New Guy in Paso Robles

[jdh22]

I’m new to both Paso and Reefing. I have been slowly setting up a 90gal, slowly because it’s expensive and I don’t want to get a divorce. I’m new at this so I’m only working towards a FOWLR for right now, but I built everything so I can easily add MH’s and reactors later for building up a reef.

I have been on SD Reefs and Reef Central forums for about 8 months before I started and I often head over to Aquatic Adventures on my lunch breaks (I work in San Luis Obispo for the City) to quiz the staff. Chris has been a tremendous help so I have bought most of what I have so far from them.

So far I have built the stand & hood (book shelves will fill the space between the top of the hood and the ceiling, I haven’t finished those yet. I also just finished the plumbing and ordered 100 lbs of dry sand. I plan on culturing my own sand and rock so Ill also get some base rock then seed both with about 20lbs of LS and 20lbs of LR.

What do you guys do for water around here? I have a hard time stomaching buying RO/DI or premixed water. I am leaning towards getting an RO filter and mixing my own. I also hear that there is free filtered saltwater down at UC Santa Barbara, which sounds interesting to me but I would need to fill some big drums to make the drive worth it.

Anyway, I just found this group so I thought I would introduce myself.


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[Rockitmakr]

Welcome to RC!
I used to live in California a few years ago, in your neck o the woods. Do you ever go to Mr.Ricks & The Old Custom House? Both were built & owned by my Dad.
:beer:

[SolidDetail808]

Welcome
I go to UCSB for water. I go to LA at least once a month so I just stop by there on my way home. I only live in Lompoc though. I also got a RODI unit for my top off water. It's worth it considering I use it for drinking water.

[SolidDetail808]

I know someone got 2 55 gallon drums from a recycling center and fills those up everytime he heads to SB.

[BBishop]

Welcome jdh22,
I'm also an advocate of buying your own RODI unit. It's good to have a reliable source of water and it gives you the flexibility with the brand of salt that you use.
In Hawaii and San Diego they have a filtered seawater available, I used it with great success.
As far as drinking RODI...a glass or two won't hurt you but, in the long run it's not good for you. Your body is designed to take in natural water which has salts and minerals in it. By removing all of that, you change the osmotic pressure between the water and your cells, which causes you to absorbe more than normal amounts of water, which leads to intestinal problems (diarhea) and if you drink enough, like on a hot day, it can lead to water poisioning:eek1:

[CAreefer]

Hi jdh, I'm in Paso too and the City water has a TDS of 375 or so. I have an RO/DI unit for my tank and frankly don't see any other option, without frequent trips to SB. I evaporate ~7 gallons per day so that wouldn't really be qn economical option in the long run for me. The tank and stand look good and you're well on your way. Well get you "converted" to SPS in no time :D

Marshal

[jdh22]

I'm giong to go ahead and get an RO/DI unit and mix my own. I never knew about the water poisioning, I know a couple people that have RO systems plumbed under thier sink specifically for drinking water....are those systems different in some way? I heard that they were selling those systems at the fair, so I was going to head over there tonight and check out what they have.

[SolidDetail808]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10463753#post10463753 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by BBishop
Welcome jdh22,
I'm also an advocate of buying your own RODI unit. It's good to have a reliable source of water and it gives you the flexibility with the brand of salt that you use.
In Hawaii and San Diego they have a filtered seawater available, I used it with great success.
As far as drinking RODI...a glass or two won't hurt you but, in the long run it's not good for you. Your body is designed to take in natural water which has salts and minerals in it. By removing all of that, you change the osmotic pressure between the water and your cells, which causes you to absorbe more than normal amounts of water, which leads to intestinal problems (diarhea) and if you drink enough, like on a hot day, it can lead to water poisioning:eek1:
Sorry, but I have to disagree with you. I'm in the Air Force and my job is to provide the military with potable water. We run a a huge RO unit and make 0 TDS water. That's all we use when we are deployed to a remote location. You should have any problems with getting the minerals we need daily as long as you eat right. You can get all the minerals from other foods. I've gone 6 months - 8 months straight drinking just RO water and was fine. Just eat right and you'll be fine with drinking RO water.

[Brewen]

jdh22 welcome to the area the setup looks great. Keep us posted on your set up. What fish are you looking to keep?
With the RO-RO/DI I think Bill's comment was more on the DI side. I do not think there is a problem with RO water but the RO/DI water is where I will take Bill's advice. JMHO

[D-Rod]

Paso here also, I've got water at the Culligan water store on 21st in the past, it has tested well and for $37 you get 250 gallons and I live out in the country and get water from a well and the filters end up costing more in the long run on an RO/DI unit due to the huge amount of TDS and I need to change them out more often than average.

D-Rod

Will trade wine for frags! :D

[jdh22]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=10466694#post10466694 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by Brewen
jdh22 welcome to the area the setup looks great. Keep us posted on your set up. What fish are you looking to keep?
With the RO-RO/DI I think Bill's comment was more on the DI side. I do not think there is a problem with RO water but the RO/DI water is where I will take Bill's advice. JMHO

Ill probably go for the standard clean up crew and some Chroimis to start things off, then maybe move up to a blenny and a couple clowns, and if things are going well Id like to have a yellow tang and/or a powder blue tang. After I upgrade to a full reef and get that established I would also like to see a mandarin in there as well.

I'm not necessarily looking to have all those fish in the tank at the same time, it might be a little crowded. what I really want is to work towards a full reef with sps ultimately and keep the fish to a minimum. But like I said, as an introduction, Im just going for a folwr for now.

[SurfnFish]

Welcome to the Central Coast. I'm also at Vandenberg. Let me know if you have any questions.

[BBishop]

The problem isn't that you can't get the daily minerals that you need form another source, I agree with that. The problem is the osmotic pressure between your cells and the ro and especially ro/di water.

I also spent way too much time in the gulf, if it came between drinking ro water and local water....give me ro every day.

[BBishop]

Sorry, I lost part of my last post. It's in responce to SolidDetail808.

[Wicked Punk]

JDH22 it was nice meeting you last night. Good luck with the tank.

[evoracer]

I would say that a 90G is not enough tank for either of the tangs you have selected, let alone both. Maybe the yellow, but it would be pushing it. I know they say you can keep them in a 50G or larger, but I really believe they need more straight-line swimming room to really thrive. IMO I wouldn't reccomend any tang in less than a 6' tank.

[jdh22]

I bought the live rock from WickedPunk's break down....lots of good stuff in there. Anyway its in a rubbermaid tub in the garage with a powerhead and heater....so now Im pushing to move this stuff into my main tank asap and under some sort of filtration.

I'm picking up my sand today and I have been mixing water. So more than likely Ill have the rock in my tank by tonight. Only problem is I have only been able to accumulate and mix about 50-60 gallons so the tank will only be half full. I should be able to get the rest of the water mixed and in there over the next two days.

The rock does have a few of Aipastia breakouts, anyone have any suggestions to get rid of it? I heard Joe's Juice works pretty good.

[SurfnFish]

Aiptasia Control works very well also. Along with Copperband Butterflies and peppermint shrimp.

[Wicked Punk]

I just mix up some Kalk paste put it in a syringe and hit them suckers with it. Works very well and Kalk is cheap.

[jdh22]

I got the tank filled and running but I realized two mistakes I made during set up.

One, I didnt install a stand pipe in the overflow so I have Niagra Falls on surround sound. Should be a pretty easy fix though, Ill head over to Home Depot tonight for some extra plumbing and make a durso stand pipe.

Two, I hard plumbed my closed loop pump with pvc (see pics at first post of thread), so now I have alot of vibration humming to go with my waterfall noise. This one is a little more difficult, Im thinking about taking out the hard plumbing just below each of my ball valves to put in flex tubing. Ill also put an old mouse pad under the pump. Im running a GenX-PCX55. What has everyone else done here to silence a pump?

Everything else is looking fantasic so far. I keep finding more stuff on the Live Rock from Wicked Punk, last night I found two more hermit crabs and a small brttle sea star. Also this morning I found a small patch of frogspawn about the size of a quarter.

[SolidDetail808]

That's always a good bonus when you find cool stuff like frogspawn!

[BBishop]

Hey SolidDetail,
I was talking to a chemist friend of mine and asked him about the RO question and I told him that it's true that the military does use RO systems in the field. He reminded me that part of this equation is the rejection rate, hence ultra pure water is where you run into problems, especially if you are using RO/DI. Most drinking water units have a rejection rate around 45 to 60%.

My job leaves me way too much time to think about these things.

[Wicked Punk]

Thats actually a torch coral. I forget to tell you it was there. Geesh you found my brittle star? I havent seen him in Two years :) Glad you are enjoying the rock. Keep me updated on its progress.

[jdh22]

Joe's Juice is amazing, Aiptasia was all gone in minutes.

[jdh22]

WickedPunk,
What kind of crabs were those in the live rock and did you ever have any probelms with them eating any of your other live stock? One is pretty big (~1.5-2" wide at main body) and I was considering pulling him out before I starting adding more livestock.

[Wicked Punk]

Those are Red Mithrix crabs. I lost 1 cleaner shrimp and a clown Goby since that big one grew that big. Both the shrimp and the goby were 3.5+ years old, so I dont know if the crab got them or they died of old age. i would ditch the big one keep the little one, it will eat bubble and nuisance algae.

[jdh22]

Well my tank is just about finished cycling; Nitrates are at 5ppm, Nitrties and Amonia are at 0, and I'm just getting over a diatom bloom.

My only problem now is a massive infestetation of bristle worms, I saw one in a rock so I got the rock out and waited...I ended up pulling 5 worms that were 4-6" out and another 11 smaller ones. That night I turned off my C/L pump and watched under my moon lights and wholy crap, I saw at least 3 dozen more over the rest of my rock work including more on the rock I had just pulled the 16 out of.

What do you do with an infestation this big, obviously trapping isnt going to make a dent especially with the large ones. Any suggestions? If there isnt another way I'm going to have to pull all my rock out and start picking the worms out one by one or even let my rock die out. I got an ID and they are the hawaiian fire worms (the really bad ones)

[sbcaes]

coral banded shrimp or arrow crab. esp since you dont have any coral yet.

[Brewen]

jdh22 I am not sure if the bristle worm is that big of a problem. I know at one point most talked about then being a bad pest to have in your reef tank. Over the last few years some if not most have changed there mind on the harm of having bw in your tank. They mostly scavenge and keep the nooks and cranny's clean in your rocks.
Granted to much of any pest in a reef tank can be unnerving.

[sbcaes]

i think for him it maybe a problem due to the excessive amounts of them as he stated. hes already stated hes seen more than 3 dozen. of them. which is well EXCESSIVE. the arrow crab nor the coral banded will be able to handle this problem swiftly. because there are SO many. plus he pulled 16 out of one rock. and im sure there are more in there as they tend to hide. even in a RO dip.

imo : id say get something thatll eat em.
but do remember arrow crabs are iffy with corals.

[Wicked Punk]

just get a sixline wrasse, he will eat them up quick. But you do want some, they eat all the crap in the tank. It is normal to have a boom after cycling. As long as you dont overfeed they will die off.

[jdh22]

Ya I don't mind having a couple but damn. I did another test and my nitrates nitrites a ammonia are now at 0...big decline after adding some cheto to the sump. For now Ill pick up a coral banded shrimp at the lfs and wait to see if the worms die out a little now that my tank is cycled, I also cut my feeding in half to once every other day.

Can I get an ID on this thing, I saw it waving around in the moon lights. After I flipped them on I think it started turning brown.

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[audiowerks]

could be mistaken but i think that's what they call a peanut worm

[Wicked Punk]

Yep that is a peanut worm. very good to have.

[jdh22]

Bristle Worm Carnage!!! I bought a Coral Banded Shrimp and the guy is a machine, I have seen him snag at least four bristle worms. I am very happy to see that my worm colony is now in check. However, I did also see him eat that peanut worm which is a shame.

[Owen2thebank]

I go to SB about once 2-3 weeks for my job and drive a fairly large work truck. Since school has started and I don't want to drive all over the campus looking for the filtered water in my large truck could someone tell me exactly where I can get the water and what I need to do to get it? I don't know the campus at all.

[SurfnFish]

http://archive.reefcentral.com/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=541355

This thread is on the SoCal Forum, and has a map with directions on exactly where to go. It's fairly easy to get to, but depending on how big your truck is, it's a tight squeeze in the parking lot.

[Owen2thebank]

Thanks so much for the link. It looks easy. How did you know where to find the link? Its exactly what I needed.

[SurfnFish]

I'm subscribed to it, and have been since I found it. It's also "pinned" on the SoCal Forum, so it's always on the top of the first page. No problem. There is no 217 exit heading south, so you'll have to exit Glenn Annie/Storke exit, and head to the school that way. At least, that's how I go. Someone may know a better exit. You can only exit 217 from the Northbound side of 101.

[Owen2thebank]

SurfnFish---Thanks for the free salt water heads-up. On Wednesday evening, in the dark, I used the map from the website where you directed me and very easily got to the faucet.

I drove up to the hose and filled four 5-gallon jugs without removing them from my truck bed. Simple, Simple, Simple. And the price is right too! Anyone want some salt water? I have extra now.

I suppose that school had not yet started because I saw only two other cars while I was there.

[SurfnFish]

Yep..it's very easy. I have a 55 gallon drum that I take down there and fill up. It usually lasts me about 2.5 months depending on how often I have to do water changes. Glad you made it! Also read about your corals on the airline deal. Last time I flew out of SMX they lost my luggage also. I hate United! Good luck getting them back to normal. Post some pics if you have them.