First Time Saltwater LR LF setup

[scubadan206]

Picture #3 in post 39, those blue plastic watercooler jugs. Make sure you don't store your top-off water in those if you plan on using Kalkwasser. The plastic will become brittle and WILL eventually break. I had two of them break on one weekend, and one leaked 4 gallons onto the hardwood floors. The stuff is more caustic than one would think. Use either glass or acrylic containers meant for holding chemicals.
I would recommend against damsel fish. They can become super-aggressive when older and harass to death anything not large enough to eat them. Some turn out to be docile enough so it's up to you. Check out my youtube clip with the anemone and damselfish. The damsels would attack us divers if we lingered in their territory too much. It's not necessary to paint the sides as you cannot see through them from looking through the front panel. Usually you just see a mirror type look on the sides, but you will have kind of a drab look that will highlight any imperfection. Don't scratch the sides....
Have you checked if your skimmer is strong enough to pull water up that much of a distance? You might have to make the first baffle section much higher.. My sumps first section is only an inch lower than the top, both to allow the skimmer to function and keep the bubbles in the sump, not in a two foot radius around the tank. I would design an acrylic lid for that part. I'm guessing your sump won't use filter socks at all? My next redesign will have them for sure. You will probably find yourself in the same situation. Use a pre-filter on the return pump especially when you start using any kind of reactors. You will gum them up with detritus real quick otherwise. Your carbon or calcium reactors will just turn into canister filters for detritus.
I like the anemone fish and dottybacks, look into a shrimp and goby pair also. they're cool to watch. Live aquaria is having a special on diamond gobys right now. They're always cheap, take advantage when you can. Would also recommend a lawnmower blenny or similar. In a few months if your water is good and their is enough rock to pick at you might look for a reef-safe pygmy angel.
Tell your cabinet maker to step on it...
Daniel:wildone:

 

[scubadan206]

P.S. That fine sand will get blown all over the place.:crazy1: Even with low flow you will have bare spots with peaks and valleys from the start.:sad2: Either start with slightly coarser stuff or mix in much coarser stuff.:thumbsup:
When can we expect the tank to be wet and alive?
Daniel. :wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

@ scubadan206 : I won't pre-mix the salt, just store RO/DI water in a jug ready for mixing, when I do a 10% change I'll mix an hour before doing so.

I've also heard that about damsels too bad really cause they are beautiful colourful fish, my wife loved them. We'll see, maybe I'll get her some more dottybacks...

Yes, skimmer is strong enough to pull water from that low of a water level, the water level is only about an inch lower than the bottom of the skimmer cap on the suction line. I'm going to use some flex tube to extend it considering I can't find that piping size locally. This route is better since I won't have to permanently modify the skimmer, will help if I choose to upgrade later on and need to sell this one, plus it won't void the warranty

I painted all three sides as they will be built into the cabinet so you can't see through anyways, this just adds a bit extra to help with the visuals.

Duly noted on the sand, I'll see how well it works out. This stuff doesn't cloud that much and was highly recommended by my LFS owner so we'll see. It's $60 / 40lb bag of it, the dead sand different name brand is $45 / 30lb bag from another shop.

I'm getting just as anxious as the rest of you guys, I want to have the whole deal cycling within a month, the big item I'm waiting for is my stand, I'm afraid if I start cycling my sump now it'll be far to heavy / fragile to move into the stand later.

I'm hoping sooner than later.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Sorry for the lack of posts and updates been dealing with some family emergencies lately.

Bought some sand for the sump, it's going to be cycling as early as this weekend. Also going to be water testing my DT and overflows, with the hopes that my specimen box shows up.

Also purchased my secondary temperature controller to further monitor the temps this way it will automatically shut off the heater if it gets out of range the expandability is great, it will allow for the addition of a chiller if I need one.

Also looked at some calc reactors, that may be in the near future

Pics coming.

 

[scubadan206]

I would hope you don't need a chiller on a tank that small. Only if you use powerful MH lights will it even be used in an emergency. Unless of course you live in a hot climate. I don't know where you are. A calcium reactor in that tank would be overkill IMO. They can malfunction and kill stuff real quick if you don't catch them in time. Plus with a small tank, and soft corals your calcium needs will be miniscule. If you already have plans for a larger tank with SPS corals, and you have the go-ahead for spending the money, then go ahead with your over-engineering thing. You can tell your wife, when the time comes, that a BIG tank is no big deal since some of the expensive gadgets are already bought.
Daniel :wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

I would hope you don't need a chiller on a tank that small. Only if you use powerful MH lights will it even be used in an emergency. Unless of course you live in a hot climate. I don't know where you are. A calcium reactor in that tank would be overkill IMO. They can malfunction and kill stuff real quick if you don't catch them in time. Plus with a small tank, and soft corals your calcium needs will be miniscule. If you already have plans for a larger tank with SPS corals, and you have the go-ahead for spending the money, then go ahead with your over-engineering thing. You can tell your wife, when the time comes, that a BIG tank is no big deal since some of the expensive gadgets are already bought.
Daniel :wildone:

You're a genius! Great idea!

I've made up my mind, I'm cycling the sump starting this weekend. Will work out in my favor when the cabinet shows up.

 

[ThisGuy12]

Specimen container showed up!!! Just in time for the long weekend, looks like I'll be able to finalize my overflow.... finally! Build log will include how to build the overflow this weekend.

 

[ThisGuy12]

UPDATE:

Here we go! Sump is filled and moving, going to let it cycle and start building some bios in there before the DT is ready. Will vastly cut down the cycling time required for the display tank.

Used a nice deep 4" bed of CaribSea Aragonite Sugar Sized sand in my Refugium.

Water is RO water heated to 78F with a salinity level of 1.023, took me (2) 5 gallon pails to fill up the sump. Still a bit cloudy, but it has only been running for an hour.

PICS:

Heater working (green is set level, yellow is current tank level), the yellow light blinks as the ceramic heater heats the tank until it gets to the set level.

Bubble trap before return working well! It's running around 850-900gph currently, pretty impressive since when it's finally hooked up into the DT it'll be down to around 750gph.

Installed my egg crate over the fuge to test fit it all, going to house some live rock, and snails once I get all my levels in check, possibly this week.

Had some extra acrylic hanging around so I made a sock filter holder. It's not 100% perfect but it works very well, I will be able to house (3) 1" lines into the sock. It's helped clear the water so far so good.

Super happy that this is finally running, it's been a long time coming and lots of figuring out. Next I need to finalize my overflow and add some LR, can't wait till my cabinet shows up.

 

[scubadan206]

Try to have a quick-disconnect of some sort for filter sock removal. You/we are much more likely to do it if it's not a PITA each time.
Daniel :wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

I'll be using quick connects for sure. And flex hose which will help as well.

What do you think Daniel?

Also picked up 5lbs of live rock, should grow quite nicely. We were very surprised that all the water levels were in proper range based on the test kit, dosed some magnesium and went to the LFS. The rocks are rather porous and have some good looking growth already on them. Can't wait to see it start to populate the sand, once it does I'll be throwing in 3-5 snails to help keep it clean.

Also moved my heater into the supply chamber, fits better this way and should help keep it cleaner than in the fuge area.

Water levels are a bit high but evaporation should take care of that, you can see the flow rates over the 'fuge, right now it's pulling the full 900gph this way I don't overwork the pump.

 

[scubadan206]

Rock looks good. Is it aquacultured? Keep an eye out for amonia, nitrate and that stuff to monitor your cycle. If you don't keep enough bioload you may have to start dosing little bits of the correct kind of amonia to keep the bacteria alive. Make sure the snails you buy are able to flip themselves upright. I bought 50 of the kind that are unable. I got tired of doing it for them and most of them died. If you've got the budget go for a dosing pump. It's definitely on my list.

I think it's alive?!?!
Daniel:wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

Rock looks good. Is it aquacultured? Keep an eye out for amonia, nitrate and that stuff to monitor your cycle. If you don't keep enough bioload you may have to start dosing little bits of the correct kind of amonia to keep the bacteria alive. Make sure the snails you buy are able to flip themselves upright. I bought 50 of the kind that are unable. I got tired of doing it for them and most of them died. If you've got the budget go for a dosing pump. It's definitely on my list.

I think it's alive?!?!
Daniel:wildone:

IT'S ALIVE! Little string-like microbes growing on the rocks. Yes the rock is aquacultured, grown locally at my lfs.

What kind of snails did you have that couldn't flip themselves? I was looking at turbosnails.

 

[scubadan206]

The snails I got were Astraea snails. I bought 50 a while back and have maybe 20 left. They are in the turbo snail group. I was looking at bumble bee or cerith snails for later. I also have some nassarious snails and a few fighting conch's, but those two are pretty good with their "foot".
Daniel :wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

As the final piece to the puzzle (though I'll probably keep tinkering till it's entirely alive and crawling), I picked up a grow light bulb and a 8.5" circular clip on light fixture, I figured clipping it to the side of the tank would be easier than hanging it (for now anyways). I'll probably end up mounting it inside the cabinet once it's setup.

Once it's established I plan on running the sump light only during the off hours of the DT to promote growth.

 

[scubadan206]

I just looked at some DC pumps online. More flow at about half the power draw of mine. I should have done more research. :headwallblue:
Were any of these on your radar when you bought your stuff?
P.S. I'm acclimating some [freshwater]sail-fin Molly's to full saltwater monday. They eat hair algae. Put these guys on your list for later...

:wildone:

 

[ThisGuy12]

I just looked at some DC pumps online. More flow at about half the power draw of mine. I should have done more research. :headwallblue:
Were any of these on your radar when you bought your stuff?
P.S. I'm acclimating some [freshwater]sail-fin Molly's to full saltwater monday. They eat hair algae. Put these guys on your list for later...

:wildone:

Good to know, I actually haven't looked at DC pumps, tbh I wanted to maximize my GPH for the best price, my LFS had a deal on my Hagen Aquaclear 110 that I couldn't pass up.

Sail-Fin Molly's I'll definitely keep in mind! I'm definitely getting some good water movement in the fuge, every once in awhile a bit of the sand will move around.

Keeping the grow light on for 6-8 hours daily now to see what springs up.

 

[ThisGuy12]

QUESTION: Most of my water levels are normal currently, except Calc, it's up at around 720mg/L. Is that too much? Info I have read said 420-450 as a minimum, but is my levels of calc causing any harm?

Also, am I running the light long enough? Should I up it to 10-12 hours of exposure daily?

Thanks.

As an UPDATE I received a jam jar of live sand from each of my 2 LFS' and will be receiving one more from my buddy. This should help the growth and spreading of microbes.

 

[scubadan206]

Check your test kit against other brands for accuracy. Also see if your LFS will test a sample for you. Levels that high should not be a problem but it might start to snow in your tank (precipitate). Run the light as long as you want. Algae doesn't need to sleep. I'd say 20 or so hours is fine. Some systems are run on a 24 hour light regimen.
Daniel

 

[ThisGuy12]

Thanks Daniel, my buddy and I tested the kit on his tank, the tests are accurate. Also with the light on for 10 hours yesterday the tank temp jumped up from 78 to 84 are these temps okay? Again, conflicting info some say 74-78, some say 84-86. Which is right?

 

[scubadan206]

Many people disagree on tank temps. One of the most debated and pointless subjects IMO. I think the only thing we all agree on is minimum temp, max temp and that temp swings are what are to be avoided. Maximum temp should not be over about 85. Min temp should be over 74. I'm not sure why your tank got so hot, but my advice would be to find where your tank seems to be stable. Sooo, pick something in the middle and stick with it. Just pick something you like with an appropriate buffer to avoid over/under temp problems. I run my tank hotter in winter and cooler in summer. Just to delay any problems if the temp controls fail. IE. heaters,AC.... Also the metabolism of all reef dwellers gets faster in warmer water. Things grow faster, but problems could arise just that much faster as well. Some toxins apparently are much less dangerous at too cold temps, and become more so as temps go up, primarily ammonia.

This is an incredible build thread. A lot long, but stuffed full of great info. I suggest going through as much as you can. If you ever finish, you'll be as well informed as any other person on this forum... http://www.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1811725 Good luck...
Whats the ETA on enough stuff to start up the main display?
Daniel :wildone: