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Kijho's Fluval Spec V - Retired (almost)


Kijho

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Does anybody have any experience using the heater I have in my pictures?

I'm hestitant on using it because it specifically has a "water line."

 

The product is pretty misleading because its says right on the front "fully submersible."

My concern is having the heater fall into the tank to the bottom, thus well behind the "water line" potentially shock my fish?!!

 

I did a quick search and found this forum post elsewhere:

http://www.thereeftank.com/forums/f6/marina-submersible-heater-206862.html

See post # 5..

 

What are your thoughts on this?

 

Don't worry it is indeed fully submersiable. That water line is the "MINIMUM" water line meaning it has to at least be submerged to that line or more.

 

I hope that made sense!

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Yeah definitely minimum water level. I'll admit that my hydor heater is half dry frequently in this tank since I'm still not using an ATO and the rear chamber has such a small volume.

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Yeah definitely minimum water level. I'll admit that my hydor heater is half dry frequently in this tank since I'm still not using an ATO and the rear chamber has such a small volume.

 

Do it! I never understood the point of an ATO, I had been manually topping off my tanks for over 10 years until just recently I said why not, I have an Apex so I mind as well utilize it.... needless to say, life has never been the same :lol:

 

Best .... Thing.... Ever!

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Do it! I never understood the point of an ATO, I had been manually topping off my tanks for over 10 years until just recently I said why not, I have an Apex so I mind as well utilize it.... needless to say, life has never been the same :lol:

 

Best .... Thing.... Ever!

 

I've got osmolators on my big tanks, but keep a jug of RO water near my pico. So little room in the back, I'm not sure how I would fit a normal one now.

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So I picked up 6lbs of rock tonight! The LFS told me this is cured live rock. But then told me that this will begin my cycle..

It does look to have stuff all over it though... any ideas? Smells completely scentless (if not like just salt water.)

 

I also purchased some "Tank Buster" living bacteria. LFS told me this will combat the rising ammonia levels caused by introducing this rock. Once I see the spike, do water changes combined with the tank buster bacteria ~ should bring levels back down. Once that cycle is done I introduce a cleanup crew. LFS suggest 10 or so snails/crab/shrimp mix.

 

Here's some update pics!

1795417_10152318409425309_1409999986_o.j

 

10003595_10152318409155309_1863841616_o.

 

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Also put the heater in today. 2 big suction cups, I really hope they hold! As you can see, I have my cover slid over to fit the heater out the top. I'm going to dremel the cover to fit room for the heater!

135269_10152318409915309_1049790872_o.jp

 

Salinity dropped slightly: 1.022 - 1.023.

10015126_10152318410150309_2018643348_o.

 

Slow & steady progress!

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So I picked up 6lbs of rock tonight! The LFS told me this is cured live rock. But then told me that this will begin my cycle..

It does look to have stuff all over it though... any ideas? Smells completely scentless (if not like just salt water.)

 

I also purchased some "Tank Buster" living bacteria. LFS told me this will combat the rising ammonia levels caused by introducing this rock. Once I see the spike, do water changes combined with the tank buster bacteria ~ should bring levels back down. Once that cycle is done I introduce a cleanup crew. LFS suggest 10 or so snails/crab/shrimp mix.

 

Slow & steady progress!

Great start.

 

I do not agree with the water changes during the cycle. The whole point of the cycle is to develop nitrifying bacteria. If you remove the ammonia while doing it you just delay the process.

 

Just hold fast until ammonia and nitrite are gone, probably 5 - 30 days depending on how much dieoff and how much bacteria was already on the rock, and do a reasonable water change - 25 - 50% just for the post cycle change. After that you're good to go. No reason to complicate it or make it more expensive by changing water when it's happening.

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Great start.

 

I do not agree with the water changes during the cycle. The whole point of the cycle is to develop nitrifying bacteria. If you remove the ammonia while doing it you just delay the process.

 

Just hold fast until ammonia and nitrite are gone, probably 5 - 30 days depending on how much dieoff and how much bacteria was already on the rock, and do a reasonable water change - 25 - 50% just for the post cycle change. After that you're good to go. No reason to complicate it or make it more expensive by changing water when it's happening.

 

Morning Jestep,

 

Thanks for the feedback on this! So you're saying I should not do water changes yet, instead wait and monitor the spike in ammonia levels and let is run it's course until it lowers down. Still add the bacteria?

 

Should I hold off on cleanup then in this timeframe? (Crabs/ snails etc.)

Just did a bit of reading, hold off cleanup crew until after cycle completes! Got it.

 

I've noticed little bugs (only 2 or 3 I've seen) crawling around near the bottom of the rock/ sand!!

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Man rock set up looks awesome, great job with it!

 

I am slowly thinking about getting a Spec. Running through all my tank options in my head first.

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Thank you!

 

 

Alright guys - Day 4! I added the live rock yesterday as you know.

Woke up to the heater around 77F. It rose during the day about 1F, and may go down a bit overnight. Our house temp. fluctuates this way so I hope that's not too big a problem but I'm not sure. Will check it tomorrow.

 

Salinity still the same, 1.023.

 

I did my first test today, pretty simple and results came out clear (I think!) Here they are..

 

10014383_10152320422635309_1578809975_o.

 

What are your thoughts on these results after 1 day of live rock? The ammonia seems to be above 0ppm which I'm happy to see!

 

Here's a few pics. Seen a few crawly guys running around the rock last night. Haven't seen them yet today. Perhaps they escaped. (Oh hell I hope not lol)

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Thanks everyone,

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jtwisconsin

The easiest way to deal with the aptasia is to use some gel super glue, and glue the hole shut that it lives in. I have had a couple small ones in my Spec and I just remove the rock and take care of it outside the tank. You can also glue it shut with the rock still in the water as well.

 

Lots of Spec V owners over in the Pico section, and I learned a ton from reading those threads. Currently I am running two Mini-Jet 606 pumps in my tank with the mod to add a second return nozzle. Those pumps are rated at 153 gph each and provide lots of flow without having a powerhead in the main display.

 

I had a real problem with keeping a stable temp in my tank since it sits on my bar in my basement. It gets very chilly down there at night, and I had move my heater to the 1st sump section to keep the temp stable. One decision I made that I was very happy with is purchasing a Reefkeeper Lite to control my temp and run my two led light channels. They are only $120 and really helped stablize my temps throughout the day, plus saved me from having to buy timers to run the lights. Just throwing that out there as it might be something you want to consider as well. Personally I won't run another tank without a controller again.

 

Good luck and I will enjoy watching your progress!

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Thanks for the feedback jt,

 

I did a bit of research last night. I'm hopefully going to pickup some Aiptasia X tonight from LFS. Looking at my tank this morning, this sucker moved. He's in a different spot now, and gotten a bit bigger. He's going to get the fire of a thousand suns tonight....

 

There's a good 5 - 10 of these in there though, so I figure getting a syringe bottle and just hitting them all at once is a good idea.

 

Few questions:

- Would killing the aiptasia raise my ammonia? I believe I'm looking for this rise in ammonia to continue and then fall back down to complete the cycle.

- After some reading last night, it looks like these things "explode" after being injected. What do I do then? Leave the matter inside the tank?

 

Also, this is a very noob/ stupid question I know..

- Can these little bugs/ pests/ critters get out of the tank? I'm not really afraid but.. I'd hate to wake up one night and see a flying aiptasia or somethin hahahahaha

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Day # 5. Haven't checked levels today, but I killed off all of the aiptasia infestation I had going on. Hopefully got everything. Much easier than expected, took less than 10 mins to hit them all. May have gone a little over-kill though....

 

The biggest one - I presume this was the guy spreading his little aiptasia friends everywhere in my tank.

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The weapon of choice: Death my lethal injection. Any last words? ....

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Too late.....

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No more aiptasia! (for now..)

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But now I've got this mess... Hopefully clears soon.

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Tomorrow I will do another ammonia test and post up the results.

 

Any thoughts on my current tank temp. Fluctuating + / - 2 degrees around 74.5F.

 

Salinity 1.023.

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Super CatPig

Any thoughts on my current tank temp. Fluctuating + / - 2 degrees around 74.5F.

 

I try to keep mine around 78 degrees. Best way to deal with temp flux IMO is to purchase a controller. My tank used to go from 78 -83 now it stays at 78-79 since I hooked it up. You can hook your heater and a small clip fan up to them and set them to come on at certain temps. So It can help to keep your tank from overheating too. It will also control your lights so you have a set schedule. Most people that get them buy either get the reefkeeper or an Apex.

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1559442_10152323817385309_1383148971_o.j

 

Day # 6 - Here's a test. Nothing seems to have really changed.

 

Has my cycle even begun based on the two tests I did this week after putting the rock in?

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Your rock has gorgeous texture, and I really like your scape. Indeed, do check out the other Fluval Spec threads (link in my sig is my build thread) as well as the Fluval Spec Owners Thread.

 

Keep up on the aptasia...once you put coral in there is it going to be harder to pull stuff out to treat.

 

If you want to kick start your cycle, you need to put something into the tank. 2 ppm of ammonia (cleaners grade, no detergents) works wonders. You can also just huck some fish food or chopped up shrimp in there. This provides both a N source for the cycle and C source for the bacteria to grow on.

 

Good luck! Welcome to the Spec Club!

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I would say no. You MIGHT have had a tiny one, but realistically you really want a robust microbial community to deal with your future bio load.

 

If you dose your tank with 2ppm ammonia and it is completely converted to nitrate in 24 -48 hours, you should be foot to go.

 

After this, you should see some rusty algae on the rock and glass...this is when you can start adding snails and full cleanup crew.

 

HTH.

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Thanks for the great help Evanski! I will take your suggestion and look at finding some ammonia to dose the tank with to kick start the cycle into gear. Will monitor it to see if it changes in 48 hours, then possibly add some snails!!

 

Kinda bummed out today as I got home and did a slight water change. It was getting a little bit low so I took some out, and put some new SW in. Unfortunately in doing so I managed to knock one of my rocks, and it kind of stirred things up and now the tank looks slightly different :(

 

Water's cloudy..

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Couple pictures of some stuff growing on my rock. Looks pretty neat! The 2nd picture above, if you see the little red bit. It was very very small when I first got it. I hope this is a good thing, and not a pest haha.

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Increased my water temp. slightly. It's around 75-76 now.

 

Noticed this weird little worm this morning. He is literally INSIDE one of the holes of the rock. Only comes out at night, when I got up he was a good 1.5inch in length hanging out reaching for food. I don't know what he's eating though?? I have some green algae and stuff like that all over my rocks now. Wasn't there when I first got it so I'm happy! I think it's a good thing in terms of my cycle!

 

Going to add some ammonia tonight (either dose or get food/ shrimp) and see what it does... I'm thinking I might have the bacteria now in there.. will see if it eats up the ammonia or if I get a lasting spike.

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