150 g Reef build, slow and steady on an even slower budget

[anjiro]

With your HOB filter here is what I would do... You need the flow as you have no powerheads, in a reef aquarium you want to shoot for 5 to 10 up to 20 times turnover so in a 150 up to 3000 gallons per hour. In my 65 gallon I have 1015, but I keep a few sps corals. (they require massive intermittent flow) You really need flow to ensure that everything moves good and you keep debris from sinking to the bottom of the tank, It needs to stay in the water column to be filtered out by the skimmer or filter. In my HOB filter I keep Cheatomorph a macro algae to suck up excess nutrients. But as large as your tank is and with so little livestock you should have no issue so far, however, a good floor lamp placed over the filter and a little bit of plastic egg-crate in the overflow to keep the algae in and you will have a HOB DIY refuge.
As for you DIY rock, you have to use portland cement so that it is nothing but cement and no rock/sand... The sand in the rock you have already made will have silicates in it which will promote algae growth. But by looking at your pictures you already have tons of diatoms or slime algae and maybe some dinoflagellates.
You are off to a great start in the DIY section of the hobby, and the bargain hunting side. Even if the pump craps out on that cheap skimmer it is much easier to replace and the expensive part is the acrylic caste that makes up the actual removal and collection of skimmate. The next real step in equipment is either more water flow or lighting, but remember the e-bay is the place to go, that's where I've bought 90% of my equipment, such a wonderful place. Hit me up either here or in PM with the dimensions of your tank and I'll try to help you find more good cheap equipment

 

[velbar]

well another week down, the DIY rocks are coming along beautifully if I do say so Myself, the first batch seems to have cured out faster than I expected, I have move the first two batches into a tank that has lots of algae growth to see how the ph does and see if I can get the algae to attach and grow onto the rock.
The skimmer seems to be working out WAY better than I had hoped, dang how ugly the water was even with the supposed decent numbers on My chem strips (yes I hear the words, use professional testing kits ...lol)
My one powerhead does seem to be keeping a decent flow going but My umbrella mushrooms are moving all over the place, telling Me they arent happy yet...still working on that one.
sadly, before I added the DIY rock in, two if My cleaner shrimp died out suddenly but everything else is holding in there, I am thinking another skimmer and a smaller tank to cure rock and propogagete corals will work out well

 

[velbar]

an update with pics, yes those things that prove it really did happen lol...
the DIY rock is coming along well and I have decided to add more of My own rock in, fortunately the mixture I am using seems to need very little cure time, and with the algae growth I have in the tank itself I am not worrying about making the DIY rock into live rock as a separate step and going to let the algae growth take care of that while filling in the space at the same time. My Ph has not wavered since putting the DIY in...and the livestock likes the new rock already sooooo....



everything in these last 2 pics I made...
now to maybe add a herd of peppermint shrimp in to get rid of all the extra algae growth on the older rock

 

[anjiro]

If you have a LFS who test water, you may want to have them test your water params. Really high nitrates will cause some inverts to decline in health. Also you may want to invest in a copper test kit just in case you have any, which would kill your inverts. The tank is coming along very nicely. I'm impressed with the look of that DIY rock. In no time at all you will have all the live rock you need for your tank.

 

[velbar]

I did go to petsmart and had them test My water params, they did not do copper testing but said that copper was rare in our water up here. as for the params, all the girl said was that everything was spot on...good for Me, yay!!
My urchin up and died over the last few days, again no real clue why but I think it was being picked on by the tangs and was overly stressed. it was dropping spines all over the tank ever since the unwitnessed event when My cleaner shrimp started dying off, all except the one original cleaner shrimp I have had for a while now. He has become king of the mountain and likes sitting up on top of the rock I have made on the right side of My tank.
since adding the skimmer I have started getting massive micro bubbles in the water return and flow on that side of the tank but it doesnt seem to be bothering any of the critters, the shrimp and tangs pay it no attention, yep the tangs are playing in that side of the reef now also.
I want to try fragging My umbrella but not sure I am ready for that yet but it sure would cut costs of buying more down..
I posted a new thread in the lighting area as well, considering building a DIY hood

 

[gemmy]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Velbar http:///forum/thread/383222/150-g-reef-build-slow-and-steady-on-an-even-slower-budget/20#post_3361162
I did go to petsmart and had them test My water params, they did not do copper testing but said that copper was rare in our water up here. as for the params, all the girl said was that everything was spot on...good for Me, yay!!
My urchin up and died over the last few days, again no real clue why but I think it was being picked on by the tangs and was overly stressed. it was dropping spines all over the tank ever since the unwitnessed event when My cleaner shrimp started dying off, all except the one original cleaner shrimp I have had for a while now. He has become king of the mountain and likes sitting up on top of the rock I have made on the right side of My tank.
since adding the skimmer I have started getting massive micro bubbles in the water return and flow on that side of the tank but it doesnt seem to be bothering any of the critters, the shrimp and tangs pay it no attention, yep the tangs are playing in that side of the reef now also.
I want to try fragging My umbrella but not sure I am ready for that yet but it sure would cut costs of buying more down..
I posted a new thread in the lighting area as well, considering building a DIY hood
Wow! Your PetSmart tests saltwater? Did they use the strips or the drops? If I were you, I would purchase my own test kits and test myself. I would also take the water to a store that sells saltwater fish and have them test the water.

 

[velbar]

yep, PetSmart tests saltwater here, the girl used the drops for everything but what I think was ammonia test. I want to buy the test kits but those suckers arent cheap as most of you well know and for now I am going to have to rely on the cheaper method as long as I dont lose to much livestock.
there is a store here in town that sells a small amount of saltwater stuff, but most of it they have shipped in so I am possibly as good a hand at it as they are since they only have to keep theirs alive short term....We shall see..
so here are a few more pictures of the tank with the DIY rock progress and a few images of rocks that are curing now to go in the tank in a few days..33 days into the project and lighting hood becoming My next real project I think..
Left side of tank day 33

Right side of tank day 33

rock archway pre-cure tub

multilayer rock, pre cure tub...this one is hard to tell in the image but it actually steps down or up depending on your viewpoint 3 steps for different levels and additional ridges for corals to rest on.