Newb with a 65G tank

[tomthewicked]

Hi all,
After a few months of saving, buying, reading, buying, saving, buying, reading, and reading some more I went ahead and put together my first saltwater setup. It's my first aquarium at all really, unless you count the 10G setup my daughters goldfish are in

.
I bought the 65G display tank (36"L x 18"D x 24"H) off Craigslist a few months ago, and after freshwater testing in the garage everything looked good to go. Now, for some reason when I got it into the house it decided to leak at the spot where the overflow is drilled. The guy who owned it before me put the bulkhead in backwards and just oozed silicone around the drain pipe which has now started to leak. So, in order to try and fix it, I just plowed in some more silicone. If that doesn't work? Ductape.

I kid, I kid. Anyone have any suggestions how to reseal it?
I recently got a good deal on some live rock ($2/lb), but, turns out is has some aiptasia on it, I don't really consider it a huge deal since I don't have anything in the tank yet, but I've kept the rock in a 55G "food-safe" container with a heater and 2 power heads for the last 3 days. I'm thinking some Aiptasia-X is probably going to be the best/easiest solution, but I'm curious is anyone else has any thoughts.
I'll try to get some pictures up a little later.
EDIT: Figured I'd post a little more about my tank and setup below:
65G Display tank w/1" overflow and a glass-holes overflow box.
20G sump which has 2 bulkheads plumbed. One for the return, one for the skimmer.
10G refugium sitting inside the sump.
Mag 7 return pump (3/4" return), Mag 5 pump for the skimmer and BRS Dual media reactor (reactor will be added later)
Reef Octopus 150 skimmer (mounted external from the sump)
50lbs live rock for display tank, 10-15lbs for refugium
60 lbs live sand for the display tank, 10lbs for refugium
2 x Hydor Koralia 750GPH power heads.

 

[jstdv8]

when you say some aiptasia how many roughly are we talking?
If it's just a few Id go with the easy to use aiptasia X or if your paramters are good in the holding tank you could try a peppermint shrimp or three if the aiptasia are small.
If there are loads of them I'd get some Mrs wages picking lime and make your own paste with just some water. Since you don't have any fish in there yet now is a great time to kalk paste those little guys. just paste right over their heads and when they retreat to the hole just paste over the whole hole. wait an hour or so and then suck out the paste and the pest with a turkey baster.
If you've read like you say you probably already know about the cycle, but if you don't please feel free to ask here as this is the most important part of beginning.

 

[florida joe]

If you have aiptasia in your tank it’s really the ones you don’t see that are the problem. The ones you do see can be taken care of fairly easily as mentioned above. Of those methods I would definitely go with some peppermint shrimp to deal with the unseen ones

 

[tomthewicked]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///t/393424/newb-with-a-65g-tank#post_3499852
when you say some aiptasia how many roughly are we talking?
About 6 or 7 that I can see, I'm sure there's more I can't see yet
Quote:
Originally Posted by Jstdv8 http:///t/393424/newb-with-a-65g-tank#post_3499852
If you've read like you say you probably already know about the cycle, but if you don't please feel free to ask here as this is the most important part of beginning.
I'm going to start my cycle using the table shrimp to start it. Since I've been keeping my live rock in a tub of saltwater, I'm not really sure how much die-off I can expect from it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///t/393424/newb-with-a-65g-tank#post_3499857
If you have aiptasia in your tank it’s really the ones you don’t see that are the problem. The ones you do see can be taken care of fairly easily as mentioned above. Of those methods I would definitely go with some peppermint shrimp to deal with the unseen ones
I think I'll be adding some peppermint shrimp as soon as the tank is finished cycling. I think the only issue I might have with this solution is some of the aiptasia are rather large, so I might be stuck using the chemicals.
In other news, I got the leak fixed. Turns out it was just a loose pipe fitting where the overflow comes out of the tank. Simply fix. And I had another classic newb mistake. I added too much water before adding my live rock. Oh well. I'm going to drain about 15G out of the container my LR is in and transfer my DT water to it.
I added my Instant Ocean salt mix to the tank and have been letting it mix for the last 12 hours or so. One thing I learned is not to add it all directly to the display tank. My first scoop of salt went straight to the bottom and I had a hard time mixing it. The rest went into the sump where I mixed it, then pumped it into the display tank.
It looks like I'm going to have an issue with micro-bubbles. They're horrible so far. I don't have any baffles in my sump so I'm sure that's responsible for 80% of them, but I think I'll try adding a sock and possibly turn down the speed on the return pump and see if that helps.
Also, is there anything I can do to quiet down the return plumbing? I knew some people said it could be loud, but I feel like it's a little louder than really necessary and wonder if anyone has any suggestions on how to quite it down.

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
I think I'll be adding some peppermint shrimp as soon as the tank is finished cycling. I think the only issue I might have with this solution is some of the aiptasia are rather large, so I might be stuck using the chemicals.
The ones you can see, kill with aiptasia X. just remember to turn off any equipment that causes water movement for 15 min after treatment and when applying make sure you completely cover the oral disk with the aiptasia X

 

[tomthewicked]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///t/393424/newb-with-a-65g-tank#post_3499974
The ones you can see, kill with aiptasia X. just remember to turn off any equipment that causes water movement for 15 min after treatment and when applying make sure you completely cover the oral disk with the aiptasia X
Will do Joe. Thanks for the advice.
As promised...here's the pics.

I built the stand 12" wider than the tank. My thought was that if I ever want to upgrade to a 90G I could use the same stand.

The front doors aren't hinged. I used a set of small magnets to hold them on. They just pull right off.

Center brace removed. This way, I can pull everything out without having to move the stand away from the wall.

Plumbing. The pipe on the left will eventually be the intake pipe for the refugium. As you can tell by the water level, I'll have to remove some water before I add the live rock to the display tank.

Everything turned on. As you can tell by the pic, the skimmer is adding a bunch of micro-bubbles so it's turned of for now. I'll probably just put a filter sock on it since that seems to work pretty good.
Thoughts? Feedback?
Also...my SG is around 1.024. Should I go ahead and start adding the live rock?

 

[tomthewicked]

Okay, so I've added the live rock and am waiting for the tank to cycle. Since this is my first aquarium, I'm paying close attention to everything and seeing how simple changes (evaporation, skimmer water levels, etc.) have such an impact on the tank. For example, my tank seems to evaporate about ~1/3 gal water per day. And it seems like a gallon of evaporation increases the salinity from 1.022 to 1.024. That's a lot more than I would've anticipated, truthfully.
So I'm looking for some assistance on exactly what to expect from my cycle. Like I've previously said, when I got the live rock and brought it home I stored it in a 40G food-safe container for about 3 days. I tested the ammonia in the container after the 3rd day and it was around 5ppm. Then, once I set up the aquarium and salinity set at 1.023, I put the live rock in the tank. The day after I put the rock in the tank I put in a table shrimp. I took the shrimp out after 48 hours (this morning) and did an ammonia test again (which read about 2.5 ppm). I did a nitrate and nitrite test and both were at 0ppm (I know it's probably too soon for those anyways.) My questions is; since the ammonia seems to be reducing with no increase in nitrite, how long until I see the nitrite level increase? Also, if I add 60lbs of live sand, would I likely start another cycle?
Thanks all

 

[snakeblitz33]

I'd do a water change as quick as you can. Ammonia at 2.0 and above basically kills a lot of the higher primary organisms that live on and within the live rock.
It takes anywhere from 7 days to as much as 60 days to properly cycle an aquarium. Water changes will keep the stuff on the live rock alive. Once ammonia and nitrite start disappearing, start pretending to feed your first fish (ghost feed) for about another 2 to 7 days. If ammonia and nitrite are unreadable, then add your first fish.
You know the chemicals - but what you will see during the cycle is a diatom bloom - which is a bunch of "dusty" brown algae that occurs in about the middle of the cycle... then you will start to see some greenish-slime algae or perhaps even some hair algaes on the glass and rocks. This is normal, and usually happens at closer to the end of the cycle.
Right now, I would suggest to go ahead and throw in some macroalgae in your sump so that the algae can start sucking up some of that ammonia and get your tank going a little faster.
Anyways, that's just my .02.

 

[tomthewicked]

Thanks for info Snake, but I need to retract what I previously said. Ammonia PPM wasn't at 2.5, it was at .25. Decimal placement is pretty important it seems.
In other news, I did a full parameter check and this is what I got:
Ammonia : .25 ppm (going to double-check with a better test kit, I've been using the API kit)
Nitrite: 0ppm
Nitrate: 5-10 ppm
So, it seems like my tank is displaying the traits of a cycled tank, but I didn't see any algae blooms like Snake described above. There's two reasons for this I think. First, I haven't had my LED's on yet (getting them in the mail today, should be done tomorrow). I'm thinking I'll get a good algae bloom the first time I leave the lights on for a substantial period of time. Secondly, I bought the live rock which was already cured. There only should've been a little die off since only some the rock was exposed to air for the two-hour ride home. Any thoughts?
So now, I have a few questions. I was prepared to have to wait 4-6 weeks for this tank to cycle, so I've delayed putting my live sand (stuff in the bag from Doctors Foster and Smith). Now my question is, will I put my tank into another cycle if I put it in?
Also, I bought the Bridgelux LED's from AquaStyleOnline on Saturday night; they're going to be delivered TODAY! Pretty amazing shipping. Anyways, I bought the 48 LED kit with 24 x royal blue, 12 x 10000K white, and 12 x 6500K LED's (All 60 degree optice). I also bought 12 x Actinic violet LED's al-la-carte (still need to buy a driver for these). My questions is; can I just add the 12 x violet LED's to the royal blue driver? Run them on their own driver (obviously the better choice, but more expensive)? I'm using the Meanwell LPF-60D-48 driver on the white and blue channels and I'm not sure if they'll support 12 x more LED's.
Thanks in advance.