Hello All!

I'm new to both the podcast and the hobby. I've been keeping freshwater fish for a few years now, and always knew i would make the switch. Well it's time! After quite a bit of research and alot of hardwork (to pay for it all!) i've decided to go for it.

I've decided on a 75 Gallon with a 20 gallon 'long' for my sump. I'm still in the process of finishing the plumbing and putting in plexiglass dividers in the 20 gallon. I'll post some pictures as soon as i get them off my camera!

Welcome to the addiction ....er.. hobby Alex..and welcome to the Talkingreef. Take it slow, never hesitate to ask questions and enjoy the ride.

Dave

Welcome to the addiction ....er.. hobby Alex..and welcome to the Talkingreef. Take it slow, never hesitate to ask questions and enjoy the ride.

Dave

^^^^^ yeah, what he said ^^^^^

Alright guys, so far i've got it plumbed and the sump/refugium(haven't decided which yet) built and all connected. I've rinsed and dumped the sand in, and am going through the painstakingly slow process of filtering and mixing my water. Here's a pic of the tank so far(the desk is moving into my room as soon as i can make room).
http://bp3.blogger.com/_SSeqAV4J3T8/RrJM-iMBZ1I/AAAAAAAAACU/NfKm2EZFXv4/s320/IMG_0413.JPG

Enjoy!

looks very good man. My piece of early advice to you is to devote as much of that tank to a fuge as you can (the sump tank) your system will thank you for it by replenishing all the little critters very quick. (i reccomend you listen to the "refugiums" podcast to understand why you would devote to a bigger fuge.

Looks good and welcome to TR!!!!

Thanks Small Fry, i was actually looking at your tank project earlier this evening, i really like the set up.

I listened to the episode on refugiums a few days ago, because the tank i have is so small(it's a 20 long) by the time the skimmer and return pump and heaters go in... i don't have too much room forother things i'd really like to put in there... for the time i'll fill as much as i can with extra live rock, then when i upgrade the tank( i plan on building my own custom from acrylic) i'll be able to have a deep sand bed and a nice low flow environment.

I hope to be getting LR this weekend and letting it cycle while i'm on vacation in a few weeks, then when i get back i'll be ready for some livestock!

Thank you for the complement Alex, i am very fortunate to have had the opportunity to build (and afford :p) such a system. It just shows that having a years worth of patience (the most important thing in this hobby) will really pay off.

Keep us updated on the new sump will ya?? I am planning on moving the door in my fish room about 6 feet to the right so i can add a 75 gallon Dedicated Fuge to the system :D :D :D

Love the plan, love how quick the systems movin along for ya, and i hope you can find some great live rock for your tank :D

Welome aboard Alex, can't wait to see your progress! I was a rookie at this myself about 18 months ago and if you read my journal you will see may of my mistakes came from jumping to conclusions and / lack of patience. And also most of the assistance that got me out of my jams came from help from the good folks on Talkingreef. Take your time and ask away!
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Alright i have my first question(actually second, first was on RO filters).

I'm about ready to purchase some lighting for the tank, i know this is sometimes a controversial(sp?) topic and asking what kind of lights should i get is a loaded question. I know it's based on what i want to do.So here's a short list of things(corals) i like and hope to someday keep.

Ricordea, Zoanthus, Trumpet(CandyCane), and possibly Torch Coral and a few others. These are the ones that drew me into reef tanks and made me want to have one so bad. With that list made and some research done, i've come to the conclusion that i need moderate to high level of lighting for these corals.

My budget will really only allow for Power Compacts (although in a perfect world i'd love a Solaris LED system). I've looked around on the web and these two 48" Orbit 4x65 watt SunPaq w/Lunar Light: Aquarium Equipment and Supplies - Aqua Buys (http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=orbit_4x65_48&Category_Code=d2&Product_Count=20)
48" Dual Satellite 4x65 Watt w/Lunar Light: Aquarium Equipment and Supplies - Aqua Buys (http://www.aquabuys.com/miva/merchant.mvc?Screen=PROD&Product_Code=satellite_4x65_48&Category_Code=d2&Product_Count=34)
are the ones i'm deciding between.

Has anybody had experience with these systems? Or do you have a better recomendations? I'm not in dire need for the lights, as my tank doesn't even have Live Rock in it yet... but i'd like to start thinking about it.

for what you are loking at keeping, i would suggest T5 HO lights like these ...

link wont work so try MyReefShop (http://www.myreefshop.com) / lighting / t5 fixtures

let me know if you decide to go with these ... i know the guy that owns that site and can maybe get you a better deal than that.

for the lps corals that you listed, it has been my experience that they do better under brighter lights than PC's but do not need halides.

Im sorry i cant help you on specific systems, but that lighting does sound sufficient for the corals that you are planning for (to me anyways :s)

They both look solid to me, from my point of view, the orbit would probably run a little bit cooler (only becuase the mounting pegs would put it up higher) And it also has some extra LED's. So its your choice, are extra led's and the possible tmep difference worth $30??? (

btw, the other fixture prolly comes with mounting pegs too, so dont decide mainly on the temp :p

lol, pay more attn to what reefkeeper said above me, i only have experience with MH's :p

double posted

Little bit of an update.

I have all my sand in, quite a sand storm atm... i've got some uncured live rock chillin' in there atm, as i try to finish filling the tank up. I'm not home long enough to make more than 5 gallons of RO water. So it's kind of a long process, i'm tempted to go to the store and buy distilled water, but i'm gonna stick it out.

Any way here's a pic to show you where i am.

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can you just run your Ro/DI line straight to the tank for the time being ?? then remove it when it gets close to full. remember to leave room for the rock you will be adding.

Looking good !!

The problem is that my RO line is upstairs in the laundry room, it's the only place i can hook it up for the time, so unless i can run 100+ feet of tubing (won't happen) not really an option :(

So i'm pretty much down to 1 Five gallon bucket at a time, oh well, i'm getting close :-p

just remember to leave the extra room for rock. i keep saying that because i forgot one time !!

2 quick questions, one about cycling, one about RO filters.

1) Should you run your skimmer during the cycling process? What are the harm/ benefits of doing so? Should i run it long enough to tune it and make sure it's working right then turn it off?

2) Is warm/hot water bad for RO filters? i figure i could turn both faucets on (i have a faucet mounted one) and up the pressure and get the water faster, but i don't want to harm the membrane by doing so.

Thanks guys. The tanks is almost full, i'm sooo excited!

Warm/Hot water will ruin your RO membrane.

Yeah....run your skimmer when cycling. It will help pull the organic matter out of the water because you will have some level of "die off" from something in the system. You won't really have a final "tuning" on it when it is cycling. The production will vary with the rise and fall of matter in the water as a result of the cycle itself. Once you reach "stability" in your system, and you have no more algae, critters etc. passing on, you will find that you can set the skimmer to skim productively (whether you like to skim wet or dry) and will have predictability in skimmate production.

While HOT water will ruin the membranes, cold water will slow down the filtration process. I've seen some who tap their plumbing in parallel (hot and cold feed with valve control) to get a warm mix. Not ice cold as it comes to the home from the ground, and not too hot as it would be, directly from the furnace system. You would have to adjust properly to ensure that you have a proper temperature.

D

So it's up and running, and i can see through it!
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Only waiting on some more base rock and a lighting fixture, both are in the mail.

Parameters:

pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
Nitrite: .25
Nitrate: 0

I don't have test kits for dkH/phosphates/ or calcium&magnesium ... those i'll get as soon as i can.

I don't know if i missed the ammonia spike, but it's only been less than 2 days since there's been some semi-cured live rock in there. I guess we'll wait and see.

looking good buddy, so what fixture did you decide to go with ??

My guess is the stuff has not started to decompose yet, and that the ammonia spike is coming

But the rock looks really good

Ya, i guess i was thrown off by the nitrites already being at .25, but i tossed a raw shrimp in there hoping that'll kick start it. I'm waiting on some more rocks in the mail, i feel like i need some more, and my refugium is empty of rocks atm...

I went with the T5's that Bobby suggested, although i didn't order from your friend. I emailed him with a question about the lights twice and never got a response, i figured he might just be very busy atm. So i ordered it from Marine Depot(it ended up being about the same after shipping was added.) along with a couple of other things, and i ended up with free shipping so it worked out for me i guess...

Anyway, sorry for the slow responses, my cable was out for the past few days, someone ran into the switch box in the neighborhood!

sweet, i think you will really like the T5's.

BTW, i just keep LR rubble in my refugium.

I bought a box of Marco Rocks (http://www.marcorocks.com/) rubble and have this in my sump. I bought it as dry rock but it is certainly live now. Their quality is great and they are a TR sponsor.

Yup, that's exactly what i did. They just came in today, along with my new lights, as soon as my camera's battery recharges i'll try to take some pics. I really do like the Marco Rocks, they were really nice.

yay! Lights!

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I really like these lights, i'm glad Ireef Ikeeper pointed me at these, thanks man!

Sump with rocks!

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Awesome setup! Congrats on your lighting too! Your corals will love them!

http://img246.imageshack.us/img246/8399/thumbsup4kk.gif

what a difference !! the lights look great, anytime buddy.

Alright, i'm back from my vacation. And i'm glad i didn't have anything in the tank but rock, we had some really bad storms and we lost power for like 2 days :( Everyone i know lost stuff, one guy even lost most his tank because he couldn't find a generator until his power came back on... Well i avoided that catastrophe and i didn't lose any of my freshwater fish either, so i'm happy.

Well i think it's time for a cleanup crew and maybe my first fish or two. I've got green hair algae and what i'm assuming is a diatom bloom all over the tank, so i think i'll get my clean up crew first. Any suggestions on what i should get? I really haven't looked into the different kinda of snails and crabs so i don't know what each ones eat and what i should get.

The diatom bloom will go away on its own. What are your parameters? Are you sure that the power outage didn't cause some die off with an ensuing ammonia spike.

Current Parameters:

SG: 1.024
pH: 8.2
Ammonia: 0
NO2: 0
NO3: between 5 and 10 (i'm a little colored blind :( can't tell the differences between the two)

i've gotta pick up some kits for phosphates and calcium... haven't had a chance since i've been back. I'm pretty sure that the power wasn't off at my house for more than a few hours, but ya never know. Everything is looking good i think.


oh ps: while doing my tests a few minutes ago... i.. saw... an... AMPHIPOD!!! ( i was rather excited :-p )

Those params look good but you might want to give it a couple more days just to be sure. IMO you don't need to worry about Ca right now unless you are going to start your tank with corals. A good salt will have enough for snails, crabs, etc. There is a school of thought that advises adding herbivores (like snails) first, corals next and fish last.

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I'd like introduce everyone to my new coral! It's a Green Star Polyp. Very mesmerizing to watch as it waves with current passing it. Looks like a wheat field with a nice summer breeze. I picked it up because my LFS is moving and is try to get rid of some extra stuff. It looked nice and i got a great deal on it. It also has some Mushrooms polyps on it, which i need to figure out how to move off that rock and onto a new one.

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Here's a nice close up of the Mushrooms there are four there, two blue/purple(center and far low right), one green(left side), and one red/pink(center to the left of big blue... very small). I was surprised that all the polyps opened up on the GSP within just a few hours, everywhere i've been reading says it usually takes several days for it to acclimate and open up, maybe i'm just lucky.

I also picked up a few snails and about 6 blue legged hermit crabs which are fun to watch.

http://bp0.blogger.com/_SSeqAV4J3T8/RtXdCiVz2sI/AAAAAAAAADM/-a8PsmKOyuc/s320/IMG_0893cropped.jpg

So i now that i have it all in my tank... parts of the GSP are not even connected to the rocks.. they are just kinda flapping around on the back and sides... after a few days or weeks (to let the acclimate more) i'd like to frag them off so they aren't just flappin' around. This i think i can handle on my own.

But, i want to get those four mushrooms of that rock, i don't want the GSP to overgrow and kill them.What would be the best approach? Chipping that section of the rock off with a chisel/hammer? Can i scrape them off and attach to a new rock with a rubber band? i have no clue how to handle that. Any suggestions would be helpful.

So i stopped by my first club meeting this week. After a little dedicated searching online and inquiring in all the local stores, i found out that there indeed was a local club. The meeting itself wasn't spectacular topic wise or anything, but i was excited in the amount of helpfulness and advice that people were giving. It's a small group and very friendly.

At the end of the meeting they have an auction! I picked up some more mushrooms (green this time) and a small rock of 10-25 polyps of Sunburst Zoa's. They have opened up nicely and the shrooms are starting to attach to rocks in a little bucket. I'm very excited and i'll take pictures later this week as i get less busy . I have an interview this week!! but, lots of school work as well :(

anyway, updates and pics to come!

Clubs are great!

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Here are my sunbursts Zoa's. I'm very excited they are looking good and opening well.

YES!! I got the internship I applied and Interview for! (I know this has nothing to do with my tank, the next one will i promise.) Any way, it's a year long internship for a world leader in the pharmaceutical and bio-tech research industry.

I'll be their newest IT Intern in about a week when i start. I'm excited cause i'll work on a rotation between 5 sub departments including Software development and Programing, Infastructure, Data Management, Help Desk, and a Service Center. I still haven't decided what part of the IT industry i want to work, and since i have about a year left till i graduate i need to figure out which i like best!

Anyway, next post is exciting to me too just waiting on the lame YouTube servers to finish processing it.....

Congratulations! :clap::clap:

congrats on the new job !! :up: :thumbs: :clap: :cheers: :party:

And now for the post that has things to do with my tank :tongue2:

So i have some new inhabitants, got them about a week before i planned to, but they're just so darn cute i couldn't help myself. Made a short video with my webcam, quality isn't great, but it's what i got.

YouTube - My new Clowns

Enjoy, I hope you do as much as I am. Haven't named them yet, any suggestions are welcome.

Very nice! I love watching them, they are cute and have lots of personality. Since my husband is into watching "Dancing With the Stars" Fred and Ginger immediately came to mind for names.