Its finally up and running!

[arkansasboy]

What a long day but the tank is operational. I bought a 55 gallon the other day because nothing was working looking on craigslist. Painted the back with black a couple of days ago and started the set up today. I went to the LFS and got my saltwater, went home and started plumbing which took a while. I got my dry rock from reefrocks as well as the dry sand and I had them cut 4 of the pieces flat for the base. It took a long time to get the rock set where they would be as stable as possible but I wound up using some zip ties. After the water was added and the overflow going I plugged in the pump and wow, that pump outruns my overflow like you wouldnt believe! I am so glad I put in a return line with a ball valve to divert water back to the sump. The valve is over 3/4 open. Tomorrow I will build my algae scrubber. I put a union in the overflow line at the scrubber to make it easier to disconnect the scrubber for cleaning. I was really surprised at how quiet this set up is. I appreciate all the help and advice to get me going. Thanks!

 

[Marines_Wife]

Congrats!! Put up some pictures! I love watching tank builds!

 

[marcah]

congrats .. glad to see it up and running and things going smoothly for you ..:D

 

[Smitty]

Congratulations...I'm glad everything went well during the setup...now, let's see some pics. :)

 

[little_fish]

Time for da pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[arkansasboy]

I will take some pics here in a bit. I just got the algae scrubber up and running. It only took about 15 minutes to build it and I am optimistic it will work as advertised. I did have an issue with the sump trying to overflow when the power was turned off so I will have to put in a check valve in the return(knew I should have picked one up at the hardware store). Overall everything seems to be running okay but I still need to mount the timer/power strip. I did wire in a GFCI receptacle for the strip just in case. I will have to raise the algae scrubber pretty soon because I didnt allow enough in the height out of the water but it wont be a big deal.

 

[arkansasboy]

Time for da pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here is my 26W(used energy) CFL light. It is rated at 1750 lumens and its a soft white. There will be 2 of these with the globes for the scrubber. I like these globes because they are the smaller type.

After the scrubber is raised the lights will be placed in position.

A view of the sump. I am getting pretty good flow over the scrubber.

The algae scrubber. It is 8 inches by 8 inches but needs to be raised.

Here is my tank with the awesome blue overflow skimmer.

 

[little_fish]

You are going to regret having that damsel in there, they are the meanest fish you can buy, which is going to give you issues when you try and add the fish you actually want. They very well could be bullied to death by that little sucker.

Furthermore, you never cycle a tank with a living creature! Even if they survive the cycle, the chemicals will damage their internal organs shortening their lifespan. Pull that sucker out of there and cycle with a piece of table shrimp.

 

[arkansasboy]

You are going to regret having that damsel in there, they are the meanest fish you can buy, which is going to give you issues when you try and add the fish you actually want. They very well could be bullied to death by that little sucker.

Furthermore, you never cycle a tank with a living creature! Even if they survive the cycle, the chemicals will damage their internal organs shortening their lifespan. Pull that sucker out of there and cycle with a piece of table shrimp.

I know, I know. I let the LFS give him to me and its been bugging me ever since. I have been thinking getting it out of the tank but I dont have any shrimp and there isnt anyone selling any in town. Does Biozyme work?

 

[ErinCahir]

You could also throw some fish food in there and let it rot. Works exactly the same way. It doesn't have to be shrimp.

 

[arkansasboy]

I did put some of that in there. Is that something I need to do more than once? How much do I put in there?

 

[yote]

Just pretend that your feeding a fully stocked tank.Test the ammonia every couple of days.Then when the ammonia starts showing up on the tests,stop the ghost feeding and let the tank cycle.

BTW
Thats a good looking set up.

 

[arkansasboy]

Just pretend that your feeding a fully stocked tank.Test the ammonia every couple of days.Then when the ammonia starts showing up on the tests,stop the ghost feeding and let the tank cycle.

BTW
Thats a good looking set up.

Thanks Yote

 

[yote]

Any time.