New hobby I've found, time for a huge thread.

[BrianKC]

My take on leds:
Would I be ok using the t5s for the first couple months and then adding the leds?

Heck yeah. Get the two-bulb T5 now. Add an awesome LED bar (or two!) later and you're all set. I seriously thing you're fine with what you want to grow with just the two-bulb T5 but...you'll get adventurous later and want to add on.

 

[ZeeSparrow]

I second (third?) that idea. T5s will be sufficient for now, and then you add LED's and you should be able to keep anything....

 

[leviburns89]

Awesome. Thanks!

What bulb color should I get?
If I'm doing the t5 2 bulb, my mind tells me to get ATI Blu Plus and Coral Plus.

Do I need actinic? I really want those fluorescent colors to pop, and I thought actinic was white, muting the color explosion... I may be wrong, usually am lol

 

[ZeeSparrow]

If it were me, and I was sure I wanted T-5s, I'd go with a 2-bulb setup. (1 at 14000k or higher and 1 actinic). You can add a second fixture later if you feel you need it.

I have no experience with T5s myself, going straight to LED. But here is what Brian said earlier ...

 

[BrianKC]

Actinic are the blue/violet/ultraviolet that corals need to grow. Check out this thread for more than you want to read about T5s: http://reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2096816&page=6

 

[leviburns89]

Thanks for the link! Lots of good info in there! I understand colors and wavelength a lot more

Will a 4 bulb system be too much light? I only made it through about 25 pages of the 612.

 

[BrianKC]

Haha. Understandable. Probably wouldn't be too much but you should introduce new corals on a reduced lighting regimen. Shorter photo-period, as well as potentially putting a screen under the lights for a while. A lot of folks keep two sheets of vinyl screen. Week 1, use both sheets...week 2 1 sheet. Then remove. Then increase your photoperiod back to normal. That's another downside to the T5s; you can't dim them...

 

[leviburns89]

Ahhh, it all makes sense now. I've read that, but never in context to acclimating corals, which was a question I still had.

Thanks Brian!

 

[leviburns89]

Time for an update:

I've purchased pretty much everything I need, except parameter testing supplies, and lighting (purchased many redundant items such as thermometers, heaters, powerheads). Which is fine, because I know the process of curing rock takes time, and using testing supplies now, will just be a waste of money.

That being said, I've let my rock dry under a fan for 1 week. It is bone dry, and doesn't have a smell at all.

I am currently making a 30g batch of saltwater (1.025), And will start the cure of my rock this weekend.

I also have about 30 lbs of dry rock that wasn't bleached, that I will be using to help seed the rock as a source of ammonia due to the dead matter within the rock. (1 month sitting covered outside in 15 degree weather).

This thread may go dead for about a month due to the slow curing process. In one month I will move the rock to the empty display tank, fill with sw, and finish the cure/cycle for another 1.5 months before adding any livestock. This is also when I will be testing parameters vigorously, and posting like a madman.

Here are a few pics of my status.

The big peices in this pic are about the size of a small football, and there is about 15 lbs of rubble in the containers. Roughly 30 lbs total in this pic. (Brings total rock weight to 80lbs'ish

Not sure how to use the rubble yet (sumpless build), but it was all free, so I'm sure I can make it worth while.

next up on my "to buy" list, is salifert ammonia, nitrate, nitrite tests. Hanna phos checker. And maybe some phosban, or GFO, depending on phos levels after a good 2 months curing and ghost feeding (minimal ghost feed). I plan on ghost feeding minimally because I do not plan on having many fish in this tank, and most of my nutes will come from supplements.

Lemme know what you think

 

[BrianKC]

Good choices on the test kits. I don't have much to say on the rock situation since I've always started with cured live rock. The one thought I do have is that many people don't like starting with rock that had "dead matter" in it; typically they complain about built up phosphate which won't cycle out but just leach into the water. Search the web or this forum for "cooking live rock" for more than you want to know...

 

[leviburns89]

Good choices on the test kits. I don't have much to say on the rock situation since I've always started with cured live rock. The one thought I do have is that many people don't like starting with rock that had "dead matter" in it; typically they complain about built up phosphate which won't cycle out but just leach into the water. Search the web or this forum for "cooking live rock" for more than you want to know...

Since there is only 15 lbs of usable sized rocks in the secondary pile, do you think phosphate leakage will be an issue when used in conjunction with my 50+ lbs of chemically cooked dry rock?

I assumed there would be some phos leak from them, but not enough to have a massive tank wide algae bloom do to the capacity of my large rocks.

I also planned on running a mix of carbon and gfo if there was a potential hazard, with LC as a backup in case gfo can't cover it all. (had to sell my #2 brs reactor to woo the wife, so mixing the two is my only option as far as gfo is concerned).

Keep in mind, after my Craigslist flipping, I am only $170 in the hole for the entirety of this project. Not bad huh?

 

[BrianKC]

Not bad at all. I'm out of my depth on rock cooking, so I'll hope someone who knows what they're talking about will weigh in.

 

[leviburns89]

The cap on the left end is leaking quite bad, but I can't budge it, it has beaten me. And I do mean the cap, and NOT the Murlok fitting.

So after speaking with BRS, the only thing that can mechanically fail, is the o-ring.

They recommend taking a towel around the cap, then using a channel lock to unscrew it.

Once I did that, sure enough, the oring was mis-seated. I simply reset the ring inside the cap, and re-assembled it.

Works like a charm.

And FYI all BRS branded products come with a true lifetime warranty. So if anything does go wrong, they will replace it FOC.

 

[ihavecrabz]

I've got a question about lighting.

I've chosen to go with T5HO. I am currently looking at a 4ft, 4bulb setup.

My 55g is 13 inches wide, and 48 long.

The light fixture I am looking at is exactly those dimensions.

Will this be too much light? And should I go with a 2 bulb?

I am interested because I do not want a ton of light bleeding into the room. BUT I want my coral filled tank to be sufficiently lit.

Anyone have experience with using a light that is almost the same size as the tank?

How deep is the tank? If it is over 16" I would recommend the 4 bulb.

To give you an idea, I have a 6x54 (48") over my shallow tank which is 12". I am doing mixed with SPS though and my light is 16" above the waterline in a canopy.

A 4 bulb will give you the ability to get around 80 par at the sand bed in a 20" tank given the light is 4-6" above the water line and that you are using blue+ or coral/purple+. Actinic significantly lowers your fixtures Par capability and wouldn't recommend it unless you can do without the PAR.

You'll want that par at the sand bed for most LPS plus the Zoas seem to like it too. Since moving to T5 from LEDs (disclaimer: I had evergrow with bridgelux made in China) my growth has exploded.

Home this helps!

https://vimeo.com/151237428

 

[leviburns89]

Nice tank!

From the base of the lights, to the surface of the sand bed will be 18". And I do plan on running coral+ with Blu +

 

[leviburns89]

Quick update:

Prepared 30g of sw measured at 1.02550 @ 79.5F and placed all of my chemically cooked rock in. This will be the rock's home for the next month. Doing wc as needed via smell.

I am currently making a secondary batch of 30g sw to cure 15 lbs of uncured dry rock that will be used to seed after one month of cure (same wc regime).

After the 1 month of cure for both rocks, I will do my aquascape, add sand (1.25"), and ghost feed in the DT.

Once that happens, I will be checking params vigorously, turn my filtration on (reactors, powerheads), And hopefully witness a cycle via tests.

Once my testing proves:
0 ammonia
0 nitrates
0 nitrites
I will add my first livestock, probably a pair of clowns +1 lps coral (zoa or acan lordhowensis).

If there is significant algae present, I may opt for a small CUC instead of the clown pair?

If algae isn't a huge problem, I will also start up my lights (×2 t5ho).

This puts me at;
February: aquascape
March: end of cycle
Mid March: first livestock + lights

So far, I think I'm doing pretty good at not rushing things. I see a lot of people who do everything I've done, in 1 months time. So hopefully my initial full cycling of the rank won't be so harsh. I read a lot of people who do rush, experience huge algae blooms and can't bounce back.

Thanks for 1k views!!!!

 

[leviburns89]

Update:

So my rock has been curing for 1 week in heated sw.

Today noticed some evap loss, so before I topped it off with fresh RO water I decided to check salinity.

1.030 sg.

I know that when evap occurs, only h20 evaps. And the salt stays in the vecile.

BUT, what took me by surprise was the fact that this all took place within 1 week.
It took 3.25 gallons of RO to get the SG back to 1.02550.

My plan for the DT was to do simple 15% WC every week like clockwork. I was hoping this would avoid the need to do RO top offs. But now that I've realized how much the SG changes due to evap, I believe doing just water changes will eventually lead to horrible salt levels. (Element of old tank syndrome)

so my new plan of attack, is to top off with RO, let it sit for a couple hours to balance, and then do my WC.

Is this a common practice in ritual water changes???

I am not testing params yet, as it is too soon.

BUT, my water with the rock, is smelling amazing. It's got a mild earthy smell. You have to almost touch your nose to the water to smell it. But it's not a rancid smell at all, just more of a very mild dirt/mineral smell. I like this.

The water also has a very very light yellow tint to it. This cleared up with the fresh RO top off. It wasn't bad, and probably undetectable by most hobbiests, but I'm OCD, and noticed it.

I have the plumbing pretty much complete on my DT. I will be running a single BRS Deluxe reactor, alongside a ReefOctopus BH1000 skimmer.

All I need now is my lighting system (on hold, THX BrianKC!!). And sand.

Now I just get to play the watch n wait game for my rock to cure before adding it to my tank. I will wait until the week of my aquascape to purchase sand. I was thinking a 2:1 ratio of livesand:drysand.

Still on the fence about utilizing some of my uncooked dry rock to help seed with ammonia and bacteria, and may just opt for a couple peices of quality liverock from my LFS. Opinions on this?

 

[BrianKC]

I don't think you need uncooked rock to intro that stuff. You can introduce ammonia easy enough (just throw an uncooked shrimp in there). Bacteria will find its way in there (think about all the technology we use to keep food from rotting...life finds a way) or you can help it along with any number of bacteria preparations.

Your plan with the water sounds fine. Just make sure you're replacing 1.025 water with 1.025 water. If you want to be more ocd, just keep a couple milk jugs of RODI water next to the tub and dump some in to top off whenever you think about it.

 

[leviburns89]

Your plan with the water sounds fine. Just make sure you're replacing 1.025 water with 1.025 water. If you want to be more ocd, just keep a couple milk jugs of RODI water next to the tub and dump some in to top off whenever you think about it.

Which leads me to my next concern, how long does water stay fresh? I'm sure fresh RO water will keep for a long while before absorbing chemicals from the plastics, but what about mixed SW?

 

[BrianKC]

There's a lot of debate about that. Absorbing plastic probably isn't a concern. Some salt mixes have organics in them that can spoil, but a couple weeks is probably okay. Better to keep a good supply of RODI handy and mix salt on a more as-needed basis...