i need a little help please with tank upgrade

[bigford84]

here is a small vid of my new 55 gal fowlr and my running 30 gal fowlr. i would like to get all the brown off of the rocks,it looks ugly. the second rock from the left on the bottom is out of my 30 gal tank,and thats what i want all the rocks to look like.. can i just use a toothbrush to get it off?? or how would you do it?? thanks guys

oh and my salinity in the 55 gal is 1.025 , and the salinity of my premixed water change water is 1.023. if i do a 20-30 % pwt will it bring it down?? i want it to be around 1.022 - 1.023. is that a good range?

YouTube - 55 gal fowlr and 30 gal fowlr

 

[abdhalim2]

hey bigford....im so sorry..i cant view any video from youtube at my office right now...i will view it when i reach home....
about the salinity, yes it can bring down but for 55gal, im not so sure how much it will effect....why did u need to bring your salinity down...??

 

[mr_X]

.026 is the salinity you want to shoot for. that's what it is out at the reefs where our livestock is collected.
that sand sifting star will starve to death slowly. it eats microfauna in the sand bed. it will render the sand bed "dead", then starve.
that's a diatom bloom. common in new tanks. with proper husbandry(water changes with good source water), it should leave as fast as it came.

 

[bigford84]

ok here is todays test...

sal=1.027
ph= 8.2
ammo=0 - .25
nitrite=0
nitrate= 40

what do ya think? test has been the same since the 12th what should i do now??

 

[mr_X]

i would keep waiting. it's not uncommon to have a cycle that lasts over a month.

 

[bigford84]

i would keep waiting. it's not uncommon to have a cycle that lasts over a month.

so with a small amount on ammo, its still in cycle?

 

[mr_X]

yes. any detectable ammonia says it's not done cycling. you need to see nothing on the ammonia kit and nothing on the nitrite kit.

 

[abdhalim2]

im cycled my tank for almost 2month....nothing come fast...patient will be the key for success....

 

[bigford84]

can i put a turbo snail or 2 in to start cleaning up the brown??

what is the best creature to put in that will clean all the brown out of the sand?

and that crab in the sump in gonna keep producing ammo rite? so is that gonna tweak my cycle?

 

[bigford84]

YouTube - ? about the overflow

 

[abdhalim2]

sory for asking....how many powerheads did u have in your tank...???
if u have some powerhead in DT, try to flow it directly to the brown....
IMO, by adding snails or any living thing would only kill them....FME,i added 2 turbo snails in my tank while water cycle process and within hour, they died....
just keep the crab there...yes it might produce ammo but not so much ammo and the nitrite bacteria will do the job.....

 

[mr_X]

i wouldn't add any living creature until the cycle has ended. the brown will go away on it's own.

 

[bigford84]

what about the filter sock thing?

 

[mr_X]

what about it?

 

[bigford84]

what about it?

info is in the vid.. do you guys use a filter sock all the time?
if not how is your over flow drain set up? well there is more but in the vid

 

[mr_X]

i don't use a filter sock. when i did, i used an 8" one, and changed them out every couple days. what you have there looks to be a 4" sock, correct? (the diameter i mean)
put an elbow on the bottom of the drain. see if that stops the raging water and salt creep some.
no, those power heads aren't too much. arrange them how you need them to be. there is no exact formula for this. just try to accomplish the least amount of dead spots possible.

as far as the noise is concerned, if you have a tube slightly larger than regular airline tubing, that should work. usually the airline tubing works for me. you can see it on many HOb overflow boxes. some of them come with a piece of rigid tubing with an O ring on it so you can adjust it up and down to quiet the box.

 

[bigford84]

update ..... today i added an ato system to keep the tank stable .. and todays test is

sal= 1.024
ph=7.8
ammo=.25
nitrite=0
nitrate=40

question.. why do i have .25 ammo , and 0 nitrite?? this sound right??

this tank is taking so much longer then my 30 gal. it only took a few weeks.
but with all that time,i think i have got the final scaping done.

 

[mr_X]

more die off on the rock than the other tank had maybe.

 

[bigford84]

ok so the last couple of tests on my tank were all wrong!!!!!!
today i took some of my water to the lfs and had it tested..

my test said...
ammo=.25
nitrite=0
nitrate=40

lfs test showed
ammo=0
nitrite=0
nitrate=18-20

so i am using the api saltwater master test kit to test all except the ammo, i have got the test strips for the ammo, that is what lfs used.

so where in the cycle do you think im at?? when can i transfer the 5 fish and 3 nems out of my 30 gal into my 55 gal tank? and when i do the transfer should i put them in a bucket and drip acc them?? or just net and move?

 

[abdhalim2]

did your test kit expired...??? it might because of expired...