Monday, December 29, 2003

Cycle Day 1

Yesterday I went back to JL's, and picked up a 12lbs of Figi Live rock at $3.99 a pound (cheap!), and picked up a Tap Water Purifier. I figured instead of buying filtered water at safeway (at $5 a gallon, plus deposit for the bottle), it worked out cheaper to buy the filter for $54, and have something for myself.

Today I cleaned off the LR with a toothbrush, and started to fill up my tank. I filled it up with about 14gal of filtered water, and put in about 7.5 of salt in the tank. I put in the LR, and turned on my heater and also the Powerhead to mix up the salt. I added the one bag of Aragmax Sugar Sand (30lbs). I'm just waiting for the salinity to be good, then i'll maybe turn off the powerhead to let the cloudyness die down. The tank is REAAAALLY cloudy right now. So far, so good!

Saturday, December 27, 2003

Equipment Start!

So boxing day came, and went. I ended up going to both Big Al's and also JLAquatics to pick up my gear. I got the following:

from Big Al's: (total: $353.71)

1) 38 Gal Tank - $49
2) 36" Aqualight 1/96w 50/50 - $149
3) Saltwater Master Test Kit - $26.24
4) Deep Six Hydrometer - $10.49
5) Aqualight Mounting Legs - $7.49
6) Aq-Clear Power Hear 802 - $39.99
7) General & Carbonate Hardwater Kit - $9.74
8) Tetratec DW18 - $14.99

from LG: (total: $93.63)

1) Mag-Float 150 - $11.16
2) EboJager Heater 200W - $29.71
3) Aragamax Sugar Sand 30lb - $23.96
4) Kent Salt Bag - $16.95

subtotal: $447.34

Wowzer! More than I expected to pay. I can't believe how expensive this costs, but then again, I knew before jumping in. To think that I was possibly going to go with a 65gal tank! I still have to get my liverock too!

Tomorrow I'll test out the tank for any leaks. I'll probably head to LG again to get some live rock, I heard its fairly good pricing. $500 was my budget, so I think 10lbs should be good to start my cyclin' then we'll go from there.

Wednesday, December 24, 2003

Just a nice Reef Pic

I think I need at least one picture here on the site to start off. I grabbed this from One_Divided, a member from canreef.

Starting List

So after spending a good few hours talking with Shane online yesterday, I've come down to my startup list:

1) Tank (38g) 36x12x20
2) Heater - Ebo-Jager (200w)
3) Basic Air Pump (for water circulating when i'm mixing up my salt water)
4) Quick Filter Powerhead (802) 400gal/hr
5) Thermometer (an accurate glass or digital one)
6) Lighting (see below)
7) Live Rock (20-40% of tank vol)
8) Sea Salt (Kent)
9) Sand (Aragamax Sugar Sand) 30lbs
10) Test kits, fish net, tubing, GFI (so I don't fire my hair off), glass cleaner (magnetic!)

Thats about it hopefully. Regarding the lighting, I was planning on getting a 200w system, but after speaking with Shane, since I won't be setting up my coral till several months down the road, I'm okay getting some cheap lighting. He's got some Metal Halide lighting that I can get off him for hopefully cheap, which will come in handy down the road once I start getting some more coral. Thanks Shane!

Gonna go try my sister's cookies (hmmm safe or not?)...

Christmas eve

So I ran across another website, Canreef.com. Great Canadian reef site. They actually have a Vancouver club. How cool.

I direct you to this topic. That pretty much explains everything in a nutshell. Pretty funny. Anyhoo, the guy that i know (Lostmind), his name is Shane. Its cool, he's got a 120g tank, and working towards a 180! He's got a RO/DI which is awesome, so I can get some good clean water from him, rather than buying it.

Already Canreef has paid of. I picked up a free 20g tank from one member. It'll come in handy once I get the custom stand/cabinet made for the tank. I can use the 20g as a sump. Woot! Now i'm just waiting for another member to reply to pick up a skimmer for $80 bucks. Talk about a good deal!

New Blog!

Well, the new journey begins.

Back in Lethbridge, my birth town, I remember my parents having our own freshwater fish tank. I don't remember too much, other than it being big, and them spending a lot of time cleaning it.

Fast foward about 18 years. I know my mom has always wanted to get another tank in the house, but never did, as per having to deal with all the cleaning and so forth. Well technology has changed, and for the better. Maintaining a tank now, is completely different than that of several years ago. Fast foward from freshwater to saltwater.

Freshwater is still very much still kept around, but saltwater is just "cooler". Colorful fish, and coral, building a nano or larger reef is being a huge hobby.

So this year, I thought it would be nice to get my mom a saltwater tank for Christmas. From my experience, she wants it mainly for the "ohh ahh" factor. She doesn't want to clean/maintain it. I've always wanted a fish tank as well. Something about having life contained, yet being the "god". I mean it sounds bad, but at the same time, its really up to the owner to take care of the life in the tank.

So I started my search on what it takes to start up a fish tank. I started searching the web, and before you know it I was shocked. I couldn't believe what a HUGE hobby having a salt water tank has become. Its a science. There is so much information out there, I couldn't believe it. What shocked me was finding so many different forums out there. Forums with more members that some of the biggest car forums on the internet.

ReefCentral.com being one of the biggest, with over 45,000members. Wowzer!

So I spent the last 2 weeks reading, reading, and... reading. Ask me about LR, nitrates, skimmers, powerheads, clown fish, LS, whatever! Its a whole new language.

I've spent several hours at the LFS (Local fish store) such as Big Al's, talking with one guy in particular (Chris) who has been extremely helpful. I've been there twice so far, and will probably drop by tomorrow just to get even more info.

I decided not to buy anything till Boxing day, as that is when most of the items are on sale, and much cheaper. Maybe I'll get my mom a book for xmas, for a little "things to come".

Anyhoo, its late, and i've been reading for the past 5 hours. Time for sleep.

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