jdm01's New 90 Gallon - Page 3

jdm01 · #51 05/10/2006, 09:32 PM

It would be very difficult to get to the puka shells behind the rock structure, so I think I will leave these and just take out the ones in the main display portion of the tank. They seem to be attracting some rather unsightly green algae.

At that wattage, I am assuming that there will not be a lot of change in water temp. I am runnig 79-81 degrees right now.

ChunksInClemson · #52 05/10/2006, 10:15 PM

Hey jdm01, How much did you drop on the light setup?

Chris

PatMayo · #53 05/10/2006, 11:12 PM

I think Randalls flood light is 23 watt. That shoud not add too much heat to the tank at all. If you have ac in your house ( I would think you would in Minnesota) heat should not be a problem. Turn up the ac or use some fans.

Be really carefull as stated taking out the bio balls, too quickly and you can have a mess on your hands.

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #54 05/11/2006, 05:12 AM

ChunksInClemson It is a CoralLife that cost me around $900 retail at the LFS. It has been a great setup so far.

PatMayo Actually it is Indiana and yes I do have AC in the house. The tank is in the basement so it is not a huge problem. I just do not want it to get any worse. Small fan or two sounds like a great plan. I can slow down on the bio-ball take out. I actually ended up not starting last night anyway.

Randall_James · #55 05/11/2006, 10:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by PatMayo
I think Randalls flood light is 23 watt. That shoud not add too much heat to the tank at all. If you have ac in your house ( I would think you would in Minnesota) heat should not be a problem. Turn up the ac or use some fans.

Be really carefull as stated taking out the bio balls, too quickly and you can have a mess on your hands.

Regards,

Pat

Correct on both counts (mostly, I misquoted and it is a 26Watt bulb) , you can actually touch the bulb after it has been on for a couple months

I literally "rinse" it off when I add my RO/DI to remove salt residue. (it sits about 6" off the top of the water and so the skimmer bubbles popping put a bit of salt on the light.)

Here are the numbers off the bulb itself:
GE26W/FLE26/2/par38/XL

jdm01 · #56 05/15/2006, 10:11 PM

Just for fun, here is a picture of the tank as of this evening. I am getting ready to leave town for a couple of days. When I return, I will commence to removing the bio-balls and replacing with cheato and a light. I also need to work on the top off tank. The water chemistry is much better now thanks to the input of a lot of folks. The best new is that nothing has been lost and all seem to be returning to health.

jdm01 · #57 05/25/2006, 09:39 PM

I ended up being out of town for nearly a week. My family fed the fish every once in a while and topped of the tank daily as instructed. Before I left I added one fan and got the max water temp down to 79.5-80.0 degrees. I will add another fan in a couple of days.

I started working on the substrate problem this evening. I got all of the puka shells out of the main display area of the tank. I cannot get to the shells behind the rock structure without taking down the rock structure. How big of a problem do you believe this will be? Will this be a good place for the "pods" to congregate once I get the sump changed over to a fuge?

Next projects are to replace the puka shells with marine sand and get the tank stand set up for the fuge and top off tank. I am going to start adding the new marine sand this weekend. I am also going to build a shelf for the fans to make room for the light for the macro and to move the light timer strips up off the floor of the cabinet to make room for the top off tank. I bought a tsunami top off set up and have a left over Rio for the pump. That should not take long to build.

I will probably give that a week or so to settle before I go to work on converting the sump to a fuge. During that time may be a good time to set up the top off tank. I will post some pictures of the new substrate mix and the "before" pics of the under tank set up. Does this sound like a reasonable plan?

Randall_James · #58 05/26/2006, 03:19 AM

I think if you could put all the puka shells in one area that would work real well for your copepods. You can just lay in your new substrate over the old as you go. The only problem is you will end up killing some of the small life that lives in the upper layers of the substrate by burying them. So I would only go small areas at a time.

PatMayo · #59 05/26/2006, 09:35 AM

I agree with Randall you need to do this process very slowly and carefully. The last thing you want is an ammonia event. Especially since the tank is doing so well.

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #60 05/26/2006, 09:53 AM

The puka shells are already out, so that may be a problem. As I add back the replacement marine sand, what if it were to get mixed with existing substrate? I have not done anything with the bio balls and converting the sump yet. I was going to let that wait a week or two to make sure I do not upset the system too much all at once.

PatMayo · #61 05/26/2006, 10:18 AM

When you say you took out the puka shells does that mean that the tank is now bare bottom? Or was it just the top layer of shells you took out? It's hard to tell by the pictures.

When I re-read your post it appears you took at the puka shells and still have some substrate in the tank. That is good.

As you lay new sand on top of the old, this I think is what Randall is referring to, go slow. The organisms in the current substrate will die where the sand is laid over them. But since you have the bio-balls in place this should cause no harm if you do this slowly. I would do a small area and then wait for a few days then do another area and wait for a few days. You may not have a problem at all if you do it faster because of the bio balls, but the last thing you want is an ammonia event.

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #62 05/26/2006, 08:18 PM

Got it Pat. Thanks. You are correct. All I did is take out the first layer of puka shells. I had marine sand and crushed coral below that. I left that in. I only had about 15 lbs or so of puka to begin with so I ended up and took out a little of the crushed coral as well. There is still a small amount of puka shells behind the rockwork. I could not get to that. I will try to update a couple of pic's over the weekend.

jdm01 · #63 06/04/2006, 04:01 PM

Just a quick update, I will be more thorough later. I have changed out the substrate. I started the bio-ball removal. My question is as follows:

As I am taking out the bio-balls, should I back fill with some type of live rock? Eventually I want to turn the sump into a fuge with macro etc... If I do put the live rubble in the sump, does it all have to be submerged? If so, I will have to move the bio-balls around to get the rock on the bottom. I realize there is no hurry, this is a process that is going to take 3 or 4 weeks.

jdm01 · #64 06/07/2006, 09:47 PM

It has been a while since I made a meaningful addition to this thread. Here is where I am as of today. I removed the puka shells and some of the crushed coral from the display area of the tank (I cannot get behind the rock work to get out the rest). I replaced the removed substrate with live aragonite marine sand. No destabilization of the environment has occurred (probably dodged a significant bullet on that one).

I have started to pull out the bio-balls very slowly - probably over a 4 week period. As I pull out the bio-balls I am replacing them with reef rubble rock (live). I will convert to a fuge this summer. Building the fuge and a top off tank are my projects this summer. I am also trying to add some coral to the environment. I would like to add mostly LPS and some SPS toward the top of the tank.

This is very addictive. I have only had this tank a few months and I already have my sights set on a ~220 gallon tank at the LFS (Shhhhh!!! I have not told my family yet). I am starting to add coral and I would like to add a couple of fish. I am also looking to add some creatures to help keep the substrate mixed up. Here is a pic of the tank so far.

Oh and by the way, I have my web site set up - finally at long last!!! The site is set up to track the progress of my tank and contains pics of all the important stuff. Feel free to let me know what you think.

jdm01 · #65 06/07/2006, 09:54 PM

I should mention that you need to follow the links to my 90 gallon tank. I have had the 29 gallon tank longer, but I have not created the tank log or picture files yet.

PatMayo · #66 06/07/2006, 11:51 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by jdm01
Just a quick update, I will be more thorough later. I have changed out the substrate. I started the bio-ball removal. My question is as follows:

As I am taking out the bio-balls, should I back fill with some type of live rock? Eventually I want to turn the sump into a fuge with macro etc... If I do put the live rubble in the sump, does it all have to be submerged? If so, I will have to move the bio-balls around to get the rock on the bottom. I realize there is no hurry, this is a process that is going to take 3 or 4 weeks.

If you are going to use live rock rubble in the sump it will need to be covered. It won't do any good if it's not submerged. I have live rock rubble in my sump and actually a large chunk of rock that was too large for the main display.

I don't think you need to backfill the bio balls with anything unless you don't have enough live rock in the main tank. I can't recall how much you have so don't overload the tank and you should be ok.

Things are looking good.

PS I would take your time getting the 225. It's a huge time and financial commitment. I would get this tank humming along sweetly before you tackle that large of a tank. It will help keep sanity in the household.

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #67 06/08/2006, 05:05 AM

Pat,

I have around 120 lbs of live rock in the main display. Think that is enough? I have a long way to go with the 90 and a lot to learn. The 220 does look tempting though.

PatMayo · #68 06/08/2006, 09:37 AM

I think you will be fine. The rock must be submerged. I think you could take the bio balls out over the course of a week or so and be fine.

My tank has been up for 136 days now and I only have 2 fish and some zenia, that's it. But everything is perfect and the water is great. I personally feel that taking your time and going slow is the real key to success in a saltwater tank.

Good luck John. I look forward to keeping tabs on your system.

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #69 06/16/2006, 10:53 PM

Here is an update on the tank.

I have most of the bio-balls out. The balance will be out this weekend (that makes it 1 1/2 to 2 weeks to remove). I have moved the electrical stuff to the side wall of the tanks stand and used heavy duty velcro to hang (thanks to a recommendation here on RC). I am evaporating .5 - 1.0 gallons per day so I set up a top off tank using a 5.5 gallon glass tank, a Tsunami AT-1 top-off system, and a Rio 1700 as the pump. I also added a fan which has helped reduce the tank temp about 2 degrees F. I have added a couple of corals. The calcium got a little low, but it is on the rebound. Otherwise the water quality has remained in pretty good shape.

Following are some pic's of the undertank setup and a full tank shot to show what it looks like as of tonight. Next project in a couple of weeks is to convert the sump to a fuge. Once I do that, the mechanics of the tank will probably be in good shape for a while. Feel free to comment (the good, the bad, and the ugly are welcome). I am also going to add comment pages to my new web-site this weekend (www.jdmenterprises.us). The pic quality should increase as well. I have a new camera - at least I will now know whether it is the equipment or the operator. Here are the pics:

Electrical stuff (boring)

Fan and sterilizer (pretty basic)

Undertank

Full Tank View

Happy reefing!!!

jdm01 · #70 06/16/2006, 10:58 PM

I should have mentioned. That is not Dr. Pepper in the lower left of the tank stand. Drink that stuff and you will get real sick!!! The plate coral in the lower right of the tank is dead. It will go away this weekend. I added a couple of queen conchs over the weekend. The hermit crabs feasted on them in less than 24 hours. They picked the shells clean. I now have some new substrate decorations thanks to the hermit crabs.

Randall_James · #71 06/18/2006, 07:12 AM

How many magfloats does a tank need ?

jdm01 · #72 06/18/2006, 11:30 AM

I learned the trick from Pat Mayo. They are great for moving the powerheads around when needed. They don't fail like the suction cups do.

jdm01 · #73 06/26/2006, 09:56 PM

Here is where the tank stands as of this evening. The change over of the sump is complete, just need to add the macro. Unfortunately I have to change a controller first. I have added a couple of corals as follows:

Clam view 1

Clam view 2

Open Brain

The water parameters remain in good shape. Here is what the tank looks like now.

The tank has finally stabilzed. At this point, my goal is to add corals as I find species that I like. I intend to have a primary focus on LPS. We will see where it ends up.

PatMayo · #74 06/27/2006, 09:33 AM

Do you know why the plate coral died? I have 2 in my tank and so far so good. They have eaten and the color on each looks great. What should I watch out for?

Regards,

Pat

jdm01 · #75 06/27/2006, 10:46 AM

I think it was a combination of a couple of things. First I bought it from the LFS where it had been under standard fluorescent lighting. Second, it may have been in a low flow area of the tank. Third, and probably the real reason, it began to struggle around the time I had calcium and alkalinity problems with the tank. My test kit was not real reliable (i.e. - not a Salifert) and so I found that my calcium was running dangerously low. I ran the calcium level up, but I think it was too late. That is my guess anyway. Someone smarter than me may have a better answer. It is the only casualty in the tank so far, so it could always have simply been a bad specimen.

By the way, I have been following your thread. The tank and corals look great!!! Still enjoying the reef?