210 Upgrade Build with LED Build

[nuclearheli]

You can put water in and start mixing the water in the tank with a power head. I went without a sump for three weeks and had no problem. Just got to have water movement to keep the water flow. Does not even have to be that strong.

If it does start to stink (which it shouldn't) through a bag of carbon in it.

I do not know if you rinsed the marco rock yet or not. If not you might want to do that anyways. (Use RO/DI water)

All the rock was rinsed. I am not completely convinced that putting water in the tank without the rest of the filtration is the right thing to do. If anyone else has anything to add to this idea, personal experiences, warnings or otherwise please weigh in. The shipping receiver states my sump will be delivered on April 5th. Based on my schedule I probably won't get it fully operational until that following Sunday, the 10th. I have a 900 GPH pump I can submerge in the tank to circulate the water around but no filtration available. Anyone else done this with good results??? Will the tank actually start to cycle normally without the sump and will the buildup of expected Ammonia, Nitrites and other junk be too much and cause problems?

 

[levischilz]

the sump really just hides all our crap for the tank the mechanics are still the same if you provide heat and water movement for temporary time being it would not cause trouble i would keep it a couple inches below the overflow top. If you are worried for the time being you could just keep the water colder for the first few days the heat will cause the cycle faster also would depend on the amount of decay available and from the sound of your rock process would not be much unless you intend to add something to it.

If your going to do it i would add at least 2 power heads to the water for circulation and a heater. The main benefit you would lose would be the surface straining of the water but for just mixing and cycle purposes it would not hurt anything.

 

[nuclearheli]

the sump really just hides all our crap for the tank the mechanics are still the same if you provide heat and water movement for temporary time being it would not cause trouble i would keep it a couple inches below the overflow top. If you are worried for the time being you could just keep the water colder for the first few days the heat will cause the cycle faster also would depend on the amount of decay available and from the sound of your rock process would not be much unless you intend to add something to it.

If your going to do it i would add at least 2 power heads to the water for circulation and a heater. The main benefit you would lose would be the surface straining of the water but for just mixing and cycle purposes it would not hurt anything.

Sounds like I will be going with Pyton's suggestion. I do plan to put the water for my next water change on my 90 into the 210. I dose carbon on my 90 and I am sure based on my water chemistry and the color of my rocks I have a nice bacteria population going in there. I had hoped that I could accelerate things a bit with some clean purple rocks from the 90 and some water.

Keeping the water below the overflow is not a problem. I have two isolation valves under the tank before going into the basement. I can simply shut them and be fine.

 

[nuclearheli]

Looking for one more piece of advice before I screw things up. I am planning to fill the tank with tap water. We have a 300' deep well with very pure water and conditioned water. No chlorine of course. I tested the water for Copper and there isn't any that I can register. Tested for phosphates and again, can't find any to speak of. No nitrates or nitrites or ammonia based on the test kits. Anyone see any reason why for this first fill and a probably long cycling time anyway that I can't use the tap water? We also have an iron removal system so there is no detectable iron in the water either. pH is about 7.4 but I figure the salt, and alkalinity will more than take care of that.

If there aren't any "DON"T DO IT" comments by tonight the water goes in.

 

[pyton]

Just make sure you have movement in your tank. If you have the water moment on the top of your water line you will be pulling air into your tank.

You will be fine.

 

[Specialtang]

I agree with pyton and levischilz.

Fill it up, start your cycle

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

I am with pyton on this one. If you add water and start the cycle it will start cultivating the biological filtration, you don't need a sump for that just water flow and a heater. Depending on how much waste is still locked in the "cooked" rock it may have enough to start the breakdown to ammonia, if not you can add the famous uncooked/unseasoned dead shrimp from the super market to start the ammonia process.

Doing this isn't going to harm anything, it's only going to speed up the waiting game. You may get a slight smell, because you're not using a skimmer or any other biological/mechanical filtration but once you incorporate the sump and all other equipment you'll be set. Also, by not having the other equipment you will allow for a more robust colony of bacteria to sustain your livestock once the cycle is complete. So I see it a win win.

The only thing that I would be careful with is how high you allow your water line. keep it at a safe distance away from the overflow so you don't have a puddle in the basement.

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

Looking for one more piece of advice before I screw things up. I am planning to fill the tank with tap water. We have a 300' deep well with very pure water and conditioned water. No chlorine of course. I tested the water for Copper and there isn't any that I can register. Tested for phosphates and again, can't find any to speak of. No nitrates or nitrites or ammonia based on the test kits. Anyone see any reason why for this first fill and a probably long cycling time anyway that I can't use the tap water? We also have an iron removal system so there is no detectable iron in the water either. pH is about 7.4 but I figure the salt, and alkalinity will more than take care of that.

If there aren't any "DON"T DO IT" comments by tonight the water goes in.

I totally missed this one. It's hard to say what's in your water unless you have it tested. There's more impurities in the water than what we test for that can be harmful to our invertebrates, such your corals.

It's very hard to comment one way or the other, but you never know, the minerals in your water may be beneficial. In my opinion, the unknown is enough to say, "Don't Do It!".

However there's no reason why you can't use your Ro/Di to fill the tank. You don't have to conduct a 100% waterchange after the cycle. Just your routine 10-20% that you would normally do.

I may have missed it, are you planning to use the water from your other tank to fill this one after the cycle?

 

[sunflashx]

Sounds like I will be going with Pyton's suggestion. I do plan to put the water for my next water change on my 90 into the 210. I dose carbon on my 90 and I am sure based on my water chemistry and the color of my rocks I have a nice bacteria population going in there. I had hoped that I could accelerate things a bit with some clean purple rocks from the 90 and some water.

Keeping the water below the overflow is not a problem. I have two isolation valves under the tank before going into the basement. I can simply shut them and be fine.

I'm doing a very similar thing. I have a new 90 gallon filled full of BRS Eco Rocks, similar to what you have. Dead white base rock. Basement sump in progress, but like someone else said that is a place to hide equipment. Primary circulation for me is a Tunze 6105, my sump circulation is intended for sump functions not a source of water movement. I put the rock in first, then substrate, then RO, then mixed the salt in with the powerhead.

I picked up 2 rocks, one covered in coraline and another that had a couple types of macro on it, along with a cup full of sand from an established tank.

It's about 6 weeks from the day I filled it, but I've added a a handful of fish (2x black ocellaris, 3x green chromis and a hippo tang, all small juvenile size fish) spaced out a few weeks between each add starting about a week after I moved the two live rocks in. I also put in a handful of the normal cleaner invertebrates. I'm going to hold at this level for a while as far as fish go.

No nuisance algae of any sort, coraline algae is spreading from the seed rock pretty well (in my opinion), the caulerpa algae was growing until the tang ate it all, it's been replaced with some Chaeto that he's not getten into yet.

My only real concern is gas exchange without all the agitation you get from sump flow and a skimmer, so I made sure my water surface was well agitated with my current powerhead placement.

No smell at all except when I tried to feed the tang broccoli. Then the water stank like broccoli for a few hours. :lolspin:

 

[ryman]

However there's no reason why you can't use your Ro/Di to fill the tank. You don't have to conduct a 100% waterchange after the cycle. Just your routine 10-20% that you would normally do.

I may have missed it, are you planning to use the water from your other tank to fill this one after the cycle?

This is how I setup my new tank. While the RO/DI was filling, I had time to setup other items like my Apex, skimmer, plumbing, etc. However, I think it took over a week to get it filled. I also had (2) power heads, (1) submersible return pump, and a heater in the tank while filling. When the tank reached about 1/4 full, I started adding a couple scoops of salt at a time. However, I added my rock and substrate after the tank was about half-full and measuring around 1.024 salinity.

 

[ryman]

nuclearheli,

Also, I just want to say thanks for posting this build. I am in the works of building my 2nd LED project (2 separate fixtures) and have been planning on using the High-Voltage drivers. Your project pointed out a change I need to make to my design.

If I remember reading correctly in one of the post, you stated that instead of using the G11 material, a person could use a piece of Acrylic instead. Is that correct? Or did I read something incorrectly?

This thread came at a great time, as I just picked up my heat sinks from anodizing today. Now I'm just waiting for my Royal Blue LEDs and a decision on which power supply to use.

 

[nuclearheli]

Well the long and slow fill started tonight. We should have a full tank by tomorrow, god bless that little RO Engine that could!! Will post pictures of the full tank. Set up a temporary and pretty crummy looking sump in the basement with my old 900 gpm pump. Should be interesting.

 

[strgazr27]

Woo Hoo !!

 

[Sisterlimonpot]

So you are going to temporally add a sump to flow water to the basement?

 

[nuclearheli]

So you are going to temporally add a sump to flow water to the basement?

Yes the old Tupperware fallback. Should work well. Tank filling nicely. Wont be long now.

 

[strgazr27]

Alright so WHERE THE HE** IS THE NEW SUMP ?? J/K Can't wait to see it up and running.

 

[dallasg]

very cool build, i love the attention to detail
+taggin along

 

[RianS]

amazing build all the way through

 

[nuclearheli]

Well busy day but the big fill is finally done. Not only is it done, it's up to 1.025 salinity. Looks great.

And here is my ghetto temporary sump in the basement. A 900 GPH pump is chugging along circulating the water.

So far 50 Pounds of salt has been added bringing the salinity up to 1.025.

 

[nuclearheli]

Alright so WHERE THE HE** IS THE NEW SUMP ?? J/K Can't wait to see it up and running.

YOU are responsible for this post. I read your post this morning and decided to get the shipping status of the sump which had a scheduled delivery of April 5th. So I logged on to the shipping company's web site and noticed that the sump actually arrived in Newark NJ yesterday, then was shipped to Philadelphia PA last night. Probably passed within 15 miles of my house on the NJ Turnpike. It was sitting in the distribution center in PA today. I called the company and made arrangements to pick it up.

ROAD TRIP!!! And yes, as of late today the sump is here!!! All I had a chance to do is remove it from the crate. Here it is:

I would love to say I will have it set up and running in the next day or so but that is probably not going to happen. I have electricians installing the generator this weekend. I will be working on it and hopefully have it running shortly. Of course more pictures will follow. It will take some time to put together the 100 or so parts that this thing came with.

Thanks for the nudge this morning!!!! I now have the sump.