And we're off...

Got the call that everything was going to be delivered at 4pm! Dived out of work to get home by 4:15 and everything was already inside and the store owner was there to make sure everything was delivered. There were some issues.. the canopy they brought was the wrong one and no hose for the return pump, but otherwise I had everything I ordered... including the rocks and algae.. uh oh, better get this together soon!

After getting everything unpacked and laid out.....

I set out to put the background on the tank.

Everything else went pretty smoothly. I had to run to the store after I got the background setup to get the return pump hose and the right canopy. I also had to run out after to get a new hose clamp as the ones I had gotten weren't big enough for the drain hose...

Time for some water...

 

and more water....

Thanks to my amazing wife who lugged up bucket after bucket with me, especially when she had wanted nothing to do with this! Thank you so much baby for your help! We did great!

Full and looking good:

The lighting was an issue. I was up till 4 in the morning (while adding salt...) trying to figure out how to mount the lighting. After a trip to Home Depot today.. I worked it out. 

So the whole system is running now and looking amazing. I can't believe it's so clear after such a short amount of time. I still have to check all my levels tonight so I have a baseline, and hope that some algae and bacteria's are starting to develop. Come on Nitrogen Cycle, do your thing!

Next up, the auto top-off build...