Hello to these forums

[Acrylic]

Hello everyone.

I've been reading these forums for a week or so and I like what I've seen.

I recently turned 30 and as a reward for surviving this long my folks will cover $1,500 worth of a gift of my choosing. I chose to get an aquarium.



Now I am a complete beginner when it comes to keeping an aquarium, but my plans are hopefully relatively modest.

Time to resize some pictures I've taken so I can post them, and then I'll describe what my setup is like so far.

In the meantime you'd best put on your newbie armor as I'm sure to attack you with wonderful newbie questions!

[Acrylic]

So here is a picture of my aquarium as of two (?) days ago.



It's all rather basic, I think. The tank itself is glass, a Perfecto/Marineland 90 gallon.

I'm using an Eheim 2217 filter. I believe this is referred to as a canister filter, am I right? I'm not down with all the lingo so bear with me.

There's 90+ lbs of miscellaneous live rock in there, along with 80 lbs of argonite sand/crushed coral. The live rock had been at the fish store for a couple months in the shop's sump and in various display tanks. This being the case, I didn't seem to have much of a cycle with my tank after I'd set it up. (Or maybe I'm not being patient enough)

At any rate, the lighting is simple, just one fluorescent bulb. I'm not worried about lighting right now, as I don't plan to get corals or anything light-dependant anytime soon.

I do want to get one or two powerheads to get some water circulation at the surface. I know I've got the spray bar deep in the tank, but I wanted good circulation around my rocks.

I've got little bugs (pods I guess) running around on the rocks, although in very modest numbers.

After testing the water for a couple days, the main parameters were all in line, zero ammonia, zero nitrites, zero nitrates (as near as I could tell with my test) and my Ph was 8.3 just last night.

This being the case I went ahead and introduced 10 turbo snails yesterday. I dunno if there's even enough algae growth to support them, but figured I'd give it a try. If they don't make it, at least I'll get a proper cycle, right?

I've got a heater also but it's not installed. My water temp is sitting pretty at 74 degrees.

That's about all I can think of right now. Any advice or concerns at this early stage would be appreciated.

[Acrylic]

Here's a picture of a few of my snails, exciting I know!

Anyone have any photography tips for taking pictures of your aquarium? Lights on/off? Flash on/off?

[yote]

Welcome to the reef.
We love those newbie questions.They give us a good excuse to up our post count.

[Acrylic]

How long does it usually take for a moderator to come along and approve a post? I tried posting a reply with some pictures a couple hours ago and no sign of them yet.

[yote]

The easiest way to post pics is to upload them to either the gallery here or on photobucket and copy and paste to your post.
Mods dont have to approve the pics.

[yote]

http://www.livingreefs.com/forums/re...ing-reefs.html

This may help.

[Acrylic]

I will try again then. Assuming this works, the first picture is my initial setup with live rock (some 90 lbs of it) and argonite sand/crushed coral (80 lbs).

Just using an Eheim 2217 pump/filter at the moment.

I definitely want to get a powerhead or two. I have a heater but the tank seems to have settled at 74 degrees so I haven't put the heater in just yet.



My water parameters seem to be good so yesterday I went ahead and introduced 10 turbo snails. Here's a few of them hanging out.



I had written more in my original pictures/posts but now I just want to see if this will work.

[Acrylic]

This is the text I get when I try to post a reply with pictures in it:

"Thank you for posting! Your post will not be visible until a moderator has approved it for posting. You will now be taken back to the forum. If you opted to post a poll, you will now be allowed to do so."


Edit: This is after following the instructions in that walk-through you linked. I am using Firefox - I don't know what else to try.

[joeman]

I seem to remember that the first time I posted as well.... I'm sure Biff will be along soon...

Approve of your choice by the way - I couldn't think of a better way to spend a few $'s

So do you your already have the tank? Is that the 'Acrylic' reference?

.... and welcome!