Question on cycling

[Railcar79]

the 20 long next to the tank is a Fresh water, wild caught Painted turtle. We have had him for about 7 years, I brought him home in a pill bottle, he is now the size of my palm. the 10 underneth is his previous home, and a possible add on fuge if the need should arise.

 

[tommyhrs]

Nice to have some local help for emergencies when your not there. I'm just back after a long break myself, so welcome back to the insanity.

 

[cap032]

I am using a mix of BRS Pukani, and rubble from 4 club members tanks. Need bio matter to cycle a tank, might as well use what is in the rock, right??

As far as the cycle, I will check it after 2 and 4 weeks, see where I am at.
For topping off, My last 55 only needed about a gallon a month, and that was with UG filters. Nothing saps your water like the old UG.
Skimmer will be ran, but as stated, there is a drain line on the skimmer cup, and it will be plumbed before water is added to tank.


As far as water changes, I wont change a thing till the water is fully cycled. Hopefully cycle will go quick, using established rock and sand, and 1/3 established water will kick start things. Best part of being gone all the time is that you dont screw with the tank during the cycle because you CANT!!

The Pulkani is known to leach a lot of phosphate! If it were me, I would cook it.

 

[Railcar79]

I cant believe how everything changed in my absence. My last tank was with my parents, a hand built 175. We used a hand built skimmer with the old wood stones, under gravel filter using crushed quartz as a substrate. Everyone thought I was nuts for using carbon cansiters on the outputs. 2 heaters (150-200 watts each if memory serves me) 48" shoplite hanging over the tank with a gro light and a standard bulb for lighting. Back then fish shops would throw the rock in for free if you bought a fish, and you would pay around $1 for a bag of their gravel from their aquariums. No sumps, no reactors, and RODI was unheard of.

 

[spieszak]

Never had a HOB fail me in any aspect before, but I know far too many people who have flooded their homes, or killed off their fish due to an ATO malfunction.

My experience is the exact opposite of this. Haven't heard many stories about ATO malfunctions to the extent of fish death or major damage (some of course), but plenty about HOB overflows. Regardless, if you are comfortable with the setup, then its all good, and I certainly wouldn't fight you about it
My only other advice would be regarding the lights. A decent percentage of the HOB overflow stories I have heard have had to do with clogging the drain line because of algae growth. Because of that, my suggestion would be to try to "plan" for the inevitable outbreak so that you are home when it happens.. so if maintenance needs to be done to keep things flowing, you aren't trying to walk someone through it.

 

[Railcar79]

I got a CPR 800 gal HOB, and it is black to prevent algea.

 

[BlindZide]

Thanks for the run down on the skimmer. I don't know if mine has that but when I get my 55G I will be sure I have one. Man the 55g is gonna be sweet! I can't wait!

Your setup looks to be pretty nice man. Nice job setting it up. I guess if I were you I would think to myself "Ok, what are the things that can happen when I'm gone and how can I correct them?". Then write them down and have a plan. I don't know if I could leave my tank for that long without worrying to the bone if my $$$$$$$$$ is still alive and kicking.

 

[Railcar79]

The problem is too much time to think and plan. Every component in the setup gets about a week devoted to research, reading forums, reviews, product manuals, any bit of info that I can use to finger it out in advance, then I order it and pray it gets to the house before I do. Miss a shipment by even an hour, it racks 2 more weeks before I have fish.