Setup Beginning

I picked up the tank and stand on Tuesday, but due to some other commitments, I wasn't able to set it up until last night. I had my friend, Kyle, helping me level and fill the tank. Thanks again, Dad, for letting me use your fancy level. Oh, yeah, and thanks, Kyle, for your help... hehe... Here are some pictures:

First, we had to level the tank. Kyle helped me shim the front edge up. The shim is a little fuzzy, because I was using my zoom lens, and it didn't want to focus that close. :(

Here is the tank all set up. If you look closely, it also has a few gallons of water in it. We first wiped the tank clean with a damp cloth to try to remove as much dust as possible. Then we started filling:

After we started filling. The tank has about 5 gallons in it here... only 50 to go!

More filling. I'm starting to get really excited at this point. The tank is starting to become a reality. It's funny how when I was doing the research, and shopping around for good prices, I wasn't too excited in terms of it being a reality. Now that I have a tank, and there's water in it, it's definitely a reality. I've started making my decisions about which fish I want to get, and how I want to aquascape with my live rock (once I buy it). I think I was intentionally ignoring that part until the tank was a reality.

Kyle was a good sport, and is helping me with the tank this weekend. I'm sure it's not what he expected to do, but it's going to be a fun weekend, never-the-less.

We set the pump and filter up, and here I am priming the filter. It was pretty cool to watch it get started.

Here is my first "full tank shot", or FTS. As you can see, there is a lot more to go with the setup. Still need a lot of equipment (if the Local Fish Store, LFS will get my stuff in, already - but that's another story). I am going to get a plain black background for the back.

Here is the tank, all aglow. We turned out the lights in the room, and just had the aquarium lights going. As I mentioned in previous posts, I have one bright white and one blue actinic bulb, hence the blue glow. Sitting in the room like this for an hour, and then going into a room with real lights makes everything look REALLY yellow. It's fun.

Just sort of an artistic shot of the blue glow coming out of the back of the stand. There is no sand at the bottom of the tank, yet, so the light passes right through, and since the stand has no back, it glows out the back of the stand. Thought it looked cool.

Feel free to send me comments. If you're an avid aquarist, any advice would be greatly appreciated. If you're a photographer, I'll take advice as well (remember, some of these shots are not meant to look fancy, but just document the process).

BTW - Uncle Jack - thanks for the comment! As you can see, the wall isn't bare anymore. :) As for which fish I plan to get, that's a future post, that I'll probably have up in the next week or two. Don't worry, it's coming! Aquarium-keeping is a slow process. :) Oh, and I can't put those signs up, because my dad's head wouldn't fit through the door after his ego was inflated that much! hehe...