blue_eyes53813
Well-Known Member
Looks like it is gonna be a nice tank...
Morbius18's New 90 Reef
- Thread starter morbius18
- Start date
morbius18
Member
Quick update, but no pictures, the tank is still cloudy. I bought 125lbs of live rock for $200 locally. The guy also had a 600gph pump that he gave me, so I got the rock all in the tank and started to overflow flowing temporarly into the sump, as it will be replaced, but it is fine for mechanical filtration now. The water is clearing up quickly now, should have some pics tonight.
morbius18
Member
Here is a picture of the tank with the 125lbs liverock added. They are just stacked, I haven't gotten to rearrange them as the water got cloudy when I put them in and moved the sand around. I have a 65watt PC and 2 MJ 1200 until the Vortech MP40w gets moved over and the MH fixture goes as well. There will also be another 35lbs of live rock added.
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morbius18
Member
Today I moved the live rock from my 45 over into the tank. Total about 150lbs of live rock. I tested and detected 1ppm of ammonia, I guess the sand died off from after about a week exposed, but that is alot of ammonia. Hopefully the rock will process it in a few days.
How does that affect the cycle if you have lots of precured live rock, but the sand died off and released waste? Will it be an abbreviated cycle or a full on cycle? I've never really run into this before and any help would be appreciated.
How does that affect the cycle if you have lots of precured live rock, but the sand died off and released waste? Will it be an abbreviated cycle or a full on cycle? I've never really run into this before and any help would be appreciated.
morbius18
Member
Took a picture of the tank with all the liverock in place under actinic lighting. I also moved 3 blue green chromis and 1 yellow tail damsel over from the other tank. All my corals are in the old tank under the MH lighting with no live rock, so I didn't want the fish in there with no live rock to help process their waste. Corals are more expensive than the damsels.:nopity:
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morbius18
Member
Update: Part of the Drsfostersmith.com order came as well as the replacement pump and o ring for the superskimmer. First up was the Vortech MP40W upgrade for my MP20. I get the board/unit out of the box and get ready to hook it up, and the power plug doesn't fit into the MP40W unit. It is supposed to be a plug and play upgrade, so apparently the MP20 that I got originally from drsfostersmith.com was a version 1 according to the circuit board, while the MP40 is a ver2. There was no way in He\\ that I was going to send it back, so out came the old soldering iron. With my wife's help I removed the plug from my MP20 board and removed and resoldered the MP20 plug onto te MP40 board. Perfect, I plugged it in and WOW, the MP40 is a night and day difference from the MP20.
Next I hooked up the return pump, but had to run to Home Depot to get a ball valve to restrict the flow, as it was causing the standpipe to gurgle without being gated back some.
Then I hooked up the superskimmer and got it running and tweaked in.
Finally, I did some tests and found my PH to be 8.1-8.2, So I added some buffer/PH 8.3, and my Ammonia seems to have dropped from 1PPM yesterday to .5PPM today. The damsels and hermits/snails seem to be ok and were active.
No one seemed to have answered my question about it cycling, so I guess that this is normal for newly set up tank with lots of existing live rock.
Tomorrow, my sump should arrive, and within a few days my AutoTop off unit.
Next I hooked up the return pump, but had to run to Home Depot to get a ball valve to restrict the flow, as it was causing the standpipe to gurgle without being gated back some.
Then I hooked up the superskimmer and got it running and tweaked in.
Finally, I did some tests and found my PH to be 8.1-8.2, So I added some buffer/PH 8.3, and my Ammonia seems to have dropped from 1PPM yesterday to .5PPM today. The damsels and hermits/snails seem to be ok and were active.
No one seemed to have answered my question about it cycling, so I guess that this is normal for newly set up tank with lots of existing live rock.
Tomorrow, my sump should arrive, and within a few days my AutoTop off unit.
Mmm. Vortech. Sorry I was drooling.
Anyway, glad you got it all working. It's good to be handy with tools sometimes.
As for the cycling question... I totally fail at cycling questions really because I kinda skipped that step? Ya, don't ask. I think the sand dying off some will cause a small cycle of sorts but nothing major. I think it will cause a spike in ur negatives but with so much good LR in there it will prolly be a short one. Cycling can be a hit or miss. Just proceed with caution... Just incase and until you are sure the tank has done all the cycling it is going to do.
Anyway, glad you got it all working. It's good to be handy with tools sometimes.
As for the cycling question... I totally fail at cycling questions really because I kinda skipped that step? Ya, don't ask. I think the sand dying off some will cause a small cycle of sorts but nothing major. I think it will cause a spike in ur negatives but with so much good LR in there it will prolly be a short one. Cycling can be a hit or miss. Just proceed with caution... Just incase and until you are sure the tank has done all the cycling it is going to do.
