New 56g tall tank - Page 2

Quote:

Originally Posted by novahobbies 

Yup.....looks like a 56 to me! That's going to be a great size for you. If I thought for a second I could fit that in my bedroom without it looking overpowering, I'd be trading up as well. This will be a fun build thread! You going to try for a nice rock column in there?

LOL...my tanks are always overpowering...it gives me the illusion I'm in the ocean...LOL. This 56 actually takes up less room than the 30g long...But right now with both..it's real cozy in here. I do have to stand on a step stool to reach it, and I will not be touching the bottom with anything but a reacher....LOL...Maybe hold a grandkid by the feet..give them little goggles...LOL

I have a long branch rock....and two good sized round Fiji, I know it will look lost in this tank....after the hair algae incident I'm a little shy of putting anything in the tank I can't remove to clean off. I have 50 pounds of live sand. I was thinking of resin decor...it will seed just like live rock and be easy to control.

The rock in the 30g...I will have to remove the corals and scrub the rock before I can use it....all those awesome huge mushrooms...I am not in a hurry to do that let me tell you.

Also I have to get this cycled and set ASAP...the duster worm lost it's crown this morning. I'm a little concerned about all the HA ...it is just floating free when the horses try and hitch to it...It may be dangerous when it starts to die off as well.

I have a bunch of little starter Kenya trees but again they are being sufficated. I put nutrients in the sand and refugium to help the sea grass and macros grow....It's feeding the HA into supper overdrive. In 30 years I have never had anything like this. I have had HA and beat it with water changes but not this time.

So if guys have any helpful hints of prevention or add to the build with an idea...don't be shy. I'm filling the tank with saltwater now. I have to do a little and sit a little...so it may take most of the day...I have 30g and then I have to mix more. One of my mixing tubs sprung a leak so I can only make 30g at a time up.

One thing I know...I won't give up, it will be beautiful again....sigh someday. ...I hate the OMG what happened stage of the hobby.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meowzer 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY (for real) FLOWERyesterday was a warm up

 

have you ever gotten any more turbo snails?  

Thank you for the Happy Birthday

I have cerith, nerite and nassarius...no turbos. This isn't like normal hair algae...I put nutrients in the sand to feed the maco and sea grass....then I let sunlight in to try and get the horses to eat during the black out....this stuff is way out of control and I have been doing plucking and water changes daily...it looks like I never touched a thing. The rocks need to be scrubbed but it is a rock foam wall...

UPDATE:

I just got back from Walmart...I filled my jugs because I got tired of the little drip, drip my RO unit does. Another 30g of saltwater is churning until tomorrow. The new tank is half filled. I put the live rock and live sand in....it's pretty cloudy.

I stopped at the hardware store for some new hoses. I'm going to hook up the Cascade canister filter until I can get the new sump set up...I'm still using the overflow and return pump on the 30g for now. I also picked up some rubber weather striping that Saxman mentioned, so I can install the baffles cleaner than silicone and be able to move them later if I want to change the chamber sizes or something. I have to do everything in the stand because it can't be removed now ...I had to have it in place before setting up the DT.

This is the rock in the tank with no sand yet. It will do for now...I will have to add more rock later

What it looks like now...I can see the sand is all on one side pretty high but I can mess with it later.

Quote:

Originally Posted by meowzer 

LOL....what a mess.....hahahahhahaha

Heyyyyy...remember how bad the 30g looked at first....It will all clear by tomorrow and then I stir it all back up adding more water. Oh what fun...Do you think it's too early to toss a chunk of shrimp in there?..attached to fishing line so I can find it later...LOL..I so need this tank up and going.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Al&Burke 

Hey Flower - HAPPY B-DAY - I am just curious how ia the sea grass growing in the 30 and what did you put in the sand for nutrients?

 

Only one blade of the sea grass took root and it was growing quite well, ..then it was so covered in algae it turned yellow, I cleared it off a bunch of times..I can't even find it now..it might be gone.. I mixed miracle mud in with the sand in the tank and in the refugium. The macros and corals were so happy and healthy. The botryocladia is in the fuge and still doing well. I have a mesh sock over the overflow hose to catch any hair algae that comes down the tube on that side so the small refugium chamber is clear...I put another sock over the hose leading into the skimmer chamber so anything being sucked up the overflow is being trapped. The last thing I need is the return pump choked up with this stuff....it killed a power head I had in there for a spray bar I rigged up...it barely puts out any flow at all now. I ran it under hot water too...this stuff is horrible.

UPDATE:

I had a great Birthday..thank you everyone. Well it's filled and all cloudy again...I forgot how much of a pain it is to prime this Cascade...sometimes it goes smooth and other times it's a battle. This time it was a battle and  AAHHH...after I finally got it going the output connector thingy leaked. I had a spare, but what a pain to have to redo it all...second time, it primed like it was supposed to..... WHEW...and no more leaks.

Now the waiting begins.....I will do a little decorating once it clears...LOL...back to the plastic plants...I have to work on the sump now...I did get the EPDM weather stripping so I can make the chambers movable (sounded like a good idea to me)  and hopefully not as ugly and messy with silicone like the first sump I made....I don't think the glass place will be open until Tuesday. So for now I will just measure for the baffles.

I will post pictures when it's done. I also want to make the double spray bars for my return just like the system 2Quills designed for the 30g...I'm thinking both vertical to the floor of the tank...I might rig another power head to a  PVC pipe and make a spray bar for the top.

I got another feeding dish...LOL...I wanted something they could hitch to and not hold tails and wallow in the dish...it was made to hold one of those Beta bowls...5 X 5 X 2.5 ...they will most likely still wallow in the bowl...but it's cute.

QUESTION

I have been ghost feeding (no shrimp in the house)...I do have the first ammonia spike...as a rule I stop feeding and let the tank finish the cycle. Florida Joe says to continue to feed the tank and when the bacteria colony is abundant enough...it will be able to break down the uneaten food without noticing any more ammonia.

That sounded pretty good so that's what I have been doing....I have never cycled with ghost feeding flake food (Spankos suggestion) I'm a little worried about phosphates, right on the flakes ingredients it says Phosphorus 1%

Quote:

Originally Posted by Flower 

QUESTION

 

I have been ghost feeding (no shrimp in the house)...I do have the first ammonia spike...as a rule I stop feeding and let the tank finish the cycle. Florida Joe says to continue to feed the tank and when the bacteria colony is abundant enough...it will be able to break down the uneaten food without noticing any more ammonia.

 

That sounded pretty good so that's what I have been doing....I have never cycled with ghost feeding flake food (Spankos suggestion) I'm a little worried about phosphates, right on the flakes ingredients it says Phosphorus 1%

BUMP

I really need to know if I should stop the flake ghost feeding because of phosphates...Talk to me someone