Cottonwood 125 Reef tank build

looks good so far cottonwood, just make sure those little caves are secure so you don't get a rock slide

Yeah I wiggled them and braced them up pretty well. I guess if a big fish were to run into them in a hurry it might knock some over but they are pretty solid, and once I add sand around the bottom it should make them a little more solid as well. I will make sure they are good though, I saw a thread about a broken tank...DONT want that!
 
look like asterina stars to me

Found some pics of these, thats what they are, Thanks!

And Biff I found the pics of the majano and ball anemone, I think I have majano and apatasia and a couple ball anemone, 2 white ones and what looks like maybe a small orange one. So thats cool too. Think they will make it through my tank cycle and with my crap lights? I basically just have 3 old flourescent lights. One 48" one 36" and one 24" and just have them above that one side of the tank.
 
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The ball anemone may make it thorough, I had a few make it through the cycle of my tank. As far as the majano and aiptasia, you should try and get them out as soon as you can before they start to spread
 
I ordered some aptasia x just now on ebay and will be zapping them as soon as it gets here. No store within 2 hrs has the stuff, no store within 2 hrs has saltwater stuff except a little bit at petco an hour from here.

I may just have to open my own store!
 
I added my sand...I think I put too much in it looks too deep...but I cant see a thing it is so cloudy in there, so we'll see when it clears. Should I turn my power heads off to help it clear or leave them on to help it cycle?
 
Thats right at 3watts/gallon. Probably would be ok with some low-medium light zoas/mushrooms if you keep them decently high up in the tank.

I've got one of their 150w MH pendants that has ran like a champ since I got it setup properly.
 
I think with that fixture you be stuck with low light sorties only. It is 3 watts per gallon but, the actual usable light output and the PAR output make them poor choices especially if you want to male your 125 into a mixed reef tank.
 
I do want to make it into a reef tank...just hard to swallow $600-$700 in lights! I know I'll have to do it eventually though.
 
If it were me, I'd save the $100 and start a FOWLR tank and buy the lights a few months down the road after I've saved for them.
 
Ok So there is a guy near me selling his set up...here is his link...I've been emailing him back and forth. He wont part anything out until all his fish are gone. I want some of his fish, but he wants me to take them all and said to give him an offer. My tank is cycling right now. My question is this....once its done with they cycle, would I be able to take all his fish, along with his LR, and some extra CUC and put them in my tank? I would be running a protein skimmer and I could do extra water changes for the next couple weeks or so to help out with the bio load change. Would it be possible? He is about 1.5 hrs from my house so I'd like to make it one trip and get everything if it could work....I know its not ideal to do add that much at once though.

http://prescott.craigslist.org/for/1903890251.html

I'm going to ask for his lights, skimmer, Brine shrimp hatcher set-up (???), scraper, auto feeder, and the misc hoses etc..
Thought I might say $200 for everything and see what he says.
 
That's a good deal, but his lights and most of the equipment are worthless (notice he has a fish only tank, not a reef)... $200 would be worth it for the tank. Even his original asking price would be worth it, but the tank DOES NOT look drilled, so that's a big turn off, IMO. Don't take the substrate -- you don't want crushed coral. From the pics, the rock actually looks like lava rock, which is a no no for reef tanks. They often leach metals, making it hard to keep inverts alive. I would not use lava rock in a reef tank.

That's a lot of fish to add at once, but I think it'd be okay if you make sure you do water changes if anything spikes.

If you already have your tank, then I don't think this is worth it for your particular situation. None of his equipment will be able to sustain a reef tank, his substrate isn't good, and I wouldn't trust that rock. You'd basically be buying the fish. The undergravel filter is useless for saltwater, the Prism protein skimmer is crap, and the canister filter is a nitrate producer... The autofeeders work for flake and pellet foods only, which you shouldn't be using anyways. ;)

It looks like he had a freshwater setup and converted it to saltwater. Somewhat. I take it you don't want the plastic corals and plants? :lol:
 
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Ok, I already have a tank and I know most of that stuff is no good to me, I have multiple tanks so my wife would kill me if I got another! I wasn't sure if the skimmer was any good so thanks for that info as well. So I guess its just the fish then! What should I offer him just for the fish do you think? I dont really want them all but he wants them all to go at once, and I'd like his lights if I can get them with the fish for cheap because they would actually fit on my tank, the ones I have now are 48" so it looks stupid. Maybe I could do a trade for some dif fish down the line.
 
You'd be getting a steal for $200 for all those fish. But since he's selling EVERYTHING cheap, maybe $100 to $150?
 
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