Cali Kid Corals

Jeff's 75 gallon Reef Tank Build

Yes, if the antipasta is bad, you'll see it everywhere. But even ONE is bad, because ONE becomes a thousand. Basically if you try to kill them, any tiny scrap left turns into a new one. They may or may not barf babies when they die too. Just search on Aiptasia... you'll see.
 
FYI, that Marineland LED is fine for a fish only tank,which I recall you saying that you wanted to do, but do be advise it is absolute junk if you want to keep corals (which you said you want to eventually do)
 
Just added my sump to my collection. Eshopps R-200. Had to take stand apart a bit to fit it in, but i really wanted to have a large sump.

Sand, rocks, and water next. Skimmer after the tank's cycled.

Question of the day...I rinsed my new tank out and used a clean cloth to wipe the inside. Any additional treatments before water? Also, my tank had two small pieces of strapping tape over a section of the weir. Any guidance on removing that? I can't figure out why a company that manufactures fish tanks puts a sticker on the front of the tank that doesn't peel off cleanly!

So Karson at Aquatic Collection suggested I kill the live rock from the other tank and then it bring it back to life. Soak in vinegar water solution, then bleach it. I'm spending a ton of money and really don't want to contaminate my tank. I just accepted a position at an elementary school in Oakland and considering setting the tank up there. I'm concerned about temperature as the classrooms aren't air conditioned.

So many decisions.
 
Oh, if you soak your rock in vinegar, you are basically dissolving your rock. I recommend skipping vinegar. Vinegar is great for cleaning pumps and stuff that corraline has grown on, but putting it on calcium based rocks will eat the rocks (slowly, but surely).
 
Cleaning question...just took in a functioning 55 gallon tank. The powerbeads are covered in corraline. What is the mixture of water/vinegar to clean them? Soak and then plastic brush them? How long to soak?

Thanks
 
Not sure a vinegar solution wish really do much dissolving, while it will initially sure, you are going to very quickly bring the pH back up. Need something stronger like muriatic acid! Either way the acid treatment takes care of anything that might be in the first few mm of rock (phosphates, etc). Bleach will kill (hopefully) the organic components. I'd probably do bleach first then acid because the bleach alone might not get everything to detach, but the acid treatment most likely will get stuff to detach.

As to the pump cleaning, don't both diluting vinegar, it's cheap enough you shouldn't have to stretch out. And basically soak them until the coraline is all gone (or mostly gone) you could possibly try a toothbrush to help get off the final stuff, but depending upon the level of encrusting it could take a few hours, or the better part of a day.

Oh don't think about starting a tank at a school you just started working at unless you get some serious OK from the principal and all other parties involved. MolaMola did one at her school,and she managed to work out a curriculum around it. However you being very new to the hobby should get your own feet wet before you consider doing something like that.
 
sfsuphysics said:
Not sure a vinegar solution wish really do much dissolving, while it will initially sure, you are going to very quickly bring the pH back up. Need something stronger like muriatic acid! Either way the acid treatment takes care of anything that might be in the first few mm of rock (phosphates, etc). Bleach will kill (hopefully) the organic components. I'd probably do bleach first then acid because the bleach alone might not get everything to detach, but the acid treatment most likely will get stuff to detach.

As to the pump cleaning, don't both diluting vinegar, it's cheap enough you shouldn't have to stretch out. And basically soak them until the coraline is all gone (or mostly gone) you could possibly try a toothbrush to help get off the final stuff, but depending upon the level of encrusting it could take a few hours, or the better part of a day.

Oh don't think about starting a tank at a school you just started working at unless you get some serious OK from the principal and all other parties involved. MolaMola did one at her school,and she managed to work out a curriculum around it. However you being very new to the hobby should get your own feet wet before you consider doing something like that.
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so a 100% bleach bath for the rock, or dilute? I have about 6 pieces of really gorgeous rock. soak how long? where does one get muriatic acid?
 
I think the recommended is 10:1 dilution, if you use pure bleach it will work sure, but it could get a bit expensive when you realize how little 1 gallon actually is. You'll want to follow it up with a freshwater bath with Prime or some other dechlorinator, then possible air dry. Rule of thumb is if you can still smell bleach then there still is bleach. It is a rather long drawn out process, not going to get done quickly.
 
So i decided on a strong bleach/water bath for the dead live rock, and there were a few pieces from the tank breakdown I really liked, so they are in a separate bath and will have a bit more fun in bleach and water changing it out over the next few days. I'm really excited about some of the pieces I received and would like your comments on my plan to cycle my new tank.


I will have a bed of live sand and some reef rock already cured and cultured from Karson at Aquatic Collection. I will add my killed live rock and scape my tank, and then add my water. I've seen some epoxy products that say they work with wet rock. How much time do I have to work on the scape before I kill off some of the good live rock? I guess another option would be to use the reef rock and then just remove it when the tank has cycled keeping my new stuff...so many choices
 
Tank update...couple days late...

Got the EShopps 3rd generation R-200 sump a few days ago from Karston at Aquatic Collection. Another superb deal and he's my single source for equipment. I was trying to piece things together on the cheap, but learned, thanks to many of you, wait, be patient, and do it right. The sump fit the INTERNAL dimensions of my stand, but was way too big to slide in diagonally, so I had to disassemble the center support to fit it in. I'm modifying my stand a bit and taking out the center support and bracing it diagonally in the front.

I have some awesome dry live rock I'm bleaching and some live rock I'm killing off as it came from another tank and you've warned me about antipasta.

Have a super weekend all and I really appreciate all your help.
 
Plumbing done and tested. just added salt. it's clearing up already.

Question:

Running an EShopps 200 advanced sump with 1" overflow and it's really loud. anything I can do to quiet it down? should I reduce the plumbing to 1/2"?
 
the overflow is extremely loud at the sump. the weir at the top is a bit noisy as well, where the little tab got broken off to accommodate the return lines
 
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