sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
woohoo
can't wait to see as things settle down
can't wait to see as things settle down
Rygh's 250 gallon upgrade
- Thread starter rygh
- Start date
rygh
Guest
Quick updates:
I think my cement in the rockwork has probably had enough time to soak now.
The plan is for a big tap water rinse this weekend, and double check PH change, then put real salt water in next week.
Dead stuff on rock is dissolving and cycling. Does not smell at all anymore. I guess I could test ammonia for fun.
I ordered sand. Should be here next week.
Bit of a setback on the plumbing. I replaced some of the Q1-4000 pumps, but not all.
After powering on/off a couple of times, the noise on that last one has increased a bit.
Enough to hear a little bit in the family room. So I have some work to do to replace that.
Piece of Sh*t pumps. Lower flow than advertised, noisy. Pissed about that. For sale cheap.
I am grinding through the main electrical system. New circuits, lots of plugs, lots of wires.
Tricky making sure no water can get in, yet get it close enough to all the pumps and such.
Plus, needs to run both the fish room and main tank room.
Mostly hooked up, other than the plugs that will be relay controlled by the microcontroller.
Lights are stalled, waiting for parts from Australia. Best place to get XP-G LEDs, but takes a while.
Doing a little work on the new microcontroller board but not much.
I think the key thing - I can let my credit card cool down a bit for now. OUCH!
All the big ticket items are ordered, and most are here.
I expect a few trips to Lowes, but other than that, should be done.
Well - unless I need a bigger skimmer. May DIY that for fun anyway.
Of course, credit card will heat up again when the tank is ready for livestock.
I think my cement in the rockwork has probably had enough time to soak now.
The plan is for a big tap water rinse this weekend, and double check PH change, then put real salt water in next week.
Dead stuff on rock is dissolving and cycling. Does not smell at all anymore. I guess I could test ammonia for fun.
I ordered sand. Should be here next week.
Bit of a setback on the plumbing. I replaced some of the Q1-4000 pumps, but not all.
After powering on/off a couple of times, the noise on that last one has increased a bit.
Enough to hear a little bit in the family room. So I have some work to do to replace that.
Piece of Sh*t pumps. Lower flow than advertised, noisy. Pissed about that. For sale cheap.
I am grinding through the main electrical system. New circuits, lots of plugs, lots of wires.
Tricky making sure no water can get in, yet get it close enough to all the pumps and such.
Plus, needs to run both the fish room and main tank room.
Mostly hooked up, other than the plugs that will be relay controlled by the microcontroller.
Lights are stalled, waiting for parts from Australia. Best place to get XP-G LEDs, but takes a while.
Doing a little work on the new microcontroller board but not much.
I think the key thing - I can let my credit card cool down a bit for now. OUCH!
All the big ticket items are ordered, and most are here.
I expect a few trips to Lowes, but other than that, should be done.
Well - unless I need a bigger skimmer. May DIY that for fun anyway.
Of course, credit card will heat up again when the tank is ready for livestock.
rygh
Guest
Still waiting for sand.......
The LFS was going to get it for me, but their normal wholesaler went out of business, and
they had no luck finding any more locally. Just the usual "live" sand (yea right), and some crushed coral.
So I ended up ordering it from marine depot.
Hope it gets here Friday, if so - possibly salt water this weekend.
Other than that, been mostly working on lights. Time consuming.
Honestly - been mostly doing other things.
Holidays, relatives in, playing with kids new toys, and new camper and pickup on order.
The LFS was going to get it for me, but their normal wholesaler went out of business, and
they had no luck finding any more locally. Just the usual "live" sand (yea right), and some crushed coral.
So I ended up ordering it from marine depot.
Hope it gets here Friday, if so - possibly salt water this weekend.
Other than that, been mostly working on lights. Time consuming.
Honestly - been mostly doing other things.
Holidays, relatives in, playing with kids new toys, and new camper and pickup on order.
eldiablosrt8
Guest
nice... good luck on sand cant wait to see some saltwater in tank shots
rygh
Guest
I started adding sand and salt water !!
arty:
Emphasis on "starting" though. I have about 20 pounds of sand, and 50 gallons of water in it.
While that may fill some tanks, it looks a lot like a little kids sand castle in a small puddle in mine.
Hoping to have it full by the Sunday night or so.
The water is what is taking so long. Current rate is only about 50 GPD,
really limited by places to store water, not by RODI.
Very happy with the sand.
I ended up buying "CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand"
Very nice grain size.
From experience with washing, it does not seem to blow around easy.
Yet they grains are small enough to look like normal sand, not gravel.
Also, grains are flake-like, not particularly round, so they look finer than they really are as they settle.
Only slight downside is that I would have preferred it to be a bit whiter.
Tip : Found a good way to clean the sand.
Took an old plastic food container, about 4" diameter, 12" long.
Fill about 3/4 with sand, and run hose with pressure nozzle into it.
Move nozzle up/down, until water drains out clear.
Really gets rid of a ton of that fine white powder.
Do that in a bucket though, since it is easy to goof and send sand everywhere.
arty:Emphasis on "starting" though. I have about 20 pounds of sand, and 50 gallons of water in it.
While that may fill some tanks, it looks a lot like a little kids sand castle in a small puddle in mine.
Hoping to have it full by the Sunday night or so.
The water is what is taking so long. Current rate is only about 50 GPD,
really limited by places to store water, not by RODI.
Very happy with the sand.
I ended up buying "CaribSea Dry Aragonite Special Grade Reef Sand"
Very nice grain size.
From experience with washing, it does not seem to blow around easy.
Yet they grains are small enough to look like normal sand, not gravel.
Also, grains are flake-like, not particularly round, so they look finer than they really are as they settle.
Only slight downside is that I would have preferred it to be a bit whiter.
Tip : Found a good way to clean the sand.
Took an old plastic food container, about 4" diameter, 12" long.
Fill about 3/4 with sand, and run hose with pressure nozzle into it.
Move nozzle up/down, until water drains out clear.
Really gets rid of a ton of that fine white powder.
Do that in a bucket though, since it is easy to goof and send sand everywhere.
rygh
Guest
Quick updates:
Sand is done and in. I ended up putting in 1+1/4".
Still happy with it. Grains are visible up close, but not from normal viewing.
You can tell it is visibly coarse sand, but a long ways from looking like gravel.
It might settle a bit, but I also plan on adding a bit more rock from the old tank.
I have about 15 pounds left over, which is nice for long term replacement
as it dissolves or is accidentally siphoned during cleaning.
Sump is full (100 gallons or so)
Main tank is about 1/3 full.
So getting it truly full this weekend is looking questionable, but close.
I can probably put all the water in the display, to get powerheads going.
Guess I can start adding SPS next week. :~
Sand is done and in. I ended up putting in 1+1/4".
Still happy with it. Grains are visible up close, but not from normal viewing.
You can tell it is visibly coarse sand, but a long ways from looking like gravel.
It might settle a bit, but I also plan on adding a bit more rock from the old tank.
I have about 15 pounds left over, which is nice for long term replacement
as it dissolves or is accidentally siphoned during cleaning.
Sump is full (100 gallons or so)
Main tank is about 1/3 full.
So getting it truly full this weekend is looking questionable, but close.
I can probably put all the water in the display, to get powerheads going.
Guess I can start adding SPS next week. :~
sfboarders
Guest
rygh said:
Tank cycled already?
rygh
Guest
sfboarders said:
Cycling is for wusses. Frag swap here I come.
I worry cycling may be done before I finish the micro-controller and lights. Grrr.
I will jump start cycling as soon as I can turn the power heads on.
Some seed rock / sand from old tank, and some old frozen shrimp or something.
After normal cycle complete and establishing a bit of growth on scrubber,
I plan to "lightly" connect the two tanks.
Meaning, run a small pump, from old tank to new,
and let it overflow back. Gradually increasing pump rate. Say 1 GPH eventually to 100 or so.
That will equalize the water perfectly. Then I can start to move things.
Trickier will be light acclimation.
Somewhere in there I plan to grind up some coralline, and try to give that
a head start as well.
Yes, that connection also means all the pests get a free ride.
(For me, that is various algae and Aptasia, nothing serious)
But honestly, I think keeping normal pests out is a pipe dream anyway.
Coral reefer
Past President
I vote no old tank water, or a very little maybe. New is clean. You got bacteria that's good enough! Take advantage of the fresh start. What you want out if old water?
rygh
Guest
Coral reefer said:
The problem is, it is not a fresh start. I have coral on various pieces of live rock,
and I am moving those over to the new tank. Most of the pests are on/in the rock, not the water.
I could dip the entire rocks. But the pests I particularly want to eliminate (aptasia/bubble algae),
are probably tougher than the coral on the rock, so all I do is end up
killing brittle stars, and all the useful life.
Main reason to connect the tanks is to equalize the water perfectly.
So no need to acclimate when transferring livestock between tanks. Zero stress.
Although I am sure I could match the water parameters and quick-acclimate instead.
So not a mandatory step.
Hmmmm.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
the question though is what types of corals are on the live rock. I've gotten to the point that not every coral needs to be saved, if its something brown I don't even try giving it a new home it goes into the bucket o skeletons.
Coral reefer
Past President
I'm just saying, if you buy something new how much do you worry about acclimation? I don't really... Anyways, the pests likely some make it over sure, but all the organics, nitrates, phosphates... Even if tests read zero there's still some, and trace elements could be low, I don't even test for a lot of that stuff.
rygh
Guest
Main Tank is FULL!!!!
(as of a few minutes ago with latest batch of water)
But ... took mostly emptying the sump to do it.
So ETA for real fill is Monday.
Wanted to take a picture, but turned all the power heads on, and they promptly dug a big hole in the sand,
and made the water all cloudy.
Grrr.
I have two Mag-7 power heads at each end of the tank, pointed at each other.
Plus a bunch of other smaller ones, but those are not a factor here.
For the big-fast hole, it was my fault. They were pointed down-ish, roughly at the same spot.
I think I bumped them when adding the sand.
But even after tweaking, the sand is still moving a fair amount.
And that is with pretty coarse sand. Hmmm.
Ehhh - just another fun challenge.
(as of a few minutes ago with latest batch of water)
But ... took mostly emptying the sump to do it.
So ETA for real fill is Monday.
Wanted to take a picture, but turned all the power heads on, and they promptly dug a big hole in the sand,
and made the water all cloudy.
Grrr.
I have two Mag-7 power heads at each end of the tank, pointed at each other.
Plus a bunch of other smaller ones, but those are not a factor here.
For the big-fast hole, it was my fault. They were pointed down-ish, roughly at the same spot.
I think I bumped them when adding the sand.
But even after tweaking, the sand is still moving a fair amount.
And that is with pretty coarse sand. Hmmm.
Ehhh - just another fun challenge.
rygh
Guest
Sump is full now also, so basically up and running with salt water.
Beginning to cycle the tank.
Still having trouble with sand blowing around. I improved it by re-aiming power heads,
but overnight, still dug a hole.
I may have to drop the power down a bit on those.
Anyone have any experience with the controllable Korallia pumps???
I was thinking of replacing the two Magnum-7 (2800 GPH) with two
controllable Koralia-6 (800 - 2400 GPH).
Not exactly a cheap upgrade though.
Beginning to cycle the tank.
Still having trouble with sand blowing around. I improved it by re-aiming power heads,
but overnight, still dug a hole.
I may have to drop the power down a bit on those.
Anyone have any experience with the controllable Korallia pumps???
I was thinking of replacing the two Magnum-7 (2800 GPH) with two
controllable Koralia-6 (800 - 2400 GPH).
Not exactly a cheap upgrade though.
sfsuphysics
Supporting Member
woohoo, need to start a thread "How many people got a tank up and running before Jim"
rygh
Guest
Brutalsfsuphysics said:woohoo, need to start a thread "How many people got a tank up and running before Jim"
But I can't pop the Champagne until I put the first fish in, which may be a few more weeks.
I decided that is my official "Tank up" milestone.
A bigger worry is that the stupid LEDs have not even shipped yet, and no response from Cutter.
Getting worried, and have to act soon, since I am approaching the 45 day pay pal guarantee date.
Although I have enough old lights for a fish-only tank temporarily.