New guy on the block with a few questions...

[Honda619]

Hello Everyone,

To introduce myself, my name is Jon and I've lived in Phoenix all my life. I look forward to meeting and chatting with everyone about their tanks. I have a lot of learning to do!

So, I decided to stop dreaming and finally take the plunge with a FOWLR tank. I picked up a used 72 gallon bowfront off of Craigslist, which came fully setup and established (although he sold his corals and fish). I have about 80-90 pounds of live rock and replaced all the sand and used new water from Aquatouch. Has been setup and running for about 4 days now.

My current levels are as follows, (used a home test).

pH: 7.9
Ammonia: between 0 and 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

All seems to be coming along well for the most part, aquascaping is quickly becoming a pain! I can't stop messing with it"¦never satisfied.

If anyone has any advice on re-aquascaping a filled tank I would really appreciate it. I have been doing adjustments/changes here and there, but with the tank filled it's a pain and it really stirs up the sand. Should I siphon off some of the water next time I make some big changes? I have yet to add any fish or a CUC so no worries there. I might break down and buy some tongs for this process to make it easier to rearrange as time goes on. Any suggestions?

I am looking for a canopy to match my stand (or as close as possible) so if anyone knows where I can find one I would really appreciate it. I've been looking around online at various designs and plans and will consider building one myself if I can't get ahold of one that's ready to go.

Also looking for a good local place (LFS) for livestock and a CUC. Aquatouch has good reviews and a good quarantine system but the prices seemed high. Any other good shops with good prices? I live in north phoenix so anything that isn't in Gilbert would be great haha!

Again, looking forward to chatting with you all and learning more about this new world as time goes on!

 

[jvdub20]

Welcome. I'm sure you'll find a lot of help here. As far as lfs, i live in phoenix too and our area doesn't offer much. My personal favs are the Aquarius and reef monsters. A little bit of a drive but well worth it.

 

[jws0318]

Make sure your live rock/base rock is on the bottom of the tank and not resting on top of the sand. Inevitably either a fish or the flow in the tank will move the sand and you don't want the rock to shift and/or fall. You'll never be "happy" with the scape, but it's much easier to play around with it now instead of when its full of fish and corals

 

[Honda619]

Left out an identification question/pic

Left out an identification question/pic

One more thing I forgot to mention...I could use some help identifying the various mushrooms that came with the tank and live rock. If anyone knows what this stuff is I would really like to know/learn about it! Thanks!

 

[Honda619]

Cropped image for ease of identification

Cropped image for ease of identification

I cropped the earlier image to better signify the thing I am trying to identify. Its small and pink-ish and soft/spongy. Any idea what this thing is?

 

[bgifford]

As far as arranging your rock- you might want to find some pictures of aquascaping that you like so that you can use that as a template or a goal of what you want your's to look like. LFS in the valley : Reef monsters, aquarius, aquarium arts, and reef culture.

 

[ReefReefy]

As far as arranging your rock- you might want to find some pictures of aquascaping that you like so that you can use that as a template or a goal of what you want your's to look like. LFS in the valley : Reef monsters, aquarius, aquarium arts, and reef culture.

+1...also make a cave... it just looks good!

 

[macboat]

Hello Everyone,
To introduce myself, my name is Jon and I've lived in Phoenix all my life. I look forward to meeting and chatting with everyone about their tanks. I have a lot of learning to do!

Welcome Jon! There is a monthly FRAG and PROP meeting its a great opportunity to meet people.

I picked up a used 72 gallon bowfront off of Craigslist, which came fully setup and established. My current levels are as follows, (used a home test).
pH: 7.9
Ammonia: between 0 and 0.25ppm
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 0ppm

Doesn't sound right with Ammonia being detectable for a mature tank. My guess is some live rock/stock died off during the moving so give it a couple days let Ammonia drop to 0.

 

[coralreefjunkie]

Welcome, Jon:

Now you truly understand the love-hate relationship of aquascaping. For your FOWLR tank, things a bit easier, as you do not need to worry about placements of corals, in relation to light source and water current.

As bgifford stated earlier, looking on line is the best way to see what design(s) you like and then try to copy with the live rocks you have on hand. Since fish-only system tend to have a high accumulation of fish waste (compared to coral tanks), I would recommend placing the rocks on top of each other as much as you can, leaving very few points touching the glass/acrylic (as stated by JWS0318). You would want the current to flow through and underneath the rock structures to push the detritus up and into your filtration system.

As far as design, most people are more attracted to triangles rather than squares or rectangles (horizontal view). You will see also notice that most people do caves (as suggested by Reefreefy). These cavities in the rock formations allow the fish to hide and find safety. Coves are a good alternative also. Just keep in mind that caves must also have some smaller exit points (for water circulation). But be mindful of the number of caves as well, as when it comes to catching the fish, the task would be more challenging with the number of hiding spaces.

I personally prefer the "islands" appearance, as it allows us to add depth to our tanks, helps with water circulation, and enables more swimming room for the fish. If you do two islands, it's more pleasing if both are not the same size or in the same straight line; put one towards the front and one towards the back.

Good luck with your set up!

 

[Kobashi]

Welcome Jon! We are N.Phx neighbors... and I too have a 72 bow. When you stir up the sand bed or if the live rock is exposed, you'll have some 'live' bacteria die off (actually unbalancing). However, the more cured the tank is (and less time that it was in transition), the faster that things are going to return to normal. The (assumed) live sand you purchased (or crushed coral) needs time to develop a bacterial balance and will take some time. Anyway, I'm probably telling you stuff you already know... Anyway, I think you're 'on-track'... and while 6 weeks would be ideal... you have a solid amount of live rock (which will speed the process up significantly). I got a CUC from reefcleaners.com in a groupbuy (usually people join in... to reach an amount, and get free shipping)... and if you are serious about it, I'll consider starting a groupbuy for things (though I need only a little... but we could at least see if we could make the mark). I would spend A LOT of time reading the threads by Sk8tr in the newbies main forum. I re-read them all the time and think about things differently each time. Here's a link: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2199265 to one of the threads. If you want to drop by and see my tank, you're more than welcome... keep playing with the scape... everyone will tell you differently... do whatever YOU like (and don't worry about cloudy water). Scott at AquaTouch will never lead you wrong, but I can't afford. Dream54ing is also in N.Phx and he may have a canopy... but also has other things you may need. Discount aquarium may have a canopy, but I'm afraid, materials to mod are all that I would feel comfortable getting.

Oh... you have some common green mushrooms and a common sponge... both are considered good and desirable.

 

[Honda619]

Thank you all for the input and suggestions. I think I have finally settled on my aquascape for the time being. Although I'm sure I will be changing things as I progress.

I have now made some rounds through the LFS, I hit aquarium arts, reef culture, the pet shop, tropical treasurers, discount aquarium, and as previously mentioned aqua touch. All were great and I have plans to check out reef monster and Aquarius next. Lots of shops in Phoenix!

My new dilemma concerns my orange spot goby and my overflow. I literally spent hours trying to get him out. Unfortunately my overflow pipes are glued so I was forced to resort to trap or siphon methods. Well, in the end I got him with my siphon but it was quite the ordeal. From reading, it seems this is pretty common so I'll need to design a egg crate or other barrier for the overflow to keep him for trying my patience in round two.

Also, I'm looking for a way to silence my tank overflow, skimmer and return. My overflow (glued) has little horizontal slits cut into it. I think these are possibly louder than just a standard overflow. My skimmer (coralife 65 I believe) seems to be pretty loud. Can I just use poly filters or some other type of foam in my sump to help with noise? I'm thinking I might be able to buy a larger PVC pipe to cover my current overflow pipe and then use that one to create a silencer. Has anyone tried to slip a silencer of this type on a glued one with slits cut in it like I currently am working with?

Thanks again for all the help!

 

[Weyrman]

My new dilemma concerns my orange spot goby and my overflow. I literally spent hours trying to get him out. Unfortunately my overflow pipes are glued so I was forced to resort to trap or siphon methods. Well, in the end I got him with my siphon but it was quite the ordeal. From reading, it seems this is pretty common so I'll need to design a egg crate or other barrier for the overflow to keep him for trying my patience in round two.

Thanks again for all the help!

I have some 1/4" netting that might work well if you like. It's smaller than the egg crate which some fish can get through. Don't know how large your Goby is. PM me if you like.