55 Patience is a Virtue Seawater Build

[Sniperhank]

Pool filter sand will work, as will agrigate based sands. You can see them easily at dr foster and smith's website. Thats where I got mine from.

 

[crobo]

pool sand has a lot of silicates( rincing cant get rid of everything, so youll be back to the large diatom bloom if you go that route. I just got a mix of really fine, crushed aragonite, and a bag of live sand mixed up, gives the sand a nice natural look IMO.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Thanks all. Crobo, I think that is the way that I am going to go. Live sand and crushed coral.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Bought 15 pounds of crushed coral, 40 pounds of live sand and 160 gallon /48 pounds of Instant Ocean. Petsmart had a sale and I had an additional 15% off coupon. Got it all for 80.00.

Will probably use the crushed coral to make more DIY Live rock. That will give me about 55 pounds of live rock when I am done.

SRC <><

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Changed out the water again, so it can all keep leaching. Put the pieces out on the lawn for you all to see. Filling my tote again. Waiting for the day to put it in my tank and start cycling. Daydreaming of shrimp, clownfish, crabs, soft corals and a blenny.

SRC

edited -- I have added filters to tote HOB to try to take out the fine particulates that could raise PH. Just want to remove them from the equation.

My plan for when I start the system on cycle is
1. add DIY live rock
2. add unrinsed live sand (I paid for them dirty bacteria)
3. Let the tank sit a day or two with saltwater
4. Start up canister with Bio floss and purigen.
5. When the water clears, add 2 mollies.
6. When cycle ends, add Clown fish and CUC. (Remove half the floss after cycle ends. Replace standard floss every three weeks)
7. Will add HOB Skimmer/UV sterilizer.
8. Lowlight soft corals at first and then other soft corals when I add LED lighting.

is the example of a reef without a sump that I am trying to follow. As I have a no drill tank, and told never to trust HOB overflow boxes. I trust my canister. It has served be beautifully for 8 months from new.

Your thoughts?

 

[Beengirl]

I think your DIY rock is pretty cool. I like the spires that you made on the one and the cave in the other.
A canister filter will be fine, just clean it well every week. I use one on my reef, and it's doing well, never had any cyano or algae outbreaks. But I clean it every week. If you get time, you can check out my tank that I use the canister on and see how it looks. The thread is called "update of Beengirl's 55g reef." It's under the Members saltwater tanks section.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

My first PH test from my live rock tub is 8.4-6. Obviously more waiting. Changing the water to help more to leach out.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Changed water in my DIY rock leaching tank. Ordered a 120 watt Taotronics LED system tonight.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

bought TaoTronics TT-AL02 Black Aquarium Coral Reef Tank LED Grow Light (120W Output, Blue/White Ratio- 30:25; Two-Year Warranty) from Amazon.

Running 8.4 PH in my leach out tote. Planning on adding some white vinegar to the tote to help force the PH down. Once I get it down .2 I plan to set up my display tank. Can hardly wait.

SRC <><

 

[TommyP]

bought TaoTronics TT-AL02 Black Aquarium Coral Reef Tank LED Grow Light (120W Output, Blue/White Ratio- 30:25; Two-Year Warranty) from Amazon.

Running 8.4 PH in my leach out tote. Planning on adding some white vinegar to the tote to help force the PH down. Once I get it down .2 I plan to set up my display tank. Can hardly wait.

SRC <><

Hi SRC,

Just read through your build and I love the rocks. It may not look as natural as some other tanks but it's definitely going to be unique. I love the way you made the rock in the starfish shape very good idea. I wanted to comment on the lights. I currently am running a 4 bulb T5 HO set up. It has 8 LEDS just for moonlight. I was thinking about upgrading to LEDs as well but was always recommended to buy the dimmable ones. This way you can accliamte corals and such. Also, with a 55g tank, I have one as well, you need 2 of those set ups. If I can get away with only buying 1 LED set up I would of done that already. If your tank is doing good and thriving with only 1 LED unit, im doing it lol. Just figured Id give you my input.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Hi SRC,

Just read through your build and I love the rocks. It may not look as natural as some other tanks but it's definitely going to be unique. I love the way you made the rock in the starfish shape very good idea. I wanted to comment on the lights. I currently am running a 4 bulb T5 HO set up. It has 8 LEDS just for moonlight. I was thinking about upgrading to LEDs as well but was always recommended to buy the dimmable ones. This way you can accliamte corals and such. Also, with a 55g tank, I have one as well, you need 2 of those set ups. If I can get away with only buying 1 LED set up I would of done that already. If your tank is doing good and thriving with only 1 LED unit, im doing it lol. Just figured Id give you my input.

My plan is to get a second LED at some point. I plan to start out with the first one dead center. Maybe bring in corals and them put them on the edges of the tanks and then move them in after a period of time to help with acclimating at first.

I am thinking on getting some coral and have it singly cover a starfish shape like all Xenia or something like that to make the organic shape look even more organic.

I will be learning as I go. Thanks for checking out my thread. People did seem happy with that LED light, even though it was not dimmable.

SRC <><

 

[TommyP]

Okay great. I just didnt want to hang them above the tank I was looking for something that had a bracket to mount it ontop of the tank, similar to the t5's. If yours works out with only 1, maybe I'll do the same thing... following anyway.

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Recharging my purigen and getting it ready to go. It is soaking in 2 cups of water and 4 tablespoons of Prime to dechlorinate it.. I was surprised that the bleaching that the bleaching left some of the purigen still red.

SRC <><

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

It is so cold in the garage during the winter. I was wondering if the cold was slowing the leaching process. Placed the rocks in the tank with freshwater, heater and HOB filter to try help move the process along. Looking forward to seeing it all alive with color and movement.

SRC

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Took the plunge. Salt and live sand added.

 

[TommyP]

Nice plunge lol

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Depending on clarity tomorrow I might add my first fish. My canister is probably cleaning this up nice while I am at work.

SRC

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Gone live. Canister filter cleaned it up beautifully while I was at work. Starting with 3 creamcicle mollies. 1 male and two female.

SRC

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

At what point can I add a clean up crew? Do I have to be done with the cycle first?

SRC <><

 

[San Raphael Catfish]

Added a Chromis. They didn't have any in the tanks at Petco. But they just got in a shipment, and I got it in a bag, out of the shipping box before it touched a Petco tank.

SRC