30G Hex

[agentgreen]

Hey all,

Just starting out in the saltwater game. Have had freshwater tanks for a while, and due to a new saltwater store opening up down the road with GREAT prices, decided to convert my 30G hex into saltwater. Here is what I have so far:

250W MH 10k Mogul - Got it used from a friend, changed out the bulb about 6 months ago, looking to go 14k as well as building a custom hood for it

Eheim 2213 canister filter 116GPH - Relic from my freshy tank, has carbon, a sponge and some filter floss in it...looking to build a refugium with a Aquaclear AC70 and either get rid of the canister, or empty it out and use it for extra flow

JBJ SP-1800 Powerhead ~290GPH - Bought this really on impulse from the new LFS for $15...seemed like a good deal. Then I found the Tunze 6025 mod thread, crapped my pants, and instantly regretted buying this PH!!! Oh well, will make a good saltwater mixer.

Have a Tunze 9002 skimmer on its way. Apparently the shipper 'forgot' to add it to my LFS's latest shipment, so will probably have to wait until next week for this The Tunze 6025 should be in that shipment as well.

Have been recording my water parameters using a Google spreadsheet I built out. You can check it out at Google Docs - Water Parameters August 2008 I need to buy some more test kits to fully test though.

Looking to make these additions/changes to the tank:

HOB refugium with a AquaClear AC70 HOB filter. Trying to get away from the nitrate factory (aka: canister filter). Also, don't have much room in my tank stand, so can't do a sump.

Custom hood built by the step-father of the owner of the new LFS down the road from me. Been in talks with him about this, but no real progress yet.

ATO using either the Tunze Osmolator or something similar. Due to space limitations in my stand, I think I can only go with about a 2.5G tank for ATO water. Still researching Kalk dosing with this as well.

Water change simplification system. Yea, I don't know what this means yet either! Need to buy a RO/DI unit soon too. I'm fairly certain the one I'm 'borrowing' from my buddy will be reclaimed soon!

No livestock in the tank yet, but looking to get a CUC fairly shortly. I'm a bigger fan of inverts than fish, but the fiance has other ideas Haven't even started looking at corals yet, so not sure what I want to do in that regard.

I'll upload pictures of the tank so far tomorrow hopefully, so you can critique the aquascape (still not 100% happy with it, but the fiance seems to really like it...)

Now that my fingers have gained 5lbs in muscle mass from typing so much, I'll leave it at that.

Thanks for a great forum!

[Frankie]

Welcome to RS

[AndtheBonus]

Welcome!

[BigAl07]

Wow! Off to a GREAT start!

How long has the tank been up & cycling?

[agentgreen]

Well, I started this project this past Sunday (8/17/08) and used 1 bag of live sand and 1 bag of standard aragonite. I let that sit over night and then put in 22 lbs of fully cured live rock. That sat for a couple days, then added 18 more pounds of the fully cured LR.

I've been monitoring parameters all week and haven't seen any nitrites and very little ammonia (I don't like my ammonia test so I'm not sure how accurate it is)...but my nitrates have gone up a bit...I'm wondering if the cycle has already happened considering I used pre-cured LR *shrug*

Gonna keep monitoring it though.

There is a new reef store that just opened down the road (literally 2 minutes away, scary eh?) and I've been talking myself out of picking up a CUC all day

[agentgreen]

Here are the pics of the tank so far. You'll notice the SWEET hood

[agentgreen]

Went to the LFS and had them check my ammonia and nitrates because I wanted to verify my test kits are ok. Had 0 ammonia and around 10ppm nitrates. SO, I picked up a CUC.

Here's what I got:

5 Scarlet Reef hermits
3 Mexican Turbo's
5 Cerith Snails
15 Nassarius Vibex snails

Going to be monitoring parameters a lot this week to watch for another cycle. I just have a hard time believing I'm already cycled, but with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrites and 10ppm nitrates, it appears I am!!

Now that I have some sort of a bio-load, I'm hoping my skimmer gets here next week. Should also get my Tunze powerhead, which I can't wait to mod.

More to come...

[ludachris]

Hello nice tank

[agentgreen]

Originally Posted by ludachris

Hello nice tank

Thanks!

Well, last night I was looking at my tank and noticed that the hose from my canister filter going to my inline heater was kinked. So, I spent about 20 minutes trying to McGuyver a way to un-kink it. Took this off, cut that hose, moved this here. In the end all I got was leaky connections and anger management classes 3x weekly.

I ended up taking the whole damn canister filter off. Now I have the problem of heating my tank. During the light period this is no problem, I average around 82F with the MH on and a house fan blowing across the top.

However, at night the tank drops to around 75/76F with no heater. Some people say that temp fluctuations will make a more durable tank, but I'm not so sure.

Been searching around for how to remedy this situation. I'm going to be modding a AquaClear AC70 HOB filter to a refugium so I think I can place a heater there. But, considering most 100W heaters are around 10" long, not sure how this will work.

My other option is to build a closed loop system, and put my inline heater...well inline somewhere on that.

I like the closed loop idea, but with my Tunze 6025 PH coming, not sure I need the extra flow...or do I?

Anyways, just had to rant, more to come later!

[yungreefer2410]

i dont' see the hood just the light

[lcstorc]

I would try to avoid that much temp variation. Stability is more important than the actual temp. Also add your livestock very slowly. It appears the tank has not yet cycled since it has never had amonia to process. That means the first amonia source will be the fish waste.

[agentgreen]

Originally Posted by yungreefer2410

i dont' see the hood just the light

Hahaha, yea it was a joke

I don't plan to add anything else to this tank for a while. I agree with you lcstorc, I really don't think this tank is cycled, even though the LFS says it won't see much of a cycle due to the pre-cured LR.

I bought the AC70 today and started the mods. the 50W heater in my 10G freshy fits perfectly in the AC70. After the sealant dries, I'm going to run the AC70 empty in the hex tank with the 50W heater in it and see what happens. Chances are it won't keep up, but it might!

Thanks for looking!

[yungreefer2410]

it doubt it will. another one in the tank should do find. one that small would be easy to hide

[agentgreen]

I may look at buying two new 50W heaters that are small and put them both in the refugium...only thing I'm worried about is burning the chaeto I put in there.

[yungreefer2410]

i'm hiding a heater thats a good 10 in. in my 29 gallon reef. only the end is exposed. just lay it horizontal behind you rock work. be sure to have flow behiind your rock work. i have a ph pointed behind mine and another one one pointed up in front