120 Gallon Mixed Reef in progress

[Bj’s Reef]

You are going to love those Gyre's on your tank. I put one on my 150, It's running about 40% right now. When I set it above 50% I get a slight hum from it. I'm thinking once it breaks in it will be quiet. I plan on adding a second one later to the other side of the tank. Then I will remove the Hydor's . Like I said you should enjoy your Gyre's, they really move the water.

 

[Tristren]

To catch up on a busy 24 hours:

Get glass baffles.
Let's build a sump!
Yadda yadda yadda
Let's go buy a sump!

New Seapora sump fits perfectly in Seapora stand under Seapora tank.

Plumbing is done. Aquascaping is done.
Behold!

It's ok to be jealous.

24 hours later it has cleared a lot. Prime and salt are in. I will take some photos with the lights on when it gets darker.

Now the real adventure begins I suspect!

 

[Mindi]

Congratulations and welcome to madness. Read lots, it is hard to weed out advice when it appears to conflict but mine would be to be very discriminating about buying gadgets and complicating stuff. Go for as much simplicity as you can and as much stability as you can achieve. Good luck.

 

[Tristren]

Thanks very much. I'm doing plenty of reading, though there is always more to see. No shortage of advice around, plenty of it conflicting!

I agree with the simplicity comment as well. Though the gadgets are fun...

 

[Mindi]

Yeah there is some terrific stuff on this forum. Use Randy Holmes Farley as your reference point for water chemistry, his articles are oriented to the layman and are my chemistry bible. At the risk of slipping into the mistake of giving actual advice let me make one point. There are two recent articles here on the parameters of some of the really top reef tanks. ( Masters Tanks..?) Well worth reading. The thing that most struck me about these great tanks was that they have somewhat unexpected chemistry. There is a wide tendency to chase nutrients ( phosphates and nitrates) to zero ( well measures of near zero anyway) These top tanks have generally much higher nutrient levels than most of us but they always share stability. My takeout from this is that the inhabitants will adapt to a quite wide range of conditions (within limits) if they are given a long term chemically stable tank to adapt in.
So when you join us on a quest for zero nitrates and phosphates with GFO reactors and carbon dosing.... moderate the journey with the thought that stability might be the more important goal.
Read Randy on pH , and on Choosing a 2 part dosing regime...both terrific albeit with some sections beyond me.

 

[cloudisback1997]

To catch up on a busy 24 hours:

Get glass baffles.
Let's build a sump!
Yadda yadda yadda
Let's go buy a sump!

New Seapora sump fits perfectly in Seapora stand under Seapora tank.

Plumbing is done. Aquascaping is done.
Behold!

It's ok to be jealous.

24 hours later it has cleared a lot. Prime and salt are in. I will take some photos with the lights on when it gets darker.

Now the real adventure begins I suspect!

Looking good! Make sure you do a power outage test to make sure the water does not overflow in the sump. If it overflows your sump is too small. Make sure you have a syphon break in the return nozzle too.

 

[cmcoker]

Prime? Using tap water? Long term or just initial fill?

 

[Tristren]

Looking good! Make sure you do a power outage test to make sure the water does not overflow in the sump. If it overflows your sump is too small. Make sure you have a syphon break in the return nozzle too.

Thanks. Yep, did the power outage test, plenty of room in the sump. I have my return just an inch or so below the surface. And the lock line is actually leaking a bit, so I'd assume not enough of a seal to for a siphon.

 

[Tristren]

Prime? Using tap water? Long term or just initial fill?

Yes, with tap water.
For the initial fill and until I get an ro/di system.
Our tap water is very good here, so I'm comfortable with the quality (with prime removing the chlorine).

But I assume I will get tired of making fresh and salt water soon enough and have plans for a mixing station in the basement.

Plans might be a strong word. But I'd like to set one up there...

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Yes, with tap water.
For the initial fill and until I get an ro/di system.
Our tap water is very good here, so I'm comfortable with the quality (with prime removing the chlorine).

But I assume I will get tired of making fresh and salt water soon enough and have plans for a mixing station in the basement.

Plans might be a strong word. But I'd like to set one up there...

Get the rodi asap. It's probably the most important piece. Don't waste salt on fresh water that you will dump later. What salt are you using?

 

[Tristren]

Thanks, I figured that would be one of the first "upgrades". That and a protein skimmer which I also don't have yet.

I'm using Aquaforest Reef Salt.

 

[Tristren]

Once the temp and salinity are stable I will be adding live rock from my LFS. Either today or Tuesday (busy weekend so can't get to the store in between).

How often should I be testing once that is in? Or now to see the baseline? I see differing opinions out there.

Thanks to everyone for all the support so far!

 

[Xclusive Reef]

Once the temp and salinity are stable I will be adding live rock from my LFS. Either today or Tuesday (busy weekend so can't get to the store in between).

How often should I be testing once that is in? Or now to see the baseline? I see differing opinions out there.

Thanks to everyone for all the support so far!

I can only speak for myself but I would maybe go with dry rock as you it will be clean. You never k ow what is in those live rocks. It will also be cheaper. Suggestion, go to Craigslist and see if anyone is selling rock. I missed a great sale cause is a family get together. It was 100lbs and the guy wanted 80 bucks for it. It was live rock also.
I would take the live rock, clean it out let it dry up for a few days take they money you would invest on the rock and get the rodi. Then empty tank and refill with rodi, but rock and sand first then water .

 

[Annahra]

It depends on your goals and what you enjoy. If you want a very clean system and unknown hitchhikers will drive you crazy, dry rock is great.

If you love LIFE and get a kick out of every new little critter you see, then live is better.

Cured live will also likely cycle the tank much faster. I'd test before addition and then in the AM and PM after that. It's a good idea to write down your numbers during cycle.

 

[Tristren]

I do like life. This is my first time, so I may be naive, but I'm going with live rock.

And it's in!

There are three large pieces in the display (the one long one extending from the main structure and the two on top of the smaller one), and some little ones in the refugium.

They are great rocks. Amazing shapes with caves, branches and overhangs. Lots of coraline algae and... stuff.

And that means we have life!

What is it / are they?
Snail(s) right?

 

[Xclusive Reef]

look good man. I bet you took a while to get your scape the way you wanted it lol... did you use any bonding or just layered the rocks?

 

[Tristren]

look good man. I bet you took a while to get your scape the way you wanted it lol... did you use any bonding or just layered the rocks?

Thanks! We took our time and just layered them all. We poked and prodded to make sure everything was solid.

One thing that did surprise me was how heavy the marco rock is...

 

[Annahra]

I do like life. This is my first time, so I may be naive, but I'm going with live rock.

Same, hehe. Have fun! Go ahead and bookmark some hitchhiker ID pages because you're gonna need them.

 

[najer]

Nice start, enjoy the ride!

 

[Tristren]

This weekend is just waiting and watching. Temperature and salinity are stable.

So in the absence of anything actually new, here are a few other pics of the live rock.

(The snail has not been seen since that brief appearance...)

The main outcropping

This is the little cove in the smaller formation, now with a nice big overhang. Any suggestions for fish that would like to hang out under here?

Just a close-up of the main piece. The back is covered in purple Coraline Algae.

How long does it normally take before the old dry rock looks like (and is) proper live rock?