later. I would like a little bit of water in my tank for the fishies to swim in.:.
So this is 85 lbs of sand in my tank.

And this is 65 lbs of sand in my tank. I scooped out about 20 lbs worth, 2 gallon sized zip lock bags of dry sand. On the scale it said 20 lbs, seems kinda high but I weighed with and without holding the bags 3 times and it said the same thing.

 

[CJ*]

I've been playing with my tank all night instead of sleeping. I'll probably change the rocks around a bunch more times. I got out the hammer and screw driver but couldn't really go to work on the rocks without waking up my roommate. Hammering quietly wasn't cutting it. There's water in my tank, so I'm going to bed now.

 

[Bruno]

Wow that's alot of sand

 

[loki32687]

I think you need more sand

 

[SteveDola]

think of all the added denitrification youll get from that DEEP sandbed plus you can have a jawfish or shrimp goby pair.

Looking good btw.

 

[CJ*]

Thanks, I usually did a 6" DSB in my old tanks, but in the smaller tanks I wouldn't use as much.

I'm having some trouble with my rock formation. In a longer tank I would usually make like a cove on each end with several bridges going across to the middle and save a spot in the middle for something pretty. But now I'm kind of debating between more of a curved formation that's lower, or building more of a stacked wall towards the back and trying to get a cave in the corner. I dunno.... the other rocks that aren't in the tank right now didn't want to stack very well, so I've got my hammer and screw driver out to see what I can come up with.

I should probably note that my most desired fish list is pretty simple it's a pair of black and white clowns with a rose bta and a bi-colored blenny. Out of all my old fishies those are the ones I miss the most. So that leaves it pretty open to rock formations. I mostly like leathers, shrooms, zoos, but I have trouble resisting a pretty blue clam and an sps or two. But those would be some of the last things I would add to the tank. But those can effect rock formations as well. I have about 50 lbs of dry rock sitting here that could be put to use. Here's some pics of the current rock formation, now that the sand has settled. I need to get the heater and power heads in there and go pick up the skimmer.

From the front:

From the right:

From the left:

From the top:
(the pieces real close to the glass in the back is just smaller pieces I set there so they would be ready for some frags later on)

I kind of like it, but I kind of think it should be taller.

Oh and this is my fuel for hauling all the rocks, sand and water!

(Don't get too excited that's a salad sized plate, not a dinner plate.)

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

Whats that like a cubic ton of sand? lol.

 

[CJ*]

65 lbs of sand

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

how many gallons is the tank 40?

 

[CJ*]

30 gallons, 20" wide, 18" front to back and 23" tall.

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

0.0 you have like half the tank filled with sand!!!!! new acronym Super Deep Sand Bed SDSB

 

[CJ*]

Hahaha!

 

[tigerslacrosse4]

your jawfish will love you. Oh and Coral reef has some clear screen and you can make a cover for the tank so that the jaw fish doesn't jump out and it wont block out any light seeing that your going to be down that way I would pick some up.

 

[CJ*]

I think I'm going to stop by their store on my way back.

Still not happy with my rocks yet! LOL