Lyle's 150H in-wall build (with pics)

[Dono]

subscribed!

 

[ljr]

great thread... are you using the Foscam IP camera to display the tank? I have been looking for one and have not found one I like yet. Do you like the video it produces?

 

[jlylec]

Question...I have this much rock rubble in my sump currently.

I have this much left over.

Not sure if it's easy enough to tell how much it is, but do you guys think this is too much to add to the sump? I'm guessing it would raise the level of rock a couple inches maybe. Can you have TOO much rock rubble in there? I guess I'm just worried about dead spots in the bottom corners or something.

 

[jlylec]

FINALLY!

I got these up and running pretty easily. My only complaint is that they have these boxes that come on the power cords for each light. I really had to cram all the electrical in my little electrical area. It's crazy how many electrical things are involved at this point.

These lights were worth the wait though. I was so used to seeing the tank under the flouro strip I had lying around I didn't even realize how beautiful it could be with good light!

Now that I have all my equipment in I can work on the final programming for the Apex.

 

[ljr]

I don't think that would be too much, I have about that in my sump... I then use the little chunks when I frag coral, it is surprising how much I go thru....

 

[jlylec]

Thanks ljr...Do you ever stir it up or anything to avoid dead spots?

 

[ljr]

No, pretty much leave it alone... and it is sitting on top of about 4 inches of sand. It gets minimal light, so there is no algae and there are a lot of pods growing there.

I do have a koralia running above it, but it is certainly not pointed at the rocks.

 

[ljr]

but, then again... I often do rummage thru it to find the right piece for a frag.

 

[ljr]

Another, thought, as you add coral to the left had column, are you worried about it falling over? Just last week I had a major rock slide that made quite a few corals.

always think about how much you will be playing with the rocks glue and moving corals.

 

[jlylec]

I am going to have lit macro in the fuge as well for pods.

The pillar on the left is drilled and pegged with PVC rods. With enough pressure the whole thing could topple over, but the rocks aren't coming apart from each other. I also set it in there so if it's going to topple it will only tilt over a few inches and rest against the overflow box. I haven't epoxied it at all yet and it's kinda cool how you can tap it and it'll sway back and forth like a sky scraper in an earthquake, but I'm not going to leave it that way! When I decide I'm completely done I'm going to epoxy all of the joints in the rocks and then it'll be solid. Plus I'm probably going to put another piece of rock at the bottom so it can't topple either. Long story short though...it's surprisingly stable!

 

[jlylec]

I'm using Elos test kits for NO2 and NO3. The NO3 kit didn't have the .15mL scoop in the box so it's worthless and the NO2 tube just broke when I was removing the top. Not very well made stuff! I bought them because I read good things. Very frustrating for $60-70 worth of test kits.

Anyway my ammonia is still at 1.0 and the nitrite is somewhere between 1.0 and 2.0. I can't test the nitrate without the scoop. I guess I'm going to have to buy another nitrate kit and hope I get the scoop.

The bacteria and live sand and rock have been in for about 18hrs now and my ORP tumbled from 235 to 183 overnight. I understand this is really complicated and that's about it. Is this normal to see during a cycle? Once everything is stable where should I be looking for my ORP to be? My pH also dropped from about 8.1 to 7.9.

 

[Fishfish0001]

Just e-mail Elos and ask for a scoop. The Tubes can be found anywhere, doesn't have to be the Elos one. You just need 5/10ml of water.

Trick with the caps, when putting it on, if it doesn't go all the way in, turn while pushing down, when taking off use your nails to pull straight up. Haven't had any problems with it.

 

[jlylec]

Thanks for the tips fishfish. I know I don't need the Elos tube...it's just frustrating that it broke so easily. I was just using my fingers. Am lucky I didn't get a good cut! I am going to email them for a scoop though. I should've thought of that! Thanks again!

 

[jlylec]

My ammonia dropped to .25 as of last night. The nitrite is still at 1.0. In your experience how far am I away from 0.0 now? I'm hoping it will be 0.0 tonight when I test!

Should I be 'feeding' the bacteria I'm trying to grow? There's no life in there except the one nassarius snail who I haven't seen since the day after I put that live sand in. I've been following the directions and adding a little more bacteria each day to the tank. I think I read somewhere to throw flake food in there or something. I'm wondering if I should just go ahead and order my CUC and start feeding that as soon as it come in. I should be at 0.0 by Friday, no?

 

[Reef Job]

I'm still pretty new at this but I think you'll see those levels drop rather quickly. Once they're on the decline they will continue to fall steadily until they reach zero. At least that is how it went with my tank as it neared the end of the cycle. I would test before I left for work in the morning and see lower results when I tested again in the evening.

 

[jlylec]

I'm still pretty new at this but I think you'll see those levels drop rather quickly. Once they're on the decline they will continue to fall steadily until they reach zero. At least that is how it went with my tank as it neared the end of the cycle. I would test before I left for work in the morning and see lower results when I tested again in the evening.

Cool thanks...a guy from my local club said that the nitrites would lag behind the ammonia in dropping to zero so I think I'm going to wait to order the CUC just to be safe. How far behind the ammonia were your nitrites? A day or so?

 

[jlylec]

As of last night my ammonia is almost at 0! My nitrites are still pretty high though (1-2). I also have official life in the tank...diatoms! There are just spots of brown forming on the sand and rocks. Should I add any macro to the fuge now? Is that a good idea or should I wait and if I should wait...how long? I am running GFO and Carbon now and I turned my skimmer back on so everything is officially running. I was also thinking maybe I should just kill the lights for a few days, but was trying to get everything used to a normal schedule. Is this correct thinking?

I need to start taking my pics before the sunset cycle on the lights!

 

[Dono]

With no deadspots or anything, running the GFO will help get those diatoms out. I dont see anything wrong with adding your macro algae at this point.

 

[jlylec]

Does anybody have any recommendations for CUC and micro-organism places? Since I started with dry rock and dry sand I feel like I should populate it with the micro-organisms as well as a standard CUC. I've looked at Garf.org, reefcleaners.org, liveaquaria.com, and reefs2go.com. Each of these sites offer slightly different things. I like the horseshoe crabs at reefs2go and the micro-organisms at Garf, but I don't know what is best. I'd rather just go with one place, but I can mix it up if that's best. I'd love to order this today if possible. Any ideas?

 

[jlylec]

I brought a couple small frags home from work tonight. I brought a couple different kinds to see if they reacted differently. All of these are small pieces of what I have. I really didn't follow any good acclimation protocol. I'm getting decent extension so far though and they look like they'll be OK. Time will tell. I'm going to run the lights maxing out at around 30% for a week or so. Does that sound right or is that even too high?