Building 24 Aquapod, need advice

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Hi all,
Yes, its is me again asking for help with a 24 AP build. I will plan this one out and use your advice to help make it a success. I wish I had done it this way on my last aquarium. Here is what i have. One Aquapod 24 with PC lights. tank is for my wife, she will want to have some soft corals and shrooms, zoa's ,star polyps and such. No SPS or clams. I am planning on curing 28# premium Fiji LR small 4"-6" pieces for about 2 weeks in advance in a vat. Do a quick high gravity dunk and remove all critters, being I can't tell good from bad. Put 1" bed of LS in and place LR into position, mainly a pile in center of tank, then fill w/ RO H2O.Let cycle for a week or so checking for amonia and allowed to finish if necessary.
A couple questions:
1) what to put into open compartment , and if LR is the answer, in a mesh bag ?, this tank doesn' have a removable media holder, just 2 large compartments. Also, use floss? and if so where would I put it to make it stationary? Carbon pack?, also where? I would have thought the tank would have a removable basket like a Fluval or simular .
2) where to take in water- surface skim only, a little of skim & middle?
3) replace the PH with a huge 1200 or 600 MJ ?
4)trash the large pore filter blocks?

Anything else to trick this out for best performance and useability?

What would you do?

PS: aquapod owners- is it NORMAL to receive 5 bio balls, pack of noodles and 2 blue foam blocks and 2 empty compartments ,one w/ with sliding gates for return flow? Am I missing something? , or is it a build it yourself kit?

Thanks,

 

[Ziggy953]

To address the last question first. I think they are set up that way so you can make it work for your needs.

If it were me setting this tank up this is what I would do.

I would get the rock I need and get that in the tank with the proper SG and allow that to start the cycle of the tank. If you are getting uncured or partially cured lr then that will aid in your cycle. You can jump start it with a shrimp (dead cocktail) or some fish food. I'm not a fan of using floss or sponges at all in SW tanks. They tend to collect detritus and can lead to higher nitrates. I would have one compartment packed as full as I could get it wil LR rubble. If you have enough LR in the tank and some rubble in one of the compartments you should have enough filtration to avoid using other means.

Since I have never owned one of these tanks I'm not real familiar with how they are set up but I have the general idea. I think going as natural as you can with your filtration you will have a healthier tank. Doing regular PWCs (at least every other week) will help maintain the parameters.

Since you already have established tanks you can seed this new one from those.

 

[dtech]

Mine is heavy modded but here goes. First throw out the balls, sponges, ceramic garbage etc. Next cut some acrylic or plastic to make it have a real overflow, replace the pump in back. If you want to keep with the same amount of flow through the back get a maxijet 1200. It's a bit more and way way less heat and way more reliable. If you want to add more flow there use 2 maxijet 900's and add another outlet into the display. If you go with the 1 pump get a Koralia for the display the Nano model. Put live rock rubble in the back compartments in the smalll areas, also put you heater in one of them . I occasionally run Carbom in a bag and sometimes Phosban the same way. I have a Sapphire skimmer in the chamber where the overflow is and it makes it nice. I still do 5g a week water changes though due to stocking levels.
Reef Central Online Community - Finally ready
this is a link to a thread that has some pics of my mods. I also have an upgrade to lightng. 3x36w pc and the flow mods include 3 maxi jet 900's, 1 on hydor flow rotator in middle of back wall constant flow. the other 2 on closed loop setup with loc line and wave timer.

 

[joeyfromlawrenceville]

Mine is heavy modded but here goes. First throw out the balls, sponges, ceramic garbage etc. Next cut some acrylic or plastic to make it have a real overflow, replace the pump in back. If you want to keep with the same amount of flow through the back get a maxijet 1200. It's a bit more and way way less heat and way more reliable. If you want to add more flow there use 2 maxijet 900's and add another outlet into the display. If you go with the 1 pump get a Koralia for the display the Nano model. Put live rock rubble in the back compartments in the smalll areas, also put you heater in one of them . I occasionally run Carbom in a bag and sometimes Phosban the same way. I have a Sapphire skimmer in the chamber where the overflow is and it makes it nice. I still do 5g a week water changes though due to stocking levels.
Reef Central Online Community - Finally ready
this is a link to a thread that has some pics of my mods. I also have an upgrade to lightng. 3x36w pc and the flow mods include 3 maxi jet 900's, 1 on hydor flow rotator in middle of back wall constant flow. the other 2 on closed loop setup with loc line and wave timer.

Nice set up ! , I have begun the same route as you. I put my heater in left side along with my maxi jet 1200 , use the old PH for swimming pool cover pump ( rain water) . I loaded my right rear compartment with LR , thanks for the tip on Phosban. As for lights I may upgrade in the future, I'll save your post and use it as a guide if I do so. Tank is just now cycled, time to have some fun with it.
Thanks again,