Yeah I was thinking about the valve idea, that might work. I want zero air in either of those tubes. I think Im most definitely going to have to cut into the pipe and put in a valve below like you mention. Wont be too hard, might take an hour or two max. Other than that this thing is running quite well. Water is nice and level, overflow works, drains work well etc...

As of right now there is not enough room in the sump for a power outage from back flow. So far my check valve works wonderfully to prevent any flow backwards as my system has been "off" for the last 6-7 hours and my water levels all are exactly the same height. I know I cant rely on this part but it'll help. If it did fail Id see likely 25G of water flow back, if it works well then Id see about 10-15G flow back. Right now my sump can hold maybe an extra 5-7G and then once I build my emergency reservoir and plumb it I'll have enough for about 17G which is good enough. If I had 8G of water spill on my unfinished basement itd take me 30 mins to clean up.

Im still going to plumb an emergency overflow reservoir that will remain empty at all times. I luckily have a hole drilled into my sump above the height of the water in one of my chambers and so I am going to just 90 it straight up but below the height of my sumps top edge and direct it towards my empty QT tank, and when that isnt empty I'll just shove it in a 5G bucket. This way I should have enough room for the water if a power outage should it occur.

I'll likely fix this plumbing problem tomorrow and then I gotta figure out this stupid skimmer needle pump and as far as I can see into the future right now my system should be working perfect, but Im sure I'll run into another problem seeing as how this is my first build.

I always recommend to pick up an extra check valve to swap in every 6 months to a year....most check valves fail due to a build up of crud on the seal....Just pop the old one out via the union and give it a soak in vinegar. Somewhat cheap peace of mind.

Replacing the check valve would be pretty easy. Its in a good spot.

Also, Ive picked up the parts to run an absolute emergency drain into an empty reservoir that I can hook up. After I get that draining into, say a 10G bucket or tub, I would be very very confident my tank would be almost flood proof 100%.

Anyways, I went to the store today and was looking at small frags in the sps tank and just got wondering - what special care exactly do SPS corals need?

Im going to have a 165G tank with three 250W HQI Metal Hallides and four 96W Blue Actinics. My water will be completely RODI. Using reef crystals for salt.

What else do they need? Im guessing some kind of dosing? What other care? Id love to have some.

Plumbing done?!
 

Alright so I've managed to cut into my error in my plumbing and have replumbed my main drain from below my gate valve down. I originally T'd off into me refugium in a bad spot and also didnt have a valve after the t to force water into the refugium. Thats done!

Now Im basically fine tuning my used skimmer, which has been a headache so far, and think Im literally real close to mixing salt and putting some LR into the DT. Ive also plumbed in an emergency emergency drain that will prevent flooding completely should power go out or whatever.

Basically everything on my tank is now working except I cant get my stupid skimmer to stop leaking. I might be in the market for a new one. Anyone got a good skimmer than WONT LEAK, is out of sump and will be big enough for a 165G DT?

Where is it leaking out of, do you know? You could save yourself some money by locating the fault and trying to repair with silicon, epoxy or plumber's glue?

Yeah Im likely to that moreso than buy a new skimmer but as of right now Im draining my tank of all the tap water I was using to test out the system and Im making up a batch of RODI. So I'm going to start my cycle while I work with this skimmer problem. I think I'll make it work one way or another. Worst case scenario I rig up some kind of trough it can sit in that flows back into the sump if I have to. Im going to move where my skimmer is too cause right now its pretty hard to get to and thats partially causing the problems.

With it moved to the right side of my stand I'll be able to fine tune it easier. I should for sure be mixing salt this weekend one way or another which is super exciting. Been a slow process for my first ever build - made a few smallish errors, but thats part of the process and I think I have a pretty kick ass first ever SW tank so we'll see how I do.

Acclimatizing Live Rock
 

Just wondering, once I mix the salt into my RODI water (I'll do this in the tank after its 100% full and I can get it circulating to mix nicely), should I acclimatize the 30 lbs or so of live rock I already have sitting in a tub heating/circulating?

If the salinity is different (and there are any hitchhikers you may want to retain), it wouldn't hurt. May not be necessary if the rock is bare.

When to add salt?
 

Ok, so when should I add my salt? Ive got the tank filled with RODI, its running. Sand has been added as it was sand from an old system that was running about a year ago and has absolutely no life in it (though probably some stuff thats gonna give a big ammonia spike which should help the cycle)

Right now I have some cloudy-ish water. Not super bad, but definitely cloudy. Im also raising the temp of the water now - aiming for 79 degrees. So should I wait until the temp is up and/or the cloudiness dissipates or should I get it in now?

I would get the salt in there right away unless you plan on draining.....

This way your can get it all ixed well so as you add rock, etc. it's good to go....

Ok, gonna add it soon here today. What do you guys think is the best way to add it? I have nothing in the tank but sand and its all churning with a couple powerheads and overflow/return pump. Should I add to sump or DT or what?

How quick should I pour it in? Should I mix it in a 5G bucket first or something and then add?

Ato?
 

Hey guys, so now that my tank is full, I woke up to a slightly lower water line in my return pump chamber. This was expected but kind of forgotten about until this morning.

Basically I want to put together an ATO system and what I have on hand so far is a power fist Bilge Pump that does 200 GPH.

So Im wondering how I can rig this thing up to pump in water as the water line goes down? Im thinking I'd be needing to incorporate some kind of infrared thing or something? Or a ball valve? But that wouldnt really work cause the pump would keep going.

What kind of things are all you doing?

You have a lot of options for ATO. You can buy rigs like the Tunze ATO which a lot of stores sell. You can rig up a float valve (like the kent float valve) to refill your sump from an RO/DI unit. You can MacGiyver a float switch like this, or you can just buy a float switch ATO system like this.

I use the last one from autotopoff.com. I tried very hard to find float switches in the city but was not able to.

K.

Wow, thanks Kien. I think that the autotopoff.com one looks like a winner to me. Not sure if you can answer a couple more q's?

Whats the difference between a single switch ATO and double switch?

Does this ATO system come with a pump or just a switch that will turn a pump on and off? Would I need to use this in conjunction with my bilge pump?

If your evaporation rate is relatively stable, you could rig something with a digital timer. You would have to plumb it so it tees off the main line from your chosen pump, with a valve off each end. Run one to your sump, the other back to the freshwater reservoir, throttle the valve to the sump so it is just open a crack and throttle the other half way open. Don't run the hose to the sump yet. Set the timer for 1 minute, and measure how much water comes through the sump line in that 1 minute time. Figure out how much water you're losing and set the timer to come on for a minute at a time, however many times a day you need (my digital timer has 20 on/off cycles per day). If you need more or less water in a minute, you can adjust the valve accordingly.

Well, that's a cheap and easy way to do it. If your evaporation rate isn't constant, a system like this will need constant dialing in. But it's an idea if all else fails :wink:

Micro Bubbles in DT?
 

Hey guys, I got another problem that is puzzling me. I have tiny micro bubbles being injected into my tank from my four returns every two minutes or so. I have no idea how any air is getting into my return line. My sump also has no bubbles whatsoever in it, so its not occuring here and the pump is not sucking in bits of air with water.

Any idea why its still going? I thought perhaps itd stop after a while of running, but its been like 48 hours. It cant be just loose air bubbles still in the lines. Anyone else have this and maybe know what I could look at?

Are your pumps submersible or external? If they're external and there's no possible way your pump can access air, you may have a leak on the suction line.

Unless this is still salt mixing into the water but I find that far fetched too. My SG is 1.026 and its been churning for 48 hours now too at least. Prob more.

Pump is submersible. There could only be one place where a leak might be and thatd be my union and I just tightened it and dont think thats the spot but perhaps I'll check again or tighten more.

The double switch ATO has a secondary float switch that turns off your pump if it triggers. Here's how the whole contraption works..

1. First float switch detects the drop in water level -> switches on your pump
2. Pump pumps water from reservoir into your sump.
3. Float switch detects that water has return to a good level -> switches off your pump
4.... if your first float switch gets stuck, it won't register the rise in water so your pump will just keep pumping in water from your reservoir.. but switch #2 comes to the rescue.
5. If the water raises to the level of switch #2 (somewhere higher in the sump), then it activates and turns OFF your pump.

I don't see why you couldn't use your bilge pump. It doesn't have to be that powerful though. I use a wee little $10 no name brand pump that is submersed in my fresh water reservoir.

One note of caution when setting this up: Be sure to have the outlet from your top off nozzle higher than the top of the reservoir level, otherwise you will create a siphon and even when the pump is turned OFF water will continue siphon out of your reservoir!

K.

Is any part of your loc line returns sitting outside of the water? I'm not sure how well those locks/sockets seal. I'd imagine not very well so if any part is outside of the water then some air could potentially enter?

K.

I have loc line out of water and no issues. I also use it on my Milling machine for coolant (its true purpose) no leak issues

Cycle?
 

Hmmm, I think I figured out the micro bubble problem. I'll have to work on it. Turns out there is a spot where water is falling from a baffle into my return chamber from a high-ish spot and is creating bubbles that are getting sucked into the return. I'll get it fixed soon enough.

So I got another question lol. Ok so keep in mind this is my first ever start from scratch tank, including my fresh water days. Ive always had some kind of seeded bacteria (such as in a filter or whatever) for FW, so Ive never gone through a brand new cycle really. Only small ones when I add stuff to the tank.

So yesterday I put in my live rock. You can see what kind of live rock I have here.

I only put in LR 'B' and 'C' from that list. LR 'A' is curing for several weeks Ive decided.

Soooo, I feel like I have good LR that has been well preserved and doesnt have much die off because today I took a reading for the first time (roughly 24 hrs after putting the LR in my tanK) and right now my ammonia level is zero and my nitrite level is zero as well. Nitrate is miniscule as well at between 5-10 ppm.

So obviously I have some denitrifying bacteria on my LR already. So my question is, do I have a bigger release of nutrients on the way that will cause a big cycle? I mean I thought I'd be experiencing it in my test levels by now. Am I foolish to be "dreaming" that I can add my CUC two days after adding my LR to a brand new system?

Ok so if my params read good again today I might be making a trip to the fish store for some of my cleanup crew. Probably start off small, get maybe 2 crabs, 4 snails and a couple star fish or something.

So Ive been running just my centre MH on my coralife pro for a couple reasons. The biggest being the stupid legs didnt work very well and so the stand is resting on top of the tank on some 2x4's and so I didnt want any lights heating up the wood cause itd make put burn marks on the light or I dunno. Just not a good idea...

So today I go to turn on the ballast that Im using to power the middle MH and the light comes on, is warming up and then flickers and turns off. Now I turn it on and it just glows real dim.

Is it burnt out? Was suppose to be a brand new bulb. Ive never had a light burn out on my aquarium, especially a MH so I dont know really if its another problem? Help? I used the same ballast to turn on a diff light and it worked, so problem seems to be the bulb or connection in there or something.

For the starfish it depends on what starfish you get. Some (or maybe most?) are very very sensitive and would not make a good starter/test creature at all.

Did you install the bulbs yourself or did they come pre installed in your fixture? Those HQIs are sensitive and you can not hold the middle part with your bare oily fingers or you will ruin them. You have to handle just the end tips or better yet wear gloves like those white ones.

If they did come pre installed then they are probably just defective or possibly loose? Try openning the fixture, taking the bulb out and re-seating it. They can potentially come loose during transport. Again don't forget to wear gloves!! My last light fixture (currents USA) had the T5s fail on me after a week and I had to replace them with higher quality T5s. I am assuming the ballasts you are using are the coralife ones that come with the fixture and not some other third party ballast? Some ballast and light combinations don't work too well together.

Hmmm, thanks Kien.

I ended up getting two brittle stars. They seem to be doing ok. My params look like my tank is pretty established. I'll keep a close eye on them and my params.

Quick question. What nitrate level do you usually do your water changes at? In the FW world it was good to keep it below 40 ppm but is it any different in SW?

Im going to do my first water change here pretty quick, prob do like 25G maybe more, but like I said my numbers are pretty good, so only nitrate to remove, no ammonia or nitrite or anything, there was literally no cycle cause of good cured rock.

This of course could change with the bit of livestock I added:

2x Nassarius Snales
2x Brittle Stars
4x Blue Legged Hermits
2x Peppermint Shrimp

Thoughts?

Also, I got an ID thread going in the reef section with what I think is a baby tiger tail cucumber, but not sure if some of you guys wanna take a look at the description.

For me water changes are not triggered by nitrate levels. In fact, I rarely ever test for Nitrates anymore. I just do water changes every week (if I'm not busy) or 2 weeks at a minimum. Seems to be a good interval for me. Unless you have nitrate sensitive critters in your tank, you can usually get away with high (ish) nitrate levels. Some critters like clams actually feed off of nitrates.

So what percentage of your entire system water do you change? I have about 185G in my entire system (including the sump)

Is it the same as FW and change about 10-15% every week or 20-25% every two weeks?

Lights Hung
 

Alright so I made more progress today. This thing is really coming along. I seriously think its like 3 weeks ahead of where I thought it'd be right now.

We hung the light from the roof and did a pretty good job if I must say so. Before they were just on some wood blocks raised up a bit off the tank.

I still need to get the electrical run so the whole system I'd say is only running at like 70% max power right now.

Still no skimmer, no full spectrum of lights and no refugium yet but everything else is flying. Levels are remaining solid after adding the cleanup crew and waiting three days. So we added two little clowns today. First fish in the tank and boy is it a treat to have them. So playful. Im gonna watch the levels and do a 25% water change sometime this week. We'll probably add a blue tang next weekend and some more snails and start aquascaping shortly after.

Right now priorities are on getting the skimmer water tight and also getting our electrical done so we can fire up the whole light. After that we'll work at getting chaeto and what not for the 'fuge.

So pumped!:mrgreen:

Ya, I do somewhere in the neighbourhood of 10% a week or 20 every two weeks.

K.

So it looks like my green algae problem is subsiding and things are starting to look good. I dont think my hair algae will last long. My lawnmower blenny seems to love it and clowns are even nipping at it.

When do you guys think I am safe-ish to add some more expensive fish? Im 2.5 weeks past my cycle and the livestock in my tank is doing very well.

2x Clowns
1x Lawnmower Blenny
2x brittle stars
2x nassarius snales
4x BL hermits
2x Pep shrimp

My first power outage!
 

So we had the power cut for about 3+ hours yesterday and my tank drained to its lowest point in the DT all into the sump and...... good news - it didnt overflow!

That was good to see.

I havent had many updates lately because things are moreless going quite well. We are getting some nice coraline algae growth on the rocks that didnt have any and our algae is slowly going down. Theres still a pretty thick patch of it that we could get rid of manually, but we feel its slowly getting eaten - especially now with our sea hare that we'll keep until its all gone.

I think we're going to be getting a dwarf golden moray eel on the 4th to add to the tank! Im pretty excited. Also gonna add some more live rock to up the rock work this weekend. Ive been curing some stuff for about a month now and I think it should be good to go, anyone object to this timeline Ive given it? It was 6 month dried out LR from an old system that I was curing and Ive done three 100% water changes on it during this time as well.

Imo, tanks mature much nicer and trouble free if you add fish very slowly. This gives time for the nitrifying bacteria to balance out with the fish load. You will find that if you leave your tank alone and don't add anything for 4-8 weeks (at any point in your tank's life) that often you will notice the tank kind of relaxes into a nice balance. Really helps with algae issues.

However, if you're the type that's in a hurry and you want to push it, you can add a couple fish per month. Once your cycle is over it isn't any more risky to add the first fish as it is to add the last fish. You should decide your stocking order based on aggressiveness, not price.

Thanks Myka, dont worry, Im not a pushy type. I know this hobby is about taking your time to let things grow, develop and balance.

I have only been adding 1-2 things to my tank once a week. Its a pretty big tank at 165G so I think that I'll be safe. Also been doing 20% water changes weekly to start.

Three Updates
 

Ok so Im going to try to get some pictures in the next little while, since Ive made some solid progress with my tank and Id love to show you guys.

Ive still got some algae growth but it seems like its slowly going away, but we'll see. Ive bought a sea hare to help with it in the meantime.

Ok so on to the updates!

1.) Lately Ive been hearing a clicking noise coming from the tank. I know, I know, thats a tell-tale sound a mantis shrimp makes. So Im wondering, wondering a couple things about it. First off, what kind of "click" does it make? To me it sounds like smacking two marbles together. Second, I dont understand why I havent heard it the first month I have had my tank running with the live rock in it that I bought? Is it possible it was dormant-ish (assuming it is a mantis) for a whole month? I havent added anything since my initial setup where it could have hitch hiked.

2.) We bought a golden dwarf morray eel this weekend. He is fricken awesome. I assume hes close to full grown because Id say he's right near 1 foot long and he is actually the coolest thing ever. Havent seen him eat just yet but he is definitely interested in eating as he pokes out when food is around.

3.) We also added a tang but Im not really sure what kind. Colby at Elite said it was a "Tamimi Tang" but I cant find any information on it. Anyone know what it might be that sounds similar to that? Its greyish with orange dorsal and anal fin. Its tail fin is white with a blueish tinge.

It could also be a pistol shrimp you are hearing. They make a clicking noise.

Here is some info on your new tang.

Could it be my peppermint? I am not sure, but I was sold a shrimp labelled peppermint. Are they the same thing? I was going to ask if it was potentially that. I think it most likely is, cause other than the clicking I see no evidence of a mantis.

Could your tang be a Tomini tang?

Peppermint shrimp don't click or snap or bang anything. I doubt it is the peppermint. You could have a mantis in your tank for years and never see it. They can hide deep in rocks and only come out at night. The hitchhiking variety of mantis are usually army green and are quite camouflaged. The last time I had a mantis he was in there for months, like 9 months or so. I did see him (ever) until I worked on my 150g aquascaping this past august and left one rock out for too long. It just happened to be the rock
he was hiding in and he jumped out of the rock and onto my shoe. Scared the bajeesus out of me :-)