I have finally got the tank running!!!

[jceli728]

Hey guys thanks to all ur help i have got my tank running. it has been running for about 30 days, in a cycle. i had planned to add live rock before anyfish but, work is getting a little slow now. and want to save some money till it starts picking up again. and will add live rock little by little to eventually turn it into a reef tank.
guys this is what i have so far:
*72g Bowfront Reef Ready.
*20g DIY Refugium ( i tryed to fit a 29g like everyone told me but i was just not able to get it inside the stand.)
*9.5 Mag drive
*A regular double strip light with some DIY lunar lights.
*PLANTS some Caulurpa and some other macro algea in the refugium.
*FISH i got 4 damsels, 1 scooter blenny, 1 Auriga Butterfly. the butterfly was a gift but i think it might not be siuted for my tank.
* oh yeah and some background paper till i get some real rocks and corals.

my problems are the pipe going into the refugium creates alot of bubbles, witch eventually find therir way into the pump and the main tank. i have try controlling the water flow with the valves but i have to close almost everything so i won't get any bubbles. i have 2 baffles in the refugium and is not going the job.
also i know alot of people told me i won't need any kind of canisters or filtration media since i was having a refugium and that will take care of it, but is not doing anything about the visiual stuff, my watter is starting to get foggy. is going great in controling the non visual stuff. for now i have put some fliter pads around the pump to try to clear up the water.

please help me with these 2 problems.
here are some pics.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/honacc1999/IMG_8836.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/honacc1999/IMG_8835.jpg
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/honacc1999/IMG_8837.jpg

 

[OCCFan023]

As for the bubbles, is there anyway to submerge the pump so that it isnt splashing onto the water to create bubbles, or are the bubbles comming out of the input to the sump?

Im not to positive on the cloudy water issue, but I dont think a canister will add to much benefits, and rather use the money for the cansiter to start adding live rock.

tank looks like a good start, and the setup looks like it should be very stable and create a healthy enviorment, just try and get some live rock asap (budget permitting)

 

[jceli728]

OCCFan023, pump is fully sumerged in the water, i'm also using the sponge that came with it. most of the bubbles are coming from the pipe going from the main to the refugium. that pipe is also fully in the water. will having it out of the water help?

 

[OCCFan023]

If you take the pipe out of the water and have it hit the sponge before it hits the water (to avoid loud splashing) this could help with the bubbles. Can you adjust the pipes length or would you have to cut it **reply before you cut it** lol

 

[jceli728]

i could cut the pipe and raise it with no problem, i just don't think i have the space for the sponge, i followed this design for my reugium. let me knoe if i could do anyhting here.
http://i34.photobucket.com/albums/d113/honacc1999/93330939013_3300_2.jpg

 

[wayne]

Being frank I don't like what you've done.
1. this tank is uncycled, I see no mention of live rock to precycle it. I do NOT like cycling with fish period, it is inhumane and stupid.
2. Although you have the caulerpa in, that is not a guarantee that any wastes produced by the fish will be absorbed. The caulerpa will need to recove befroe it starts growing, and worse, if it decides to die (which it often does) then that will contribute to ammonia levels i nthe tank.
3. If you want a reef you don't want an auriga butterfly.

 

[jceli728]

wayne thanks for the coment the only way i could see the mistakes i'm making is with comments like this. i had the tank running for close to 30 days running with out fish just the water, live sand, and the caulerpa with other macro alges. i decided to get the fish when i saw that the caulerpa wast growing roots and started to get bigger. i have been doing a water test ever day everything has been fine. i planned to get live rock first but like i said work strted to get a little sklow and have to hold on on that for a little.

auriga butterfly was a gift from a friend.

 

[wayne]

Ah , the devil is in the detail. If the caulerpa is growing first then you're in much better shape. It's all too common for caulerpa to just degenerate to a soggy mess. Try to be careful when it comes time to harvest it. You should just be able to pull out entire lumps, strands. If you try to prune it like a rose or whatever then you will get a nasty surprise as it will collapse horribly - cut stems, leaves just bleed internal fluid as I believe they are effectively giant single cells.

Also the fact the auriga is from a friend is good as if it's already been in a tank for a while it will tend to be a bit battle hardened - it's the sort of fish you might lose in the beginning, but should be pretty tough once it's settled into captive feeding and so on. I still wouldn't call it reef safe in any sort of that description, but a very, very nice fish all the same. How big is it?

 

[1979camaro]

you really need to get something in there to break up the territory...plastic pipes, base rock, something.....

 

[wayne]

You're not wrong there

 

[SALTY WATERS]

I agree with 1979camaro, you really need to have "safe places" for the fish to retreat to when they feel threatend, other wise the are going to most likely get very stressed and that is when disease likes to come knocking!

PS. I like the tank, I was looking at one of those bows last Christmas; never happend though!

 

[JustinP]

As far as your bubble problem goes I believe you are sucking air somewhere around your return. I have a similar setup as yours with a lot of bubbles/turbulence in the input chamber. I have 2 baffles between the input and fuge and I get no bubles back in the main at all. Is it possible that your pump is out-pacing your overflow? If it starts to run low or dry it will suck air and blow bubbles. A Mag 9.5 is rated at 800 GPH at 4ft. head.

 

[jceli728]

i have been able to resolve the problem about the bubbles. now my only problem is the water being kind of foggy. what i was thinking maybe is that grape like caulerpa. i know a lot of people told me it might do that, but they have also told me is a great plant to have, that's y i got it.

Now my question is how do i get rid of that from the water? water change? or will it naturally go away? also please advise me in keeping that caulerpa, i have other macro algaes and getting rid of that one won't be a problem if i'm going to be going trough this all the time.

 

[KahluaZzZ]

4-5 month i think since i bought caulerpa, and i don't have foggy water..but i read elsewhere that someone had the same problem you have. The guy blamed caulerpa saying the cloudiness was due to reproduction of the caulerpa. Maybe run carbon could help you clear the water.
I also have chaetomorpha, and this one isn't a problem at all, growing like crazy, no die-off, and doesn't seem to require as much light as the caulerpa.
Unlike the caulerpa, it doesn't release bad toxin when reproducing.
Caulerpa needs care...and you should cut it cleanly and often. Decaying caulerpa will probably acidify a bit your water, wich is not a cool thing in sw tanks. I think this plant is risky and need higher maintenance than chaeto.