Ok SO! I finally cleared my tank out of the african cichlids that were calling it home. Last night I emptied all of the water and started getting the sand out (PAIN IN THE (lolli-pop)).
It is an acrylic tank so I don’t want to scratch the front panel while taking the sand out.
Do I need to do anything to the base rock that was in the tank? I put it outside in the sunlight to dry out. Can I just rinse it in RO/DI water and then start curing it?
I have two 120W LED fixtures from ebay. They are super bright!
My equipment list is as follows:
60g acrylic reef-ready tank w/ acrylic stand/hood
2x 120W LED dimmable fixtures
Coralife 125 modded skimmer
Gutted wet/dry sump (i may just build a diy 20g sump if I can’t fit my skimmer in here)
2x Koralia powerheads (i forget the size atm)
~60lb of base rock that needs to be cured
How much aragonite sand do you guys suggest? 3" or so on the bottom?
How bad is the smell when curing in the tank? I’ve heard horror stories and most people suggest curing it in a tub in the basement.
I will upload some pictures this weekend once I have everything cleaned up.
Those base rocks that you’re talking about using, has been in the cichlids tank? Why do you need to cure it? The only time you really need to cure live rocks is when you get in a shipment and it’s dying off. Other wise you want to keep it live.
Going from fresh to salt will kill the bacteria that is on it and the rapid die off would cause a cycle. I would put it in a tub and cycle it there that way you can do 100% water changes to get rid of PO4 and not worry about slowing down the cycle in your tank
Ok so it rained all sunday when I was planning on cleaning the tank out so I could start filling it. I bought a JnJ ATO for my sump.
Any suggestions for what to use for an ATO reservoir? I’m thinking about just using a 5 gallon tank. I would like something taller, but I don’t know what to use. This has to fit in my stand too.
Also, I epoxied the crack. It’s still visible, but hopefully it will structurally be ok. Has anyone ever tried wrapping vinyl? I have some like wood grain looking stuff but I don’t want it to look cheesy lol. I might just color the crack in with sharpie to make it less noticably. That sounds so ghetto!
Hopefully it will stop raining by this afternoon so I can start filling it!
I use a 5 gal. bucket and lid, for ATO. I know a couple of reefers who went to, “The Container Store” here in Cherry Hill and found a more space saving container that they are using.
Cleaned the tank fully, put the “repaired” hood on and fired up the LEDs.
They’re so bright and because they’re sitting on the top of the tank I think I’m going to have to run the whites at like 15-20% blues and 35% to prevent bleaching!!! In the picture, they’re on minimum setting, the stand is white so you are getting some reflection up that will go away when i put sand in.
My skimmer won’t fit in my stand with the sump lol. I bought a SC-150 (ebay brand?). It looks like a bubble magus. I read some good stuff about them. $115 shipped
Anyone know if DPA sells two little fishes reactors? I need one for biopellets but I don’t want to wait for shipping but I also don’t want to spend 100+.
I want to run biopellets from the time I put my rock into the tank to control algae growth. Does it slow your cycle down?
[quote=“JustSumGuy, post:10, topic:5377”]
DPA does carry the TLF reactors but I think Marinedepot.com is the cheapest and there shipping is pretty fast. I paid $31 for my reactors(TLF150).[/quote]
[quote=“jtnova13, post:9, topic:5377”]
My skimmer won’t fit in my stand with the sump lol. I bought a SC-150 (ebay brand?). It looks like a bubble magus. I read some good stuff about them. $115 shipped
Anyone know if DPA sells two little fishes reactors? I need one for biopellets but I don’t want to wait for shipping but I also don’t want to spend 100+.
I want to run biopellets from the time I put my rock into the tank to control algae growth. Does it slow your cycle down?[/quote]
Are you selling the old skimmer?
day 4 of rock curing. This stuff stinks. I’m glad I ended up doing it in a bucket in the basement instead of in my tank.
The water turns green with algae so fast. I did a 100% water change today. Do I need to do it every 3 days or should it be dictated by the level of ammonia/nitrite?
Phosphates were still at 1mg/L. I will test again when I get home from work to see if it’s done leeching.
I got my JBJ ATO. Thing is nice compared to my old ATO that I can’t seem to find!
The tank is half filled with RO/DI water. I’m trying to get it to just below the overflow line and then get my powerheads set up and then all that is left is to plumb in the sump/skimmer/biopellet reactor!
If anyone has a 10 gallon sump, I am in the market.
Bought the phosban reactor and biopellets online. I am going to continue curing the rock in a tub in the basement until my skimmer and phosban reactor get here. Then I will plumb everything in and then put the rock in and continue the cycle that way.
P.S. DPA had the TLF phosban 150 but it was $65… double marine depot… what’s with that?
[quote=“jtnova13, post:15, topic:5377”]
P.S. DPA had the TLF phosban 150 but it was $65… double marine depot… what’s with that?[/quote]
You will find that on a lot of things honestly. DPA has overhead costs and need to make a profit. I like going there but thats been my issue with LFS.
Marine depot has great customer service. I had an issue with them and they did everything to straighten the problem out.
If you are a regular customer I’m sure Charlie would work with you on price, but when you count shipping and instant gratifcation that has to count too, plus if there is something wrong with it, it’s a car trip away instead of mailing it back and waiting for another replacement.
[quote=“Hudzon, post:18, topic:5377”]
If you are a regular customer I’m sure Charlie would work with you on price, but when you count shipping and instant gratifcation that has to count too, plus if there is something wrong with it, it’s a car trip away instead of mailing it back and waiting for another replacement.[/quote]
