fort's 57 gallon Rimless Reef Build

[cmor1701d]

I have sand in mine. Go BB. You'll be glad you did.
LR rubble is available lots of places.

When you get a 'real' tank (125g+) , get a box of uncured Walt Smith LR to start your cycle. Lots of great critters in there.

[carey]

Originally Posted by Wy Renegade

Personally I'd avoid the rubble in the fuge - I always place my rubble in the sump portion. Other wise, you're provide a spot for accumulation of dead macro algae which will break down, possibly causing some nutrient issues. For the fuge, I'd either go straight sand or BB.

I'm curious...I have rubble in my refugium, maybe golf ball size pieces mostly, is this a bad thing? i also have sand and macro. Are the LR rubble pieces doing anything do you think? I was told a year ago to just add LR to it, no doubt about it. LOL Still toying with the idea of ditching the refugium so if the rubble is useless then thats another point that detracts from the refugium.

Thanks for any input, sorry to hijack but it seemed a good place to put this question.

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by carey

I'm curious...I have rubble in my refugium, maybe golf ball size pieces mostly, is this a bad thing? i also have sand and macro. Are the LR rubble pieces doing anything do you think? I was told a year ago to just add LR to it, no doubt about it. LOL Still toying with the idea of ditching the refugium so if the rubble is useless then thats another point that detracts from the refugium.

Thanks for any input, sorry to hijack but it seemed a good place to put this question.

Generally speaking, LR rubble is a good thing. Like all LR, it provides lots of surface area for bacteria, and so provides a place not only for the break down of nitrites, but anaerobic bacteria deep within the rock, also provide for the breakdown of nitrates into harmless nitrogen gas. The disadvantage of combining rubble with macro algae, is that the rubble provides a place for the accumulation of debris from the die-off of the macro algae (which is a continuous activity within your fuge). By trapping that debris amoungst the rubble, you provide a spot for nutrient accumulation. This means you either have to very religiously remove the rubble and clean-out the fuge (which I am extremely poor at doing), or you are better off leaving the rubble out of the fuge. I place my rubble under the inflow and under the skimmer platform, rather than in the fuge.

[carey]

Hmm makes sense. I have never moved my rock, not since it went in there a year ago or so. Should I maybe do that then? LOL Don't know if it matters but I have ALOT of flow going through the refugium, like 1200gph. I can see the macro move with the flow so I just assumed it would kick up any debris.

Thanks by the way.

[fort384]

What is BB?

Bare bottom?

[carey]

bare bottom

[fort384]

Ok I took Jonathan's suggestion and added a drip tube for the ATO line. This way I can raise it up a few inches above the reservoir level so it cannot siphon.

I installed a float level indicator in my ATO reservoir to make it easy to see when filling up how full it is. It will also let me know when it is time to fill it up.

I also installed the new fuge light.

[fort384]

Picked up about 10lbs of Liverock to seed the base rock. Looked like good stuff and there are a couple of zoa polyps on it too. Also got 2lbs of lr rubble to add to the sump.

Question: Do I need to wear gloves or anything when I handle this stuff? I don't want to die or anything

[Ibrahim]

Originally Posted by fort384

Picked up about 10lbs of Liverock to seed the base rock. Looked like good stuff and there are a couple of zoa polyps on it too. Also got 2lbs of lr rubble to add to the sump.

Question: Do I need to wear gloves or anything when I handle this stuff? I don't want to die or anything

You should when handling zoas

[Ziggy953]

I would say yes for palys but Zoas you will be fine unless you have an allergy to bees

[fort384]

Since I know there are zoas on the rock should I drip acc the rock?

[Ziggy953]

Originally Posted by fort384

Since I know there are zoas on the rock should I drip acc the rock?

I prefer a modified drip where the bag is in my sump and I drip from the DT to keep the temp stable. I am not a fan of standard drip simply because PH and Temp can swing and stress the corals.

[fort384]

Ok rock is in. Now to wait...

[cmor1701d]

Alan, that is what the house heating unit is for. Turn the house heater up to 80. Start drip acclimation! In a couple of hours your critters are ready for the DT and you have lost a couple pounds (ok so it's only water weight). Everyone is happy.

I also keep a box of latex free - powder free nitrile gloves for when I'm working in the tank. I actually do remember to use them about 50% of the time. I don't have much in my tank to sting me, but the corals get rather upset if I grab by mistake. I do generally wear them when scraping the front glass near by bubble coral as that one does sting.

The gloves are cheap (~$8/box) and if you get in the habit now you will have less chance of a problem later.

[Ibrahim]

There are also aquarium maintainance arm length gloves that are $13 and re usable
http://www.marinedepot.com/maintenance_gloves-ap.html

[Wy Renegade]

Originally Posted by fort384

Since I know there are zoas on the rock should I drip acc the rock?

No reason to do a drip acclimation with any zoas. Float the bag to temperature acclimate to the tank, then remove them from the water they were transported in, hold in the air for a slow count of 30 (most polyps should close up) drop them into an iodine or coral cleaning treatment in tank water, rinse, and place into your tank. I'm a former addicted zoa collector and been doing it that way for years without any polyp loss.

[fort384]

Polyps still aren't open... :/ Hopefully they make it.

How about a CuC? What do I need to get? What do I want to get? What is a good place to buy them?

[NyteGTI]

CUC members are pretty cheap locally to me so I always goto ny lfs. reefcleaners.org has what you'll want. Take what they say you need fir your tank size and cut it in half & that's prob about right and still may be a lil overkill

[fort384]

Ok, so after watching a few other clips of skimmers in action, I think mine must not be setup correctly. I am getting TONS of microbubbles from it still. Here is a short clip of it in action. Does this look normal or is something wrong?
Bubble Magus Skimmer - YouTube

[fort384]

Originally Posted by NyteGTI

CUC members are pretty cheap locally to me so I always goto ny lfs. reefcleaners.org has what you'll want. Take what they say you need fir your tank size and cut it in half & that's prob about right and still may be a lil overkill

Ok, will do.