New 34 Gal Solona Aquarium Set Up thread

[Devtech]

Ok so i finally went ahead and dished out the money for a new tank for the project ive been wanting to do

this tank package was really a great deal for what i was looking for::

Included with Tank for 749.99:
150w HQI 14k Bulb and Pendant

Protein Skimmer

Built In Top Off Bottles

and LFS included the Koralia 1x2 for free!!!

here are some pictures of the tank already set up, i dont have any pictures of setting it up since it came already built.

Heres a Front View:


A Shot Of The Auto Top Off Bottles:


A Shot of Skimmer Area:


Shot With MH's on 14k Bulb:


the lights are little too blue for me but they will do for now, any suggestions on which bulb to get when its time to replace?

[hifoo]

Nice looking tank, Keep us updated, if the 14k bulb is too blue for your liking go with a 10k when you goto replace it.

[Devtech]

yea i was thinking of a 10k lighting, but maybe its just way too blue now since theres no water. yea i fell in love witht eh look of the tank i was looking at this one and the red sea max and decided on this one since it was a rimless tank and had the MH lighting included. i should have the water here tommorow along with some rock, im going BB for this one.

[dailydriven911]

I'm also looking at picking one of these up. The only thing that concerns me is the skimmer quality (hopefully it's modable/replaceable) and I would take the bio balls out of the system. Looks good though, what are your ideas for the tank? Fish list, corals, etc.

Thanks!

[zma21]

10k will be too yellow after you're used to that color.

I say 12k reeflux.

[Devtech]

well looking at the skimmer it actually isnt even that great, im ordering the tunze nano skimmer..hopefully it fits, but i think the only reason that the skimmer isnt so good is because the air hose has no valve its just wide open.

i have filled the tank already and have the LR in there, i replaced the bio balls with rock rubble. The lights arent as blue anymore though thank god

thank you for all the comments.

[Devtech]

and the updates:

Me Filling The Tank While My Lazy Friend Watches!


The Water and LR in and ready to go!

[gsusfreak]

i actually saw this setup today at my LFS....and man, i really like it!......i think i would choose this setup over the RSM

[zma21]

Looks great!

I'd also choose this over the red sea max in a heartbeat.

[Devtech]

gsusfreak and zma21: THANKS! hehe well reason i chose this was cause of the lighting, but i think the stand from the RSM looks better hands down, but its probably still p.i.t.a. to build.

[reefman13]

Yeah, great setup. And I third the choice over the Red Sea max. This is much sleeker, and allows for more customization.

[Devtech]

Originally posted by reefman13
Yeah, great setup. And I third the choice over the Red Sea max. This is much sleeker, and allows for more customization.

thanks reefman, heres a quick question will one recommend a starfish for a BB tank? im guessing it will help me by eatin detritus in the areas where the flow isnt as strong?

i was thinking a orange common starfish..

[gsusfreak]

Originally posted by Devtech
gsusfreak and zma21: THANKS! hehe well reason i chose this was cause of the lighting, but i think the stand from the RSM looks better hands down, but its probably still p.i.t.a. to build.

yea, i like those RSM's too....but its the hanging light that sold me...hehe...im a geek for quirky stuff like that

[King-Kong]

Sweet rig devtech;

Realize that life as BB will be much easier with you finding a way of removing detritus ASAP.

I dont know what kind of skimmer this thing has, but chances are it's not a good one. I wouldn't rely on it as the basis for your detritus removal (as lots of BBs do).

Instead, you're gonna have to rely on either siphoning, or some kind of filter sock. I dont know how this thing looks behind, but I dont take it that there is a spot for you to add a filter sock that can easily be changed every 2-3 days.

If not, I think you're left with siphoning, so what's gonna be most important is that you direct your flow in such a way that the detritus piles up in one area of the tank, that is easy for you to access, so you can throw a thick rigid pipe down there and siphon out a bit of poop... if done right, you wont have to waste more than 1/4 of a gallon of water, or less, to remove all the poop.

Certain things to consider for this are:

-extend the locline tubing coming out of the back so that those nozzles practically reach the bottom of the tank.

-aim the koralia's so they keep detritus off the bottom, or in a specific corner.

For cleanup crew, I would recommend cerith snails with astrea snails. The ceriths love sitting in piles of detritus and processing it to be lighter and fluffy... most of the detritus will actually be poop from your Astreas, and that can be pretty heavy.

What kind of corals were you hoping to keep?

In my 90g right now I have SPS a long the top, LPS directly underneath them, and then mushrooms and zoanthids on the bottom.. all thriving.

They all want the same thing: low phosphates, some nitrogen (fish poop is a great source), and lots of carbon (kalkwasser, for example)... combine that with good flow to bring these building blocks to them, and then a modest amount of light (which i think yours is perfect for) and you should have success.

[jonathanws]

when you put your hands in the tank do you find that the water overflows all too easily over the back corners?

[Devtech]

Originally posted by King-Kong
Sweet rig devtech;

Realize that life as BB will be much easier with you finding a way of removing detritus ASAP.

I dont know what kind of skimmer this thing has, but chances are it's not a good one. I wouldn't rely on it as the basis for your detritus removal (as lots of BBs do).

Instead, you're gonna have to rely on either siphoning, or some kind of filter sock. I dont know how this thing looks behind, but I dont take it that there is a spot for you to add a filter sock that can easily be changed every 2-3 days.

If not, I think you're left with siphoning, so what's gonna be most important is that you direct your flow in such a way that the detritus piles up in one area of the tank, that is easy for you to access, so you can throw a thick rigid pipe down there and siphon out a bit of poop... if done right, you wont have to waste more than 1/4 of a gallon of water, or less, to remove all the poop.

Certain things to consider for this are:

-extend the locline tubing coming out of the back so that those nozzles practically reach the bottom of the tank.

-aim the koralia's so they keep detritus off the bottom, or in a specific corner.

For cleanup crew, I would recommend cerith snails with astrea snails. The ceriths love sitting in piles of detritus and processing it to be lighter and fluffy... most of the detritus will actually be poop from your Astreas, and that can be pretty heavy.

What kind of corals were you hoping to keep?

In my 90g right now I have SPS a long the top, LPS directly underneath them, and then mushrooms and zoanthids on the bottom.. all thriving.

They all want the same thing: low phosphates, some nitrogen (fish poop is a great source), and lots of carbon (kalkwasser, for example)... combine that with good flow to bring these building blocks to them, and then a modest amount of light (which i think yours is perfect for) and you should have success.

thank so much for ur input kong, umm yea the skimmer isnt so great.. im actually thinking of ordering a Tunze Nano since the skimmer in the back and the tunze are basically the same exact size.

your right with the filter sock there isnt a great place for it. I was hoping for a thriving SPS heavy tank, but i was to do some zoo and mushroom coverage for the bottom floor making the tank floor.

as u can see the rubble in the picture with the LR in it all of it clumps up in the front left corner.. but theres still a nice clump the back left. im thinking another koralia 3 for the right side and i will be good with flow or maybe getting 2 #4's.

Originally posted by jonathanws
when you put your hands in the tank do you find that the water overflows all too easily over the back corners?

not at all jonathanws when i had my hands in there fixing the LR the water stayed in the same leve but the back area where the filtration takes place it did raise. its some type of mechanic the tank has where the level in the filtration elevates but the level in DT stays the same.

[King-Kong]

Originally posted by Devtech
thank so much for ur input kong, umm yea the skimmer isnt so great.. im actually thinking of ordering a Tunze Nano since the skimmer in the back and the tunze are basically the same exact size.

your right with the filter sock there isnt a great place for it. I was hoping for a thriving SPS heavy tank, but i was to do some zoo and mushroom coverage for the bottom floor making the tank floor.

as u can see the rubble in the picture with the LR in it all of it clumps up in the front left corner.. but theres still a nice clump the back left. im thinking another koralia 3 for the right side and i will be good with flow or maybe getting 2 #4's.

Upgraded skimmer sounds like a good idea.

Use those return lines to keep the back portion of your structure detritus-free. If you have to extend them with more loc line, then do it.

Try to maximize your flow and minimize how many pumps you need to do it.

Sometimes that may mean removing live rock, as well.

Consider what your tank would look like with small frags all grown out. You may find that your structure will get hidden by all of them, and itll just look like a wall of coral.

Thin out the rock structure some, only use pointy rocks for the base (not flat pieces), and maximize that flow.

[Devtech]

yea i used the return lines and have placed them directly into each back corner which is causing all the rubble im using to determine flow to move all the way tot he front.

i re arranged the koralias and have maximized the flow to the areas under the is now focusing the flow into the floor and theres still alot of flow in top portion of the tank so all is good.

i was looking at the tank last night just goofing around and i found some hitch hikers in the rock on the bottom right, one is a red crab with some hair and the other is a crab with a black body and red legs.. they hardly come out of the rock all u see is its claws coming out grabbing off the rock. i hope these are good crabs if not i got no clue how to take em out unless a trap will work but the food will be hard to pick since i don't know what they like.

[rama]

Looks like a really nice set-up. I haven't seen one in person but it seems like the skimmer upgrade is a definate need. Good luck and looking forward to seeing the progress.

[Devtech]

well i worked the twinks out with the skimmer, i got a better air tubing and bought an air valve.. with those two things in just four hours it has taken out 3x more gunk than it has since it was first set up. so i think its a path in the right direction.

trying to think if i used about 7gallons from already set up 90 gal wonder how long the cycle might take. Might go buy that nitro cycle stuff they sell at the LFS for like 20$ i also went ahead and ordered 40$ worth of Copepods from http://www.reed-store.com/?category=...ductid=TP-SM:2
hopefully this will set off a nice population of copepods and hopefully it will be enough for my spoted mandarin i have in my 90 currently. thats kinda why i want the tank to cycle a little quicker, she will be safe no worries on that part since she eats like a champ eats my prepared food and all of my pellets i feed to the other fishes she fights the trigger fishes off and beats em to the food lol

[zma21]

1) Bacteria is present in water, however, in such small numbers that you might as well use new water rather than the old. It will not help your cycle.

2) The nitro cycle stuff is only there to drain your wallet. Just let the tank cycle naturally.

[ezcompany]

if you cut out the middle moldings and dividers in the back area, you will be able to fit a deltec MC500. i was thinking of doing this but decided to drill instead and get an H&S in the future.

[Devtech]

yea true :P lol its a burning itch inside of me lol. i still need to figure out what those damn crabs are not sure if they/re good or bad but they dont come out of the shadow to even take a picture of them

[Devtech]

ok so i finally was able to see the crabs out in the open but yet not enough light where they're chilling out in the tank so my decription is all i have.

one of them is all red imo it looks like those crabs u buy to eat at a restaurant that exact red with a beige underside.

the other is black kinda glossy with fuzzy legs but has these white stripes running horizontally on the legs...

im hopeing their not bad if they are im guessing a good ol 2 liter bottle trap will with some shrimp in it right?

[ezcompany]

i would remove both. there are not many reef safe crabs out there, not even emerald, sally lightfoots, etc. the only crab i trust is the bandit acro crab, all others need to be removed. the trap should work well, just make sure they can't climb back out