impulse buy

[hey]

Your city's water treatment department should have a website or something like that. Or you can call whoever's on your water bill and inquire about it. :]

excellent suggestion forgot I did that myself a while back to make sure I wasn't in a chloramine area.

[mountaineer]

Your city's water treatment department should have a website or something like that. Or you can call whoever's on your water bill and inquire about it. :]

Thank you!

[enderturtle]

Nice find!!! I like the cube look of the tank. Looks nice and flush. I would ditch the canister filter. You only need liverock for filtration. The canister will collect detritus and be a pain to clean. Instead replace witb live rock and a pump or powerhead. The canister filter you could probably sell on craigslist. Cant wait to see it stocked!

[mountaineer]

Nice find!!! I like the cube look of the tank. Looks nice and flush. I would ditch the canister filter. You only need liverock for filtration. The canister will collect detritus and be a pain to clean. Instead replace witb live rock and a pump or powerhead. The canister filter you could probably sell on craigslist. Cant wait to see it stocked!

Yeah, I'm gonna nix the canister. I might sell it or keep it for something else. Do you think I could use it to mix up batches of saltwater? I guess most people use a spare powerhead, but I don't have any extra gear around.

[Mariaface]

I wouldn't just get rid of the canister filter if you're planning on having anything over really sparse stocking levels; there's more to filter out than just ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, which is what the live rock and circulation is for. Maybe a HOB or sump?

 

A cheap koralia or something should do for mixing water inside a paint mixing bucket, and a spare heater's also a good thing to have around. In fact, equipment for a quarantine/hospital tank in general is good to keep around, and you can sanitize them before/after hospital use. Unless the equipment's porous and you're playing with copper, don't switch that around.

[mountaineer]

I wouldn't just get rid of the canister filter if you're planning on having anything over really sparse stocking levels; there's more to filter out than just ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate, which is what the live rock and circulation is for. Maybe a HOB or sump?

 

A cheap koralia or something should do for mixing water inside a paint mixing bucket, and a spare heater's also a good thing to have around. In fact, equipment for a quarantine/hospital tank in general is good to keep around, and you can sanitize them before/after hospital use. Unless the equipment's porous and you're playing with copper, don't switch that around.

Thanks. In lieu of the canister, I plan to get a HOB for sake of ease, space, & budget. People seem to like the Aquaclear 70.

 

Planning to set up a 10 gallon quarantine tank in my studio. Okay, maybe a dumb question -- If I'm setting up a "permanent" quarantine/hospital tank, do I need to cycle the tank just as I would a reef aquarium?

[Mariaface]

If it's a permanent fixture, it'll cycle on its own over time. If you use antibacterial medications that affect your biological filtration, that'll wipe out nitrifying bacteria and the cycle will start over. Cycling will be a little different, because instead of live rock and sand (which will soak up copper and then release it over time), you'll be using something like filter floss to hold bacteria. Keep multiple pieces so that when you replace one due to detritus buildup, you're not also wiping out your bacterial population.

 

If you want to use it before it's done cycling, treat the quarantine period as a soft cycle (during which you might also have to wipe out your bacterial population). Use something like Prime to bind ammonia, and a bacterial supplement to add after each WC at least. Or run carbon or Purigen to adsorb ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before their levels get too bad. That'll postpone the need to cycle until you can get the fish out of the tank, but you need to keep an eye on the parameters so you don't allow the media to exhaust itself.

[mountaineer]

If it's a permanent fixture, it'll cycle on its own over time. If you use antibacterial medications that affect your biological filtration, that'll wipe out nitrifying bacteria and the cycle will start over. Cycling will be a little different, because instead of live rock and sand (which will soak up copper and then release it over time), you'll be using something like filter floss to hold bacteria. Keep multiple pieces so that when you replace one due to detritus buildup, you're not also wiping out your bacterial population.

 

If you want to use it before it's done cycling, treat the quarantine period as a soft cycle (during which you might also have to wipe out your bacterial population). Use something like Prime to bind ammonia, and a bacterial supplement to add after each WC at least. Or run carbon or Purigen to adsorb ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate before their levels get too bad. That'll postpone the need to cycle until you can get the fish out of the tank, but you need to keep an eye on the parameters so you don't allow the media to exhaust itself.

This is awesome. Thank you for taking the time to respond in such detail.

[Mariaface]

No problem! I'm sure you can find lots of people's quarantine/hospital tank methods and get even more details! :]

[mountaineer]

All right! About to take the plunge. We couldn't wait till January, lol. Tank is set up, aquascape complete (30 lbs of Reefcleaners dead-rock), and a new Reefbreeders SuperLux LED on top (thanks for the sale, guys). Have a few pieces of miscellaneous gear coming in the mail. Going to the big city Saturday to get RODI water, live sand, and a few pounds of live rock to seed the system. Wish me luck!

[Sk8n Reefer]

All right! About to take the plunge. We couldn't wait till January, lol. Tank is set up, aquascape complete (30 lbs of Reefcleaners dead-rock), and a new Reefbreeders SuperLux LED on top (thanks for the sale, guys). Have a few pieces of miscellaneous gear coming in the mail. Going to the big city Saturday to get RODI water, live sand, and a few pounds of live rock to seed the system. Wish me luck!

That's awesome! Your on your way! I am excited for ya. Get as much water as you can and don't turn it all into salt water- save some RODI to top off for evaporation!

[mountaineer]

Been a long fun day....hit the road to north shore Boston at 8 am for the not-so-local LFS, finally setting up the tank now. Last batch of saltwater mixing. The tank is an oatmeal-colored cloud. No turning back now. Saw some incredible corals today.

[TigerLily]

Been a long fun day....hit the road to north shore Boston at 8 am for the not-so-local LFS, finally setting up the tank now. Last batch of saltwater mixing. The tank is an oatmeal-colored cloud. No turning back now. Saw some incredible corals today.

 

Exciting! Be sure to take some pics when it clears. Can't wait to see your rock scape!

[mountaineer]

Damn the iPhone...ain't much but here's what I got.

 

Its cloudy birth.

 

LEDs at 30%. Looks like a pile of rocks from this angle, but there are lots of arches & caves in there. You can't tell from the picture, but the front-left pillar is separate from the mass, so I can maroon things like pulsing xenia & GSP there without having them overtake the rest.

 

 

Side.

 

Blue lights at 10%.

 

 

I overestimated the amount of space I'd have left for a DIY fuge (HOB style) down the line. That Aquaclear 70 takes up a lot of space. Maybe I'll try an in-tank option -- really I just want it for copepods, not so much filtration.

[hey]

awesome start, theres tons of space in the rock for pods to live if you seed them into the tank, and even with a fuge it may not have been enough to support a pod eating fish. It is easier to just have a pod culture tank running somewhere out of sight and feed them as needed.

[Mariaface]

awesome start, theres tons of space in the rock for pods to live if you seed them into the tank, and even with a fuge it may not have been enough to support a pod eating fish. It is easier to just have a pod culture tank running somewhere out of sight and feed them as needed.

 

And apparently it's surprisingly easy to neglect a 10g tank and let it get overrun with pods.

[TigerLily]

Very nice! I love your rockscape!

[mountaineer]

Very nice! I love your rockscape!

Thanks! I agonized and tore it down several times over, lol. I had some acrylic rods and a masonry bit, but the rock was porous and I didn't end up needing them, just some Waterweld.

[mountaineer]

Update. Started the tank on 9/28, mostly dead rock, a little live rock, and live sand. Added some frozen food a friend gave me to start the cycle. Not much happened for awhile. Ammonia held at 0.25-0.5 ppm for a couple weeks. Had quite an outbreak of diatom algae. A friend recommended I cut the lights, so I did and eventually the diatom bloom ran its course. I kicked up the temp to 85, in order to encourage bacteria growth, but ammonia was steady and no nitrites or nitrates were measurable...

 

On 10/10, I figured what the hell, nothing was happening, so I bought a bottle of Bio-Spira. Figured at worst I'd be out $10. I dumped it in, not expecting much. To my surprise, later that night I registered a spike in nitrites and nitrates, and the ammonia began to drop. By 10/13, I was at 0 for ammonia and nitrite and registered nitrate between 20-40 ppm (damn this API test kit). I did a big water change to get nitrates down, and then started running carbon in my HOB.

 

Ammonia and nitrites have been steady at zero, and nitrates are low. I have a CUC on the way from Reef Cleaners -- GHA is starting to come on strong. All seems well...

 

Thanks for the help and advice, everybody! Hope to add first fish in a couple weeks.

[hey]

I started my first tank with biospira, worked the same way you experienced. The tank I have now I started with microbe lift special blend and had similar results. I am really liking the bacteria starter products offered now.