Starting up my 125G

2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Looks good, just make sure them rocks are sturdy...some folks use epoxy puddy or drill holes and insert acrylic rods into the rockwork so they don't come tumbling down in the future. I had that happen in my freshwater tank once, my Cichlids love to move sand around and burrow under the rock work, it cause a collaps one day. So when we moved and a reset the tank up I put eggcrate on the bottom then stacked the rocks on that before I put in the sand. Now they can't dig under them.
 
S

smartorl

Guest
Has anyone else had issues with the black live sand coming with tons of garbage in it? Sticks, mulchy looking stuff, even plastic bits. I just put it in two tanks, two bags, two different stores and had the same experience.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Meowzer,
 
Your request looks MUCH better... and I have another cave! :) Thanks for looking at it! Is this what you meant? If not, I'll change it around a bit. Also this is looking from the top down in the far right corner where the rock build up was... I've moved it around now, but if I can find one big slab I can make that into a HUGE cave for the fish and (eventually) eel! :)
 
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/379766/starting-up-my-125g/60#post_3305275
Looks good, just make sure them rocks are sturdy...some folks use epoxy puddy or drill holes and insert acrylic rods into the rockwork so they don't come tumbling down in the future. I had that happen in my freshwater tank once, my Cichlids love to move sand around and burrow under the rock work, it cause a collaps one day. So when we moved and a reset the tank up I put eggcrate on the bottom then stacked the rocks on that before I put in the sand. Now they can't dig under them.
They are sturdy for the most part. I check every time I move a rock around and try and move them either side to side or front to back and they seem to be in there pretty solid.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
YUP....that was pretty close to what I was saying....

 
You have to lose your flash though....lol
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
I don't have any light in that corner of the house so if I took a picture without the flash it would be just a picture of black haha.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Any way... I'm thrilled that everyone likes it!

 
OH! The second most exciting news is for your Meowzer...
 
I didn't have any levels change in my QT... so I said screw it and bought a shrimp from the store... actually I bought three because they wouldn't let me buy just one :)... It's a BIIIIIIIG shrimp just hanging out in the bottom of my QT right now... will it make my tank smell?
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by Sparty059 http:///forum/thread/379766/starting-up-my-125g/60#post_3305302
Any way... I'm thrilled that everyone likes it!

 
OH! The second most exciting news is for your Meowzer...
 
I didn't have any levels change in my QT... so I said screw it and bought a shrimp from the store... actually I bought three because they wouldn't let me buy just one :)... It's a BIIIIIIIG shrimp just hanging out in the bottom of my QT right now... will it make my tank smell?
If your lucky it will start smelling like a bait bucket. Nah...one shrimp shouldn't be bad. When are you gonna stop by my build thread and tell me how great a job I'm doing?
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Quote:
Originally Posted by 2Quills http:///forum/thread/379766/starting-up-my-125g/60#post_3305305
If your lucky it will start smelling like a bait bucket. Nah...one shrimp shouldn't be bad. When are you gonna stop by my build thread and tell me how great a job I'm doing?
AHHH! I've been following it the whole time and watching the progess in awe. I check it out every day but I never bother to put any of my comments in there because it would only be "THAT'S AMAZING!" instead of any insight on how you can fix or make something work better :)... if you would like though, I can start adding daily comments of OOOO's and AHHHH's.

 
By the way, I forgot to tell you, last night when I saw that smiley of the faces drinking, I was laughing sooo hard. I guess you could say I was...

 
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
 
Quote:
Originally Posted by meowzer http:///forum/thread/379766/starting-up-my-125g/60#post_3305314
LOL....just remember when your levels rise you can take it out, and throw it away HAHA
Waste good food? PLEASE!
I paid a whole 50 cents for that ONE shrimp... I did however throw away the other two but that's just because they won't have had the salt water marination that this one will have to make it taste amazing!
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
So I'm still in the process of filling up my tank but it's about 3/4 of the way full. Do I also fill up the overflow to the top? I'm assuming so since the water will have to go down the pipe and into the sump and refuge. Lastly, do I want to put a bag of the live sand in the refuge (I have one left over and wouldn't mind putting it in there...), do I also want to put water in the sumps and refuge? If so, how much? I also didn't put any egg crates on the top of the refuge part... how would I do that? Just put silicone on the edges of that as well? There will be about 1 inch of egg crate on the top of the refuge.
 
meowzer

meowzer

Moderator
Once your water gets high enough, it will go thru the teeth of the overflow..filling it.....It will not start filling the sump until you start your siphon in the overflow tubes...at that time you will fill the sump, and when you have the water level where you want it, you start the return pump
 
You have to test your water levels in the sump so they will not over flow....Someone can explain this better then me
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Just keep filling the tank with water, Sparty. Eventually it will start going into your overflow like, Meowzer said. Once it fills up the overflow and starts going down the drain pipes it will begin to fill the sump. Once your fuge and skimmer chambers fill up it will spill into the return chamber...fill it up to about a few inches abover your return pump and then fire it up. Keep a close eye on your return section in the sump...the water will drop a little bit because there will always be water in transition inside of the return line and drain lines. Keep the water lever just above the return pump. Once it seems like everything is working good then turn the pump off and see how much water backflows into the sump. You may have to adjust the 2 black return pipes inside of your display tank keeping them fairly close to the surface as to not get too much backflow into your sump. Once you get everything leveled out the way you like it you should be able to add some more water into the return section. The trick is to finding the right balance of having as much water in your return section as you can without flooding the sump when you turn the pumps power off from the backflow. That's why you wanna keep your returns close to the waters surface inside of your tank. Hope this makes sense.
 
sparty059

sparty059

Active Member
Ok, I think I understand everything pretty well... I didn't get any answer to the question - do I want to add the sand in the refuge? If I do, then I want to do this before the water starts running around the DT/Sump/Refuge.
 
2quills

2quills

Well-Known Member
Yeah, most people put sand in their fuge...I'll probably do the same on mine. You can add it whenever you want but if you add it now then add some mixed water with it so that it doesn't dry out before that section starts to fill.
 
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