Begow Posted August 5, 2015 Share Posted August 5, 2015 Love the stand idea man, I'm probably going to modify mine a little bit and then go from there. I plan on doing it this weekend. 1 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 5, 2015 Author Share Posted August 5, 2015 Thanks bud. Can't wait to see your modifications and the final product. Any ideas what you plan to tweak? Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 9, 2015 Author Share Posted August 9, 2015 Stand build put on hold for a few days, I completely forgot about my brother's move (I'm such a good older brother lol). So this weekend will now consist of a four hour road trip to Gainsville to take my little brother to the University of Florida where he'll be going for his PhD....good god time flies. Any who, stand building will resume wenesday lol Quote Link to comment
Bowen1022 Posted August 13, 2015 Share Posted August 13, 2015 how's that acro doing with the current? Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 14, 2015 Author Share Posted August 14, 2015 It's doing great I'm actually surprised how well it's doing for my first attempt at them. 1 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 18, 2015 Author Share Posted August 18, 2015 Okay so, stand building day came and went and I did indeed build the frame However, I made the fatal mistake of not properly pricing out what it would cost to finish the stand the fancy way I see it in my head. It wasn't until I attempted to buy the rest of the materials to doll her all up that I realized the true cost. That being said, it was a blast to build but I will not be using it as the aquarium stand. I'd just rather put the money into corals. I plan to run a larger system in the future when we buy a house, so I decided I'd rather go all out on a fancy stand build for the large, show tank I plan to run in the house when we get it. But don't fret, I made good use of the stand I built. Its now the home of my wife's leopard gecko =p That being said, I moved forward with the tank cleaning yesterday and officially moved my fish and corals to a temporary 20 gallon tank. With the equipment cleaned off, I filled the tank with RODI water and started the pump back up. I noticed when I made my water from my spectrapure system it was putting out some TDS so I went ahead and ordered replacement filters and RO membrane (it was due for a replacement anyway). Obviously I'd like to start off on a good footing, so I'll wait until my filters come in before I made the official saltwater for the tank. Assuming that'll take a standard week, I'll let the tank run with the RODI water in the hopes it'll help with the cleaning. Here's my sad, empty tank: On a side note for anyone who as the spin streams by Innovative Marine. I put them on to test them and one of them backs a ridiculously loud noise. Does anyone else have this issue? 1 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 25, 2015 Author Share Posted August 25, 2015 Filters come tomorrow! I can't wait to fill this darn tank already. That is all lol 2 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted August 31, 2015 Author Share Posted August 31, 2015 Tank is wet! So I replaced all four stages of my RODI system (which, aside from the RO membrane, were all over due), and made up twenty-five gallons of RODI. I then washed all thirty pounds of my Fiji Pink sand, which took for-freaking-ever. I rinsed the sand out for a few hours until it ran clean and at least didn't muddy too badly when stirred. The sand could have been rinsed further but I didn't feel it was worth the extra time given its current state. I then drained out as much tap water from the sand as possible, and gave the sand a good RODI bath- draining it once the RODI bath was complete. Because I already had RODI water running in the tank ever since I emptied it, I subsequently poured my sand into the display portion of the tank. I drained out just enough water prior to pouring in the sand so that the 'cloudy' water would remain in the display section. I then drained the whole tank, leaving the sand. I did this just as an extra 'bath' for the sand. I then added my dry rocks to the display section, arranging it how I had it mocked up outside the tank. I then carefully added my saltwater to the tank. I made use of a ziplock bag laid down on over the sand. This helped keep the sand from clouding the water, and the ziplock bag floated up with the rise in water. Pretty simple solution for keeping the sand from turning the water murky Once the tank was brought to temperature and salinity, I then added Dr. Tim's one and only, and his ammonia source! I will say that his ammonia product says that one drop per gallon equals 2ppm ammonia, but I did not find that to be the case in my application. I had to dose two drops per gallon just to see 1.2 ppm. I'm currently letting the last 'dose' of ammonia settle before I test again as my goal is to bring it to 2 ppm. I'll post a picture as soon as the tank clears up (the Dr. Tims made it loudly ). The thirty pounds of sand gave me almost two inches of sand bed, much more than my previous one inch, and I like it. I also measured how much water I added when I filled the tank up completely and I have an actual number instead of my usually guess work- 18.5 gallons of water. I was really surprised by this but my measuring doesn't lie lol. Any who, I'm ready to get this tank going! Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 2, 2015 Author Share Posted September 2, 2015 So here's a picture with my iPhone with the pump turned off. I'm really excited to get the cycle over with so I can reintroduce my fish and get some coral in here. I completely forgot what it was like having to cycle tank. I checked the ammonia again today (because I'm antsy) and I'm not sure of my reading. I'm partially colorblind and shades of green give me an issue, so ammonia test kits are a pain. Personally I think my ammonia has gone down a peg, but I don't trust my eyes. So I'll just have to wait until the wife gets home and have her take a look. Quote Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted September 3, 2015 Share Posted September 3, 2015 So here's a picture with my iPhone with the pump turned off. I'm really excited to get the cycle over with so I can reintroduce my fish and get some coral in here. I completely forgot what it was like having to cycle tank. I checked the ammonia again today (because I'm antsy) and I'm not sure of my reading. I'm partially colorblind and shades of green give me an issue, so ammonia test kits are a pain. Personally I think my ammonia has gone down a peg, but I don't trust my eyes. So I'll just have to wait until the wife gets home and have her take a look. Looking good! Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Looking good! Thanks! Quote Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Thanks! Do you still have that Royal Gramma? Before I had to give it away, I had the biggest RG that I have ever seen(he was at least 4 inches) and 6 yrs old. Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 Do you still have that Royal Gramma? Before I had to give it away, I had the biggest RG that I have ever seen(he was at least 4 inches) and 6 yrs old. Yeah I still have the RG He's sitting in the temporary tank with the other fish until the main tank has cycled. And wow, 4 inches? Quote Link to comment
reefernanoman Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 Yeah I still have the RG He's sitting in the temporary tank with the other fish until the main tank has cycled. And wow, 4 inches? I think that it was even bigger than that! The poor guy was getting his ass kicked by my huge Female Maroon CF (who is also 4+ inches). It went into my buddies 90G, then he gave it to another reefer with like a 190G tank. The first time I saw this guy swim upside down, I thought he was dying, and later found out that this is normal behavior. Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 4, 2015 Author Share Posted September 4, 2015 I think that it was even bigger than that! The poor guy was getting his ass kicked by my huge Female Maroon CF (who is also 4+ inches). It went into my buddies 90G, then he gave it to another reefer with like a 190G tank. The first time I saw this guy swim upside down, I thought he was dying, and later found out that this is normal behavior. Oh I heard those clowns can be mean. Any pics of your RG? I had no idea they did that lol. Mine has never swam upside down that I've seen. He usually keeps to himself under my live rock unless it's feeding time. I wish he was more active because I love the look of them. Quote Link to comment
BayStYat Posted September 4, 2015 Share Posted September 4, 2015 love your tank man. We are kinda building the same thing. I am following closely. Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 love your tank man. We are kinda building the same thing. I am following closely. Thanks man, same here. And yeah, very similar paths Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 7, 2015 Author Share Posted September 7, 2015 So I've been gone for about five days on a trip to Atlanta for Dragon Con Just got back home now and checked the tank's progress and we have Nitrites and Nitrates!!!! Woot! So my readings are the following: Ammonia: 0ppm Nitrite: 5ppm Nitrate: 10ppm I added a little more ammonia and can't wait for the tank to be ready. Hopefully we can get a cycle soon and then safely bring my fishies back 1 Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 13, 2015 Author Share Posted September 13, 2015 Tank is easily consuming the small amounts of ammonia I keep adding, while the nitrites are still registering. Hopefully I'll test and get zeros soon! Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted September 22, 2015 Author Share Posted September 22, 2015 So the tank has been cycling for three weeks now. I knew it was going to take a little longer because the only 'seeding' I'm doing was Dr. Tims, but I still have no change in my readings. My tank is easily consuming 1ppm of ammonia within one day, but the Nitrites are still super high and my nitrates are the same from two weeks ago. I'm wondering if The Nitrites are too high and stunting the bacteria growth. I've been debating on if I should do a water change to bring the Nitrites down to around 1ppm. Any thoughts? Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 It took forever but the tank is finally cycled! Sadly my royal gramma and banggai cardinal did not make it in the other tank So I moved over the surviving six-line and the pajama cardinal into the main tank along with my kryptonite candycanes and green acro corals. I also picked up two astraea snails and two nassarius snails. I only picked up two because I only have very small amounts of algae on the back wall for the astraea at the moment. A proper cleanup crew will be purchased from john soon. I'm not entirely sure what fish I want to add to the tank. Although I loved the royal gramma, they always stay by the rocks hiding. I really want something like my sixline, always swimming around. Any suggestions? And as far as corals now I just need to keep an eye out for sales and such. I would like to put some easy SPS back in the tank, along with LPS. I just can't wait to get the tank filled over time again 1 Quote Link to comment
ninjamyst Posted October 20, 2015 Share Posted October 20, 2015 My royal gamma died when I moved my tank. It was in shock or something after the move. Then it never came out. I suspect it's dead...rotting somewhere in the tank causing my algae bloom...blah. It always hid too. For swimming fish, damsels / clowns are always out and about. Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 My royal gamma died when I moved my tank. It was in shock or something after the move. Then it never came out. I suspect it's dead...rotting somewhere in the tank causing my algae bloom...blah. It always hid too. For swimming fish, damsels / clowns are always out and about. Yeah the gamma acted exactly like that when I first moved him to the holding tank and even though I tried to help him along I suspect the same happened. No idea what happened to my banggai. And yeah, I wish they wouldn't hide and come out lol, beautiful fish. I've been thinking of a yellowtail damsel actually. And I agree, a clown would be an obvious choice but I'm concerned about it hosting any lps I plan to get. I've seen a ton of tanks where they host frogspawns and such, killing the coral. Quote Link to comment
Admonition Posted October 20, 2015 Author Share Posted October 20, 2015 Cell phone picture for now. I have my corals acclimating on the left in my new frag tree 1 Quote Link to comment
JabaReef Posted October 21, 2015 Share Posted October 21, 2015 Nice tank! How are you liking the fusion? I've for sure enjoyed mine for the time I've had it. Quote Link to comment
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