New Tank

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#1
Jan 14, 2004
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So i am starting up a new reef tank, thought i would post and let people lknow how it was going,

First its a 40 gallon sumped into a 20 gallon, so total number of gallons is 60, but show tank is 40 and the botttom tank is strickly live rock and sand and a nursery for brine shrimp, mysis shrimp ect,


I first recieved the live sand last week, rinsed and placed i the tank, and kept the lights off for most of the week to prevent algea blooms, after about 4 days tank cleared up and i started doing daily testing,
ph 8.2
temp 77 fahrenhiet
salinty 1.023
Nitrate 0 ppm
Nitrite 0ppm
amonia 0.50 ppm

The live rock will be here next week, but in the mean time i found a blue star fish and a few elusive crabs that i havent been able to identify

i will post more as things progress

also lights are T5's that equal about 4 watts/ gallon
i am thinking about upgrading but we will see
Brahm
 

S.Reef

S.Reef

Superstar Fish
#3
Dec 1, 2003
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#3
Sounds good so far. Depending on the status of the live rock, you might want to cure it in a seperate container. (debris may accumulate in the live sand)
 

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#4
Jan 14, 2004
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yea i have a 40 gallon container for that purpose depending on the condition of the rock, i think it is gonna be really nice stuff, most of the stuff I have seen this guy get is great lots of life, as far as the plumbing there is an overflow plumbed into the toptank which drains into the bottom via gravity, then the water is pumped back up to the top tank via a rio 2100 which so far i have only one complaint and that is that it is too powerful so now it flows into a pvc ball valve which is inturn conected to a pvc flow check valve which then connect to the top tank return( i learned the hard way about the check valve, i was planning on putting one in i was just checking the plumbing to make sure there were no leaks and i shut off the pumps for 5 minutes and heard water upstairs ( 5 gallons of water on the floor which came down stairs and shorted out the tv,) so needless to say the check valve is essential in a set up like this) hope that helped as to the plumbing question
Brahm
 

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wayne

Elite Fish
#9
Oct 22, 2002
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Or you drill it above, but slight leaking might make it jam up with salt. As long as waters being pumped through it's ok, but if pumping stops it doesn't reverse syphon as the air leak breaks the siphon
 

A

aresgod

Superstar Fish
#10
Jan 14, 2004
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NEW UPDATE

So the tank has been cycling for about 2 weeks with live sand now all tests are 0 except amonia which is 0.50 which isnt so bad,

however, Live rock came today, 25 lbs of FIJI and 20 lbs of Tonga, really really nice stuff, it was just picked yesterday and was flown out last night esp for this order, so it has only been out of the water for 2 days, it looks fantastic, very little die off, the tank is running now with lights off and i will test levels tommorow, the best part about this however was the fact that the rock was FREE, I work for a wine store that is having a large tank installed, and the owner and i are friends as well as boss and employee so he put it all under store costs so free aweasome rock for me Sweet, i will keep you all posted as to whats going on, picks will follow soon, also tons of life on and in the rock its self, i was drilling holes to secure it in place with zip ties and all sorts of stuff was hiding in the middle of the rock
anyways stay tunned for more updates soon
Brahm
 

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aresgod

Superstar Fish
#12
Jan 14, 2004
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yes i was very happy with the entire arrangement, i am also taking care of the tank at work, so that means 2 new SW tanks to play with, anyways so all levels were high today, as expected, ph was a little low so i added kalsswater(sp?) and i will check back tommorow

Brahm
 

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