Buffy's 1st Ever SW Build - Reef Tank

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Buffy said:
I'm hoping I'm only raising it once a week. I'm going to zip tie them to the lower chain which should allow me to raise and lower without unzipping and rezipping. I have time tied together already but hadn't thought of tieing them to the rope. That will bring them forward which should stop the angling. Thank you.
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I really meant the ability to vary the light intensity. But getting to the tank is also a good thing!
 
Yep it will help with intensity also, because when you replace bulbs, the intensity is dramatic to the corals, so this way I can raise it some and over a couple weeks lower it back.

Got side tracked, but just got done rinsing all the sand and putting it back in the 75. I think I'm gonna have to do a mini cycle before I put the corals and fish in because the rock is going to be exposed to air and the sand too. I have to shift the sand over so I can "mop" up the water that went in with the sand. I don't want tap water in their but I'm not wasting ro/di water to rinse.

Wish I didn't have to work cause tomorrow is gonna be a *itch. I know I won't be online tomorrow nor will I do anything when I get home as I will be too stressed to do anything.

I have a long week at work ahead of me so I will probably not make much progress til thursday night. I always say I hate plumbing but have I yet said I hate dayshift during the week too. Grrrr.

Nite all.
 
Tank Cycling?

I am wondering....if I take the majority of my rock out of my 55, put it in the 75 with no water so I can get it situated, how much of a cycle and die off would I have?

Anyone got any ideas?
 
Well I'm thinking it will be in the air more like a couple of hours. I wanted to keep the water out of the 75 cause trying to arrange rock in cloudy water ends up taking so long. End up taking too many breaks til it clears up and can see to do more.

Still think it will be little to no cycle?
 
Buffy said:
Well I'm thinking it will be in the air more like a couple of hours. I wanted to keep the water out of the 75 cause trying to arrange rock in cloudy water ends up taking so long. End up taking too many breaks til it clears up and can see to do more.

Still think it will be little to no cycle?
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I'd say about a weeks worth.
 
It really all depends on how much rock and how much bacteria is already on the tank. If you put 10 pounds of rock into a 50 gal tank that's been established for 2 yrs with 75 pounds of Rock already in it, it's going to take a lot less time than a few month old tank with less rock in it.
 
OK I'll go with a week if it's exposed too long, of course I'll test to be sure. But I'm thinking since I don't want to wait a week, I'll just make the there are some good spots right off the bat for my critters, then pile it in and rearrange a little at a time from there instead of worry about trying to aquascape it all at once and then have it cycle.

Don't mind me............I'll get the hang of this yet :)

I'm still going to test my parameters frequently just to be sure and I'll have my 55 with some water that will match with a couple pieces of rock in it so it doesn't cycle til I'm sure it's either not going to cycle or it's done. Then I can haul the 55 out from my living floor and put it on my "old" stand in my bedroom.

Sounds like a plan to me lol :)
 
Ugg

Last night I had planned on putting my 75 gal back together, except I got home bout 6:30, fed and let the dog out. Next thing I knew it was 6 am. I must have been exhausted cause I never woke up. Can't start now have an appointment shortly.

My Led's were left on all day and now all night (**** timer) and since I fell asleep the light on my 10's were on all day and all night.

I WILL....I WILL...I WILL get it done today. Am turning off all phones, closing blinds and locking doors so NO ONE knows I am home and not at work. Geez LOL

2 Missed calls and 3 texts on my phone last night too. Guess I needed the sleep, cause when I'm not at work someone always wants something.

So am now rested up and can go to my appointment, come home and dive in.

Would anyone mind giving me some ideas how to combine a sump, refugium, and algae scrubber into one? I don't understand the sections or how to do any of them yet. Flow path through sump and stuff like that I still need to read up on. I have a 20 gallon I would be using, unless I use 2 10 gallons, I think 2 10 gallons would fit under my stand. I have a 40 breeder but I'd rather not use it.

Thanks ya'll. Soon as 75 is back together I'll post some pics. Gotta delete some first and gotta delete some pms too in case anyone wants to pm me.
 
Sandbed Question

I have about a 3 inch sandbed. How far down should I push my rock into the sand so that the aquascaping doesn't topple over from burrowers and such?

Thanks.
 
Thanks, I thought I should have it as close to the glass as possible. I didn't actually mean "push" lol, I'll move a patch of sand, put the rock down in it and put the sand around it then.

I'm gonna use a small bucket of ro water to clean some of the rock in, since some of it has hair algae on it.

I'm gonna take my corals (the babies-that are in the 10g qt), and put them in a container of THEIR water then glue them and put them back in the same container, then acclimate them to my 75 gal.
 
Buffy said:
Last night I had planned on putting my 75 gal back together, except I got home bout 6:30, fed and let the dog out. Next thing I knew it was 6 am. I must have been exhausted cause I never woke up. Can't start now have an appointment shortly.

My Led's were left on all day and now all night (**** timer) and since I fell asleep the light on my 10's were on all day and all night.

I WILL....I WILL...I WILL get it done today. Am turning off all phones, closing blinds and locking doors so NO ONE knows I am home and not at work. Geez LOL

2 Missed calls and 3 texts on my phone last night too. Guess I needed the sleep, cause when I'm not at work someone always wants something.

So am now rested up and can go to my appointment, come home and dive in.

Would anyone mind giving me some ideas how to combine a sump, refugium, and algae scrubber into one? I don't understand the sections or how to do any of them yet. Flow path through sump and stuff like that I still need to read up on. I have a 20 gallon I would be using, unless I use 2 10 gallons, I think 2 10 gallons would fit under my stand. I have a 40 breeder but I'd rather not use it.

Thanks ya'll. Soon as 75 is back together I'll post some pics. Gotta delete some first and gotta delete some pms too in case anyone wants to pm me.
Click to expand...

I would suggest delaying the algae scrubber until later as those tend to be stand alone units, unless you build something custom. A solid sump and refugium with a skimmer and plenty of live rock should do you for a long while. The scrubber can be added once the tank is fully stocked and there is a need for it, unless you want to experiment, at which time there are several designs I can suggest. All of them take up some room and need intense lighting (although the light is concentrated to a small area).
 
Anything I need to do to keep these guys health while I get this mini cycle over?
 
All you can really do is hope. If it lasts a long time you could do water changes daily but it will prolong the cycle by a lot.
 
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