Quest Lobby 560 Gallon build
- Thread starter MuralReef
- Start date
I've been clearing out some space in my tanks. If one of the vendors here can score you something cool, I'd be willing to auction off some coral for a donation.
Enough so you can order one or 2 to get started. I saw a couple rays for less than $150 on HML. I'm sure I can frag enough for 1 or 2. Just let me know.
https://harrysmarinelife.com/product-category/marine-fish/rays-sharks-marine
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Enough so you can order one or 2 to get started. I saw a couple rays for less than $150 on HML. I'm sure I can frag enough for 1 or 2. Just let me know.
https://harrysmarinelife.com/product-category/marine-fish/rays-sharks-marine
Sent from my SM-G975U using MASC mobile app
Rock started going in! Kids came in shorts on this chilly day in order to get to do this. They can’t remember to do their math homework, but they can remember to wear shorts on a Tuesday when I tell them about it a week prior. Funny how that works.
We got about half of the already-wet rock in and zip tied to the pvc. The rest will go in next week. And then when they’re done, Mike and I will have to climb in there and mortar it all, fill in the gaps, and trim up the zip ties.
They’re still rinsing sand too.
I thought we’d perhaps be ready for damsels next week, but that isn’t going to happen with more rock that needs to go in. So we’re still at least two weeks out from the starter fish.
But the kids are having a blast. They want fish club to last from school’s out (2:30) until 10:00. And hopefully, they’re getting hooked on a lifelong hobby.
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We got about half of the already-wet rock in and zip tied to the pvc. The rest will go in next week. And then when they’re done, Mike and I will have to climb in there and mortar it all, fill in the gaps, and trim up the zip ties.
They’re still rinsing sand too.
I thought we’d perhaps be ready for damsels next week, but that isn’t going to happen with more rock that needs to go in. So we’re still at least two weeks out from the starter fish.
But the kids are having a blast. They want fish club to last from school’s out (2:30) until 10:00. And hopefully, they’re getting hooked on a lifelong hobby.
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More updates! In all, the rock building took three weeks. Three weeks of kids climbing in with zip ties and coaching on aquascaping techniques.
Then Mike climbed in and made sure all the critical joints got some mortar. We used Marco mortar, which was interesting to work with. We would do that differently next time, but it got the job done.
Then yesterday, we went in to the building to get the tank completely full and running! Heaters and controllers are installed, and we had just barely enough rodi on hand to fill the tank up and add salt.
So now it’s officially running and the cycle is started! It’s incredibly quiet. You can’t hear the two sicce return pumps at all. The overflows drain almost completely silently. And once the stand cabinet doors are built and added, I don’t think you’ll be able to hear it running at all.
Honestly, we were the only two in the building standing and listening to it, and we could barely hear it. There’s no way it’ll be heard above the normal hustle and bustle of the school day.
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Then Mike climbed in and made sure all the critical joints got some mortar. We used Marco mortar, which was interesting to work with. We would do that differently next time, but it got the job done.
Then yesterday, we went in to the building to get the tank completely full and running! Heaters and controllers are installed, and we had just barely enough rodi on hand to fill the tank up and add salt.
So now it’s officially running and the cycle is started! It’s incredibly quiet. You can’t hear the two sicce return pumps at all. The overflows drain almost completely silently. And once the stand cabinet doors are built and added, I don’t think you’ll be able to hear it running at all.
Honestly, we were the only two in the building standing and listening to it, and we could barely hear it. There’s no way it’ll be heard above the normal hustle and bustle of the school day.
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Now with lights!
View attachment 19757
Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
It really came together nicely. There are some spots where you can see the pvc frame still. We will probably zip tie a couple more small pieces so that it’s completely covered from the front. We’re hoping that adding some GSP and other weed corals that they will cover and disguise the zip ties too.
Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
Sent from my iPhone using MASC - Marine Aquarium Society of Colorado
It is kind of crazy how quickly my zip ties disappeared into the rocks! and you can always glue sand to them to help hide them.
I personally am cautious to use weed corals, and with how well you propagated nems in the classroom tank........... just saying haha
Also where does one sign up for to get some of this "coaching on aquascaping techniques"?????
I personally am cautious to use weed corals, and with how well you propagated nems in the classroom tank........... just saying haha
Also where does one sign up for to get some of this "coaching on aquascaping techniques"?????
So the tank is full on in the ugly stage. We have one lone damsel who needed a place to stay and got thrown in here. The kids about lost their minds when they realized there was a fish in the tank finally. And it’s so fun to hear the fish club kids explaining to the rest of the kids why he’s in there.
When we were explaining to kids about the ugly stage, one of the students piped up and said “so fish tanks go through puberty too?” I about lost my mind. And now I definitely need this design on a fish club shirt for our middle school group.
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When we were explaining to kids about the ugly stage, one of the students piped up and said “so fish tanks go through puberty too?” I about lost my mind. And now I definitely need this design on a fish club shirt for our middle school group.
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