Beenalongtime79
New member
Looks good to me! Love the tank background as well! 
Help with new 125 gallon build
- Thread starter tassod
- Start date
Beenalongtime79
New member
Also, keep testing and keep those lights off! Use them sparingly during the cycling process. You don't want nuisance algae to grow while your nitrite/nitrate levels are high.
Your ammonia level probably will continue to rise, and once they begin dipping, you will see your nitrites rise and then when nitrite begins to dip, you will see nitrates rise and then eventually your nitrates will eventually approach 0 and become undetectable.
Cheers,
John
Your ammonia level probably will continue to rise, and once they begin dipping, you will see your nitrites rise and then when nitrite begins to dip, you will see nitrates rise and then eventually your nitrates will eventually approach 0 and become undetectable.
Cheers,
John
tassod
New member
Thanks Simon, I'm glad this worked out like this and happy with it. Should I be concerned with the pieces of wood i used for bracing the lights degrading over time being over saltwater? No water is getting to them but i just have that in the back of my mind. I would think it should be OK because the rest of the canopy is also wood and exposed to the same environment.
tassod
New member
I don't think this should be an issue in the summer being that my tank is in the basement. My basement in the summer is routinely 20 degrees cooler then the rest of the house and most of the time don't even need AC going if I am in the basement. I can certainly add some if it does become an issue.
SimonSKL
New member
I wouldn't be concerned about the wood. It appeared you used screws to attach the wood to the canopy. If it is stainless or galvanized screws they will be fine. Zinc plated screws will rust overtime and eventually break.
tassod
New member
Ok good, thanks for the reassurance! I did use stainless outdoor rated screws.
SimonSKL
New member
If you intend to show off the background, you will need the rocks to be at least 2-4 inches from the back glass so you will have room to scrape the coraline algae off. You probably won't be able to keep the whole back glass clean but at least the part directly in the main viewing areas.
SimonSKL
New member
No, there is no need to run carbon, GFO, UV sterilizer or light during cycling. It will be just a waste of the media and electricity. During cycling your tank will have high nutrients anyway. I did turn on the lights whenever I want to look at the tank but not running it regularly.
At the end of cycling, I would do a 50% water change but not during the cycling.
tassod
New member
Got it! Thanks!
Beenalongtime79
New member
Yes, totally fine, the cycle really does take about 3-4 weeks to complete. It will eventually become undetectable.
Cheers,
John
Cheers,
John
tassod
New member
Simon, i'm glad you brought this up because i've been thinking about this and been meaning to post about it. I've been thinking of using a calcium reactor but wondering what would be easiest to do at this time for a beginer like me. I'm not familiar about 2 part dossing or kalk. Also, i see that the calcium reactor requires a CO2 tank. How difficult is it to set one if these up and how often do you need to replenish the Co2 tank? I would like to incorporate something that my Apex controller can monitor and I know that it can do this for calcium reactors as I already have a PH probe with the unit.
SimonSKL
New member
I think first of all you have to decide which types of coral you want to keep. If you want mostly LPS, Kalk incorporated into your ATO system is properly adequate. If you want LPS and SPS, you can go either calcuium reactor or two-part dosing route.
Calcium reactor is a little more complicated to set up but once dialed in, maintaining it is very easy. It is also the most expensive of the three systems in terms of initial investment. It does require a carbon dioxide cyclinder which is commonly available in 7 or 14 lbs capacity. My 14 lbs CO2 cyclinder lasted me almost 18 months before refill. You will need to find a place locally that can refill the tank. Most likely places selling fire extinguishers or welding supplies and equipment. It costed me about $20 to refill my 14 lb cyclinder. The cylinder must be certified every 5 years to be leakproof or the store will not refill for you. If you want to automate the system you also need to have a solenoid controlled regulator and a Ph controller. I don't know if your Apex controller can control a calcium reactor as the Ph probe for such system is inside the reactor and not measuring Ph of your tank water which is much higher than the Ph inside the reactor. Your Apex can probably be used to turn on or off the calcium reactor but not controlling it. You will also need calcium media in the reactor which ususally needs to be refill every 6-9 months depending on the capacity of the reactor and calcium consumption by the corals.
The simplest and the least expensive method is dosing two parts using calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. You can manually add each part to the tank daily based on consumption or you can use your Apex controller to drive individual dosing pumps. Some people also dose magnesium along with calcium and alkalinity.
Initially you will need to measure the two parameters regularly until the system stabilized regardless which system you choose.
Calcium reactor is a little more complicated to set up but once dialed in, maintaining it is very easy. It is also the most expensive of the three systems in terms of initial investment. It does require a carbon dioxide cyclinder which is commonly available in 7 or 14 lbs capacity. My 14 lbs CO2 cyclinder lasted me almost 18 months before refill. You will need to find a place locally that can refill the tank. Most likely places selling fire extinguishers or welding supplies and equipment. It costed me about $20 to refill my 14 lb cyclinder. The cylinder must be certified every 5 years to be leakproof or the store will not refill for you. If you want to automate the system you also need to have a solenoid controlled regulator and a Ph controller. I don't know if your Apex controller can control a calcium reactor as the Ph probe for such system is inside the reactor and not measuring Ph of your tank water which is much higher than the Ph inside the reactor. Your Apex can probably be used to turn on or off the calcium reactor but not controlling it. You will also need calcium media in the reactor which ususally needs to be refill every 6-9 months depending on the capacity of the reactor and calcium consumption by the corals.
The simplest and the least expensive method is dosing two parts using calcium chloride and sodium bicarbonate. You can manually add each part to the tank daily based on consumption or you can use your Apex controller to drive individual dosing pumps. Some people also dose magnesium along with calcium and alkalinity.
Initially you will need to measure the two parameters regularly until the system stabilized regardless which system you choose.
tassod
New member
Wow, that calcium reactor does take up quite a bit of room, from the looks of it i dont think i have enough space for it. I think i will go the route of using 2 or 3 part dosing pumps. Seems simpler and definitely less expensive. Perhaps in the future I may upgrade to the reactor. Thank you for posting your suggestions and pics. As far as the Apex controller goes, i have read that it can control the calcium reactor therefore eliminating the need to buy a ph controler like your pinpoint controller. Don't know how to set that up, just know that it does do it. I will definitely set up the conroller to drive the dosing pumps. Is there a way i can tie in the doing pumps to the one spot i have left in my manifold that i have reserved for the calcium reactor? How exactly does the BRS unit work?
SimonSKL
New member
If you go the route of using dosing pumps to add Ca, alk, and Mg, you don't need to tie to your manifold. You will have a reservoir (bottle) for each of the solution which you prepare by dissolving their respective chemical powder/crystal in water. You then use a dosing pump to pull the solution from the bottle and push it into your sump. The flow rate of a dosing pump is quite slow. The BRS dosing pump that I use delivers 1.1ml per min. For example, I set my alkalinity dosing pump to run 8 min every hour but repeat 14 times in a 24 hours period. So a total of 123ml of sodium bicarbonate solution is delivered to the sump each day. For calcium, I set the controller to run 9 min every hour and repeat 9 times in a 24 hours so a total of 90ml of calcium chloride is delivered to my sump each day. These dosing rates provide my tank with a alkalinity of around 8 dKh and 400 ppm.
I arrived at these dosing rates after months of monitoring and measuring my system and consistently prepared the chemical solutions in the same concentrations. Your actual dosing rates will be very different from mine as your system is quite new and the inital demand for Ca and alk will be low.
BRS sells the chemicals in bulk at reasonable prices and are chemical grade. Their website also have instructional videos on how to prepare each solution. They also sell the skinny tall bottles (about 1.2 gal capacity) to help you maximize the space underneath the sump.
I arrived at these dosing rates after months of monitoring and measuring my system and consistently prepared the chemical solutions in the same concentrations. Your actual dosing rates will be very different from mine as your system is quite new and the inital demand for Ca and alk will be low.
BRS sells the chemicals in bulk at reasonable prices and are chemical grade. Their website also have instructional videos on how to prepare each solution. They also sell the skinny tall bottles (about 1.2 gal capacity) to help you maximize the space underneath the sump.
