90G upgrade! what won't an urchin pick up?

That could work just fine. Its all about space for the bacteria to colonize and process the waste that your system creates. The rubble is a good way to go for a booming pod population that your mandarin will love!

 

There are two types of "lava" rock. The first is volcanic in origin and is very bad for reefs. The second, is light in weight and found at LFS. It is a by-product of smelting. Due to the high temps the "lava" rock impurities that can leach into the water are baked out of this material. This is not to say that all man-made lava rock is the same, however, some can be used as base rock with no ill effects.

Having said all that... I agree that if you don't know 100%, don't do it.

 

It is the man made, from LFS, "reef safe" lava rock. Every piece looked exactly the same, I keep flip flopping on it. I think I'm just gonna slowly replace it as I find good pieces. Thanks vin

 

Ya almost had me talked into the new skimmer which looks great, but the skimmer that came with this is $350 new and rated amazing everywhere. Gonna give this one a decent shot first.

Edit; AquaC skimmer

 

I'm on board Cosmo, and I am excited for you. At this rate you may be able to have this puppy up, and a good way into a cycle before your son comes home! I think you are gonna really enjoy the larger size.

 

thats what she said!

So sorry, I just couldn't resist...

 

Thanks Thor, but I'm gonna just transfer the 55 over to this and add some new rock, sand and the fuge!

Get the baffles for the sump on wednesday, should have a freshwater test run done on thursday if I have time, New sand and rocks come by next tuesday, so hope to have it up and running in about 2-3 weeks. I'm working extra jobs now while my son is gone to keep me busy and out of bars!lol! When I have the chance I tend to try to drink like I did in college, Way too old for that these days. lol

 

Ok, heres the tank running with freshwater to test everything out. Did a few power outage tests, and learned i forgot to drill a vacuum hole in the return line, so it back syphoned and flooded, hence why I did it in the garage. But after that, all seems to be good. Gonna run everything for a few days to make sure its working great. Waiting on new sand and rock to be delivered anyways.

Please feel free to suggest and critique





This return concept didn't working, it allowed the overflow to fill, then vacuum out about 4 inches, till it filled again. Sounded like the tank was burping every 15 seconds

 

Ahhhh water in the tank. Do you have any airline to place in the top of the drains. Sounds like air getting trapped.

 

That sound was caused by this



So i took the top off and it stopped it!