danskim Posted October 1, 2006 Share Posted October 1, 2006 Try a filter sock on the drain or use a smaller return pump while reducing drain flow. Link to comment
nekomi Posted October 11, 2006 Author Share Posted October 11, 2006 Thanks for the suggestion, danskim! I have decided to temporarily postpone working on the microbubble issue - it was driving me nuts, and I have decided to just go ahead with the setup for now. In other words... that means... The system is now GO! I filled the tank with SW over the last few days, and added the chaeto I bought at the swap to the refugium. There is a huge sandstorm kicked up right now and the tank is pretty cloudy, but I stuffed the drain chamber and baffles in my sump full of filter floss to help clear it up. Im also running a HOT Magnum canister to help as well. All in all, the tank is now clearing up pretty quick. And the best news of all - when I was adding the chaeto to the fuge, I found lots of life living in the old chaeto bucket! The highlights were a small brittle star and what appears to be a tiny shrimp of some kind (may actually be a copepod?). They all went in the fuge along with the chaeto, of course. Today, I will be picking up about 10 - 20 lbs of live sand to seed my sandbed, and help clear up the sandstorm further. Live rock will be added by Friday, and I cant wait!! The cycle has started. Link to comment
cmador Posted October 11, 2006 Share Posted October 11, 2006 Tagging along. Good Luck. Link to comment
nekomi Posted October 25, 2006 Author Share Posted October 25, 2006 Updates have been lacking lately, but it's certainly not for lack of things happening! I've been quite busy! I ended up adding the LR and LS on Oct 11. First detectable ammonia was on the 13th, and my system just finished cycling yesterday (WOOHOO)! Params are currently zero ammonia, zero nitrite, zero nitrate. I added the beginnings of a cleanup crew today, starting with 6 cerith snails, 6 nassarius snails, and 6 dwarf blue-leg hermits. Hoping to still add a couple more snail species, see which ones I like best, then add more of those. I'm considering astrea snails in particular, but does anyone here have a preference they'd like me to consider? Picking out live rock was an absolute blast. I bought my rock from Phishy Business (I live in OH, so it's local) and couldn't be happier with it. I ended up with 36 lbs of cured Bali rock, and it's absolutely full of life! Between the LS, LR, and chaeto that I have running in the system, I've found the following hitchhikers: At least 4 brittle and serpent stars 12+ small featherdusters Tiny crab An unidentified white worm poking out of a rock Many, many tiny snails of all types Some macroalgaes Tons of purple coralline (There was also a brown mushroom on the rock, but it retracted while the rock was dry (10 min) and I couldn't find it when I put the rock in. Haven't seen it since, unfortunately!) And the better part: NO aiptasia! NO mantis shrimp! Seeing as the small featherdusters were doing so well (opened/extended fully, growing quickly), I added a large Hawaiian duster to the setup today along with my cleanup crew. It's absolutely beautiful. I'll probably start feeding it with phyto in a couple of days. Pictures will follow... gotta find the digicam cord... Oh, and in the meantime, I've also been working on my QT setups. I'm going to have two seperate QT tanks: one for fish, and one for coral/inverts. The coral QT will most likely double as a small prop tank. Both of the tanks are 20 gal "long" aquariums. I also have some small frags lined up for me as soon as the tank is ready. I'll be getting a few ricordia florida (bright green, blue, and orange), a frag of rainbow monti cap, and a neon green toadstool leather frag. Can't wait to get them in my hands and into QT. My first fish addition will be a purple firefish. I personally can't wait to get some of the more interesting/active fish into my system, but the less aggressive ones have to come first. Currently my proposed stocking list looks *something* like this: Purple firefish Occelaris clownfish pair Six-line wrasse OR yasha haze goby Coral beauty dwarf angel Between the LR, LS, protein skimmer, and fuge, I'm thinking this bioload should work out well. All in all, total volume of my system is roughly 50 gal, so I hope I'm not pushing it! Link to comment
nekomi Posted November 14, 2006 Author Share Posted November 14, 2006 This thread is far overdue for some pics! The system has been up and running now for exactly 1 month. Current livestock list: 6 cerith snails 6 nassarius snails 6 dwarf blue-leg hermits 3 astrea snails 2 scarlet reef hermits 1 skunk cleaner shrimp 1 Hawaiian feather duster Not to mention all the tiny colorful dusters that are popping up all over the LR, the various species of macro, the hundreds of amphipods and copepods, brittle stars, tiny snails, and the few Stomatella that hitchhiked in. I just have to give props to Serdar at http://www.phishybusiness.com for the amazing LR. It's just brimming with life of all kinds, has tons of coralline growth, and was reasonably priced. Not to mention that the staff at Phishy are amazingly helpful and good-natured folks. Anyway, on to the pics! Link to comment
nekomi Posted November 22, 2006 Author Share Posted November 22, 2006 Time for another update... On Friday, I added my first two coral frags to the tank - a beautiful rainbow ric (blue edges, hot pink in the center, with a lime green mouth), and two purple mushroom polyps. All the frags are smaller than the size of my pinky fingernail, but the price was right. Two days later, my mushrooms disappeared, even though they had seemed content. At first I figured they had just decided to relocate, but no matter how hard I've been scouring the tank, I can't find them anywhere. Yesterday, I discovered a small Xanthid-type crab, and I wonder if he could have eaten my shrooms? I caught the little guy tonight, and found out that he's an Atergatis floridus, commonly known as Brown Egg Crab or Coral Crab. I didn't have the heart to toss him, so he's currently living in my fuge. In other news, I'm starting a basement sump project. I just can't stand the 10gal sump under the stand anymore... it's highly inefficient and has lots of issues. By building a basement sump, I could reap the following benefits: -More water volume/more stable params -Larger refugium -Room for a larger ATO reservoir in the basement -Less microbubbles (a MAJOR problem in my current display with small sump) -Quieter living room -Easier water changes (my SW reservoir is also in the basement) -Cooler temps - might even be able to sell my chiller! (Kind of a shame since I just purchased it, but what can you do... ) -More space in the stand for fish food, test kits, etc. - less clutter -Less traumatic if there's a flood (basement cement vs. upstairs carpeting ) -More working space - currently only have about an 18" x 24" area in front of the stand! I'm considering a Little Giant 4-MDQX-SC as my sump return pump, since it looks like I may be able to snag one for free if everything works out. It's rated at around 1250 max gph and can take up to 17 feet of head loss. I'm building the sump directly underneath the tank, so there's no horizontal pipe to consider, so I'm figuring roughly 10 - 12 feet of head to return to the tank. This gives me about 600 - 700 gph of flow throughout the system. How large of a sump should I be considering? I want to use an aquarium, not a stock tank, so that I can view the fuge (I was thinking of having the sump and fuge as one tank, with baffles). Space is not an issue, but price is... if I can get a deal on a large-ish tank, that would work out well. My main concerns are the flow rate through the sump. I want a tank that's large enough to a) dissipate the microbubbles before they get back to the display, and allow for the fuge to be a compartment inside the sump instead of a seperate tank. ANY suggestions, advice, personal experiences, etc. would be greatly appreciated. I'm sure I'm overlooking a lot of things, so feel free to point out any errors in judgment. I'll try to get some good macro shots of the ricordia when I get a chance. It's difficult to photograph because it's so small, but it sure is a gorgeous little coral! I can't wait until it grows larger and starts forming a colony. Link to comment
nekomi Posted November 23, 2006 Author Share Posted November 23, 2006 Installed an ATO system today, since I'll be going out of town for Thanksgiving. I've actually owned the ATO since last year - but really procrastinated on getting it set up... Most of my procrastination was due to the fact that I didn't have any way of attaching the float switches to the sump. As they say, though: "Necessity is the mother of invention." An hour after freaking out (realizing my pump would run dry while I was gone), I had fashioned two perfectly functional brackets using scrap acrylic, a dremel, and a heat gun. I'll be posting a tutorial (with photos!) on how I created the acrylic brackets that hold the float switches - probably when I get home from my trip this Saturday! They were insanely easy and inexpensive to make, and I only wish I had done it sooner! Hope everyone has a fantastic Turkey Day! Link to comment
cosmic1981 Posted June 3, 2007 Share Posted June 3, 2007 WOW LOOKING GREAT! how have you been? I want to see more photo updates! Link to comment
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