Cali Kid Corals

Tank build thread (zero gravitas)

Zero Gravitas

Zero Gravitas

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Started out with a tank I bought from Ocean treasures right before it closed. Bought plexiglass at Home Depot and cut it down to make the baffles.


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(Home made sump)
 
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Got these brewing. Seeded it with some BIO-SPIRA. Going to let it sit for a couple weeks, or maybe longer not sure. I have the temperature at a little above 80 with a lot of movement. Criticism is welcome.

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Another low budget endeavor, as you can tell...


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The display tank is bottom drilled with overflow that I acquired for free through the Nextdoor App. (helped an elderly man break it down because he got too old to maintain it) Going to refinish the facade of the stand with some paneling I have lying around. It has some funky black vinyl now. Came with rails where I can attach sliding doors. Originally black plexi, but I’ll probably use the same siding I’m using for the outside.

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Also thinking about attempting to make a ‘floating’ hood for the tank.


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sfsuphysics said:
Assuming that rock is in some way dead, i.e. not cycled. You might want to do ammonia checks on the water to see where it's going.
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It was dry, and I will do that. Thank you.

“I used ammonia from ace hardware. Best way to test whether the ammonia is pure is to shake the bottle. If it foams up it means there are additives for cleaning. If it does not foam than it is pure ammonia. Add 5 ml to the tank after adding bioaspira. Test for ammonia with a test kit and write it down. Test everyday until it reaches zero. Than add 2 ml. Do the same thing. Than 1 ml. At this point check nitrites. You want to be able to see ammonia turn into nitrites than into nitrates. When you start seeing nitrates and no ammonia and nitrites after adding ammonia 24 hours afterwards Han your tank is cycled.” (michaelrp)

Does this quote about sum it up?
 
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That's certainly another way to get it all started. The whole nitrifying process is super cool (in a nerdy way). Bacteria consume dead stuff and create ammonia as a byproduct, then different bacteria consume ammonia create nitrite as a byproduct, then another different type of bacteria consume nitrite and create nitrate as a byproduct. By kick starting with ammonia (or dead fish product) you turbo charge the ammonia consumers, however when you remove the accelerated ammonia source (either you only dosed ammonia once or remove said shrimp) the critters that consume dead stuff aren't making enough ammonia for the ammonia consumers, so the ammonia consumers die off which allows the ammonia makers consume those dead bacteria which creates more ammonia, then that allows the ammonia consumers to start growing back.

Overall it's this whole life/death cycle that tries to reach some equilibrium which is beautiful in a geeky way :D

Also it's why you shouldn't add a ton of fish to a tank after it's cycled, because the bacteria population is based on the existing food source, now you got all these fish pooping and peeing and you're adding food, which requires more bacteria.
 
sfsuphysics said:
yeh, that quote is certainly a way. Although I'd just spend the $3 and get some Dr Tims Ammonium Chloride solution, no need to risk the whole "if it foams up" theory.
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Lol, that was not as scientific a process as it could have been.. yes, I will get the reef specific ammonia.

Thanks for the input!


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What are some ways to figure when you have reached some sort of equilibrium between these different organisms? Would you just keep checking water parameters until ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels fall and stabilize?


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It's a 55 gallon Plexi I drilled a hole into and added half an old overflow box. 2 250 watt HPS 12k and 15k, also a 50 gallon sump... Was gonna be my main tank but couldn't drill it because it is tempered. Have about 60 LBS of live rock A protein skimmer I took out of my 50 gallon Red Sea all in one tank. Not too many fish, my local fish store gave me ich, or that's what I would like to think, and now I populate with cheaper stock. Made the stand from Home Depot crap, and will prolly upgrade to an 80 gallon tank soon, I definitely have the sump for it. My goal is to get LEDs for this tank so that my roommate will stop whining, what does anyone think would be a good LED replacement for 2 250 HPS lights. I don't think I have anything that needs as much light as I have.


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Got a bit more done, will be finishing up my scrappy plumbing soon. At which point I will connect my display tank to my sump and satellite tank. All my parameters are spot on, and I’ve added quite a bit of Coral to the sump and satellite tank that I’ve gotten free from various members on this forum, thank you very much. Totally destroyed my garage in the process. there are 10 tanks lying around… My girlfriend has been very understanding... going to move the Oceanrevive light to light the other half of the display tank when I take the livestock out of the sump.


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