50g FOWLR Setup - Page 2

lcstorc · 06-21-2007, 10:48 AM

Sounds like things are progressing. Glad you figured things out.

CMG · 06-21-2007, 08:38 PM

Ok the tank is as set up as its going to be until I get some LR to cure. I nervously left the tank runing all day while I was at work thinking something was going to go wrong but nothing did! I have the skimmer running to break it in and then hopefully it will be a little less noisy and actualy creat some foam...

I ordered 50lbs of LR to start me off and its coming fed ex probably mondayish with the weekend and all. I think I wil cure it in the backyard but maybe I will just do it in my tank since its empty and already has water in it.

I went to home depot after work and got two female elbows, one screws into the return hole from the tank side and the other from the filter side so that I can point water flow down into the tank instead of straight out which makes a lot less noise.

All I reall need now is LR, LS, a power head for the tank for water flow, lighting and fish! I am almost there minus the cycle which hopefully will be shorter since I will be using LR and LS.

The first pic is from just now, you can see again the QT tank stored under the stand and the skimmer sticking up. The other pic is from last night before I added the water to test all the pumps and stuff. You can kinda see the return pump all the way to the left on the bottom ad black bi balls next to that and then the skimmer to the right.

lcstorc · 06-24-2007, 10:05 AM

Since you are getting ready to cycle the whole tank, I assume you are going to get fish fairly soon. It would be good to set up the qt and have it cycle during the same time. Then it would be ready for the first fish while you finish up on the main tank.

CMG · 06-24-2007, 11:00 PM

Thanks for the advice. I expect to recieve my LR on Monday and I have set up a rubber maid tub with salt water/heater/powerhead for curing in the back yard where it is really warm/hot. I think after work I will work on that and also start to prep the tanks for cycling simultaniously (spelling??)

CMG · 06-25-2007, 09:20 PM

Well this weekend was a disater! I got into a car accident when someone with their truck and trailor decided to change lanes into my car! Then the next day I pulled a muscle in my back! haha what a weekend. So I may be put back on money if I end up having to pay for the damage to my car since I doubt he will confess to being at fault.

Tonight I added salt to the tank and some mechanical filtration sponges. I put the venturi thingy on the power head to airiate the water because thats what the drections say to do when mixing.

Can someone explain to me why the water needs air when mixing the salt? And I used that hydrometer I bought and I really dont trust it at all. SO I ordered a refractometer from marinedepot when I ordered my powerhead. SO Hopefully that will shed some light.

My LR was supposed to be delivered by fed ex today according to the tracking webpage but it wasnt! Damn, where the heck is it? I am going to cure it in my tank since it is new and there is no sand or fish. Keeps everything in one spot.

lcstorc · 06-26-2007, 06:31 AM

You are goong to want to do serious cleaning and water changes during the curing process. No matter how good the rock you are going to get some die off from the transport. Also be wary of hitchickers that come in on the rock.
Also, don't mix the salt in your tank. Get a mixing container and powerhead and heater and mix the salt there for 24hrs before using for a water change. This makes sure the water is oxygenated and makes sure that all of the salt is completely dissolved. Since the tank is empty just be sure that there is no undisolved salt to haunt you later.

CMG · 06-26-2007, 10:13 AM

I do plan on mixing salt in a seperate bucket for water changes later on. Right now I mixed the salt in to the tank really good and I also have a power head going in it with a hose thigny for oxygen? By tonight it will have been 24 hours. SO hopefully my live rock will be here to start curing. Then I can syphon/scoop/etc. all the die off out and eventually start my cycle.

CMG · 06-27-2007, 02:04 PM

I got my LR yesterday finaly! For some reason fed ex took an extra day to get it to me. But you cant beat 1.99 per lbs. I opened the box to one of the nastiest smells ever! Wheeeeww. That stuff is potent. I am curing it in my tank as there is nothing in it to hurt at this point. The only reason I wouldnt recomend this is if the tank is in your house. The smell would linger about I would think. I covered mine with some cardboard to keep the smell in the tank. I will post pictures when I get home. By the time I was done last night I was ready for bed so I didnt get to posting them.

I should also be recieveing my extra power head so that I can run the skimmer while it cures and my refractrometer today!

SoccerBum474 · 06-27-2007, 08:19 PM

Wow.. seems like you have come a long way.. i live in cal too and it is hard to get LR at a good price... i also have a 50g w/ a 10g sump under. i cycled my rock in the tank when i first set it up too, about a year ago. what type of fish are you planning on putting in there?..... oh and the reason the live rock smelt so bad is because well first there is die off that is starting to rot and second there might be life on the rocks that stink in the first place (algae, xenia..) well i hope your having funi went from one tank last year to three as of today... its a strong addiction

CMG · 06-28-2007, 12:42 PM

And its an expensive additction too! Go to exoticfish.com. They have cheap LR there and its still cheaper than most places even after shipping! I think at this point I want to start with a snowflake eel, dwarf lion fish, and picasso trigger. In no specific order. I like so many fish though like the Maroon yellow stripped clown and the gobies like the watchmen etc etc, but its hard to pair up things that will get a long! I might switch out the lion for a yellow stripped maroon clown and exnay the eel. haha. Who knows. I need to do some more research still. But First I need to worry about a cleaning crew and I have no idea where to start on that because I dont know if I should get this snail or that snail or this blu ecrap or that red one etc. etc etc. And how many of each...sooo much stuuuuffff!!!!

So I havent posted an pictures lately..sorry I have been dealing with my car accident. I will try again tonight. I recieved my power head for tank water movement across the LR and a refractrometer, wow that thing is so much better than the hydrometer, although the hydrometer was pretty accurate!

My skimmer (aqua c remora) is making some watery foam in the collection cup so I need to raise it I think to get more foam instead of water? Or do I want water and not foam? Anyways, it is working although still noisy.

I also made a hot mistake when I set up the QT tank after I was done with the main tank. I put this heater in the QT tank that doesnt say specificaly what temp it is set at (left over from older tank) and I forgot that I was messing with it one day trying to see how far in one direction I could twist the temp change dial and so it was set to max. and when I got home and stuck my hand in the water it felt like my hot tub and sure enough I stuck my thermometer in there and it was 100!!! so I did a massive water change to cool it down since there arent fish in there yet.

CMG · 06-28-2007, 09:36 PM

FINALY..pictures! Sorry it tok so long. Here is some of me cleaning the LR and it in my tank. My room isnt actually that messy anymore. Everything is stored under the stand except the blue box (refractrometer) and the stuff on the right side on the towel which I have designated as my drying out area.

lcstorc · 06-30-2007, 06:33 AM

Try putting the pics in your gallery and link to the post. The max size in your gallery is 200k instead of the 50k limit in the post. Become a Premium Member and you get 300k in the gallery.
Sorry, I am just having trouble seeing the pics but then aqain I am getting old.

CMG · 08-07-2007, 08:49 PM

OK, so I finaly got a light today. Its a nova extreme orbit or something. I got it on craigs list for $75 and I looked it up online and its about $175-$250 ish so I think I did pretty good since its only 9 months old.

I have been "cycling" my tank the past month or so. I am really confused about the whole cycling thing. I thought there was supposed to be an amonia jump then an algae take over. But I havent gotten either one. Maybe curing the LR in the main tank didnt provide enough die off to create an amonia spike to start the cycle. So 2 days ago I added a shrimp to see if that would work. Here are some pictures with the light and of the shrimp.

Also I put up a couple pics of the only "living" things I seem to have on my rocks. Some is some green slime looking stuff that desnt come off when I touch it maybe its just rock coloration and the other is little plant looking thingys that just sway in the current.

Can someone give me advice on powerhead placement. The tank has a return hose in the upper right corner shooting water to the left and down so I dont know if I should also put the power head on the right to push water left towards the overflow or if I should put the powerhead on the opposite side of the tank to push water back to the right and create a "phsyco" current?

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029

CMG · 08-08-2007, 08:56 PM

Today I decided that I was not going to be patient with this no amonia spike thing and I poked the shrimp I put in the tank and the white cacoon that it was in for the last few doays fell completely apart and created an aweful stink! But it also shot my amonia up almost instantly, so hopefully this is the spike that is suposed to happen. It registered as 1 on my test and I still dont under stand if that means ppm or what. I ordered a better testing kit online so when that gets here hopefully that will help.

CMG · 08-23-2007, 11:15 PM

Well I ended up setting up the tank in our seperate garage after the move. At least I didnt have to break it down and wait until we got a bigger place. It is cycling in there with no fish or any livestock since the garage gets up to 85F during the day. I will move the tank into the second bedroom after our 3rd roomate leaves sometime this coming winter. Then the fun will really begin!

For now I am just waiting for the algae bloom?! Where the heck is it? I have 0 ammonia, o nitrite and 5 ppm of nitrate.

Here are a few pics of the Orbit light I bought on craigs list and the tank in the garage with the new sand. The sand was not LS, I bought dead sand on accident so I guess I need to go to the LFS and buy a bag of that water filled sand and mix it in there? Boy was it hard to get the sand in there with the LR already set up. It still isnt all even! Whew.

I think I also may need more water flow. There seem to be dead spots? All I have in there now is one maxi-jet 600 on the left and the return elbow up in the right.

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...25396.jpg?7632

http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...5/IMG_9753.jpg

06-21-2007, 10:48 AM	#16 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 18,473 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Sounds like things are progressing. Glad you figured things out. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g of sunshine Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

06-24-2007, 10:05 AM	#18 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 18,473 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Since you are getting ready to cycle the whole tank, I assume you are going to get fish fairly soon. It would be good to set up the qt and have it cycle during the same time. Then it would be ready for the first fish while you finish up on the main tank. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g of sunshine Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

06-24-2007, 11:00 PM	#19 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Thanks for the advice. I expect to recieve my LR on Monday and I have set up a rubber maid tub with salt water/heater/powerhead for curing in the back yard where it is really warm/hot. I think after work I will work on that and also start to prep the tanks for cycling simultaniously (spelling??)

06-25-2007, 09:20 PM	#20 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Well this weekend was a disater! I got into a car accident when someone with their truck and trailor decided to change lanes into my car! Then the next day I pulled a muscle in my back! haha what a weekend. So I may be put back on money if I end up having to pay for the damage to my car since I doubt he will confess to being at fault. Tonight I added salt to the tank and some mechanical filtration sponges. I put the venturi thingy on the power head to airiate the water because thats what the drections say to do when mixing. Can someone explain to me why the water needs air when mixing the salt? And I used that hydrometer I bought and I really dont trust it at all. SO I ordered a refractometer from marinedepot when I ordered my powerhead. SO Hopefully that will shed some light. My LR was supposed to be delivered by fed ex today according to the tracking webpage but it wasnt! Damn, where the heck is it? I am going to cure it in my tank since it is new and there is no sand or fish. Keeps everything in one spot.

06-26-2007, 06:31 AM	#21 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 18,473 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup You are goong to want to do serious cleaning and water changes during the curing process. No matter how good the rock you are going to get some die off from the transport. Also be wary of hitchickers that come in on the rock. Also, don't mix the salt in your tank. Get a mixing container and powerhead and heater and mix the salt there for 24hrs before using for a water change. This makes sure the water is oxygenated and makes sure that all of the salt is completely dissolved. Since the tank is empty just be sure that there is no undisolved salt to haunt you later. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g of sunshine Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

06-26-2007, 10:13 AM	#22 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup I do plan on mixing salt in a seperate bucket for water changes later on. Right now I mixed the salt in to the tank really good and I also have a power head going in it with a hose thigny for oxygen? By tonight it will have been 24 hours. SO hopefully my live rock will be here to start curing. Then I can syphon/scoop/etc. all the die off out and eventually start my cycle.

06-27-2007, 02:04 PM	#23 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup I got my LR yesterday finaly! For some reason fed ex took an extra day to get it to me. But you cant beat 1.99 per lbs. I opened the box to one of the nastiest smells ever! Wheeeeww. That stuff is potent. I am curing it in my tank as there is nothing in it to hurt at this point. The only reason I wouldnt recomend this is if the tank is in your house. The smell would linger about I would think. I covered mine with some cardboard to keep the smell in the tank. I will post pictures when I get home. By the time I was done last night I was ready for bed so I didnt get to posting them. I should also be recieveing my extra power head so that I can run the skimmer while it cures and my refractrometer today!

06-27-2007, 08:19 PM	#24 (permalink)
SoccerBum474 Serpent Star Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: La Quinta, Ca Posts: 220 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Wow.. seems like you have come a long way.. i live in cal too and it is hard to get LR at a good price... i also have a 50g w/ a 10g sump under. i cycled my rock in the tank when i first set it up too, about a year ago. what type of fish are you planning on putting in there?..... oh and the reason the live rock smelt so bad is because well first there is die off that is starting to rot and second there might be life on the rocks that stink in the first place (algae, xenia..) well i hope your having funi went from one tank last year to three as of today... its a strong addiction

06-28-2007, 12:42 PM	#25 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup And its an expensive additction too! Go to exoticfish.com. They have cheap LR there and its still cheaper than most places even after shipping! I think at this point I want to start with a snowflake eel, dwarf lion fish, and picasso trigger. In no specific order. I like so many fish though like the Maroon yellow stripped clown and the gobies like the watchmen etc etc, but its hard to pair up things that will get a long! I might switch out the lion for a yellow stripped maroon clown and exnay the eel. haha. Who knows. I need to do some more research still. But First I need to worry about a cleaning crew and I have no idea where to start on that because I dont know if I should get this snail or that snail or this blu ecrap or that red one etc. etc etc. And how many of each...sooo much stuuuuffff!!!! So I havent posted an pictures lately..sorry I have been dealing with my car accident. I will try again tonight. I recieved my power head for tank water movement across the LR and a refractrometer, wow that thing is so much better than the hydrometer, although the hydrometer was pretty accurate! My skimmer (aqua c remora) is making some watery foam in the collection cup so I need to raise it I think to get more foam instead of water? Or do I want water and not foam? Anyways, it is working although still noisy. I also made a hot mistake when I set up the QT tank after I was done with the main tank. I put this heater in the QT tank that doesnt say specificaly what temp it is set at (left over from older tank) and I forgot that I was messing with it one day trying to see how far in one direction I could twist the temp change dial and so it was set to max. and when I got home and stuck my hand in the water it felt like my hot tub and sure enough I stuck my thermometer in there and it was 100!!! so I did a massive water change to cool it down since there arent fish in there yet. Last edited by CMG : 06-28-2007 at 09:36 PM.

06-30-2007, 06:33 AM	#27 (permalink)
lcstorc Sunshine Reefer Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Cocoa Fl Posts: 18,473 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Try putting the pics in your gallery and link to the post. The max size in your gallery is 200k instead of the 50k limit in the post. Become a Premium Member and you get 300k in the gallery. Sorry, I am just having trouble seeing the pics but then aqain I am getting old. __________________ Peace LYNN You can't change the past but you can change how you view it. A reef tank is like a racecar. The faster you go the harder you crash. Lynn and Franks saltwater adventure Lynn's 20g clown tank Lynn's 90g of sunshine Every 60 seconds you spend upset is a minute of happiness you'll never get back.

08-07-2007, 08:49 PM	#28 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup OK, so I finaly got a light today. Its a nova extreme orbit or something. I got it on craigs list for $75 and I looked it up online and its about $175-$250 ish so I think I did pretty good since its only 9 months old. I have been "cycling" my tank the past month or so. I am really confused about the whole cycling thing. I thought there was supposed to be an amonia jump then an algae take over. But I havent gotten either one. Maybe curing the LR in the main tank didnt provide enough die off to create an amonia spike to start the cycle. So 2 days ago I added a shrimp to see if that would work. Here are some pictures with the light and of the shrimp. Also I put up a couple pics of the only "living" things I seem to have on my rocks. Some is some green slime looking stuff that desnt come off when I touch it maybe its just rock coloration and the other is little plant looking thingys that just sway in the current. Can someone give me advice on powerhead placement. The tank has a return hose in the upper right corner shooting water to the left and down so I dont know if I should also put the power head on the right to push water left towards the overflow or if I should put the powerhead on the opposite side of the tank to push water back to the right and create a "phsyco" current? http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029 http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029 http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029 http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...00/ppuser/7029

08-08-2007, 08:56 PM	#29 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Today I decided that I was not going to be patient with this no amonia spike thing and I poked the shrimp I put in the tank and the white cacoon that it was in for the last few doays fell completely apart and created an aweful stink! But it also shot my amonia up almost instantly, so hopefully this is the spike that is suposed to happen. It registered as 1 on my test and I still dont under stand if that means ppm or what. I ordered a better testing kit online so when that gets here hopefully that will help. __________________ My Chronical: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...wlr-setup.html 40g, Purple Dartfish (squirley), Banggai Cardinal (Spot), 3 sand sifting snails, 3 nerite snails and a golden banded shrimp (Batman).

08-23-2007, 11:15 PM	#30 (permalink)
CMG Torch coral Join Date: Jun 2007 Location: Sonoma County, CA Posts: 586 View Gallery Karma Komment Add yours!	Re: 50g FOWLR Setup Well I ended up setting up the tank in our seperate garage after the move. At least I didnt have to break it down and wait until we got a bigger place. It is cycling in there with no fish or any livestock since the garage gets up to 85F during the day. I will move the tank into the second bedroom after our 3rd roomate leaves sometime this coming winter. Then the fun will really begin! For now I am just waiting for the algae bloom?! Where the heck is it? I have 0 ammonia, o nitrite and 5 ppm of nitrate. Here are a few pics of the Orbit light I bought on craigs list and the tank in the garage with the new sand. The sand was not LS, I bought dead sand on accident so I guess I need to go to the LFS and buy a bag of that water filled sand and mix it in there? Boy was it hard to get the sand in there with the LR already set up. It still isnt all even! Whew. I think I also may need more water flow. There seem to be dead spots? All I have in there now is one maxi-jet 600 on the left and the return elbow up in the right. http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...25396.jpg?7632 http://www.reefsanctuary.com/photopo...5/IMG_9753.jpg __________________ My Chronical: http://www.reefsanctuary.com/forums/...wlr-setup.html 40g, Purple Dartfish (squirley), Banggai Cardinal (Spot), 3 sand sifting snails, 3 nerite snails and a golden banded shrimp (Batman).

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