Couldn't stay away! 46g bow front build

[Painter]

So im setting up a new tank! I sold my 75g set up and thought I would take a brake for a while when my son was born 5mon ago. Didn't think i would have time. Then a buddy gave me a 46g bow front tank with the stand for free! I couldn't pass it up. So I modified the stand to be a bit taller and stronger. Cleaned it up and stained it. For the tank I painted the back black and painted the trim to match the stand. Now its up and cycling going on day 8. I like to call this part going thru the uglies lol.
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Day 1 of setup

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Day 8 of set up. As you can see im going thru the uglies.

[BBQHILLBILLY]

Looks great. keep the pics rolling.:bigsmile:

[Painter]

Thanks! I'll be testing the water tomorrow to see how things are going. When all tests well should I do my first water change or give it a few more days?

[Painter]

Everything is testing good. I hope to pick up a CUC this weekend. Ill do a water change tomorrow or Friday and test again just to be sure. I'm trying to take it slow and do it right this time.

[Painter]

Stopped by my LFS on my way home from work and picked up my first fish. I got another small rock, 3 crabs, a blue/green chromis, and a clown. It's off to a good start :). Now the hard part picking my next fish or maybe coral

[Mr Cob]

looks nice, I have always liked bowfronts. Those diatoms are a good sign that you are getting through the cycle A-O-K.

[Painter]

Thanks thats good to know. I think im going to pick up some supplements tomorrow. I would like to start getting the tank ready for some coral. I not to sure what kind of coral to get though.

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My new fish are looking good. The clown found him a new home already. He swims around checking things out and then goes back to check on his spot. Cool little guy.

[Painter]

So the tank is doing real good. I got some more rock and changed up the aquascape a bit. I have been working on finishing my stand and making a set up to hang my lights. I'll be setting up that this weekend. Next will be to set up a sump before my tank get any more fish. It's running with a HOB filter rated for 90 that's working fine. The little extras are helping me slow down and not rush my tank which can be hard lol

[Painter]

Well hanging the light went good and looks good. Bad news is I lost my firefish this morning. Not to sure what I did wrong. I had to drain 15g to move the stand out to install my bracket. So I treated it as a water change. I had to put 5g back in and made 10g new saltwater. Any in put would be nice so I don't do this again. Not sure if it was to much stress or maybe I took to long. Ideas?

[ramsey]

Sorry for the loss. How long did it take you? Unless it was over fours hours or so, I wouldn't think it would be a problem. It may have been stress or contamination. Was the fish eating prior to this? You didn't drop anything in the tank or contaminate the water storage containers with anything? If you haven't already, I'd test for ammonia and nitrites.

[ramsey]

Oh yeah, you said you got new rock a couple of days ago. Was this cured live rock or dry rock you added? If you added uncured LR, that could be the source of your problem.

[Painter]

It took about 2hrs. I only had enough salt to make 10g but took out 15g. So I reused 5g that I took out. I made sure to put that 5g I reused in a clean bucket. The fish was doing good and eatting before all this. I didn't have and changes in water parameters and my clown did well with this big water change. I'm thinking it was to much stress but am not sure. The rock I picked up was cured. I have only done basic test kit and salt check so it could be something else as well. I'll be working at setting up my sump by this next weekend. That should help things out a bunch. I hope lol

[MadReefer]

a new rock wouldnt kill a fish all to quickly. perhaps create another cycle? yes. unless you had some serious toxins in a rock i say doubtful. i would honestly take your time. i wont add corals till i have coraline algae growing myself. i let me 180 run for a few months with all rock in place and settled before i rushed in to kill things. these guys are live aminals =). wait till all your bacteria blooms/cycling is done before introducing live inhabitants. although lots of LFS love it bc they get to sell you more fish. i would create a plan of what you want to keep also for corals as there are dif needs for certain kinds. softies, lps, and sps all tend to have a different demand for lighting req., water params (dirty tank/clean tank), etc.

funny enough i purchased a rather nice large specimen of yellow tip elegance (rare), i figured hey this guy knows what he's doing. he has tons of frags. after it receeded and died, i noticed the undercut of the skelleton was so close he hit into the polyp and it was doomed from the start. in the case of your fish, i say stress. how long did you acclimate him? and how was it performed?

[Painter]

Yeah I don't plan on adding anything for a while. I want to finish my sump set up first. As for the firefish it had been in the tank for a week and was eating good. He was acclimated for 20min by floating the bag. Is that ok?