Okay, guys... this might be a long one. Thanks in advance for your interest and help.
I began this quest around July 2006, frequently visiting my LFS and asking all the questions I could think of, keeping up-to-date on a couple forums, listening to podcasts, and designing my setup prior to implementation. My design would change with my experience, so it wasn't until around Oct. that I began the project.
Beginning with a 46 bowfront, I purchased 20 pounds of cured live rock, some of the LFS sand along with enough to complete the covering of the bottom of my tank, and a Coralife 36" Lunar Compact Fluorescent light strip. With 2 Powersweep 226 powerheads for movement. It wasn't until after the after the initial bloom that I noticed the stand I had chosen wasn't going to be sturdy enough to hold 1200+ gallons of water. I can score a 27 on the ACT, but can't have enough foresight to perform some addition and multiplication!
My full intention was to keep adding a little at a time until my project was complete. Big mistake, I believe, as I'm looking back with 20/20 vision. I was coached through this by my LFS, and although I've read to watch out for them, I think I let myself down.
The tank has not had any filtration at all. I placed in a cleaner shrimp, and a cleaning crew after the initial 4-6 weeks went just as described. I was just ready to put the plumbing in place for my fuge/sump when I was hit with unexpected expenses, and the project went on hold... disaster sets in. I place everything on hold because of financial setbacks for 2 months.
Algae began to grow during the 10-hour cycles of light I had going, so I began to do alot of research about how to prevent it. It was definitely hair algae, and was pretty much confined to only 2 out of the 6 rocks in the tank. I decided that I would remove it by hand, using some removal techniques on the net. Since that time, there has been no green hair algae, but the water has been a constant green. DUH!
Anyway, I do a 50% water change about once each month, with tap water (I know) using Prime. The water change drastically changes the concentration of "the green", but within a couple days of the new 4-hours-or-light-per-day schedule, it's back to lime gelatin. There is no smell, believe me my wife would tell me, there are 4-5 snail and a hermit, and I can also see life on the glass when I clean it. I haven't even bothered testing the water in over 2 months...
Finances are more than fine, and my project can be completed. I have spent a lot of money on the rock already in the tank, and I am ordering 45 pounds more of the Fiji Rock. I am getting an Octopus Protein skimmer, setting up a 10 gallon fuge, and a 10 gallon sump. I'm not building it this time, I am going all at once. I am purchasing a nice, standard 75 gallon tank with stand, and transferring the rock into it. I suppose I will need to get another light since the current Coralife is designed for the 36†wide bowfront.
Should I be starting over completely with new sand and clean the current rock, or can this current setup be salvaged and transfered into the new tank. I'd like to think the bacteria is plentiful in the current tank, but I don't want to contaminate the new rock with what I have now.
I'm ready to do whatever it takes, I just need some non-biased experience to chime in. I know there have been many mistakes, I'd just like to hear how everyone would proceed with this if it were theirs...
Thanks again, and I appreciate all the insight everyone has provided since I began diving into this. Although I feel my project is a total disaster, I know I can get things under control given the proper advice.
I began this quest around July 2006, frequently visiting my LFS and asking all the questions I could think of, keeping up-to-date on a couple forums, listening to podcasts, and designing my setup prior to implementation. My design would change with my experience, so it wasn't until around Oct. that I began the project.
Beginning with a 46 bowfront, I purchased 20 pounds of cured live rock, some of the LFS sand along with enough to complete the covering of the bottom of my tank, and a Coralife 36" Lunar Compact Fluorescent light strip. With 2 Powersweep 226 powerheads for movement. It wasn't until after the after the initial bloom that I noticed the stand I had chosen wasn't going to be sturdy enough to hold 1200+ gallons of water. I can score a 27 on the ACT, but can't have enough foresight to perform some addition and multiplication!
My full intention was to keep adding a little at a time until my project was complete. Big mistake, I believe, as I'm looking back with 20/20 vision. I was coached through this by my LFS, and although I've read to watch out for them, I think I let myself down.
The tank has not had any filtration at all. I placed in a cleaner shrimp, and a cleaning crew after the initial 4-6 weeks went just as described. I was just ready to put the plumbing in place for my fuge/sump when I was hit with unexpected expenses, and the project went on hold... disaster sets in. I place everything on hold because of financial setbacks for 2 months.
Algae began to grow during the 10-hour cycles of light I had going, so I began to do alot of research about how to prevent it. It was definitely hair algae, and was pretty much confined to only 2 out of the 6 rocks in the tank. I decided that I would remove it by hand, using some removal techniques on the net. Since that time, there has been no green hair algae, but the water has been a constant green. DUH!
Anyway, I do a 50% water change about once each month, with tap water (I know) using Prime. The water change drastically changes the concentration of "the green", but within a couple days of the new 4-hours-or-light-per-day schedule, it's back to lime gelatin. There is no smell, believe me my wife would tell me, there are 4-5 snail and a hermit, and I can also see life on the glass when I clean it. I haven't even bothered testing the water in over 2 months...
Finances are more than fine, and my project can be completed. I have spent a lot of money on the rock already in the tank, and I am ordering 45 pounds more of the Fiji Rock. I am getting an Octopus Protein skimmer, setting up a 10 gallon fuge, and a 10 gallon sump. I'm not building it this time, I am going all at once. I am purchasing a nice, standard 75 gallon tank with stand, and transferring the rock into it. I suppose I will need to get another light since the current Coralife is designed for the 36†wide bowfront.
Should I be starting over completely with new sand and clean the current rock, or can this current setup be salvaged and transfered into the new tank. I'd like to think the bacteria is plentiful in the current tank, but I don't want to contaminate the new rock with what I have now.
I'm ready to do whatever it takes, I just need some non-biased experience to chime in. I know there have been many mistakes, I'd just like to hear how everyone would proceed with this if it were theirs...
Thanks again, and I appreciate all the insight everyone has provided since I began diving into this. Although I feel my project is a total disaster, I know I can get things under control given the proper advice.
.
