First time ever 54gal new setup

[cmay]

Hi everyone.

I have now decided to start my tank journal

I'm a total beginner in marine fish so I have allot to learn.

I posted the following in my first thread so I thought I would use the same post here as an introduction as well:

I've fallen for the beauty of marine life, the colours, coral, fish and the fact I can set up and watch my own eco system in my home.

My objective is to set up a my tank with live rock, fish, SPS/LPS coral and various other live stock which will support and live with each other.

32mm x 2 overflows
20mm x 2 current (close loops)

Equipment:

54 gal gal tank
2nd hand Deltec APF600 protein skimmer
3 x 4k ltr h pumps (I can pull/reduce flow if required)

4 stage RO unit from RO-MAN / inline TDS meter.

Loads of piping and various valves/couplers......

PHP & salinity meter

2 x MH 14k (250w)
2 X T5 Aqua Medic - Full Spectrum White, marine (39W)
2 x T5 Aqua Medic - Blue , marine (39W)

2 x T5 blues (to use in the morning to bring the light slowly back up to full daylight (MH) and back down to blues and then no light) if you see what im saying

I couldn't believe how expensive the light system I wanted was, so I have purchased ballast, ignition and parts separately and I will carry out DIY on this.

4" LDSB (sugar grain size)

I need to work out how much LR I require (after speaking with the forum I have decided to raise the LR on piping leaving a small gap between LR and LDSB, great advice, thanks :)

I'm designing a sump which will house a refugim (more LR/LDSB) I would like to design an area for acclimatising new live stock, plan to have a drip feed going in (tank water) and a drip out (waste) this will hopefully allow slow acclimatising.

My experience so far:

I was overwhelmed by the technicality of the hobby, I cant express enough how important it is to research from pumps, skimmers, flow, LR, DSB to everything.

If I had not, im sure I would of ended up with my LFS "ready to go" marine setup (this is not a criticism but I know in the long run I would of not been happy)

My first step is to drill my tank to hold two 32mm bulk heads and possibly another hole for return however im considering over the tank return. (I have been given some great advise and pointed to a good thread "thanks everyone")

IMO If I had known better I would of decided on tank size first but waited to the last minute before buying a tank, I have seen so many new designs that make my jaw drop and my foot kick me, now I know why so many use custom builds :)

I will update as I go along, I plan to post photos of my tank and equipment I intend to use very soon.

If anyone has any suggestion or can see where im going completely wrong please let me know.

I would also like to tank ;) everyone who has helped out and made me feel welcomed :)

[CarmieJo]

Chris,

Is your's a corner tank?

[pham411]

wow thats a pretty impresive setup for a beginer. looks like you got all the right equipment for a awsome start

[cmay]

Carmie:

my tank is slightly bowed, but I wished I had room for a bigger tank and waited until I was ready to start my build before I purchased the tank.


Jelloz:

Thanks for your kind words and encouragement, I hope I don't have to many issues im going real slow especially when the day comes for me to drop my dead shrimp in the tank "cant wait"

[fat walrus]

good luck with your new tank. looks like you are ready.

[Amphibious]

... I hope I don't have to many issues im going real slow especially when the day comes for me to drop my dead shrimp in the tank "cant wait"Hey Chris, you can skip the dead shrimp. Having LR and LS will kick start your cycle event. The dead shrimp thing is a hangover from earlier times before the advent of LR and LS.

[cmay]

Unfortunately due to personnel commitments progress is slow, I haven’t even had time to check out the site recently :(

Below is a photo of most of the equipment I’ve listed above.

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/kit.jpg

This weekend I found time to install my RO unit.

Red hose (mains feed) has been connected to my cold water pipe under the sink.
Green hose (waste) connected the sink drain pipe
Blue hose (production water) can be placed in a collection container

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/ro_u.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/ro_con.jpg

I added two ball valves one just before the red hose enters the RO unit (so I do not need to climb under the sink to turn of the main feed line)

The other valve on the blue production hose so I can stop flow.

The main reason I added ball valves was to trap water in between the RO this will stop the membrane from drying out.

I did not have any real problems installing the unit however I was slightly surprised how little production water was produced.

I’m running at 40 bar (TDS: IN 300 – 350 / OUT 000)

Well that’s it so far………..

I have decided not to drill my tank and will build overflow boxes, this will be my next step.

[Amphibious]

Thanks for the update, Chris. Keep us posted.

[wwest]

very cool, im looking forward to seeing all the progress and experiences..

[cmay]

Thanks for the comments, I have booked 9 days leave starting the 16th so hopefully I will have filled my tank with DSB, LR and water.

[Small Fry]

lol, placing all your equipment like that looks so impressive :p i hope that didnt take you too long :p

but im looking forward to seeing this unfold

[cmay]

lol, placing all your equipment like that looks so impressive :p i hope that didnt take you too long :p

but im looking forward to seeing this unfold

Took me ages especially with my 3 year old wanting to pick everything up ;) hopefully it will give new starters some idea of all the equipment involved.

[CarmieJo]

lol I'm sure your frag was a BIG help!

[cmay]

lol I'm sure your frag was a BIG help!

he's a good little frag deep down ;)

[V]

i thought id check out your other threads, cause i had know idea from the LR thread as to what level ur at! congrats bud, you've dont some leg work before diving head first! sign off a great marinist! welcome aboard explorer!;)

[cmay]

congrats bud, you've dont some leg work before diving head first! sign off a great marinist! welcome aboard explorer!;)

Thanks, I've always loved marine life and when I took a visit to my LFS and saw their fantastic central marine display I was hooked from that moment on.

I was straight on the net researching, researching and I'm still researching. As a beginner I cant express how important it is to research.

I'm amazed by the technology and involvement behind the hobby, TR has been a great resource (especially welcoming) and the internet as a whole.

[cmay]

Well..... What can I say, I have now started my tank setup.

Problem after problem (My wife wasn’t happy when I flooded are new wooden floor I laid a month ago)

My first disappointment was my closed loop system, I had 20mm piping running around the tank with 5 outlets, 1 which was meant to go under the sand and up in to the middle of the LR.

I had a pump over 4000 LH, however when I tested the loop the surge was week.

I couldn’t believe the noise from my 32mm overflow pipe when entering the sump which contained big bubbles, I have corrected this by reducing the pipe just before entering the sump, seems to work a treat.

My other problem is my overflow box sits to low in the tank, and my 300 LH pump can not keep up, I cant raise the CR overflow as my hood will not fit, so I've made the lip higher, this will allow my overflow to continue when my pump has caught up and also stop too much water overflowing if my pump breaks (If the water level drops to far I don’t want to use the suction pipe as an auto overflow break, I'd rather use the pipe on a power head to keep the overflow box primed)

When I first started the overflow and tested the sump I forgot to shut off my siphon when I unplugged the pump and hay presto I flooded my floor, as my wife looked on in discuss.

I bought a glass sump which is slightly to high (good price) however I plan to have it adjusted.

In the mean time im using two plastic containers in which 1 is slightly smaller and is raised higher (refugium) water then trickles through drilled holes to the lower bigger container where my return pump sits

When I have time I will upload some photos.

[cmay]

Today I have been working on the best way to flow water from and to my tank :p

Problems I have encounter so far (any advice would be grateful)

I think my CT overflow sits to far down in my tank, when I allow the water to flow at max the 3000LH pump can not keep up so I need to reduce the flow by a small amount (ball valve)

When looking at other overflows the intake lip just sits under the water line, allowing surface skim and the pump size not to matter as the flow will stop until the pump catches up.

However when I raise the lip on my overflow (self mod) I'm required to reduce the flow rate even further not because the flow is even quicker, in order to produce a constant non-noisy flow, im not sure if this is due to the weight of the water being less then when the lip is lower.

If I do not reduce the flow the noise from the air intake is irritating and loud, I reduce the noise slightly by placing a rabbit feed bottle with holes over the down pipe but this seems to transmits the noise to the sump.

I'm not happy with this setup as I know the overflow can perform much better without the mod (intake lip lower in the tank)

I don’t have any noise issues with the overflow lip sitting lower, however im concerned if my pump fails/power interruption my sump will not be able to handle the flow back down to the lip intake, if I use the overflow prime pipe as an auto overflow cut off and the pump starts up again the overflow wont work and my tank will overflow.

Maybe I can connected the prime pipe to a t-piece one connected to a power head and the other sitting just beneath the water level so when both pipes are once again beneath water level the overflow box might self prime ??????

I also believe I need to sit my pump in a separate compartment within the sump in order to only pump a small amount of water back to the tank if the overflow breaks.

Sorry if I'm rambling and not making since any suggestion would be helpful :)

[cmay]

Hi, all hope every one had a great Xmas.

Here are some pics of my Tank, I have been introducing LR over the last five weeks and included a 6 man clean up crew.

As you can see my sump needs some work.

I went through a slight green algae phase and now turning purple.

I love it.......

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/tankI1.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/tankI2.jpg

[cmay]

Well my tank seems to be going ok so far, My water reading seem to be within recommended limits.

I'm trying to identify my life which has grown on my LR, any help would be great.

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/c1.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/c2.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/c3.jpg

[CarmieJo]

Pictures 1 & 3 look like button polyps.

[Stevej72]

I agree with Carmie pic 1 and 3 are button polyps. Pic 2 could be foraminiferans. http://www.talkingreef.com/forums/general-marine-discussions/2708-what-these.html

Hitchhiker FAQ (http://www.reefs.org/hhfaq/pages/main_pages/faq_rock3.htm)

[cmay]

Thanks Carmie, Steve

Your links were very useful, im still struggling to work out the difference between some corals and anemones.

I found you cant read enough in this hobby.

[CarmieJo]

There is always something new to learn.

[iglowce]

u got ur recent pix?

[cmay]

I have now purchase 4 X 3 spotted damsels and 1 X chalk gobby who seem to love their new home, my goby makes lovely work of my substrate.

Today I pulled out my existing light system from my hood and replaced with T5's , hopefully I will complete MH this weekend.

I now run my skimmer between 23:00 - 08:00 im only pulling a small amount of grime,

My water levels are within recommended levels and everything seems to be running smoothly so far.

The only down side so far was my original plans somewhat went out of the window.

No close loop system (I tried but failed)
Did not drill tank (to concerned about my tank being tampered)

Upside

Finding new things to look at every day, oh I also have a feather duster worm (lovely)

[CarmieJo]

It sounds great! Do you have any pictures?

[cmay]

It sounds great! Do you have any pictures?

Thanks.. I will post some more photos of my tank and once I have my MH installed I will try and put together a DIY thread (just incase someone finds it usefull)

I'm amazed at how much time i spend in front of my tank and in my LFS :)

[iglowce]

yea we wanna see ur goby =]

[Small Fry]

pics pics pics :D

[cmay]

Thanks for the replies, here are some more pics.

I have a slight problem with Ammonia, which i have posted a new thread in the marine tank problems forum.

I still have not had a chance to install my DIY MH :(

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/f1.jpg
http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/f2.jpg
http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/f3.jpg
http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/f4.jpg

[cmay]

Due to all the noise and no practical way of maintaining my sump I decided I wanted to move it under the stairs, which also meant I wouldn’t loose any water volume if I resized the sump to fit practically in the cabinet under my tank.

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/sump.jpg

Well the move went ok, took 5 of us to move the display tank to its new location.

I created sections in my sump, left to right (1. refuge, 2. return, 3. section for broken LR, 4. intake area)

Sec 1. 3" LSB in the refuge section, I have a T connection with ball valve running from the main overflow pipe in order to adjust water flow through this area. (looking forward to expanding in this area, just not to sure on what yet :)

Sec 2. Return from skimmer, main display return pump and heater, T connection fitted to return pump with ball valve to allow return flow adjustment without straining the pump (Tip found on TR :)

Sec 3. section which holds broken LR

Sec 4. intake pump for skimmer, could also add other filter medium if required.

Unfortunately im waiting on a new pin wheel pump, so im using sponge and filter wool, which I clean every day :( (will be gone in 3 days time)

I would also like to change my drill holes in section 1 for teeth to increase surface skimming, im not sure how quick water movement should be through section 1 (any advise would be great)

I also need to tidy up my cables and replace a metal clip I've used on my overflow pipe attached to the sump pipe work.

Any advise or suggestion would be great.

I will upload some photos of my tank in a couple of days.

[cmay]

Here are some more photos of my tank so far…...


http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/t1.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/t2.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/t3.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/t4.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/t6.jpg

http://www.cmay.dsl.pipex.com/marine/images/ta5.jpg

[Small Fry]

did u get the new Mh's in?? looks like u have some new liught ripples in there. Anywho, looking very nice and clean, gj

[cmay]

did u get the new Mh's in?? looks like u have some new liught ripples in there. Anywho, looking very nice and clean, gj

Thank you,,,, yes i installed my 250w MH, however I’ve recently found out I need a filter on DE Lamps, so I’m in the process of redesigning

I've also just got through a stage of white spot, thankfully all my fish were back to health within 3 days.

Unfortunately I was messing around trying to place a new finger coral which took me longer than I hoped and my hands were in the tank far to long.

Than I came home to find the coral had started to rot away, I removed the coral and it smelt really bad.

I’m going to post a new thread regarding what happened to my coral and the speed it took to rot, seemed to happen within 2 days flat. :(

[cmay]

This is my latest addition to my tank I purchased from my LFS:

Once fully established they look great. My LFS had him for over two months and he looked unwell with only a few corals left on the rock.

However I've been spot feeding and with some great help from the forum (advice) I now have 13 corals on the rock :up:

1741

[Bluemax4]

:pic: nice photos.:wow:

[cmay]

:pic: nice photos.:wow:

Thanks :)

[lReef lKeeper]

lookin good Chris !!

[cmay]

lookin good Chris !!

Thanks, im still taking everything slow mainly to see how my tank reacts over a period of time, monitor each new coral I buy over a long period to understand polyp extension, time of day and frequency and to see how other SP/fish react within my tank.

I'm also finding im always checking my SG especially as my evaporation has increased with our warm weather (UK) my water level drops in my tank and sump so it's not as easy as just replacing RO back to my guide line on the sump (I need to resolve this as I want to automate top-off)

[cmay]

Been sometime since I last posted, there's always something else need doing ;(

I'm still taking the hobby slowly and learning each step of the way, for instance flow rate/positioning can effect a Xenia from pulsing (not only PH)

Most of all im learning to read my tank without always needing to take water parameters (however testing is always important)

And most of all i have Talkingreef for advice when needed, fantastic hobby.

I've included a few more pics, hopefully when i have more time i will create a better write up.

[cmay]

Few More pics :up:

[CarmieJo]

The pictures are great! Your tank is coming along nicely.

[clownfish4me]

wow, i love the sun coral. when i did my rock scaping in my 90gal. i made sure to put in a really large cave that i can get in to feed some sun coral that i will one day put there!...:D

[cmay]

CarmieJo - Thanks, i have a lot to thank TR and hobbyist like yourself for my efforts so far.

clownfish4me - i use to keep my sun coral in a cave, but after reading and carrying out my own test sun corals can deal with MH and will extend at regular feeding times if you have a sceduale or as soon as you tease them out with fish food oil (as mine do)

However i cant seem to get them to reproduce.

slightly better image to date:

[CarmieJo]

Chris,

Mine have not budded new polyps either but I am told the key is feeding them. I stuff them full of mysis but so far no luck. I'll let you know if and when I have babies.