New tank

[ekelly36]

So, I have been lurking for a couple months I think now... just reading and getting ready to start my first adventure in the SW hobby. I finally got my tank up and running, it has been almost a week now. I have a 78 Gal tank with 20 gal sump. I started with 80 pounds " about 2 inches" of live sand and about 25 pounds of live rock. Running 2 Hydor 1050's and I have a 150w MH with T5 and some LED's. My waterflow seems good but currently im only running about 150gal/hr through my sump. My protein skimmer is still on order and I ordered a 1200 gal/hr return pump so hopefully I can move more water through the sump soon. I have a few questions, I havnt really been able to find the answers to. but I dont want to make this thread too overwhelming on the eyes.
After only 4 days of the raw shrimp being in the tank it has already been almost completely consumed by bacteria, is that a normal time frame? Also I have been adding the biozyme powder daily since before my tank settled the first day.
When I was buying my raw shrimp they had little neck clams "live". I purchased one to give it a chance to survive or feed the bacterial cycle in my tank. He has been doing good so far, was this a bad idea or might he survive the whole cycle?
I woke up this morning to what looked like snail tracks all over my sand bed but I dont have any snails that I have seen and I have my tank sitting next to my comp so I am pretty hardcore about watching every little thing that goes on....
Also I have what looks like a small red spikey plant or something that is just chillin in the shade under one of my rocks that I just noticed this morning.... cant really get a clear picture of it but.... friend or foe? maybe someone can post up some pics of red spider looking plants.
Every day I test my water and my ammonia is sitting between .25 and .5 . PH is between 8.1 and 8.2 area and nitrite and nitrate are both zero. If the bacteria has already consumed my shrimp should I put another in? how do I know when my cycle is complete?
Sorry for the long post.

 

[xcali1985]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ekelly36 http:///t/390010/new-tank#post_3450829
So, I have been lurking for a couple months I think now... just reading and getting ready to start my first adventure in the SW hobby. I finally got my tank up and running, it has been almost a week now. I have a 78 Gal tank with 20 gal sump. I started with 80 pounds " about 2 inches" of live sand and about 25 pounds of live rock. Running 2 Hydor 1050's and I have a 150w MH with T5 and some LED's.Is this just a one mH fixture. Im thinking that if this is a 4 foot tank will need 2 150mHs minimum. My waterflow seems good but currently im only running about 150gal/hr through my sump. My protein skimmer is still on order and I ordered a 1200 gal/hr return pump so hopefully I can move more water through the sump soon. I have a few questions, I havnt really been able to find the answers to. but I dont want to make this thread too overwhelming on the eyes. 150GPH is not ideal, however, you don't want a wave through your sump, you want a smooth steady flow. Use powerheads to increase the flow inside the display unit.
After only 4 days of the raw shrimp being in the tank it has already been almost completely consumed by bacteria, is that a normal time frame? Also I have been adding the biozyme powder daily since before my tank settled the first day. No unheard of depends on size of the shrimp, flow, etc. Your wasting money on biozyme, don't need to add that stuff if you use the shrimp method.
When I was buying my raw shrimp they had little neck clams "live". I purchased one to give it a chance to survive or feed the bacterial cycle in my tank. He has been doing good so far, was this a bad idea or might he survive the whole cycle? From the grocery store? Chances are nothing will survive the process of starting your cycle. Inverts are especially sensitive to changes in water chemistry.
I woke up this morning to what looked like snail tracks all over my sand bed but I dont have any snails that I have seen and I have my tank sitting next to my comp so I am pretty hardcore about watching every little thing that goes on....Probably hitchhiked on your live rock. I have probably 30-40 baby mexican turbos in my tank.
Also I have what looks like a small red spikey plant or something that is just chillin in the shade under one of my rocks that I just noticed this morning.... cant really get a clear picture of it but.... friend or foe? maybe someone can post up some pics of red spider looking plants.Chances are its a macro algae and is beneficial.
Every day I test my water and my ammonia is sitting between .25 and .5 . PH is between 8.1 and 8.2 area and nitrite and nitrate are both zero. If the bacteria has already consumed my shrimp should I put another in? how do I know when my cycle is complete? This means your cycle is in the beginning stages, once your ammonia spike you could remove the shrimp anyways, so no worries.
Sorry for the long post.
Good Luck, Welcome!

 

[ekelly36]

Yea the power heads are in my display tank... there is no water movement in the sump, aside from the return pump and a couple air lines I ran in there to help get some O2 in the water.... It is 1 MH fixture but my tank is 36in long.... and its in the middle... its lights everything pretty nicely and evenly.

 

[smallreef]

sounds like a good start.. you dont really need to have air lines running in your sump, the movement from the water coming from your tank across to the return pump is enough and if you ever put any macro algae in there you arent going to want any airline becuase it could cause micro bubbles going back into your tank.
So in your sump are you going to have any filter media? what about a skimmer? these are really things you Dont need right now while you tank is cycling but once its done and you want to add fish you may want to get them.. if you have powerheads in teh display just make sure there are no dead spots and you have one aimed up or going across the surface of your tank, that is the best for aeration and you can take those lines out of your sump...

 

[ekelly36]

There arent any dead spots but im running 2 1050gph hydor's and I plan on getting a wave maker... so im sure I will have to adjust them. Also what kind of flow should I have running through my sump? My sump setup is kinda rigged because the stand that I have I couldnt fit more then 2 10gal tanks under it so I am trying to figure a way to make sure that I can safely run water through them both with no issues. I have 1 tank elevated 2 inches and then I built baffles into then ends so that I can run an overflow/gravity feed type system from one tank to another. I just got the sump running this morning and so far everything is working flawlessly. If I have any power outages my top overflow will stop once it reaches a certain point and then at that same point I have a hole drilled in my return up top so it will stop the back flow. Right now I think im flowing about 150/200 gph through my sump. I have had my protein skimmer running for about 5 hours.. took me a while to get it where it LOOKS like its running right... Its definatly aerating the water.... I got that 1000gph pump but I cant get it running without one of my tanks wanting to overflow lol... and I think it would probably be a bit much.. the first time I turned it on I stirred up about a third of my sand.... How much flow is recommended for a 78 gal tank with 20 gal of sump?

 

[smallreef]

well... I had 2x 1340gph pumps on my 150g with a 30g sump...
what you might want to think about is drilling the side of your top sump and putting in a bulkhead from the top sump to your bottom sump at the height of the water line you want??? so that it drains without an overflow box/tube that could cause it actually overflow if the flow into the tank is higher than the overflow box that leads to the other sump tank.. thats what you are contending with when adding flow to your tank, you are limited by the max gph that that will allow...

 

[ekelly36]

Well I got my large pump working by installing a ball valve in my return so that I can regulate the amount flowing from my sump to my display tank. One question I have is how do you guys keep bubbles from accumulating in your U pipes that keep water flowing in your overflows? in a day or 2 the level of water in my overflow U pipe is about at half and im scare it would get to the point where it would lose suction and I would come back home to a flood. I also have some Green leaf plant growing in my sand... looks like a freshwater plant.... ill try to take some pics later and post them up... and some pics of my setup. I have had my skimmer going for a few days and the stuff its skimming just smells like strong salt water.... I had an outbreak of brown algea and green algea and the LFS told me that I was probably just finishing my cycle and it would die off ... True or no? My PH is 8.1-8.2 area, ammonia is around .25 Zero nitrites and around 5 in the nitrates. I have the coralife hydrometer and I also use a floating manual hydrometer from my chemistry class and they both indicate my Specific gravity is right around 1.025... I have a refractometer on order but I havnt gotten it yet to get super accurate results. LFS suggested that I purchase a Blenny and some blue leg crabs to try to keep the algea under control so I did... and they are all just tearing into that algea... IF my cycle has not completed how can I make sure that I dont cause any harm to the blenny and the crabs? They all seem super healthy and have been doing great.

 

[xcali1985]

Quote:
Originally Posted by ekelly36 http:///t/390010/new-tank#post_3452639
Well I got my large pump working by installing a ball valve in my return so that I can regulate the amount flowing from my sump to my display tank. One question I have is how do you guys keep bubbles from accumulating in your U pipes that keep water flowing in your overflows I guess there are two quick ways of doing it, increase flow, so that it pulls the air bubbles all the way through the U tube, or lower the flow to the point where it doesn't suck them in to begin with. Lastly there is a way to mod your youtube so that it self burps. It involves drilling the top of the you tube and installing an airline valve that you open to release the air that is in the tube. Really doesn't matter if water comes out of it as it should simply drop back down into your overflow box. If not you can install a small piece of tubing to direct it where you want. in a day or 2 the level of water in my overflow U pipe is about at half and im scare it would get to the point where it would lose suction and I would come back home to a flood. I also have some Green leaf plant growing in my sand... looks like a freshwater plant.... ill try to take some pics later and post them up... and some pics of my setup. I have had my skimmer going for a few days and the stuff its skimming just smells like strong salt water.... I had an outbreak of brown algea and green algea and the LFS told me that I was probably just finishing my cycle and it would die off ... True or no Brown algae is probably Diatoms and will die off over time, BTW your cycle never ends, if it does that means your tank has crashed. The set up is to establish the cycle. My PH is 8.1-8.2 area, ammonia is around .25 Zero nitrites and around 5 in the nitrates. I have the coralife hydrometer and I also use a floating manual hydrometer from my chemistry class and they both indicate my Specific gravity is right around 1.025... I have a refractometer on order but I havnt gotten it yet to get super accurate results. LFS suggested that I purchase a Blenny and some blue leg crabs to try to keep the algea under control so I did... and they are all just tearing into that algea... IF my cycle has not completed how can I make sure that I dont cause any harm to the blenny and the crabs? You can't, take them back and tell the LFS, that you don't want to harm any livestock during your cycle. They are probably already experiencing ammonia poisoning. They all seem super healthy and have been doing great.Inverts are very sensitive to water chemistry changes, which you have going on right now at a daily rate. Even adding inverts to an establish tank takes a few hours acclimation.

 

[ekelly36]

So I read that the API kit has an unreliable ammonia test and I wanted to be 100% sure before I did anything... I took some water up to be tested and my PH was 8.2, Ammonia 0, Nitrite .25 Nitrate was 10.... Tomorrow I plan on doing a water change of about 5-10 gal to try to get rid of some of the nitrates. Is that a decent place to be with an almost 3 week old setup? I had the LR and LS in the tank about a week or so before I added the shrimp and it took about 4 days for the shrimp to completely dissapear "besides the shell" And the algea in my tank was getting out of control.

 

[ekelly36]

I will take a picture of the plant that is growing off to the side of one of my rocks that looks pretty cool so far... in a bit but if you see anything wrong with my setup please let me know... I want to make this a successful setup.

 

[ekelly36]

I know I still need to find something to anchor the mangroves... I just got them about an hour ago via USPS.... and the crabs that I got are super small so they will have to grow up lol...

 

[geoj]

No need for the water change. I would guess in the next three days it will drop to below what the API test can read and then you can start to ghost feed to see if the tank is ready for a fish.

 

[ekelly36]

At what level of nitrate should I change the water? Also here is a pic of the plant and starry... he likes to play in the holes of the rock when he isnt perching and eating. What plant is that? and is it reef safe?

 

[geoj]

Looks like CAULERPA SERTULARIODES
I would move it to the sump as it can over grow the tank if left on its own. And you would need to keep it thin.

 

[geoj]

For a FO tank if you can keep it below 40ppm you are doing good,1ppm is better. I think you are sill cycling so I would slow down on the additions.

 

[ekelly36]

yea I dont plan on adding any more fish for atleast another 2-3 weeks minimum.. I do have some snails on the way... the sand bed is getting pretty dark with algea in the back and I have zero dead spots in the tank... I took a long piece of pvc and taped a thread to it.... I ran it everywhere in the tank and there was water movement... I want to get a wave maker but im already over budget " per wife" lol... so that will be a few weeks out also... I am really just looking to do soft corals... stuff that moves around with the current.... Im not really into anything that just sits idle but I still have a lot more research to do on what I can get... I know I want some torches and maybe an anemone... def want some clowns.... My wife REALLY wants a longhorn cowfish but I dont think I would be able to keep one with my reef.... Right now the lights im running are 400w... the LFS says its too much but I have read that its not enough so I dunno... more research there will be key also....

 

[geoj]

What light do you have is it a 250MH with 2 PC?

 

[geoj]

I would not put torches and clowns in the same tank, as the Euphyllia will suffer.

 

[snakeblitz33]

What??? I had a pair of black clowns with a torch, frogspawn and hammer in the same tank and never had problems. Is that just out of the ordinary?

 

[geoj]

The clown is just like a woman, sometimes there is no problem other times she irritates you to death. :laughing: