Blog Comments

Thanks DJ,
Aaron

i thought i saw another post on here not long ago that said that they have trouble with those and that the lfs had several return with same issue. but cant remember who posted it

I guess a warning is in order, the salt should be added slowly in an area of high flow. the sump return section would be ideal.

Im not sure if this was something I caused, or just a freak thing, but I actually had pockets of undissolved salt trapped in my substrate. Months after my tank was fully cycled and stocked with a few corals (thankfully inexpensive ones), one of the pockets got mixed back into my water and caused a spike, killing most of them.

Caviar, what happened?

I suggest premixing your water and salt before adding it to your tank. Dumping in water, and then salt into the tank can be dangerous, even if in small increments. My first go around with the hobby I tried mixing salt and water inside the tank and had bad results.

Thanks All for all the suggestions and comments. I will be implementing some and saving for others:-)

I really appreciate all the support. Am patiently watching my front window waiting for the FedEx Truck to deliver my Marco Rocks.... Arghh, Patience comes to me very slowly some days:-)


Cheers,
Aaron

Hey Aaron just some food for thought on the Marineland reef led lights. I purchased the Double Bright 36” fixture when it came out for my fresh water planted tank. It worked great and I loved it but 6 months after I went away for a week and when I came home and turned it on something shorted out because it would only blink on then shut off. Not sure if it was because of moisture or just a fault in the design. I was able to have it exchanged but there was one returned to my LFS with the same problem and they have a demo that is a little buggy too. Now maybe they have fixed this issue in the reef models but if you are a DIY guy I would suggest building an LED fixture because I think you can get something better for the same price. Just my 2 cents.

i put egg crate down then rock work, or if your using a plenum 1/2 in pvc pipe for stand off egg crate screen crush screen sand, but put down some egg crate to keep pressure points off the glass on the bottom. Use you live rock off the bat will cut way down on your cycle time by prob a month. Yea agree with phil and blown buy your own ro/di unit will save you in the long run take it from some one who has hauled water before it blows.

1. Depends on what you're trying to achieve, but there are a lot of little critters coming with your live rock that like to live in a sand bed. So adding a bag or 2 of sand in the mix is probably a good idea.

2. Build your rock structures first, then add the sand. Otherwise the rocks will slowy sink into it, and any digging critters may undermine them and cause a rock slide.
Add the water as you describe, and I too highly recommend spending the money for your own RO/DI, it's well worth it in the end.
Skip the shrimp if you're using live rock, there will be plenty of organtic die off from your rock to establish the bacteria colonies. If you're getting cured live rock locally then add it straight to your tank, if your ordering it then cure it first in a separate container then add it to the tank. Once the tank's ammonia reads 0, do a water change and you can start slowly stocking the tank.

Phil

Nice, I like the mottled look.

Do yourself a favor and buy a RO/DI unit. I'll even help justify the cost of it. You have 149 gallons of empty space, if you buy your water at walgreens and its .50/gal ( don't know just a figure) thats 70.00 in the initial fill up. Now we need to look at evaporation and water changes. Lets say you loose 2 gallons a day over a month thats another 60 gallons or 30.00. So there is 120.00 and you haven't even done the first water change. A RO/DI unit from Marc is 169.00. In about 3 months you will have spent at least that much in water that may or not be as pure as if you had your own unit. No one knows when the last time the filters were changed at Wal-greens so why take the chance.

Thanks Guys, I'm now finding solutions to my problems... and learning a lot about plumbing... lol.

+1 and always use pipe dope and teflon tape on threaded fittings. Teflon tape always wears out over time, at least in my experience

You can also get a threaded Union and threaded barb. I like doing that because unions tend to be pricey, and getting threaded makes them reusable if you change something.

Savko.com

FlexPVC.com

Also I dont think anyone will make a fitting that is a 3/4" or 1" hose barb x union. Your best bet is to buy a union or true union ball valve (pricey but worth it in some cases such as CL pumps) and a hose barb fitting that has a slip socket on the other side, then glue the two together to make what you want.

Hope that helps you out.

- Max

I have used the dead shrimp cycle a couple times for my QT tank, and I would definitely recommend that you bring the temp and salinity to what you have your display at. Toss the shrimp in and wait for the ammonia to rise to, then remove the shrimp and wait for the ammonia to go to 0 before adding fish.

Unless you're going to put fish in the QT right away, you’ll need to continue feeding the biological filtration a source of ammonia to sustain the bacteria.

Of course this is the slow process of cycling your QT, sometimes you can’t plan when you need to have one ready. In those situations I would definitely suggest srusso idea and have a filter that fits your QT’s hang on back sitting in the sump of your display tank already cultured and teaming with bacteria for those ‘quick get the QT ready to go’ scenarios.

I would take a small piece of live rock from your display to seed the tank. Also when you get a sponge filter for the tank have it run in your sump for a while then move it to your QT after a few weeks.

Looks good. Thanks for sharing your progress with us.

Thanks, Nice work, Esp. the cleaning tips for a mag pump and the double the pipe size opposite the output section. i.e 1/2 inch ='s 1 inch o/p pipe.
Aaron