Up and Running

[Mikilios]

So I am brand new to this hobby, and started researching about 2.5 months ago. It is now to the point where I have added live rock into the system which is up and running. It is pretty sweet. :spin3: The world of marine aquaria has infected me, and I cannot stop reading and researching and checking out everything at the local fish stores.

The supply list for the system is as follows....

50 gallon breeder (36x18x19)
20 gallong sump (30x12x12)
Mag 7 return line
1" pvc drain line
2 Korallia 750's
150 w Jager heater
50 w jager heater
Bubble Magus NCA6 protein Skimmer
Current t5 ho 6x39 watt lighting
custom made sump with acrylic baffles
40 lbs live sand
lots of water =)

And yesterday i dropped in 30 lbs of live rock from the lfs. It looks like pretty high quality stuff as far as physical formation/purple coraline algae. PLUS because I have been frequenting the same store for the past few weeks... I happened to know that this live rock had been cycling for a good 2-3 weeks in their system.

It has been fun to watch the little organisms already sprouting inside the crevices of the live rock. I have found a pair of incredibly tiny snails roaming around the substrate last night, and various inverts sprouting. They appear to be happy with my setup thus far.

Water levels... Specific Gravity 1.025 (cross referenced this with a cheap placstic hydrometer and a nicer digital one, both read 1.025 ranger after i callibrated the nicer hydrometer)

Temps have been constantantly between 78.8 and 79.5 over the past 24 hours.
Calcium around 400ppm.... good enough for now I think.
dKH at 9
Phosphates - next to nil (less then .25ppm anyway)
Nitrate - less then 5ppm
pH 8.2

Anywho, I'm going to log my progress frequently and consistantly. Everything is looking good so far. =)

 

[PSU-Reefer]

Looking good! I will be tagging along as this grows.

 

[Dustin1300]

Looking good. Will be time soon enough to add some fish so you can get the Bubble Magnus to work

 

[James404]

Looking good so far! Are you using a refractometer at all? Hydrometers really can't be trusted.

 

[Mikilios]

Fish and more in the future

Fish and more in the future

I am debating with myself when I am going to add a fish or two (leaning toward dropping in a two or three chromis in a week-ish). At the moment, I'm going to focus on doubling my live rock stockpile. 30 lbs right now is definitely too sparse for my liking. But, watching the little critters happily growing on the live rock is fun. I nicknamed one of the snails I found hitching a ride from the lfs to my aquarium on the liverock "gary" (spongebob's pet snail was named gary). Anyhow... my next plan is for a light to mount over the sump (just a 6500 k single lamp fixture), throw some algae in the refugium portion, and probably modify my return line into a t, with one section running back into the refugium, and one returning to the tank. This is because I have my mag 7 dialed in at half throttle with the ball valve...

This is incredibly fun though. =) Now I need to find my good camera. The current photos were taken with my cell phone. :hmm5:

 

[Mikilios]

Oops!

Oops!

Yes... refractometer and hydrometer. I calibrated it with distilled water before testing my levels. I found the cheap hydrometer is actually on par with the calibrated refractometer (reads just a smidge higher). Lol. I bought the marine depot brand refractometer for 50 bucks.

 

[Mikilios]

Side Note

Side Note

I've been spending a lot of time getting this up and running and not getting my usual amounts of sleep.... but I just can't help it. I installed a gfi outlet in the wall in the middle of last week, built the pvc return system... poured in salt and dialed in SG, and then spending a lot of time messing around with water levels in the sump vs. main tank to dial it in just right, in hopes that I would be ready to get my live rock this weekend (which I did). Oh yeah, and lots of :reading: and and :uzi: along the way. HA!

 

[James404]

Yes... refractometer and hydrometer. I calibrated it with distilled water before testing my levels. I found the cheap hydrometer is actually on par with the calibrated refractometer (reads just a smidge higher). Lol. I bought the marine depot brand refractometer for 50 bucks.

Good job, sounds like you have done your homework and are on the right track! Will tag along!

 

[robs.mark]

Looks great, if i were you i would probably wait as long as you can before adding any livestock, once your nitrate and ammonia hit 0 then wait another couple of weeks, checking parameters every other day, to make sure everything is sitting nice and stable. 0.25 phosphates is pretty high, get that as close to 0 as possible.
Add your extra liverock asap.

I use an NAC6a too, its a great skimmer and im sure you will be happy with it. Tip, I find it works best in 9" of water.

What do you wish to keep in this system? Once the extra LR is in there you may want a little more flow for the harder stuff.

Are you using RO(DI)?

 

[Mikilios]

At the moment I am not using r/o. Perhaps I am just bold in my thoughts that I can manage a system without it for the time being, but I dont plan on putting anything expensive in the system right away (besides live rock). And I dont believe the phosphate is actually at .25, but I have one of those test kits by color strip... and so all I know for sure is that the color gradiant is definitely an "in-between" color of the 0ppm color and the .25 ppm color. I am actually intrigued by the challenges this hobby has to offer, and I want to do everything myself (because there is no better learning process then doing it ones self). One way or another, I will prove to myself as I go, coupled with a ton of information I've read about. I tested the tap water for phosphate, ammonia, nitrate, ph, etc with the color test kits, and they all seemed to repeatedly show up in the low ranges. I added some conditioner to the tap water in the early stages before adding my salt, as well as some other small doses of iodine/calcium/strontium. I'm charting my progress in a log book of all things I've done and measurements taken (every step of the way) as well as recording any little thing I do from day to day. Thus I can begin to track why something changes something, etc. For the moment I'm looking to do live rock and a few fish, a few inverts, and see what happens. My plan was to get all the live rock in, wait around 7-14 days (depending on what my readings tell me) and put a few cleaner type critters in, and a week to two later, get a couple chromis or something like (once again, based on what my readings are telling me).

I know it may sound crazy to even attempt this with tap water... but people did it before the time of the r/o systems. Heck, there are still people who use seawater still. I'm half tempted to try it one day to compare the challenges of natural sea water in a seperate tank vs what I accomplish with artificial mix. :reading: I have this tendency to research and experiment. As a kid, I made my own ant farms out of 10 gallon aquariums and harvested ants from underneath my fathers garage, digging up the whole lot of them (since my father considered them pests in his garage). Anyhow... this turned into a long log. Ha!

 

[robs.mark]

There is nothing wrong with nsw providing your source is good. The longr you can wait the better. Nothing should be put into your tank regardless for at least a month. Newbe's may tell you different, but they lack experience. Patience is the key! Do yourself a favor and but an RO unit before you go any further, The problem with tap water isnt the things you test for, its the things we dont test for. Metals in the water wont evaporate, they stay in your tank. In the past people didnt have the knowledge/equipment we have now, but this reflects on the standard of their tanks. It wasnt long back that it was seen as impossible to keep sps!

 

[Palting]

I know of a very successful reefer who uses tap water for his salt mix. In fact, according to this board, all his livestock should be dead. He uses tap water for his salt mix, he uses a cannister filter, his only live rock are the rocks that he uses to mount his corals on, he runs a UV 24/7, and he uses PC lights!!

My point is that this is a hobby. One with a lot of knowledge to be gained and understood, but should still be FUN!! You want tap water, go for it. Chromis in a week or two, give it a try! Sounds like you've done your homework already, and want to experiment, go for it!!

Good luck, and above all, have fun!! And, share the fun. We LOVE pics!!

 

[necessary evil]

You can unuglify that white PVC with black krylon fusion (reef safe bonds to plastics) spray paint found at your local craft supply stores

 

[Levito]

Nice start. I know you said you wanted to add more rock, but if I were you, I'd add it only for filtration - in the sump. The rock you have so far is good, and you've 'scaped it well, it would be a great minimalist setup. Of course it's your tank, so do what makes you happy. Just my $0.02

 

[robs.mark]

I know of a very successful reefer who uses tap water for his salt mix. In fact, according to this board, all his livestock should be dead. He uses tap water for his salt mix, he uses a cannister filter, his only live rock are the rocks that he uses to mount his corals on, he runs a UV 24/7, and he uses PC lights!!

My point is that this is a hobby. One with a lot of knowledge to be gained and understood, but should still be FUN!! You want tap water, go for it. Chromis in a week or two, give it a try! Sounds like you've done your homework already, and want to experiment, go for it!!

Good luck, and above all, have fun!! And, share the fun. We LOVE pics!!

That fair enough, good for your friend. I'd put money on the fact that for every 1 person who has success with tap water, 100 people wont. Not long term success anyhow. Hair algae and others arnt such a fun experiment.
We as reefers should do everything we can to ensure the happiness and well being of our livestock, sorry but advising the addition of fish so soon after a cycle is just bad and inexperienced advice. How would you like it if aliens from out of space decided to keep us captive on a planet with say half the oxygen required, super low or high temps and with no sewage system in place? because when you put fish into a tank when the parameters arnt perfect to its natural ecosystem, nor filtration isnt mature enough, thats what your doing..

 

[Palting]

That fair enough, good for your friend. I'd put money on the fact that for every 1 person who has success with tap water, 100 people wont. Not long term success anyhow. Hair algae and others arnt such a fun experiment.
We as reefers should do everything we can to ensure the happiness and well being of our livestock, sorry but advising the addition of fish so soon after a cycle is just bad and inexperienced advice. How would you like it if aliens from out of space decided to keep us captive on a planet with say half the oxygen required, super low or high temps and with no sewage system in place? because when you put fish into a tank when the parameters arnt perfect to its natural ecosystem, nor filtration isnt mature enough, thats what your doing..

C'mon, now. I eat fish. I fry them, roast them , hook them alive, even soak them in vinegar to pickle them. I boil lobsters alive. Acutally, I steam them. I love succulent shrimp in barbecue sauce. I also eat fish eggs on crackers.

Not to be rude, but it's being sanctimonius, that is bad advice.

 

[Mikilios]

Yeah, I did not glue in the tank side portion of the pvc. I am planning to make a backdrop made of double sided printed window cling. I was going to do a negative image of one of my art pieces (you can check out mikilios.com if you'd like to see). I wanted to design a special design with some abstract fish on it. Then I was going to use the painted pvc piece, (after letting it set for a week) then replace the white with the black for the in tank portion. Maybe even paint on the pvc to match it to the background artwork. =)

 

[Mikilios]

Nice start. I know you said you wanted to add more rock, but if I were you, I'd add it only for filtration - in the sump. The rock you have so far is good, and you've 'scaped it well, it would be a great minimalist setup. Of course it's your tank, so do what makes you happy. Just my $0.02

You know... I am starting to think that is a good idea. I may add another 5 lb piece or two in the main... and yes, I was definitely going to put a few pounds down underneath for filtration, as well as some algae in the refugium.

 

[Mikilios]

Nuisance in the tank....

Nuisance in the tank....

My first piece of negative news.... I discovered the presence of tiny green bubble algae that came with my live rock. Just small little tiny bubble like, green/oily looking suckers. So, I did some research, and decided to go get one emerald crab. I know this is a gamble for the crabs sake with the new system.... and I hated to do it, but multiple sources (including the lfs) said that the emerald crab is the best bet for clearing this up, other then trying to hand pick each piece off of the live rock WITHOUT bursting any of the bubbles. (I didn't like my odds of not popping any of the bubbles or missing some by leaving it to my eyes and fingers only). I figure a combination of me picking out the easiest to get at, plus the help of one small emerald crab, should ensure my odds that this nuisance algae does not get the best of my tank.
I have given him the honorable name of Poseidon. He is king of this rock... and may he live for years to come. I drip acclimated him for two hours, then introduced him into the system. The first 15 mins he burrowed slightly into the sand under the chunk of liverock that has the green algae. Then he started climbing up the rock and he is already cleaning like a hoover!!!! It is as though he knew his duty.... he is a mere two inches away now from the pest bubble algae.... grazing on his way to it..... Keep my fingers crossed here.
Water update... SG is 1.025/pH 8.2/phosphate same range as before (under .25ppm according to the color strip)/calcium a hair over the 400 range (up slightly from before). Temp at a cozy 79.1 by average of multiple sensor location readings. Nitrates at nil.

Good luck Poseidon!!!! :uzi: that nuisance algae!!!

 

[robs.mark]

C'mon, now. I eat fish. I fry them, roast them , hook them alive, even soak them in vinegar to pickle them. I boil lobsters alive. Acutally, I steam them. I love succulent shrimp in barbecue sauce. I also eat fish eggs on crackers.

Not to be rude, but it's being sanctimonius, that is bad advice.

My friend, do as you will..

Your lack of respect for aquatic life disturbs me.

Its okay to post in every other thread, but remember, inexperienced advice, is bad advice.