New 90g reef ready tank

[mrwizard]

Quick video for you guys! Got the tank filled, finally! Have everything running except the skimmer, gonna turn it on tomorrow when I have daylight just incase something goes wrong lol. Will also add salt tomorrow and when it's at the correct levels, start my cycle

so here's the video for anyone who's reading, I'm very happy with it all so far but don't hesitate to burst my bubble if you see something that can be improved.

 

[kdpuffer]

Tank looks awesome, I like the rockscape. I would consider adding a few pieces of that flat shale looking rock and putting ontop of the round rock on the left to tie it all in. The round smooth rock kinda sticks out beside the jagged mound. That's just my two cents but it boils down to "it's your tank, scape how YOU like it" I do wish I had all the fancy electronics like you have. Once my basement is reno'd and I get my 75g RR I'll get all the fancy toys.

 

[mrwizard]

Tank looks awesome, I like the rockscape. I would consider adding a few pieces of that flat shale looking rock and putting ontop of the round rock on the left to tie it all in. The round smooth rock kinda sticks out beside the jagged mound. That's just my two cents but it boils down to "it's your tank, scape how YOU like it" I do wish I had all the fancy electronics like you have. Once my basement is reno'd and I get my 75g RR I'll get all the fancy toys.

Thank you, and I see what your saying, sounds like a gd idea, I might see if I can make an arch so it's all joined together.
I'm going to the Lfs for live rock on the weekend so I'll see what shapes and sizes they have.
And the electronics, what can i say,
I'm a big kid, if it flashes or lights up, I want it, not good when you build gambling machines for a living tho haha.

 

[mrwizard]

Quick update for anyone who's following, added about 20lbs of live rock on Saturday also picked up some salifert test kits, just the basics for now ammonia, nitrite and nitrate I need to pick up a test kit for ph as well, anyway, a few hours later I added some pure ammonia to start the cycle, tested half hour later, ammonia was at 1.5.

Found my first hitchhiker on Saturday night, looks like a crab, I have a thread on here with pics, and also found what looks like another crab in a different piece of live rock, they'll be going in the sump when I catch them.

So tested my water today, thought I'd test them all just to see where it's all at, this is what I got, (ammonia was at 1.5 on Saturday)

S.g 1.024
Ammonia 0.5
Nitrite 2
Nitrate 5

I'll add pics of the test results, am I reading them right? And does this sound right? Been a while since I cycled a tank.

 

[d.dog_fletcher]

if you don't mine i am going to subscribe to your build . i am working on a 90 myself and reading your thread has helped me a lot . thanks and keep up the good work

 

[mrwizard]

if you don't mine i am going to subscribe to your build . i am working on a 90 myself and reading your thread has helped me a lot . thanks and keep up the good work

Of course not, maybe we can help each other along the way so the more the merrier, I'm new to all this so any help I can get is greatly appreciated.

 

[kdpuffer]

Being that you got live rock the cycle will likely be quicker than if you had gotten base rock. Was the rock cured before you got it cause that helps alot also. I personally got cured rock for my tank and didn't have a cycle at all. From your results I suspect your cycle will be over in a very short time like a day or two. Test daily and keep dosing ammonia and when it goes from 4 ppm to 0 in 24 hours along with reading 0 nitrites and whatever you get for nitrates then your set to add livestock.

 

[mrwizard]

Being that you got live rock the cycle will likely be quicker than if you had gotten base rock. Was the rock cured before you got it cause that helps alot also. I personally got cured rock for my tank and didn't have a cycle at all. From your results I suspect your cycle will be over in a very short time like a day or two. Test daily and keep dosing ammonia and when it goes from 4 ppm to 0 in 24 hours along with reading 0 nitrites and whatever you get for nitrates then your set to add livestock.

I've only got about 20lbs of live rock, the rest is base rock, got the live rock to help speed things along, hopefully. Can't wait to be done with the cycle, gonna start working on my stock list soon.

 

[mrwizard]

Anyone know why my skimmer is going haywire? I turned it on the first day everything was ok, foam wasn't quite reaching the cup, then looked a few hours later after adding salt and there was foam everywhere, I read that the salt mix could of been the cause so turned the skimmer off for a day to give the salt time to mix properly, so just tried to turn the skimmer on now 3days after mixing the salt and the same thing happens water just rises above the cup along with the foam.

Heres a pic

 

[carey]

I would adjust the skimmer so the water is as far down the tube as it can go. Then every few days adjust it so the water gets closer to the neck where it will just topple over into the cup. new skimmers can take a week or two to get broken in so just be patient, it will eventually work itself out.

 

[mrwizard]

I would adjust the skimmer so the water is as far down the tube as it can go. Then every few days adjust it so the water gets closer to the neck where it will just topple over into the cup. new skimmers can take a week or two to get broken in so just be patient, it will eventually work itself out.

That's a lot better, i didn't realise I could restrict the flow going into the skimmer lol I tries to turn the dial turns out I have to lift and turn lol. Thank you carey.
Here's where it's at now.

 

[mrwizard]

Quick update for you guys, cycle is coming along nicely and quickly which is good
Ammo 0
Nitrite 1
Nitrate 10

The skimmer is working good now, it's already pulled out a bit of dirt, I was turning it off when I went to bed as I didn't trust it after the water and foam explosion lol think I'm gonna leave it on tonight, see how it goes, hopefully I don't wake up to a swimming pool in the front room, lol.

Also ordered some pieces of pipework today to make my durso standpipe (I think thats what its called), should be here by tomorrow with any luck.

 

[mrwizard]

So had to cut out my drain pipe last night :/, I'm planning on making a durso standpipe and the drain pipe was flush with the bottom of the tank so had to make it longer so I had a bit of pipe
To fit the standpipe on, only took me an hour to cut it out and have it all cut to the right sizes and then back in the tank so all the effort I put into the plumbing definitely paid off lol.
Im still having a few problems with balancing the water levels out, the return chamber is always getting low, I'm hoping the standpipe will help with this issue.
If anyone has any ideas on this I'm all ears.

 

[kdpuffer]

Do you have an auto top off? Evaporation could be the cause of low levels in the return chamber. Another possible solution is to dial back the valve on the return line a hair that way the pump is only pumping the volume your drain line from the tank can handle.

 

[mrwizard]

Do you have an auto top off? Evaporation could be the cause of low levels in the return chamber. Another possible solution is to dial back the valve on the return line a hair that way the pump is only pumping the volume your drain line from the tank can handle.

No, no auto top off (at the moment) thinking about getting one tho, I'm topping off quite a bit, do you think they are worth the money?

I've been tinkering with the valves on the drain and return line, I'm finding it hard to match the two haha, I thought I had it perfect the other day, was fine for a few hours then come home from work and it was off, but then that could of been from evaporation. Gonna have a play with it all tonight when it's all up and running again.

On another note cycle looks like its doing good, it's eating up 2ppm of ammo in two days, nitrite is near 0 and nitrate is at 10+, hopefully won't be long now.

 

[kdpuffer]

Evaporation is likely a big factor, with an ATO it will maintain the same level at all times do you would be able to properly dial in the balance on return and drain. In my opinion an ATO is a godsend and definitely worth the money, having a sump would allow you to use an aqua lifter pump too. It was one of my first investments and looking back I wish I would have done it sooner, manual top offs are a pain especially when I was working out of town. I'll fire ya a pm and discuss more details.

 

[mrwizard]

Evaporation is likely a big factor, with an ATO it will maintain the same level at all times do you would be able to properly dial in the balance on return and drain. In my opinion an ATO is a godsend and definitely worth the money, having a sump would allow you to use an aqua lifter pump too. It was one of my first investments and looking back I wish I would have done it sooner, manual top offs are a pain especially when I was working out of town. I'll fire ya a pm and discuss more details.

Yeah i think your right about evaporation, I haven't even got my Lights on at the moment so evaporation is just gonna increase when they do go on.
I Think you just made my mind up for me, auto top off is a priority now, I have a little space where I think I can have it so that's all good. Thank you for the pm, clears a lot up for me and seems like its a good investment and a quite cheap one too. Thank you. Will update the thread when I purchase one. Thanks again.

 

[kdpuffer]

No problem dude, happy to help. When I started my tank I put it off but I soon realized how helpful it would be and bit the bullet and am happy I did.

 

[mrwizard]

Hey everyone, been working on my stockist but need a few ideas also, so many fish to choose lol, so far I have on my list,

certain
2x clowns (maybe one black n white)
1x yellow watchman
Cleaner shrimp

Maybe's?
1x kole eye tang ( any ideas for a replacement)
Copper-banded butterfly (I'm working towards gettin a mandarin, I've heard these compete with each other for the same food? Is this true?)

Any suggestions?

 

[kdpuffer]

Clowns are must have lol, other than that here are my thoughts. Copperbands eat aiptasia and from what I have heard they are finicky- eating prepared foods fine then just decide to not eat them anymore. Kole tangs are awesome but like other tangs are sensitive and ich prone, I opted to get a fox face instead but that's just me and fox face are algae grazers also.