"Chronicle Marina del Filón de los Carlos"

[CAVINCA]

heres the pictures i promised...



there you go.

[CAVINCA]

well i ordered my live rock. 25 pounds of tunga fusion rock from pacific east. ill get it thu. hopefully my tank will clear up before the rock gets here... i think i already know the answer to this question but better safe then sorry. Does the sandy murkiness of my water effect my SG reading? ive already setup another container to accept the LR when i get it if i need it...

[CAVINCA]

Well i just guestimated on the salt amount and left room for error. when i added the salt my tank actually cleared quite a bit. ill take a pic when i get home and install my ACjr. hopefully by that time it will be clear enough to try and get an accurate SG reading and i can start my prep. for the live rock. YAY!!

[BigAl07]

Wow! looks and sounds like you're WELL on your way! Can't wait to see that bad boy in ACTION!!

[Octoman]

Carl, just read this thread. I didn't realize you have ordered rock already. I'm sure you'll be pleased with the tonga fusion! Looking forward to seeing this one up and running...

[CAVINCA]

yeah no problem man.. can anyone answer the questions i asked up there ^... i dont want to screw up to bad. hopefully ill have awesome pictures to show you guys by the end of this week...

[Octoman]

Are you planning on adding the ceramic, sponges, and bioballs? I would recommend leaving these out (except for the sponge maybe if you clean it regularly). The ceramic and bioballs will trap detritus and can cause nitrate problems. If you have enough live sand and live rock, you don't need these because the rock and sand will perform biological filtration.

I would also suggest adding the live sand and live rock all in the beginning. That way it could all cycle once. Otherwise, each time you add live sand or live rock, you will have to wait for the tank to cycle again.

As far as SG readings, the murkiness should not affect your readings. What are you measuring with? I would highly recommend a refractometer over a swing arm hydrometer.

[framerguy]

Seriously, get a refractometer. It has been one of my best purchases.

[CAVINCA]

I removed the ceramic and the bioballs. the sponge i left in to try to catch some of the sand dust out of the water... Im using a swing arm hydrometer for the time being. i wanted to familiarize myself with one. i have a refractometer on top of an order que. as far as multiple cycles... im in no hurry. i just want to get the thing going.

Whats filter floss? could i use cotton strings or nylon strings or is it a specific product id have to buy?

[framerguy]

filter floss can be the polyester batting material used for stuffing upholstry, it works great for filter media.

[CAVINCA]

so i got home today and pulled my filter sponge from the sump to clean it and my water turned more murky then when i started... i dont know what happened. can you do anything in these things with out a murky sand storm? i just did a water change trying to help... any suggestions?

[framerguy]

did you turn off the filter before removing the sponge? Cloudy water usually clears up quickly. Mine is usually a little cloudy right after a water change, but yours was cloudy before so.... Do you know where the gunk came from (the substrate, the filter, an additive, etc.)

[CAVINCA]

its not a powered filter but i cut everything off. it is a filtering chamber and water free flows through it. i pulled it again and put floss in it.. it seems to have cleared a bit since i did that. it was pretty much clear when i got home. im thinking its from the substrate. maybe dust?

[CAVINCA]

and the filters were activated carbon, ceramic rings, and sponges. not bio balls sorry for the confusion.

[framerguy]

This tank is extremely new so every time you stir it, it get's cloudy. Then that stuff settles back on everything but some of it was filtered out (not all though). It will get less and less each time til it happens very little. Don't worry. Diligence and patience my friend!