90G upgrade in the works - Page 5

TekCat · #**101** 09/19/2006, 03:01 PM

Yep, inverts are quite delicate creatures. Well, live and learn, and no matter how much you think you know, you get often surprised how much you dont.

Well, tank is full of 1.025 SG salt water, fish are eating, snails (whatever left of them) are moving, lights fit and eluminating the tank

Yesterday I got skimmer, as per recomendations I ran it for a couple of hours in tub with mix of warm water + some vinnegar.
I did this mod:

After installation I have found out that the mod ended up being too high for control water level inside skimmer. I've read article again (on ASMSkimmer.com) about making a mod, and at the very end they talk about that for G1, G2, G3 alternative mod. Lesson learned: next time I read something, I should read it entirely

Anyway, This is what it should looked like:

Live and learn....

Question.
Does anyone know what type of cleaning should I do to dry base rock to make it tank-worthy? What I am afraid, is that junk inside rocks (that's been dried up) starts to rot when I put it in tank... and I really want to minimize this.

druce · #**102** 09/19/2006, 07:33 PM

i suppose you could rinse it with ro/di and maybe scrub it wth a toothbrush

do you care if you loose anything on it? sounds like it's pretty dead anyway

Marco67 · #**103** 09/19/2006, 07:51 PM

You should treat the rock like any other live rock before tanking if you have fish in there already if no livestock in the tank just cycle it right in the main system. If you do have fish in the system already you can use a tote or rubbermaid to cycle. Use salt water with as much flow as possible water changes and skimming(if possible) will also help, after a few days you will need a water change. Use water changes from your existing tank if you can, this will start the seeding process. At about 7-10 days it will go through a diatom bloom followed by a green bloom. By about 3 weeks you should see all this simmer down and some coraline start.
I would wait untill you see all these stages before adding to a tank with fish.

Project looks great so far
good luck with it
Marc

TekCat · #**104** 09/21/2006, 03:26 AM

WOW!!!! Thanks Marc! Rocks look awesome! So porous and light!!!!!
Here is a pic:

And a bit close:

I saw there is some die off junk in them. After advising me on another forum I am soaking them in a bin with water and bleach. In a day or two, I am going to give them "county jail bath"... that is power wash out of garden hose. Then soak another day with declorinator. Then I suppose I'll cure/seed them for god knows how long (outside of the tank of course).

Meanwhile I transfered all my existing, 70lbs of LR that's been cooking (medium-rare please

) since July, to tank. I just threw them down there, without any type of aquascaping.
Here is a tank shot:

And another one with water flowing throgh an empty sump:

My skimmer is in "service"... I've siliconed gasket from pump to the body of skimmer (per advise on "ASM skimmer club" thread). Because when I was testing skimmer in sump, gasket was always got loose and bubbles from pump were escaping in sump, effectively making it looks like a milk vessel...

Cheers.... and more to come... hopefully soon.

druce · #**105** 09/21/2006, 07:44 AM

looking good so far - I like the rock you have

it's soooo white...

TekCat · #**106** 09/21/2006, 01:17 PM

druce, are you talking about new or old rock?

druce · #**107** 09/21/2006, 02:33 PM

the pics 2 posts above - the new stuff...

well it looks whiter than mine anyway...

TekCat · #**108** 09/21/2006, 02:50 PM

Ah, the new dry rocks

After 24 hours of bleach bath, I bet they will be even more whiter

I know, that patience is a virtue, but I really don't want to spend another 4 weeks of curing dry rock. There is some junk in them, and it has to go. Bleaching and power wash can only do so much. *twiching impatiently*

I suppose after all the "pretreatment" I'd have to bite the bullet and cure them. Then again, curing will only make rocks safe to put in tank. There will be enough of bacteria to counteract rotting of junk. What I want to do is to remove junk completely (or to some acceptable levels). Cooking rocks is not an option because my wife is going to kill me if this will extend setting up tank for another 8 weeks. Any suggestions? Boiling perhaps?

The biggest challenge is ahead - aquascaping.

druce · #**109** 09/21/2006, 02:52 PM

I have no idea - never had to "reset" my rocks

If I ever have to do this again I'll probably make all my rocks and force myself to live thru a long cycle

druce · #**110** 09/21/2006, 05:36 PM

I took your advice and finally started my thread

Shameless plug for my thread

TekCat · #**111** 09/22/2006, 03:28 AM

Nice tank druce!

I just read somewhere here on RC that some clean their dry rocks in dishwasher (no soap of course). I just might give it a try. If there any objections "speak now or forever hold your peace"

MarineDepot, yep, that's the one that screwed up my order and sent me light fixture instead of UV sterilizer, just sent me an email saying that UV that I wanted is on backorder.... Oh, well, I have too much to do anyways without one.
As many of you have said that Eheim 1260 is too powerful for return pump, but I didn't listen. i have microbubbles, not alot, still I have some.... I hope UV inline on return line will create some headloss to slow water a bit, otherwise I'd have to make tee-off with a ballvalve to throttle the return line.... or put a checkvalve as an insurance. These suckers restrict flow quite a bit.

-- edit --

I am looking into ozone (just for water clarity). I've read all three Randy's articles about ozone, and I think I might give it a try. Again, not as a primary disinfection/sterilization thing, but rather a water clarifier. Any pointers on good/cheap (I know, it is a contradiction of terms) o3 units? reactors?

druce · #**112** 09/22/2006, 07:23 AM

never played with ozone generators, tho I am interested to see how they compare to UV.

I do have to agree that water treated by UV seems to look more clear than without the treatment.

Dishwasher eh? If I even thought about that my wife would kill me.

TekCat · #**113** 09/22/2006, 02:21 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by druce
Dishwasher eh? If I even thought about that my wife would kill me.

... shhhhhh.... I haven't told mine yet

druce · #**114** 09/22/2006, 02:23 PM

oooh, maybe you can get her to go shopping for a few hours tomorrow while you do some dishes

TekCat · #**115** 09/22/2006, 02:47 PM

LOL.... Could you imagine if she comes back, and I am still doing dishes?

I guess it is my only option, because since I live in apartment I don't have access to garden hose of any kind... so, ... dishwashing is the only way to go.... I just have to reassure her that dishweasher wont be contaminated or something...

druce · #**116** 09/22/2006, 03:23 PM

lol.... good luck with that

TekCat · #**117** 09/25/2006, 05:20 PM

Dishwashed the rocks!!!!

... and noone was hurt

I see some junk (dead things) inside the rock, and I cant get to it. So, I am setting up a tub with SW to cure them. I will be using tank's water that has some bacteria to start nitrification.

... good news... my hammer coral starting to extend its polyps!!!! It is pooling through!!!!!!

druce · #**118** 09/25/2006, 05:23 PM

yay, slowly coming along....

nice to hear the hammer is coming back!

TekCat · #**119** 09/27/2006, 02:53 AM

False Percula Clownfish (survived quite alot: ammonia spike a year ago and the transfer) :

Here he is (or mabe she) with Royal Gramma on the background:

Series of Royal Gramma pictures (yes, its the same one):

And a hammer coral (started to expand!!!):

druce · #**120** 09/27/2006, 07:14 AM

lookin very good, I love hammer coral - you have a good piece there, All I have is a little 2 head piece.

TekCat · #**121** 09/27/2006, 01:50 PM

thanks, the two polyps on the left were accidently fragged off

I freaked out when I dropped coral and a branch fell off. I wrote to coral forum for tips on how to save it, and the responce was "congrats, you just had your first fragging experience"

TekCat · #**122** 09/28/2006, 03:00 PM

Last night I installed "proper" gate valve mod to my skimmer. What a difference! It controls skimmer water level sooooo much better, and I get less bubbles escaping to sump. There are still a few, but I'll just have to deal with them later.

My tank is going through algal bloom, diatoms for now, but I see some green stuff trying to grow on rocks too. My other rocks are in bin with tank's water, heater (83F), MJ1200 ..... curing. I am going to drop another powerhead there today.

Later today I am going out of town and be back on late-Monday next week. Well, this is "the true test on how much my inlaws like (or otherwise) me" LOL ... they'll be the ones to feed the fish and top off evaporated water while my wife and I are away

I am planning to have lights off for the duration, and skimmer is only going to be used for aerating water (don't want it to skim, and then overflow).

druce · #**123** 09/28/2006, 03:03 PM

isn't building a new tank "fun"?

all the crap you have to go thru to get an end product...

lets hope the inlaws don't forget what to do

TekCat · #**124** 10/02/2006, 11:32 AM

Just got back from SF. I haven't tested water yet, but it looks like everybody in tank are doing OK. Inlaws did a good job, fish was fed, and water was topped off. ... when I get back from work I'll be testing water.

druce · #**125** 10/02/2006, 11:35 AM

I got 2 new feather dusters and 2 new corals this weekend as well

did some cleaning as well... having issues with my skimmer as well - either not enough skimmate or too much.

all that aside, good to hear the tank survived the weekend.

let me know how your water tests... also how much would you esitmate your total water volume to be?

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