new tank and sugar

[00nothing]

Well this weekend a large diatom outbreak began so i decided on starting sugar now

I will be updating this thread every few days whether good or bad or nothing ( I apologize for pic quality in advance the camera sux)

tank hardware:
55 gallon
lighting 55x2 power compacts brand new bulbs (will be changing this to 4x ODNO fluorescents soon being driven via a ice cap 660)
filtration ac500 containing cheato and 3 mangroves (soon to be replaced by a much larger HOB fuge that i am building)
eheim 2213 canister filter housing nothing but LR rubble
maxijet 1200 (soon to receive a mj mod to it)
ac 402 powerhead right at the surface
css 65 going on the tank tomorrow
not yet but shortly will have a UV sterilizer on it

Tank contents:
3-4 inch sandbed using bomix silica filtration sand
approx 70-90 lbs of rock of which just over half is base ( this is jsut a guess on the exact weight)
one branching hammer (was barely hanging in there but is making a comeback)
a healthy leather i was told is devils finger but no clue what it actually is i just call it devils finger
healthy cabbage coral rock
healthy mushroom population
recovering green start polyp rock
2 peppermint shrimp
2 hermit crabs
2 snails


Jan 29th 1/4 of a teaspoon
obviously nothing to say about changes in a few hrs since its been in but here are a few pics of the tank in its current status

left side:


right side:


full tank:

[pito]

You need to put the skimmer in now, or at least an airstone. The sugar can deplete oxygen. I'm not sure but that eheim 2213 canister filter LR in it could cause nitrates if it's traping crap.

[00nothing]

Originally posted by pito
You need to put the skimmer in now, or at least an airstone. The sugar can deplete oxygen. I'm not sure but that eheim 2213 canister filter LR in it could cause nitrates if it's traping crap.

got it covered threw an airstone into the fuge, as far as the LR rubble i was told in the past that it's fine one thing i do know for sure is its awesome for pods last time i did it the canister was crammed full of them

edit: added a prism that i had laying around to the mix just for o2

[Icefire]

How is that sand? Currently looking at putting 4-5 inch of bomix white silica if I can't find any calcite sand in Canada.

[00nothing]

i like the appearance of the sand and have no quams about using silica the bomix seems to have a slightly larger grain though, only time will tell how it truly will be

at least in my part of Canada other than going to big als and spending a fortune calcite is impossible to find

[00nothing]

update:

30th added 1/4 tspn no change
31st added 1/2 tspn that night huge bacterial bloom
1st skipped adding sugar finally got my superskimmer installed thank god i had that prism for oxygenation tank is still cloudy, cleaned diatoms off glass the tank is clearing still slightly cloudy diatoms are very very dark

02-02-07 tank looks amazingly clear this morning some may say its the skimmer but surprisingly enuff that prism was pulling crap like a champ that alone leads me to believe that sugar somehow increases skimming (if u ever used a prism u would understand). My leather inst fully extending its polyps the way today but thats not out of the ordinary it has done this many times. Went back to 1/4 teaspoon sugar dose.



and heres a pic for all the hang on back guys got a css and want to rid yourself of the big ugly box in the tank ?



this provides me a space to dump the skimmer return as well as an affordable hob refugium for growing mangroves and cheato

btw that is 12 hrs skim at a pretty dry setting till i incorporate a safety for the collection cup it will be skimmed dry