AirportFF Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I'm sure that all this has been covered before. I've been reading the forums as time allows and to be honest I'm more confused now than before. There seems to be a lot of contradictory info. All the abbreviations are killing me... There is an obvious wealth of knowledge on here and I appreciate those that have gone before me. But I still have questions. I'm setting this tank up since my wife wants SW. I have only recently gotten back into FW and am still relearning all of that. I've see several mods for the tank. So here are some of my questions in no specific order 1) What is a fuge and why do people make lights for it? What is it for and what does it do? Is it the 2nd chamber? 2) Can I use the stock pump for now? Or would I be better off upgrading right off the bat? 3) Am I better off purchasing the water pre-mixed or mix my own using distilled water? (my well water is horrific) 4) If mixing my own, which brand salt is recommended? 5) I've read that people remove the false bottom in the first chamber. But they never really specify what for. 6) Can I use the stock lighting for now? I plan on upgrading as my budget allows. 7)How much SW ready water do you keep on hand for water changes, etc? Where do you keep it and how? Does it need to be heated? 8) What the heck is a "fish guard" for? 9) And for that matter. What the heck is Cheato? 10) When going through the first cycle what should be in each of the 3 compartments of the filter? I'm sure there's more that I can't think of right now. And I really apologize for the questions. But I want to make sure that I have everything in line BEFORE a drop of water gets in this tank. I don't want to get this thing running and then realize that I have to tear it apart to change/mod something that could have been done beforehand. Thanks Clint Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I can help out some. 1) Fuge is short for refugium. Its a place for safe keeping macro algea and pods. This area will be for taking out nitrates and phosphates out of your water. 2) I would upgrade this right away 3) Purchasing a RO/DI unit will be highly recommended. Never use tap or well water, to be safe. 4) Reef Crystals or Instant Oceans are both good. Most are made equally 5) They remove the false bottom to make room for a heater 6) Yep, go ahead with stock lighting as your budget allows get something better. IE LED from nanotuners. Just don't try to keep any corals you can support withe the stock lighting. Good starting corals like zoa's and mushrooms will be ok for the stock lights. 7) Keep around 10% or more ready for water changes. Really depends on how your system is running and how your parameters are doing. 8) Fish guard will take the worry of your fish jumping to the back chambers and possibly dying. 9) cheatomorphia (sp) is a type of macro algae that is fast growing. This is used to take nitrates and phosphates out of the water column. 10) I would not worry about running anything in the chambers until the cycle is done. Then adding in cheato, chemi-pure elite, and purigen are good choices to add in the middle with some filter floss. Of course more people will chime in but this will give you some starting points. Link to comment
LarryMoeCurly Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 3) Purchasing a RO/DI unit will be highly recommended. Only use tap or well water, to be safe. Why would he want to use tap or well water??? You should use distilled water if you don't have access to RO/DI. Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 my bad. I meant never use tap or well water to be safe. Edited first post to correct haha Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 So the lights behind the fuge are for the cheato? I appreciate the answers. It's making my head hurt less lol Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 So the lights behind the fuge are for the cheato? I appreciate the answers. It's making my head hurt less lol That is correct. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Would the Nanotuners 3.24 72w upgrade be good enough? I really can't justify the expense of the LEDs that they have. Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 Would the Nanotuners 3.24 72w upgrade be good enough? I really can't justify the expense of the LEDs that they have. I have seen journals with the added PC bulb do fine for leathers, softies and LPS. But I would stay away from the SPS corals with just the added one bulb. The LEDs would allow you to keep anything you wish. Its all in what you plan to keep in your tank. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 6, 2011 Author Share Posted March 6, 2011 So what heater would you guys recommend? Also, I purchased the live sand the other day. Does that need to get rinsed? I noticed that there is water in with it. Could it just be dumped in the tank as is? Does all the rock that I buy need to be "live"? If not what should I use as my base rock? I was looking at this for the fuge Media Basket Is it worth it? Or should I just make my own? I know that these are probably stupid questions. But I'm a tad obsessive about having everything ready before setting it up. I hate having "OH CRAP" moments Link to comment
Fluffeh Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I was looking at this for the fugeMedia Basket Is it worth it? Or should I just make my own? do not rinse the live sand. get that mediabasket! it's great! Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Thanks. Ordered it and the Maxi Jet 900. Also found a nice deal on the Hydor Nano. So those items are on the way. I wish there was a place nearby to go check out some rock. I'm off tomorrow and would like to get this set up and cycling. It wouldn't hurt anything to get the water mixed and circulating BEFORE adding the LR would it? Say 24 hours or so. Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Live rock has its benefits. But I would recommend you do all dry rock. Avoid the troubles of nuisance hitch hikers and the like. It will probably take your tank longer to cycle. But its worth it in the end imo. I am atm cycling a 46g bow front with a piece of table shrimp. One live rock from my pico and the rest dry rock. Will it take longer, yup. But I wont have any hitch hikers that are unwanted unless they come in on frags purchased later. bulk reef supply or macro rocks are highly recommended for their rock selections. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Well. The sand, rock an water is in and I have begun my cycle. I'll get some pictures when the dust settles. After the rock (17lbs) and sand (14 lbs) were added. It only took 11 gallons of water. Somehow I thought that there would be more displacement than that. Had a near disaster when mixing the water & salt. I'm using Red Sea salt and the ratio that's on the bag is 1.6 lbs of salt per 1 gallon of water. Pretty straightforward. I grab my handy dandy scale, zero it out. And the d@mn thing didn't work. I set a 1 gallon jug of water on it, since water weights about 8.5lbs per gallon. It was showing it as only 39OZ. Panic started to set in. How the heck was I going to mix this stuff. Then the light bulb went on and I called Red Sea. The lady that answered the phone said to start with 2 cup of salt per 5 gallons and it should put me in the ballpark. That's what I did and she was right. It's sitting right around 1.024. So I am officially off on this grand adventure. Whether it works or not, who knows? Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 8, 2011 Author Share Posted March 8, 2011 Well here it is Ph 8.0 Ammonia .25 Nitrite 1.0 Nitrate 5.0 Calcium >400ppm SG 1.021 Test temp 72.9 I think I might do something different with the rock. It looks pretty flat along the top Link to comment
ashlerbam Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 Looking good. Nice rocks, looks like you will have lots of prime space for corals. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 9, 2011 Author Share Posted March 9, 2011 So here's where it sits. The temp doesn't seem to get over 76 even though I have the thermostat on the heater set at 80. I stuck another thermometer in the tank just in case the first one was off. The heater I have is a Marineland Visitherm 50 watt. I didn't need to knock out the bottom of chamber 1 for it to fit in there. Could that be the problem? The water has cleared up nicely. I did move one of the rocks on top so it wasn't so flat along there. I'm looking at the Nanotuners 3.24 upgrade. The options listed are greek to me. What bulb type should I select and what is the difference in the moonlight types? I'm picking up timers for the lights in a day or so. But what cycles should I have each one on? I would have taken a picture. But there's really not much happening Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 11, 2011 Author Share Posted March 11, 2011 Well here I am at day 3 Water parameters are as follows Ph 7.8 Ammonia .25 Nitrites 1 Nitrates 10 Sg 1.023 The powerhead showed up today. I wish that I didn't have to put it so low in the water. But if it's any higher than where it is it pulls a whirlpool and starts to suck in air. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 12, 2011 Author Share Posted March 12, 2011 Diatom bloom has started. Water is getting a bit cloudy also. Ph 7.8 Ammonia .50 Nitrite 1.0 Nitrate 10 Calcium >400 Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 13, 2011 Author Share Posted March 13, 2011 I'm assuming that this is the beginning. Link to comment
pakarinen Posted March 13, 2011 Share Posted March 13, 2011 Is there a link to recommended upgrades / add-ons for BCs? I bought a BC14 yesterday and like OP, my head is spinning - "bioballs are bad! no, bioballs are good!", etc. I'd like to avoid having to buy LR at this point since it seems I'd have to buy it in 100 pound lots. I had two FO tanks, but that was years ago with dry rock, a Fluval canister, and a hood with plain-Jane bulbs in it, so I'm not a total newb. I'd like to try some inverts and softies this time around. Thanks and I don't mean to hijack this thread. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted March 14, 2011 Author Share Posted March 14, 2011 Is there a link to recommended upgrades / add-ons for BCs? BC14 Resource Guide Link to comment
AirportFF Posted November 22, 2011 Author Share Posted November 22, 2011 Updated tank pic Link to comment
phoenix91 Posted November 23, 2011 Share Posted November 23, 2011 Nice looking tank. Love the colours you've got going. I just bought a BC 14 at the weekend and can't wait to get it up and running. Link to comment
AirportFF Posted January 8, 2012 Author Share Posted January 8, 2012 Had to do some renovations the other day so figured I would post a couple new pics Link to comment
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