Ranjib Posted January 16, 2018 10 hours ago, Gaviota said: Hi everyone. Started setting up my coral only fluval spec 3 as a pico this week. Ive had it in my garage for a couple years as it was my daughter's beta tank but the fish went with a move and i never set it up. I started to read about  saltwater tanks and saw this whole world of picos and became enamored with the idea! Never done saltwater but did manage to maintain a nice 90 gallon mangrove biotope brackish tank of archer fish for about 5 years.  im thinking im in for an adventure. Heres where im at with it.  I bought arag alive bahama oolite (on accident grabbed the wrong bag, was wanting special grade, but oh well). I have about an inch and a half to 2 inches of substrate. Concerned i have too much... i saw a thread on here with a fellow that has a beautiful pico running for 5 years and eventually ditched substrate alltogether... do you think this is ok as an initial substrate set up? Should i remove some now or do so gradually over the course as it becomes more stocked?  Filled with petcos Imagitarium Sea Water (no lfs around me other than this). I cant mix my own now as i have horrible well water and no RO. Plan on getiing a filter later so can at least drink our water too!  I have a tiny heater that is auto set to 78 degrees: Aqueon preset heater 50w I put this in the chamber with the pump making sure no electrical wire was resting on it which wasnt as easy as it sounds.  A digital temp monitor: imagitarium  Running stock pump and filter with carbon removed. Plan to upgrade to the 404 i see eveyone seems to be using later.  I also picked up the API 5 in 1 test dip sticks.. ph, no2, no3, kh, gh and then realized they dont test for amonia until i got home, so i plan on taking them back if theyll take um. Ill keep them if i need them... suggestions?  Been running tank with light off for 4 days now. Figured id check to see if the thermometer and digital temp are reliable and doing what they should before i start buying anything else... so far so good. Been holding at 77.8 - 78.4 the whole time.  Sooo... On order is 4 lbs of Reef Saver Live Dry Rock, Penso and Co , Salinity Refractometer for Aquarium, Fish Tank Seawater ATC Hydrometer Dual Scale (1.0 to 1.070 S.G.) , the API Master Saltwater Test Kit and ARC Reef Coraline Algae + Nitrafying Bacteria in a Bottle.  Plan on adding the Coral Compulsion Par 30 LED about a month from now once my dry live rock has cured (seller BRS suggested leaving lights off for 30 days so i dont see the point in buying a new light today).  Do not plan on doing any water changes through the cycling of the tank which im planning will take at least 30 days from when i add the rock. Sound good?  In place of an auto topper i drew a fine line on the side of tank with a sharpie where water line is and top of with distilled. It seems to be about 1 or 2 ounces per day which i know cause i use a baby bottle to measure.  I used two of the dipsticks... shhh i dont think petco will notice...  1-12-2018: gh > deep purple 180, KH: 240, Ph: 7.5-8, NO2 and NO3 0  1-15-2018: GH > 180, KH: 120, Aall others the same  Where'd the KH go and why?  Here's my other main questions: is it pointless to use the ARC Coraline if im not running lights? should i just run the stock 7500k light? Is this light of any use to a coral tank? Do i need silicone to expoxy the rock or can i just stack it? Rock supplier says this rock interlocks tightly.  So thats where im at. Would love any suggestions or input from anyone!  Picture are pretty uneventful at this point. Will update when i aquascape. Is it normal to have all this salty foam at the top?    You should start a separate build thread for this. I have minimal coarse grained sand in my fluval spec 3. I would recommend removing substrate , it’s hard to clean . The stock light is useless. You don’t have to fix the rock, it should stack up just fine. Get something like ro buddie and a bucket of salt (instant ocean or anything reputable ) , that’s first and probably most important thing now. Get a separate heater and pump to mix and heat the new salt water mix as well Quote Share this post Link to post
Gaviota Posted January 16, 2018 Ok. Sorry. Trying to figurr out the forum. Deleting. Quote Share this post Link to post
Ranjib Posted January 16, 2018 6 minutes ago, Gaviota said: Ok. Sorry. Trying to figurr out the forum. Deleting. Oh no, I don’t mean to discourage. This is just fine. The forum exist to help each other. Having a dedicated thread for your build just helps keeping things relevant to your tank in one place. No need to delete 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Gaviota Posted January 16, 2018 Yes thank you. Switched it over to a new thread. Thank you! No problem! 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Clown79 Posted January 15 Anyone run an ai prime or equivalent on their spec? Quote Share this post Link to post
Ckane2 Posted January 15 5 hours ago, Clown79 said: Anyone run an ai prime or equivalent on their spec? I have a prime I’m not using right now that I’m considering putting on my mine so I second this question Quote Share this post Link to post
ronix Posted February 5 Hey guys. Just picked up a fluval to start my reef but I’m having heating issues. I put a 50 watt heater in the back compartment with the pump, but the water does not seem to circulate out of there. So the water is heated in there but in the display it is much cooler. Where do you guys put your heater to avoid this issue Quote Share this post Link to post
Clown79 Posted February 5 On 1/15/2019 at 8:12 AM, Ckane2 said: I have a prime I’m not using right now that I’m considering putting on my mine so I second this question Definitely run it lower than you would normally. I tried 2 brains at 70% Quote Share this post Link to post
Clown79 Posted February 5 1 hour ago, ronix said: Hey guys. Just picked up a fluval to start my reef but I’m having heating issues. I put a 50 watt heater in the back compartment with the pump, but the water does not seem to circulate out of there. So the water is heated in there but in the display it is much cooler. Where do you guys put your heater to avoid this issue My heater is in the chamber where the water goes in next to my media basket. Temp in tank is 79/80, same as back chambers 1 Quote Share this post Link to post
Ckane2 Posted February 5 1 hour ago, ronix said: Hey guys. Just picked up a fluval to start my reef but I’m having heating issues. I put a 50 watt heater in the back compartment with the pump, but the water does not seem to circulate out of there. So the water is heated in there but in the display it is much cooler. Where do you guys put your heater to avoid this issue I had the same problem, I left it in that chamber and to fix the problem I poked a few pin holes in the return pump tubing, that way water in that chamber circulates and the display is heated. I used a thumb tac and it made holes so small it doesn’t effect return flow much at all, but gives circulates in that chamber. That’ll also save space for your filter media Quote Share this post Link to post
ronix Posted February 6 Thanks for the ideas guys. Got my rock and sand in. What do you think? Quote Share this post Link to post
Clown79 Posted February 6 The heater in either chamber should be the same as the display as its circulating from the back chamber into the display. 2 factors could be an issue: the original pump is not strong enough or the heater isn't strong enough. Running heaters in the return chamber is only same if it's not touching the return hose and you have an ato. Quote Share this post Link to post
ronix Posted February 9 What does everyone have for a clean up crew in these tanks? I was thinking of just having 3 snails and call it good. Quote Share this post Link to post
Ckane2 Posted February 10 21 hours ago, ronix said: What does everyone have for a clean up crew in these tanks? I was thinking of just having 3 snails and call it good. I have 3 snails and 4 hermits Quote Share this post Link to post
