Anyone in here?

[chriscrna]

I can't see the pictures on my computer either, but I can see them on my phone. Weird. Tapatalk is convenient, but doesn't seem too reliable for pictures. I'll use photobucket for pictures from now on.

So the liverock I inherited with this tank are heavy and seem more like solid rock vs porous rock. Nonetheless, very different than the Marcorock I have.

Here's an example:


In contrast to this:


I like this look. Looks pretty clean. Opinions?

I have two ricordea mushrooms, one is splitting. Once I get the dryrock in the tank, I was thinking about using one of the liverocks currently in the tank as a mushroom rock:
Either this one


or this one


I want to put it towards the front of the tank between my new island and wall structures. My question is: Do you think this one piece of liverock will provide enough filtration until the dryrock becomes live? Also, do you think the crabs and snails will starve?

My bioload:
3 inch tomato clown
azure damsel
peppermint shrimp
2 mushrooms
15 hermits
4 turbo snails
4 trochas snails

If not, I can put the liverock, crabs, and snails in a 32 gallon brute and use it for a sump until the new rock becomes live. This would be an eyesore, and I really don't want to do temporary plumbing work. But, obviously, for the health of the tank, would do it if necessary.

Let me know what you think.

 

[chriscrna]

Oh yeah....going to nix the spraybar. Thanks for the input.

 

[chriscrna]

Here is my completed sump and plumbing. The depth is the rate-limiting factor here....10 gallon tank barely squeezes in.



I've simulated both a power outage and a siphon break without overflowing the sump.

I'm considering a square 5 gallon bucket for my drain and skimmer. A round bucket doesn't fit. Then I would have some extra cushion against a flood. We'll see how it goes I guess. So far so good though.

 

[LawmanRob]

I would go with the Brute can option before I would risk taking out the live rock to replace it with dry rock.

 

[fishdoc11]

If the sand has been in there 6 weeks and you only have two fish I would think you would be OK only keeping 1 large piece of live rock and putting the new rocks in the tank (assuming you have cured them). JMO, I think setting up the Brute would be safer but I think you have enough biofilter in the sand at this point for 2 fish. Another option would be using the canister filter for a month or so as a stop gap.

 

[LawmanRob]

I didn't think the sand bed played that well into the equation. I stand corrected

 

[EvilMel]

Sure it helps! It's all about how much filtration you have = how many good bacteria or much mechanical filtration you've got. I tend to lean on my bacterial load quite a bit but I've moved over to the good skimmer/phosphate reactor side of the argument in the last few years.

I'm a huge fan of phosphate reactors. Speaking of that...that dry rock typically leaches phosphates like a mo fo. You are going to want to consider investing in a good phosphate reactor to prevent yourself from having algae all over that stuff.

 

[EvilMel]

Oh and isn't a 20L the same width as a 10g? So maybe he could fit a 20L under there? I'm sure he could pick one up at one of those $1/gallon sales...cheap!

 

[chriscrna]

I'm going to set up the brute just to be on the safe side.

Mel, I read that dry rock leaches out phosphate. I gave it all a bath in muriatic acid last weekend. I hope that will help with some of the phosphate leaching.

I'll have to look into a phosphate reactor.

 

[fishdoc11]

Soaking the dry rock for a couple of weeks in RO/DI water will also help with the phosphates. That's what I am doing with mine.

 

[LawmanRob]

I'm going to set up the brute just to be on the safe side.

Mel, I read that dry rock leaches out phosphate. I gave it all a bath in muriatic acid last weekend. I hope that will help with some of the phosphate leaching.

I'll have to look into a phosphate reactor.

Synergy Reactor

TLF Reactor

 

[EvilMel]

Oh great. Glad you're doing something to combat it!!

Chris, you're using dry rock? I'm surprised by that.

 

[fishdoc11]

Only way to get the scape I want, aside from cutting wet live rock which I don't want to do

 

[EvilMel]

It smells funny when you do. I distinctly remember the smell.

 

[fishdoc11]

Leak testing this week.

 

[chriscrna]

Fishdoc, do you have the key largo dry rock?

 

[LawmanRob]

Leak testing this week.

Good luck Chris!

 

[fishdoc11]

Yes I got a 20 lb box of the prime cuts Key Largo rock from marcorocks. We'll see how it does.

More than 24 hours no leaks so far…fingers crossed. I was kind worried about the JBJ due to the way the bottom is designed.

 

[fishdoc11]

Here is the stand and tank leak testing

 

[LawmanRob]

How's your tank doing Chris?

I've got to do some tank maintenance today....having a slight hair algae outbreak. I forgot to ask the wife to change out filter socks while I was out of town.
I'll post a new pic after I get the glass cleaned up.