A new reef is born!

[mexxedm]

Originally Posted by chrispyfish

So after moving from Alberta here to beautiful Vancouver, I was looking to get my biocube set up. Pokin' around on craigslist for live rock led me instead to trade in my biocube for a 55 gallon that came with live rock and sand.

So, I made a sump out of an old 10 gallon tank I had and some corrugated plastic ( super cheap and non-leeching ), picked up about four hundred bucks worth of equipment and plumbing, and off I go.

SO, in the sump I have the overflow coming down into a filter sock (which I haven't decided what to fill with yet...any suggestions? Was thinking purigen), and into the first chamber, where I intend to put the cheap yet promising protein skimmer I got off of amazon.ca. http://quintereef.ca/products-page/p...-skimmer-2520/

Second chamber is going to be the refugium, which has nothing in it but the heater at the moment. I still haven't decided what to do for a substrate in the refuge either. Has anyone had any really positive experiences with something they'd like to share?

Anyway, moving on, third chamber houses the return pump, a quiet-one 3000. It is set on the lowest possible setting, as that is the most the overflow can handle. The return pumps up a 1" tube to a T intersection where it splits off to 2X 5/8" tubes running to an over the wall return assembly on either back corner of the tank. The overflow box, a CPR C-syphon CS50, sits as close to the centre of the tank as possible, away from the two returns in the corner. Inside the tank there are two Koralia 750gph powerheads stirrin things up.

So to conclude, I thought I'd mention, you know how they say nothing ever works properly the first time? I DID end up putting about 2 gallons of water on the floor. The return assemblies originally had tubes that went about 6" into the tank, and I forgot to put a syphon break hole, thinking the sump could handle the overflow. NOPE. So, now that every piece of dry dirty clothing in my room is now sitting in a soaking pile, all the issues have been corrected, and I am glad to say the system runs worry free, and restarts properly if power's been out for a while on its own.

Anyway, enough for today. Did some tests. High Nitrate, and some ammonia, but no Nitrite to speak of. Let the cycling begin!

Good luck with the tax, traffic jams, and the living style there. Yes, Vancouver is beautiful but the cold air gets right into the body. I moved back to Edmonton from Vancouver after a year living there

[Myka]

Looks good, great job on the rockscape...narrow tanks can be a real bugger!

As far as the filter sock goes, there shouldn't be anything in it - assuming it is a 100 or 200 micron felt filter sock? The filter sock is meant to filter out fine particles, and should be changed everyday or every second day. They can be washed inside out in a washing machine with just hot water (no soap!). Carbon (or purigen or GFO) would go into a filter bag which is just intended to hold the media and will be quite a bit smaller. Filter bags of carbon (or whatever) do well if put between the baffles where there is high flow. Most people change these medias every 4-6 weeks and just rinse the filter bag before refilling. Since the filter sock needs to be changed so often (or it will clog up, overflow, and also cause nitrate) and the media in filter bags is not changed so often the two don't go together very well. Also, carbon in particular needs to be packed in fairly tight as carbon tumbling in the water will rub against itself and make carbon dust in the tank which is not a good thing.

Personally, I don't like "refugiums". I prefer a "macroalgae chamber". When people setup a refugium they usually want to do one or two of two things: grow pods, reduce nutrients. I find with a macroalgae chamber you can do both very well IF you set it up well. Get a ball of chaeto, put it in the chamber, make sure it rolls freely in the water (may need to add a powerhead, will need to trim it often), add a 3500-6500K spotlight. Pods will live in the chaeto, and the chaeto does a great job of exporting both nitrate and phosphate, plus it is simple, easy, and cheap to do. The trick is to keep the chaeto tumbling freely. Shake the chaeto once a day or whenever you want pods to fall off and go up to the tank.

[chrispyfish]

Hey
Thanks for the info Myka. I'll keep the filter sock empty, and put the purigen in the baffle.
I'm running a 2X 65W PC fixture right now, and I know its not going to be strong enough. What I can't figure out is if I want to supplement it with another smaller bar, or replace it completely and get something different. I am on a tight budget.

I was looking at either supplementing the PC's with something like this:
http://www.aquatraders.com/LED-Reef-Bright-p/56215.htm

Or replacing completely with something like this:
http://www.ebay.ca/itm/280692757490?...84.m1423.l2649

As you can see, it would be an extra $200 to go with the MH set up. So, I'm thinking I'll get the reefbright LED's to supplement for now, and once I get more stocked and want to start thinking about SPS and clams, I'll get the upgrade then.

If anyone has any thoughts regarding lights, I'd really like to hear it. I'm looking at all possible money-saving alternatives, but I wanna get a new light next week.

[Myka]

Your PCs will be fine for softies, most Zoas and Palys, that sort of thing so I say start off with what you have, and look for a used fixture - that will save you some money. T5s would be a good option for you as well considering the depth of the tank, say 4x54 watt. As with everything, you get what you pay for. Cheap fixtures aren't as efficient, so you end up wasting electricity. I don't think those ReefBrites are worth buying.

[chrispyfish]

Looks like I got a 4X54W T5 fixture lined up for next week

Gotta love Craigslist...

[Myka]

Nice, what brand? Does it come with bulbs?

Just an FYI if you're looking for bulbs...the KZ and ATI bulbs are really good, very efficient bulbs (good output vs watts), nice color. Some people really like AquaScience, I can't stand them as I find they lose their color in only a few months. Blues and blue plus bulbs have waaaaaay better output than actinic and if are good quality they can give you just as good color. If your fixture has two switches put blue bulbs on one switch and white bulbs on the other then set the blues for 12 hours and the whites for 8 hours. Then you can do dusk/dawn effect.

[chrispyfish]

Yeah it comes with bulbs, but they are 4 - 5 months old. I guess HO light should ideally be changed out every 6 months or so eh? Because they lose their intensity after a while?
But yeah its a good set up. Sunlight Tek 4X54W T5's. I've been pokin' around on J&L and noticed the URI and Giesemann bulbs as well. Any info?

Also, I'm trying to figure out my tank's cycle right now. I bought the tank used, and the guy I got it off of said he had a couple of fish in the tank, and went out of town with the fish in care of a friend, and came home to an empty tank. That was like a year ago apparently.
What I'm trying to figure out is the state of the rocks and the cycle. I obviously emptied the thing for transport, and refilled with freshly mixed RO water, but I let the rocks dry out a bit overnight while mixing before filling the tank. I thought this might help to reset the cycle, as I wanted to ensure the bacteriological cycle was still active in this guy's tank. There's barely any growth on the rocks at all, coralline or otherwise, but there are a couple little dustings of purple here and there, so I thought we should be good to go, and we are.

After testing, the first day I noticed a bit of ammonia, no nitrites, and like 100+ ppm nitrate, which I found really high. So I tested my water supply and it was all good. So, the next day the ammonia came down to nil, but the nitrates are still super high, and have remained ever since. I'm thinking once I get some algae in the sump it should mitigate a bit of that, but I dunno, any ideas whats going on? I'm 90% sure the tank is already cycled and good to go, and the only reason I have high nitrates is due to having exposed all the anaerobic bacteria during transport. Any ideas on how to help them quickly recolonize?