Tank Progress for 57g / 180g

[StarrM]

Hello all!

It was suggested that I start a progression thread for my tanks since I'm both new here and a hobbyist newb. So here goes!

I had been keeping mostly angels and clown loaches in a 20g, and was planning to spend most of last July down in Austin, TX. In June, after years of lusting after saltwater tanks and not finding much challenge in freshwater, I made the decision to break down the tank, sell my livestock to a lfs, and then set it up as saltwater when I returned home.

So, I arrived home on August 1, and headed down to Tropical World that week to get saltwater equipment and necessities. I intended the 20g to be my only saltwater tank...it already had a saltwater light fixture on it, since I'd found a 2 bulb T5 fixture very cheaply months before at Planet Reef. (Guess it was going out of business at the time.)

Here's my 20g tank (photo taken last night)...it's now coming close to being set up for 3 months. It has a Fluval 305 canister filter, a koralia 2 powerhead, the 2 T5 fixture mentioned above, a 12" strip with actinic LEDs, about 40 lbs of cured LR and live sand, a CUC, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 peppermint shrimp, an emerald crab, some softie corals and a pair of juvenile black clowns.

My only saltwater tank...riiight. During the first couple weeks the 20g was up, I was reading everything I could find about the hobby. I got Robert Fenner's book "Conscientious Marine Hobbyist" and read it through. Subscribed to Coral Magazine. Found the TRT forums site and started reading alot of stuff there. Well, there I stumbled on something called a 'sump'. My heavens, a filter that included a mini tank where you can grow green stuff?! That was for me! (I'm an avid gardener and have built and kept koi ponds for the last few years.) So I trotted down to one of my favorite LFSs and asked about a sump for my 20g tank. (It makes me grin to think back, knowing now that a 20g tank would be a small candidate for *being* a sump.) I was kindly advised to consider waiting, and saving my money, for a larger tank that I could use a sump with. And I happened to notice a lovely used 57g tank and stand, sitting there, hoping for a kindly new owner.

So! My 57g is currently closing in on being set up for a month. I guess I'm sorta backwards, having bought a tank because I wanted a sump. Anyway, I love it. It's one of the rimless Oceanic 57g tanks. I found a nice gently used 6-bulb T5 AquaticLife fixture with moonlights and timer. I'm not sure how many gallons the sump is, but it's about 32"L x 11"D x 18"H. I have 2 Koralia 750 powerheads and a Vortech MP10 ES for water-movement. I'm guessing I have about 90-100lbs of LR and, of course, live sand. Marineland 100 protein skimmer and 2LF phosban reactor (since the tank gets a bit of afternoon sun.) It has a CUC, 2 hitchhiker urchins (yay!), a red brittle star, 2 cleaner shrimp, 1 peppermint shrimp, a number of corals (I'm still learning all the names for corals -- currently reading Borneman's "Aquarium Corals"); a Coco feather duster worm, and most recently, a small foxface rabbitfish.

I have to now sheepishly post, there's a new tank incoming within the next 2 weeks. It's a 180g 48" square tank with center over-flow, one of the 18" shallow tanks, which I'm really looking forward to. It'll be the center-piece in my living room (who needs a sofa in a living room anyway!? I barely use the room as it is.) I'm having an electrician install 2 20amp breakers, one for the 57g and the other for the 180g next week. Then the tank will arrive a few days later. I still need to order a couple of powerheads for it (it included 2 koralia 1050s - I'm trying to decide if I can afford Tunzes for the other two), and am figuring out what the second light fixture should be. I have a source for 120lbs of LR so far, and plan to hand-pick the remainder over time. I'm strongly considering taking most of the rock from the 20g and moving it over once the 180g has stabilized. Here's a pic of the tank at the previous owner's home...(oh, and he, Zach, was who turned me onto this forum and SLASH...so thanks again Zach!!)

So begins my progression...

Thanks all and I'll gladly welcome any advice, comments, etc. Hopefully, once the tanks are all settled and happy, I can invite y'all over after a pizza night for advice. :rollface:

Cheers,
Starr

 

[logiktest]

Looks like your off to a fantastic start, and your tanks look great!

In your sump I notice rock rubble and what looks like two other types of substrate, what are they and how deep is it? And speaking of sumps, just guessing, your sump is about 30 gallons.

Cant wait to see your progress on the 180!

 

[StarrM]

In your sump I notice rock rubble and what looks like two other types of substrate, what are they and how deep is it? And speaking of sumps, just guessing, your sump is about 30 gallons.

The layers in the sump are 1) live sand; 2)mud refugium substrate; and 3)rubble rock. Sand and mud are each about 2" deep (a 1 gallon container of the mud.)

Thanks for the encouragement Mike!

Starr

 

[Tonblogna]

I think the tanks look great. Personally I like having a background on mine so you don't see the wires and what not behind the tank.

 

[Nanook]

Looks like you are well on your way to madness:beer: Congrats on the new 4ft cube tank.

Feel free to invite the critics over if you want some suggestions for setting up the new tank, or just need some help. We are pretty good about helping each other out

 

[StarrM]

Thanks so much, Ton and Dave! It's so nice to hear that something I care so much about looks good to people who know what they're doing.

Ton, I haven't put on a background because I figure hopefully eventually coralline will provide one.

Dave, Zach (who I bought the 180 from) has graciously offered to both deliver it and help set it up. (Is that cool or what?) That said, I would love to have the 'critics' over for any and all pointers. I'll provide the beer!

Cheers,
Starr

 

[singold]

Looks great! Looking forward to following along as things continue to progress with the 180.

 

[streak]

Did you say Martini?? Beer bahh come on man Stolies?? Queens!! Sweet Vermooth!! lets rock it a bit.. CONGRATS!! btw!

 

[StarrM]

Wow, it's been a haul since I posted last. The 180g tank is up and running. I've had problems with the baffle in the fuge failing, the protein skimmer valve freezing up and horrendous silt problems since I mixed the saltwater in the tank and then added the sand in afterward. The silt problem has been rough.

I solved the baffle problem by gluing in a glass baffle. I think it's too shallow for the optimum performance, but I'm not going to change it now.

I disassembled the plumbing for the protein skimmer, took it all to the sink to wash it out, reassembled it, and now it's working great. I figure this was a result of so much silt. Now, I'm trying to filter out the murk.

Tonight though I remembered why I bought the tank. Thank heavens, enough murk had settled for me to get to work on the LR. I have a little over 100 lbs in the tank now. I have a 27 lb rock on hold at a lfs. And I know I need a bit more. But I was able to begin to make some sense out of the tank. I spend 2 glorious hours working on the rock until it got too stirred up. I hope to post pics tomorrow.

Santa Maria! As those of use who play early music occasionally say.

Starr

 

[StarrM]

The tank had settled a *little* bit...so I got some pics. Here they are:

Still murky but...

The big space on the middle of this one is saved for the rock I have incoming...

And another corner...love these corner views:

Now it's showing where I still need to plug in rock.

Another view of the supposedly 'finished' side:

Tomorrow, hopefully the tank will look better.

Starr

 

[Reeferhead]

Looks great Starr :thumbsup:

I can wait to see it progress

 

[El Diablo]

Looks great Star!

 

[StarrM]

Thanks guys!

When I saw it this morning I realized it needs more work...and certainly more rock. Oh, and I managed to overflow the skimmer and flood the area beneath the tank. :hmm3: Heh...the joys of owning a tank, right? Guess I need to drag a fan up from the basement and try to dry things out.

This tank seems to manage to evaporate almost 5 gallons of water in a day...can that be right??!

Cheers,
Starr

 

[bradleym]

Easily. I have a 75 gallon zeroedge setup that evaporates about 3 gallons a day. Of course it's got a lot more surface area than a normal tank. The bigger the difference between room temp and tank temp, the more it'll evaporate, just FYI.

 

[keto]

Very nice , your off to a great start !!!

 

[0812946]

Thanks guys!

When I saw it this morning I realized it needs more work...and certainly more rock. Oh, and I managed to overflow the skimmer and flood the area beneath the tank. :hmm3: Heh...the joys of owning a tank, right? Guess I need to drag a fan up from the basement and try to dry things out.

This tank seems to manage to evaporate almost 5 gallons of water in a day...can that be right??!

Cheers,
Starr

How did the skimmer overflow the sump? That is weird because it should only put out what it takes in?

I evaporated 3-4 gallons a day with my lights 14" above the water.

 

[GPhiAce]

Man, things looks great. You are of to a really quick and good start.

What skimmer are you using? You may want to look into getting an overflow canister for the collection cup if you continue to have that problem. You you can tune it to skim drier. Skimmers do tend to go crazy when you are setting up a new tank (new water, sand etc).

You you need more rock than you have set aside at the LFS, you may want to look into marcorocks. I think they are an RC sponsor. Great rock, and you can get the "pre cycled dry rock." I took a chance on it, and did not see a phosphate, nitrate or ammonia spike. That is a sweet tank BTW.

 

[StarrM]

How did the skimmer overflow the sump? That is weird because it should only put out what it takes in?

Aww Zack... I seem to be making all the mistakes that can be made. I had the skimmer turned on too far (after having the problems with the valve freezing because of the really horrible silt.). So it overflowed the overflow container. :hmm3:

My biggest challenge right now is the silt. I think maybe mixing the salt in the tank and then adding the sand afterward was not a good thing. On a positive note, the water chemistry is looking good for a new tank.

Starr

 

[Nanook]

Looks fantastic!! Don't sweat the gizmos either, most female reefers are more into biology not technology, which is a good thing.

 

[0812946]

Aww Zack... I seem to be making all the mistakes that can be made. I had the skimmer turned on too far (after having the problems with the valve freezing because of the really horrible silt.). So it overflowed the overflow container. :hmm3:

My biggest challenge right now is the silt. I think maybe mixing the salt in the tank and then adding the sand afterward was not a good thing. On a positive note, the water chemistry is looking good for a new tank.

Starr

Hehe, ohhhh the overflow cannister.. oops!

I had the same issue with the sand, it went away in a week or two. I can't remember if I did anything to help it or not, but it went away. If I did do anything I continued to stir up the water until it filtered out, but I want to say is just went away mostly on its own....I hope that helps.. Just keep imagining all of those beautiful corals and fish in there and you will make it through the trials...

P.S. If you want to sell your tanks, let me know... Just kidding