Officially joined the hobby today!!!

[gcgrad]

Cool. I like the siphon idea. I don't think the brute trash cans come with wheels. Plus I have wooden floors and rolling something that heavy would only scratch the floor. By the way, I ordered the bulkheads, some pvc, and more dry rock today. That won't get here till next week. So in the meantime I will try to paint the back of the tank as I did the QT. Also the tank is rather dirty on the inside. I will probably give it a good scrubbing with water and some ole fashioned elbow grease. Although looks like rain in my area this weekend, so painting may have to wait.

 

[florida joe]

This is the type of receptacle I use. I do have the advantage of good weather year round so I make my RO and mix and store outside. I just wheel in the receptacle when needed

 

[deejeff442]

i had one like that and the thing buckled just above the wheels.45 gallons all over the floor.

 

[gcgrad]

Thanks for all the information everyone! The plumbing parts and dry rock I ordered should arrive next Wed. I know how I'm going to plumb it. Got another question for the drain lines in terms of how the water enters the skimmer and fuge compartment. I plan on attaching 90 degree elbows to the end of the drains. I have heard something about having the water drain onto rock elevated out of the water. Not sure what this accomplishes though. Maybe one of you will understand what I'm talking about. I was just planning on having the 90s barely above the water to promote more gas exchange before entering the sump. Thoughts please!

 

[2quills]

Never really heard of elevating the rock out of water...it's seams to me that it could create some splashing then you'll end up with salt creep everywhere. Perhaps they were refering to the use of rock rubble as in a bubble tower to help reduce the amount of bubbles entering the sump and making their way to the return. Personally I would use the eblows but submerge them. It's less noisy. I don't think that elevating them is going to make a huge difference with gas exchange to be worth the extra noise IMO.

 

[florida joe]

Simply put with your rock not being submerged you are creating a trickle filter. The advantage being that the bacteria reasonable for nitrification is dependent on oxygen and in a trickle filter with the rock not being submerged there is of course an abundance of oxygen. The down side is that you do not get any anaerobic bacteria growth within the rock not submerged. You will then need to deal with your nitrates in another way such as a DSB
More frequent water changes, algae assimilation EST.

 

[gcgrad]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366313
Never really heard of elevating the rock out of water...it's seams to me that it could create some splashing then you'll end up with salt creep everywhere. Perhaps they were refering to the use of rock rubble as in a bubble tower to help reduce the amount of bubbles entering the sump and making their way to the return. Personally I would use the eblows but submerge them. It's less noisy. I don't think that elevating them is going to make a huge difference with gas exchange to be worth the extra noise IMO.
Probably were referring to the bubble tower. I have a 4"wide x10" high area in the skimmer compartment for a bubble tower I believe. I guess this would work by gluing some egg crate in this 4"x10" area and setting some rock rubble on that? Also seen where people placed egg crate at the bottom of this 4"x10" ( which was elevated off the bottom) area before the water actually entered the skimmer area. Always wondered what purpose it served. Thanks Corey!

 

[gcgrad]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366314
Simply put with your rock not being submerged you are creating a trickle filter. The advantage being that the bacteria reasonable for nitrification is dependent on oxygen and in a trickle filter with the rock not being submerged there is of course an abundance of oxygen. The down side is that you do not get any anaerobic bacteria growth within the rock not submerged. You will then need to deal with your nitrates in another way such as a DSB
More frequent water changes, algae assimilation EST.
Huh! That seems a little beyond my scope. I will keep it simple then and not do the trickle filter. The only DSB I will have is in my fuge. Thanks Joe!

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366314
Simply put with your rock not being submerged you are creating a trickle filter. The advantage being that the bacteria reasonable for nitrification is dependent on oxygen and in a trickle filter with the rock not being submerged there is of course an abundance of oxygen. The down side is that you do not get any anaerobic bacteria growth within the rock not submerged. You will then need to deal with your nitrates in another way such as a DSB
More frequent water changes, algae assimilation EST.
Yeah that makes more sense in the way of using the idea as a form of trickle filtering. Not sure how practical it will be to replicate in your sump though, Dean. But I'm of the mind set that if something works then I'm always willing to give it a try if a particular issue seems to be out of control.

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366318
Yeah that makes more sense in the way of using the idea as a form of trickle filtering. Not sure how practical it will be to replicate in your sump though, Dean. But I'm of the mind set that if something works then I'm always willing to give it a try if a particular issue seems to be out of control.
Trickle (wet dry) filters manly utilized bio-balls for nitrification and not LR
You could get a large area for the bacteria to colonize on both in and out of the water

 

[gcgrad]

Ok guys. I am full of ideas and literally spend most all my free time researching and reading about this hobby. I would like to have my rocks covered in purple coralline algae. To do so, I was thinking of just purchasing about 20 lbs of live rock to add to my 130 lbs of dry base rock. Would ya'll advise to do it this way? I would scrape a good bit of it off the live rock, turn my pump off in my sump, keep my powerheads on in my DT and let the spores move about all over the tank. Also, heard there is a debate on the lighting demands for coralline algae to grow. Some have found that as their lighting becomes less intense they notice the coralline algae growing more. Thoughts please!

 

[florida joe]

You can try a product like Purple up; there are hobbyists that swear by it. Also remember to get the colors green, pink, white, purple, and red you will need rock with that color coralline on it and scrape the spores IMO

 

[2quills]

Figi rock is probably your best bet for getting purple coralline. Different colors are found in specific regions around the world. Purple up is really nothing more than calcium , strontium and magnesium. It doesn't have any actual coralline spores in it. And you can get those suppliments anywhere. Maintaining those levels is key an any reef system though. Also, some seem to think that keeping phosphates low plays a big roll in coralline propagation. The lighting, I really can't say for sure but again there seem to be claims that less intense lighting seem to spur the initial growth.

 

[gcgrad]

Quote:
Originally Posted by florida joe http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366384
You can try a product like Purple up; there are hobbyists that swear by it. Also remember to get the colors green, pink, white, purple, and red you will need rock with that color coralline on it and scrape the spores IMO
Never heard of it. I'll look into it.
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366387
Figi rock is probably your best bet for getting purple coralline. Different colors are found in specific regions around the world. Purple up is really nothing more than calcium , strontium and magnesium. It doesn't have any actual coralline spores in it. And you can get those suppliments anywhere. Maintaining those levels is key an any reef system though. Also, some seem to think that keeping phosphates low plays a big roll in coralline propagation. The lighting, I really can't say for sure but again there seem to be claims that less intense lighting seem to spur the initial growth.
I called a LFS and they said they have rock covered in it. Didn't ask what kind of rock, but they said $6/lb. Little pricey but I wouldn't be buying very much. As far as lighting, some notice that the purple coralline flourishes in areas of less intense light. I only ask because the setup I purchased came with 2 36" Fluorescent Twin Bulb Reflector fixtures (120 volt, 63 watts each), bulbs are Aqua Glo T8. Lighting will definitely be upgraded at some point. But if the purple coralline algae needed more intense light to grow then I would be afraid that this lighting wouldn't be enough. I think it's more for freshwater and plant aquariums.

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gcgrad http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366389
Never heard of it. I'll look into it.
I called a LFS and they said they have rock covered in it. Didn't ask what kind of rock, but they said $6/lb. Little pricey but I wouldn't be buying very much. As far as lighting, some notice that the purple coralline flourishes in areas of less intense light. I only ask because the setup I purchased came with 2 36" Fluorescent Twin Bulb Reflector fixtures (120 volt, 63 watts each), bulbs are Aqua Glo T8. Lighting will definitely be upgraded at some point. But if the purple coralline algae needed more intense light to grow then I would be afraid that this lighting wouldn't be enough. I think it's more for freshwater and plant aquariums.
The lights are fine for fish only tanks but they are not intense enough to penetrate deep enough to keep most species of corals. There's not a very wide range of color temperatures available in T8's. I honestly have no idea if they will help you as for as coraline growth. But I've seen it flourishing in tanks with just T5 and tanks with just Halide lighting, as well as a combination of those two. It seems to be more about your calcuim, magnesium and alkalinity levels than anything if you ask me. I've read on a couple of articles which state that once those levels begin to fall in line is when you'll see it begin to take off. If you wish to turn this tank into a reef than you will need to upgrade your lighting at some point for sure.
As long as you get rock that already has the color you are looking for then that is fine. I probably wouldn't worry too much about trying to propogate it untill after your initial nitrogen cycle.

 

[gcgrad]

Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366401
The lights are fine for fish only tanks but they are not intense enough to penetrate deep enough to keep most species of corals. There's not a very wide range of color temperatures available in T8's. I honestly have no idea if they will help you as for as coraline growth. But I've seen it flourishing in tanks with just T5 and tanks with just Halide lighting, as well as a combination of those two. It seems to be more about your calcuim, magnesium and alkalinity levels than anything if you ask me. I've read on a couple of articles which state that once those levels begin to fall in line is when you'll see it begin to take off. If you wish to turn this tank into a reef than you will need to upgrade your lighting at some point for sure.
As long as you get rock that already has the color you are looking for then that is fine. I probably wouldn't worry too much about trying to propogate it untill after your initial nitrogen cycle.
Cool. I definitely will upgrade the lighting. Probably use the current lighting for the cycle and maybe the first fish or two. Definitely will upgrade though, not sure what to but the lighting discussion will commence at a later date. I'm gonna focus on the other aspects of the setup. Shopping for lighting will be a payoff which I can hold out on for the time being.

 

[gcgrad]

While I've been waiting on the plumbing parts I did something miniscule to the build. Did some work on the bubble tower. Simply glued some egg crate to the bottom of the bubble tower opening to provide platform for the rock to sit on. Was going to paint the back of the tank this weekend but it has been windy and raining.

 

[gcgrad]

Ok guys. I am anxiously awaiting the rock and bulkheads to be delivered today. Once I get the bulkheads I plan on going to Lowes to get the fittings for them. So in the meantime I was thinking about the rock and aquascaping. I know it was mentioned to cut pvc and use the 90 degree elbows to set the rocks on. Anyone see a problem with setting the rocks on eggcrate instead? It just seems like this method would be much simpler. Any reason why I should shy away from using eggcrate? I see many people on other forums using it so I figured I would ask. Thanks!!

 

[2quills]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gcgrad http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3367339
Ok guys. I am anxiously awaiting the rock and bulkheads to be delivered today. Once I get the bulkheads I plan on going to Lowes to get the fittings for them. So in the meantime I was thinking about the rock and aquascaping. I know it was mentioned to cut pvc and use the 90 degree elbows to set the rocks on. Anyone see a problem with setting the rocks on eggcrate instead? It just seems like this method would be much simpler. Any reason why I should shy away from using eggcrate? I see many people on other forums using it so I figured I would ask. Thanks!!
Personally I wouldn't use it in the tank. I think some people believe that it helps disperse the weight of the rocks from creating pressure points on the glass. I've never had or personally seen rockwork create any issues with being placed directly on top of the glass. And if you think about it, the rock itself is less dense than water is, therefore a tank full of rock seems to me like it would weigh less than a tank full of just water IMO. Anyway, I wouldn't use it for the fact that it will restrict the micro organisms that live in the sand bed from being able to travel around like they should. I wouldn't...but that's me. We'll see what others have to say.

 

[florida joe]

Quote:
Originally Posted by gcgrad http:///forum/thread/383014/officially-joined-the-hobby-today/240#post_3366585
While I've been waiting on the plumbing parts I did something miniscule to the build. Did some work on the bubble tower. Simply glued some egg crate to the bottom of the bubble tower opening to provide platform for the rock to sit on. Was going to paint the back of the tank this weekend but it has been windy and raining.

Ok Dean I realize this is after the fact but please humor a simple old hobbyist. What I would have done is cut four small pieces of PVC pipe placed them in the corners then the egg create. Over the egg create I would put some vinyl screening. Then some fugi mud and then the rock. Now you have a nice little refuge with a PLENUM.
As Cory alluded to IMO the egg create is more likely to cause the sand to impact