First Time Reefer - My Tanks Journey

[dgilbert2]

Good news, just a bit more patience whilst the replacement arrives

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Still waiting on word of when my replacement Sump will arrive, but there are a couple updates.

First, I have placed my tank stand where it will be going (The room is being redecorated first though!, new carpet, CD stand going away)

Also, I have drawn out a VERY poor map of how I will be setting up my Sump (Not to scale of course)

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

New carpet done. Tank is in place.

Now I just have to wait on my new sump to arrive.

Any tips or anyone know a good thread with information on setting up the plumbing in the tank?

I have a Weir with 2 holes but I don't know what height I need the pipework to be at. I assume I want the pipe going down to the sump to be at the level I want the top of the water to be. Should the return from the sump be the same height? Lower? Higher?

 

[dgilbert2]

Looks good, worth checking you have left enough clearance to the walls for pipes and maintenance etc

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Looks good, worth checking you have left enough clearance to the walls for pipes and maintenance etc

I do not believe I will have any external pipework behind the tank. The tank is fitted with a Weir and cut pipe holes to go through the stand rather than behind.

Electrical outlets have already been run into the sump compartment to assist as well.

It is my hope that all maintenance will be conducted either from above (by removing the hood) or from within the Sump compartment.

 

[Squatch XXL]

Any tips or anyone know a good thread with information on setting up the plumbing in the tank?

Google "Durso Stand pipe" as a good starting point. I am happy with mine. Its simple and effective at noise control.

I don't know any advice to give you toward your goal of plumbing. I am licensed to plumb, and find it hard to convey the ideas to others.

Check out my reef chronicle to view what I did with my plumbing. Though you seem to have a the bottom of the tank drilled, mine was the back side. Pipe it into the sump. There are noise reduction fixes for pvc that include adding a Tee right before the drop to the sump....put a Cap with a small hole in the center atop the Tee, and this allows some/most air out of the return line...which means less air bubbles in your sump.

Its hard for me to describe it better than that. I may include some photographs.

 

[Squatch XXL]

Here is a few photos of my return lines with vent holes drilled. One has a piece of quarter inch tubing crammed into the hole. That is simply an experiment that is long past. I hope this helps explain my thought process.

 

[Rakahrd]

i JUST ORDERED A CUC PACKAGE AND IT HAS 25 BLUELEG CRABS AND 5 MEXICAN RED LEGS IN IT IS IT TRUE THEY WILL KILL MY SNAILS?

 

[tank stalker]

yes

something smells fishy

 

[NickF]

If you put some empty shells in the tank for your hermits this should help them leave the snails alone.

 

[Rakahrd]

Thanks will do

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Sorry it has been a LONG time since I last updated.

A lot has been going on.

My new Sump arrived! YAY!

I will post some pictures later on, but lets just say that I found fitting everything into the sump an interesting challenge! Now that it is together, it isn't bad at all, it was just figuring out where to put things.

I have the sump set up so that water flows down from the main tank and hits a filter sock, then gets picked up by a protein skimmer in chamber 1. It then overflows into Chamber 2 where I have a Bio-Pearl reactor, Live rock, and 1 of the tank heaters. I will be adding s colony of Copapods as well I think. The water then flows over and into the chamber containing a second heater, then under a bubble trap to the Return pump.

Waited and waited and waited for the Arka Rock to arrive, but it never did, so I have finally decided to go with live rock.

I added the sand, added the rock, and then filled the tank (FINALLY).

Currently the tank is still a bit "cloudy" but I am guessing that is because I got the sand a bit stirred up when filling.

I added a jumbo shrimp, and now begins the testing!

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Day 1

Temp: 76 F
Ammonia: 0.2
Nitrate: 2
Nitrite: 1
Ph: 7.6
Alkalinity: 8
Salinity: 35 ppt

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

My temperatures have continued to rise (in fact, they have risen a bit TOO much, so I have adjusted my heaters accordingly.

My alkalinity is a bit higher than I would like (8 instead of 7) but it seems steady, so I don't want to mess too much at this point.

I am beginning to see a rise in ammonia, so the live rock + shrimp seem to be doing their work.

My only other concern at this point seems to be a fairly rapid drop in Salinity values. Not sure what the cause could be or if it is normal. I will continue monitoring and see how it goes.

Day 3
Temp: 80 F
Ammonia: 0.4
Nitrate: 1
Nitrite: 0
Ph: 8.2
Alkalinity: 8
Salinity: 31 ppt

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

Still getting very cloudy water.

At first I thought this was sand but I am wondering if it could be some kind of bacterial bloom?

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

 

[KaCee Bunn-Smith]

I have come home today to find that the tank is emitting a faint smell, and that brown is beginning to overtake my rocks.

I have a feeling that means the cycle is going well !

 

[nanoreefing4fun]

see if this post is of any help...
brown & green algae in new tanks