On my slow progress on building a 75g future Reef Tank =)

Discussion in 'I made this!' started by iLLaPiNo83, Dec 1, 2016.

to remove this notice and enjoy 3reef content with less ads. 3reef membership is free.

  1. iLLaPiNo83

    iLLaPiNo83 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2008
    Messages:
    33
    Oh thats too bad, that's good that your DT didnt get damaged. By the way did you know why your sump crashed?
    I just bought a eshopps psk 75 skimmer (100$ used) at the the lsf, more live sand for the refugium, and some small live rocks to spread in the tank. Will post some pictures tomorrow. The sand i bought only covers 2-3 inches in the refugium... it wasn't enough for the 4-6 inches of dsb. When can I start adding CUC?
     
  2. Click Here!

  3. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    yes, I was away on vacation and the siphon from the overflow failed, the person taking care of my tank didnt know what to do so she "disconnected" the sump (meaning no water was flowing from the DT to the sump and vise versa) this lead to a smelly and I mean SMELLY bacterial bloom in the sump.... luckily this happened only a few days prior to my return..... so managed to steer the course back on track within a couple days.....

    In fact interesting note, on large systems, mine is about 500l, things don't "go south" from one day to the next, if your water gets dirty you'll see minor cyano and algae blooms. I mean say what you will and fight them with fire, but these guys are effective natural filters. my sand bed was little brown at peek 12 in my DT and one of the walls of the tank I dont scrub had a little more algae than when I left, but as soon as i got home I tested the water and it was spot on.

    iv since then reactivated my sump, went bare bottom as mentioned, and feel much happier about it..... I have a large power head in there I occasionally turn one to stir up detritus and have it get eaten by the corals or picked up by my skimmer and or carbon. the minor cyano I would see at 12 has vanished and the algae on the wall are receding....I guess my skimmer gives my system that little extra filtering assistance to starve the algae.

    EDIT: clean up crew goes in at the end of the cycle typically people add them even before the fish to "clean things up".

    even if you dont have a very deep sand bed and use it as a filter it will still serve as a haven for little sand critters in your refugium.... just keep it clean is my advice
     
    Last edited: Dec 15, 2016
  4. iLLaPiNo83

    iLLaPiNo83 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2008
    Messages:
    33
    Been busy for the last few days. Looks like your tank is really balanced and i hope I can replicate that with my tank where everything inside it does their job.

    Thanks for the advice, I'll add some cuc in the display and in the refugium once the cycle is over.
    Just tested the water pH=8.0, ammonia=0.25, nitrite=0, nitrate=10
    It's hard using the API masters kit comparing the colors, I feel like I'm color blind or something=(( Do you have any experience on this kit? For the ammonia test, I observed that as you mix and set it for more than 5 min it gets darker. Will I have a false reading if I check the color for more than 5 or 10 min? And also why does the tank have nitrates, doesn't the tank need to have a spike on ammonia and then nitrite first?
     
  5. Swisswiss

    Swisswiss Caribbean Reef Squid

    Joined:
    Jul 25, 2011
    Messages:
    2,879
    Location:
    Geneva Switzerland
    I dont have any direct experience with API, but I have used colored tests in the past and they can indeed be tricky.... depending on the light source you use, the results may seem to vary as well so make sure you use always the same light when comparing results. if im not mistaken time will also alter the results, the longer you leave the reactor agent in the longer it will...well react....

    nitrate is the end product of the nitrogen cycle, its what builds up and is one of the main reasons for water-changes, as anaerobic bacteria build up (in a deep sand bed or deep within the crevices of your rock work) they will be able to convert this No3 in N2 (nitrogen gas).

    this is where the whole mastery of the hobby comes in, water chemistry; aside your mg.ca.,alk,ph and salinity. nutrients are one of the harder things to keep in line.... being able to balance bio-load and filtering mechanisms so as to allow the bacteria to do their thing is the key to success IMO. if we have to much of a bio-load the bacteria cant keep up with the "nitrate" buildup, the water gets "dirty" and corals become difficult to keep....
     
  6. scajeo

    scajeo Sea Dragon

    Joined:
    May 1, 2012
    Messages:
    548
    Location:
    Port Orchard, WA.
    Nice job on the scaping. I want to do something along the same line and am wondering what plastic rod and drill bit you used?
     
  7. Bluelobstor

    Bluelobstor Plankton

    Joined:
    Jan 2, 2017
    Messages:
    3
    I really like the design of your aquascape, you don't happen to remember the recipe you used when making your rocks? Glad to hear you're taking it slow as most people go too fast. I let mine sit almost a year before adding anything.

    With regards to your fish list I would add the tang and sixline at the same time as they both could be mean to any newcomers and keep in mind the sixline will probably eat any smaller crustaceans and small shrimps you might want to keep which may include feather dusters. Don't remember if the post said but what kind of clowns were you thinking of getting as that might make a difference of when they are added as some can be outright mean esp of the tomato or maroon complex? Shrimp goby pairs are nice and imo would be the first thing I would add once the tank could support one as to give them a chance to establish themselves without fear of being attacked. I think the yellow watchmen goby with shrimp or possibly the pink spotted goby with shrimp would be a better choice for your tank.

    Imo I would add more sand to the sump or make sure that nothing enters or goes into the sump that could disturb the sand. Hope everything goes well and you will be glad you got the 75g for saltwater over 10g freshwater.
     
  8. Click Here!

  9. iLLaPiNo83

    iLLaPiNo83 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2008
    Messages:
    33
    Thanks scajeo. The plastic rod i used was from home depot, they sell it as driveway marker. What i did was i used just a regular drill and went in slow.

    I'll attach a pic of the plastic rod

    Here's a link from homedepot.com http://www.homedepot.com/p/The-Hillman-Group-48-in-Reflective-Rod-Orange-848638/202051800
     

    Attached Files:

    scajeo likes this.
  10. iLLaPiNo83

    iLLaPiNo83 Astrea Snail

    Joined:
    Feb 2, 2008
    Messages:
    33
    Here's an update on my 75 gallon. There's a change of fish stock that i previously wanted to get... Current stock in the aquarium is a pair of clown fish, 1 yellow tang, 1 sailfin tang, 1 sleeper goby, 1 blue damsel, a yellow watchman paired with pistol shrimp, and a pair of cleaner shrimps. I've also put in some corals.