New Solana Aquariuum

[Caige]

I should try a fan before the chiller right? it's only a 34gallon tank. REally don't want to spend $800 on a chiller. Now i'm nervous cause summer is here and it's just getting hotter! Prob with fan is I have a glass top and would have to keep that off, i'm thinking...

Oh, I ordered a refractometer ($130) and RO/DI on ebay. I also ordered a TDS meter ($30)..

[roka64]

Wow, $130 for a refracto is kinda high for home aquariums, what kind is it? You should also get the calibration liquid for both the refracto and TDS meter.
I would remove the glass cover and see where your temp stays. A fan won't help too much if you have a lid covering the tank.

[Kurt_Nelson]

I didn't realize those Solana's had glass tops...

As roka64 mentioned, you're going to want to take that glass top off, or least open it up, to allow a small fan to blow across the top of the water. You don't need anything too big - just a little 6" clip on fan will do wonders. An open top tank will also allow for better oxygen exchange with the water and keep you pH levels a little higher... if you're having issues with that.

I'd really recommend having a heater in there. Just make sure it's set properly and don't rely on the markings on the heater to be too accurate. You might have to set it at 82 to get it to be 78, or vice versa. That way your tank won't at least swing to the low side of things. If the tank is running too warm, then it just won't turn on. At least with a heater in there, you won't be one of the folks that post around here each October, complaining that they lost a bunch of livestock because their tank got too cold and they forgot to put their heater in after summer was over!

[Caige]

Oops.. refracto was $30... RO/DI was $130. I just took the top off and will buy a 6'' fan tomorrow to see how it goes - temp today at 4p est was 85!!! But after having top off for only 20min already dropped 1degr. Man do I hope I don't have to buy a chiller....

[roka64]

I doubt you will have to buy a chiller. I had high temp on my 125 and added a floor fan that came on when the lights did. My temp went from about 84ish to 79.

[Kurt_Nelson]

Originally Posted by Caige

...I just took the top off and will buy a 6'' fan tomorrow to see how it goes - temp today at 4p est was 85!!! But after having top off for only 20min already dropped 1degr. Man do I hope I don't have to buy a chiller....

You won't. You'll be amazed at the difference a little fan will make. It will make enough of a difference that you'll most likely need that heater! (I'm not joking!)

[Caige]

I bought some more live rock today and decided to re-arrainge the tank. This should be the permanent look. I wanted rock up the back wall and took some moving around but I did it. Only thing i'm a little worried about is I have very little empty sand space in the front.

You can also see my raw shrimp

I checked the Ammonia today and it's at .5 (where yest. was 0)... so I guess the cycle is working.

Next is I have to purchase the fan and then wait for cycle to finish.

After reading numerous articles about the cycling i'm finally getting it... Ammonia turns to - nitrite turns to - nitrate. It's sinking in.

[roka64]

Thats some nice scaping.

[cmor1701d]

I agree, nice aquascape in that tank.

[Caige]

So I put the piece of shrimp in on 6/17/08 @ 1800hrs. Boy is it ugly looking now! lol
Took some readings tonight at 2230hr as follows:
Temp 80deg f
PH - 7.8
Ammonia 1
Nitrite 5 (it's possible it's a 1, so hard to tell the difference in colors on the test tube for me)
Nitrate 40

I haven't received the fan's yet.. so at the hottest point in the day the tank can go up to 84! good thing I don't have anything in the tank yet.

[Caige]

do these readings make sense to anyone? this doesn't seem right to me. Seems like Nitrate is way too high and ammonia isn't high enough.

Can someone help me understand where I am at and where I should go from here.

[roka64]

From those numbers, it looks like you are ending the cycle, unless you are getting those nitrAtes from your source water. It is strange to see all three tests showing up. I would take a sample to your LFS and see what their tests show.

[Caige]

Whew... i think i analyze way too much. Okay. Went to LFS yest. and they confirmed just what you said Roka - that i'm at end of cycle. So tonight I took some more tests and it pretty much confirms it as follows:

Temp 83 (still waiting on fans)
PH 7.9 - they gave me some buffer that will raise to 8.3
Ammonia - 0
Nitrite - 0
Nitrate - 20
KH - 161.1

So tonight I took out my shrimp.... really messy! The LHF said next time I should put it in a stocking or something that will make it easier to take out.

[Caige]

So now that it looks like my cycle is complete am I correct that I should do a 20% water change? Is my thinking right that my tank is 34 gallons but I have about 45lb's or LR in it so I really probably have 28-30gallons... therefore my water change should be about 6gallons?

Also, here are some pic's of a couple things I need to verify:

# 10 or 1st pic are shiny small bubbles (almost look like mercury) on top of a rock that has greenish and purplish Algea on it... I'm a little worried about these, do you know what they are?

# 16 or 2nd pic are brown stains that I see all over the glass (just happened today) - are these Diatoms that I have nothing to worry about?

# 14 / 18 or 3rd and 4th pic are rocks with Brownish and purplish Algea(?) on it - this is good, right?

So after my water change tomorrow can I add a cleaning crew? I'm thinking of Couple Blue Hermits, 1 Blenny, 5 turbo snails and maybe a few blue leg crabs....

[tynee]

I just bought a solana last week and will be following this thread pretty closely. However, I have the compact flourescent 50/50 light, and I'm hoping I can still keep some colorfull corals with it.

Good luck, man.

[roka64]

1st pick bubble algae, bad/pesky stuff. Do not pop! Try to siphon them out when you do your PWC.
2nd pic, looks to be diatoms (do they brush off like a powder)?
Last two look like diatoms too. They will disappear over night.

[Caige]

Yeah it brushes off.. i'm pretty sure it's just regular diatoms.. The "mercury" like bubbles my LFS is telling me is normal for end of cycle and they will go away. But I will def try to siphon them tomorrow night when I do water change

Tynee - is this your first SW tank? You new to the hobby? I was originally going to go with that light but the LFS told me that the one I have sunpod HQI 150W will allow me to do any corals I want.... I'm just going by their word though.

[tynee]

It's sort of my first. I started a 65gal acrylic that has a 36" mh sunpod, but am restarting it to redo the filter systems. I had it running for awhile but it was more of an ongoing experiment than a stable aquarium.

I got the solana to try a simpler system, as my 65 gal has all the bells and whistles.

I will probably end up upgrading the solana to a sunpod as well, as i love my other unit with the built in LED's. But for now, i just want to start with some clowns and basic coral and go from there slowly.

[roka64]

Caige, your LFS is incorrect. You simply got the bubble algae from where ever you got the LR. If it is at the same LFS, they probably have it in their tanks.

[Caige]

probably why they said that then.. cause I bought the LR from them! It's the only LFS in my area... they have an awesome selection but people aren't very friendly...

So what else should I do to clean it up? I will siphon what I can out... but what if I miss some? should I just take those rocks out and toss?