A take on BB methodology.
- Thread starter SeanT
- Start date
RichConley
New member
how does that show resiliency? He killed everythign in the tank...
then later started it up....and nothing else died? that seems like somethign ANY tank would accomplish.
Bert Shaft
New member
New BB Start-up
New BB Start-up
Hello gang,
I've just re-set my tank up after a couple of years (dry so to speak), and i've gone BB.
I have a 97 imperial gallon tank and sump, i have 2 drains in the weir with an ocean runner 3000 power head on a reef clean system with another 3000 on the opposite side of the tank pumping across the back at the bottom (the 2 hard pipes meet in the middle of the tank under the egg crate to keep the detritus in flow off the live rock above), in the right hand weir that is just a circulation box i have put a deltec 4040 hlp pump in on a closed loop this is linked to IKS to give me a wave action.
In the sump i have 2 x eheim 1262's as return pumps which are hard piped up to just below surface level to give me plenty of action just below.
I'm skimming with a deltec 701 which is my 1st skimmer of this kind that i've owned and i must admit it does pull out the c--p, i've also got a deltec fluidised reactor with rowaphos for the phosphates, i've got plenty of fijian live rock and tongan branch in the tank with some live rock rubble at the front just to break up the bare glass look, but i must admit it looks fantastic.
I've got no corals or fish in the tank yet as it's only 4 weeks old, the cycling process is well on the way ammonia is at 0/nitrite 0/phosphate 0 but the nitrate is at 10 (salifert), i've put in a clean up crew red legs and astreas along with a brittle star and they are all doing a great job.
I'm lighting the tank with 2 x 250watt 14k arcadia double ended bulbs and 2 60/40 T5 actinics, and i do think that the look on the live rock especially the coralline is really pulled out with the 14k bulbs, my tank is 42" long x 28" deep x 25" wide.
The only problem area that i have had is that i bought an aqua medic titan 1500 chiller which is situated about 15' from the tank and i have been trying to run it with a eheim 1262 and it just isn't up to the job, the flow rate is really diminished by the time it get's back to the tank, so i have just swopped it for a new teco chiller which runs on a much slower rate than the aqua medic, once i can start to bring the temp down somewhat i will then put in a bristletooth tang to start munching on the higher algae.
All the best
Paul, Manchester, England
P.S. I got started on the BB route after seeing Bombers tank, and i instantly thought YES
:beer:
New BB Start-up
Hello gang,
I've just re-set my tank up after a couple of years (dry so to speak), and i've gone BB.
I have a 97 imperial gallon tank and sump, i have 2 drains in the weir with an ocean runner 3000 power head on a reef clean system with another 3000 on the opposite side of the tank pumping across the back at the bottom (the 2 hard pipes meet in the middle of the tank under the egg crate to keep the detritus in flow off the live rock above), in the right hand weir that is just a circulation box i have put a deltec 4040 hlp pump in on a closed loop this is linked to IKS to give me a wave action.
In the sump i have 2 x eheim 1262's as return pumps which are hard piped up to just below surface level to give me plenty of action just below.
I'm skimming with a deltec 701 which is my 1st skimmer of this kind that i've owned and i must admit it does pull out the c--p, i've also got a deltec fluidised reactor with rowaphos for the phosphates, i've got plenty of fijian live rock and tongan branch in the tank with some live rock rubble at the front just to break up the bare glass look, but i must admit it looks fantastic.
I've got no corals or fish in the tank yet as it's only 4 weeks old, the cycling process is well on the way ammonia is at 0/nitrite 0/phosphate 0 but the nitrate is at 10 (salifert), i've put in a clean up crew red legs and astreas along with a brittle star and they are all doing a great job.
I'm lighting the tank with 2 x 250watt 14k arcadia double ended bulbs and 2 60/40 T5 actinics, and i do think that the look on the live rock especially the coralline is really pulled out with the 14k bulbs, my tank is 42" long x 28" deep x 25" wide.
The only problem area that i have had is that i bought an aqua medic titan 1500 chiller which is situated about 15' from the tank and i have been trying to run it with a eheim 1262 and it just isn't up to the job, the flow rate is really diminished by the time it get's back to the tank, so i have just swopped it for a new teco chiller which runs on a much slower rate than the aqua medic, once i can start to bring the temp down somewhat i will then put in a bristletooth tang to start munching on the higher algae.
All the best
Paul, Manchester, England
P.S. I got started on the BB route after seeing Bombers tank, and i instantly thought YES
:beer:
clkwrk
Active member
My 120 is BB and has been from day 1 and yes all moy rock was cooked + I have high turnover rates everyone downs on me for but hey its working for me . Here is a before and after with no melt downs or crashes in between .
Tank is over a year old now .
and this was what it looked like 2 weeks ago .
To each their own .
Wiskey
New member
The SPS died, from what I remember the fish and softies survived. In a tank with a massave bacterial, and microfana load, (DSB) the death of all of of those creatures could have created a huge ammonia spike taking out everything.
Remember his temp did go perty high, and it went up fast, with the alarms out of commition it was a few hours before he noticed.
Whiskey
moore_rb
New member
Time to bump this thread. It's been several months.
I am in the process of building a new 140 SPS tank and the decision to go BB or SSB was a point of serious thought. I live close to Clkwrk and have admired his system, as well as Bombers; SeanT's and Weatherman's....
I always belonged with the camp that said no sand looks too un-natural, but I've also noticed that with a healthy SPS reef, the substrate is seldom a point of observation. In the end, I decided to go BB with this tank. Rather than using starboard, I painted the bottom panel white (on the outside)....
It seems the biggest challenge many people face with BB tanks is Nitrate control, while some others running BB never seem to have a nitrate problem at all.
I filled my 140 three weeks ago with about 60 lbs of LR thrown in the sump to kick it off. Last week I tested it and my nitrites were off the chart (expected) and nitrates were over 50ppm. I tested again yesterday and ammonia is 0, nitrites are coming back down (about .5ppm) but what really surprised my was that nitrates were also way down to 5ppm....
I have not had a skimmer on this tank since filling it; no algae is growing in it at all (it has never been lit), and the bottom of the sump (where the LR is curing) is covered with 1/8 inch deep layer of detritus, so I've been trying to figure out how the nitrates dropped 45ppm with no removel mechanism, then it occurred to me that most of my rock is very porous, light density rock (mainly concretized beachrock) and I'm theorizing that the rock itself is hosting anaerobic populations deep inside.
Perhaps BB tank owners who happened to use less dense, more porous rock fare better with nitrate control than those who use denser, less porous rock.
thoughts?
I am in the process of building a new 140 SPS tank and the decision to go BB or SSB was a point of serious thought. I live close to Clkwrk and have admired his system, as well as Bombers; SeanT's and Weatherman's....
I always belonged with the camp that said no sand looks too un-natural, but I've also noticed that with a healthy SPS reef, the substrate is seldom a point of observation. In the end, I decided to go BB with this tank. Rather than using starboard, I painted the bottom panel white (on the outside)....
It seems the biggest challenge many people face with BB tanks is Nitrate control, while some others running BB never seem to have a nitrate problem at all.
I filled my 140 three weeks ago with about 60 lbs of LR thrown in the sump to kick it off. Last week I tested it and my nitrites were off the chart (expected) and nitrates were over 50ppm. I tested again yesterday and ammonia is 0, nitrites are coming back down (about .5ppm) but what really surprised my was that nitrates were also way down to 5ppm....
I have not had a skimmer on this tank since filling it; no algae is growing in it at all (it has never been lit), and the bottom of the sump (where the LR is curing) is covered with 1/8 inch deep layer of detritus, so I've been trying to figure out how the nitrates dropped 45ppm with no removel mechanism, then it occurred to me that most of my rock is very porous, light density rock (mainly concretized beachrock) and I'm theorizing that the rock itself is hosting anaerobic populations deep inside.
Perhaps BB tank owners who happened to use less dense, more porous rock fare better with nitrate control than those who use denser, less porous rock.
thoughts?
Wiskey
New member
Me and Bomber were actually having this discussion about a month ago, that is why I replaced the rock in my 50. The rock I put in it was uncured but despite copious shedding, the nitrate is around 2.5-5.
I currently have no fish in my 50, and I am going to wait until the sheadding stops before I add any.
Whiskey
I currently have no fish in my 50, and I am going to wait until the sheadding stops before I add any.
Whiskey
