45 Gallon Build-Questions

BirdGuy21 · Nov 18, 2018

Hey everyone,

So as not to clog up my build thread with all my newbie saltwater questions, I figured I'd start a thread here.

Long story short- I scored a great deal on a JBJ 45 gallon with tons of equipment and extras. I still need to post on my build thread the entire haul, but.... I'm having some issues getting it all together.

The tank was established and came with five damsels, small CUC, and some sort of goby. Found the goby on the floor this afternoon, so he is no longer with us. I've read that SW fish were great jumpers but man...he must have gotten through like a half inch gap in the lid. The tank was covered all day today and I saw him in there last night at feeding time.

I swapped out the substrate for Fiji Pink to brighten the tank a bit, but other than that no other changes. I ran across a problem with water level when setting it up- I didn't take into account displacement of the substrate. The water level was too low to reach the overflows. There was more old substrate than the new I put it. I was still making RO water and couldn't get a batch of salt made until this morning, so I made due and placed a bunch of old live rock that came with the tank into the aquarium to displace more water. Not ideal as I'm sure that affected the cycle with all the old junk stuck in it, but I didn't have a choice.

So flash forward to today. I got a batch of salt made and added to the tank, removing the extra live rock. For some reason though I cannot get my skimmers to work. They are two Red Devil brand protein skimmers. Every time I plug them in the cup overflows within thirty seconds with water. I tried adjusting the tubes but to no avail. Any suggestions for this issue? I am wondering if my water level is now too high. How high should it be in the back of the overflow?

Second problem- I need to find a manual or something for the Reef Keeper Lite that came with the tank. Can't figure that out to save my life. Second problem part II- I need to figure it out so I can run my lights. Unless I shouldn't worry about lights for now as its a FOWLR?

I'm worried I am going to crash the tank more than it probably already has. Any and all suggestions and tips are appreciated!

tdileo · Nov 18, 2018

The water level is probably too high for the skimmer.
Digital Aquatics, the company who created the ReefKeeper, ended. However, I would be more than happy to help you with any questions about the ReefKeeper. I have one on my tank and know how to navigate the interface pretty well.
Lights are not too important at the moment since it’s FOWLR, but it’ll help for viewing pleasure. I would try to get them running.

cromag27 · Nov 18, 2018

BirdGuy21 said:
Hey everyone,

So as not to clog up my build thread with all my newbie saltwater questions, I figured I'd start a thread here.

Long story short- I scored a great deal on a JBJ 45 gallon with tons of equipment and extras. I still need to post on my build thread the entire haul, but.... I'm having some issues getting it all together.

The tank was established and came with five damsels, small CUC, and some sort of goby. Found the goby on the floor this afternoon, so he is no longer with us. I've read that SW fish were great jumpers but man...he must have gotten through like a half inch gap in the lid. The tank was covered all day today and I saw him in there last night at feeding time.

I swapped out the substrate for Fiji Pink to brighten the tank a bit, but other than that no other changes. I ran across a problem with water level when setting it up- I didn't take into account displacement of the substrate. The water level was too low to reach the overflows. There was more old substrate than the new I put it. I was still making RO water and couldn't get a batch of salt made until this morning, so I made due and placed a bunch of old live rock that came with the tank into the aquarium to displace more water. Not ideal as I'm sure that affected the cycle with all the old junk stuck in it, but I didn't have a choice.

So flash forward to today. I got a batch of salt made and added to the tank, removing the extra live rock. For some reason though I cannot get my skimmers to work. They are two Red Devil brand protein skimmers. Every time I plug them in the cup overflows within thirty seconds with water. I tried adjusting the tubes but to no avail. Any suggestions for this issue? I am wondering if my water level is now too high. How high should it be in the back of the overflow?

Second problem- I need to find a manual or something for the Reef Keeper Lite that came with the tank. Can't figure that out to save my life. Second problem part II- I need to figure it out so I can run my lights. Unless I shouldn't worry about lights for now as its a FOWLR?

I'm worried I am going to crash the tank more than it probably already has. Any and all suggestions and tips are appreciated!

skimmers should be kept in chambers where the water level does not change. however, skimmers do need a breaking in period if they’re cleaned really well or not used for a while. do any of these apply?

and finally, i wouldn’t even run a skimmer on this tank.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 19, 2018

tdileo said:
The water level is probably too high for the skimmer.
Digital Aquatics, the company who created the ReefKeeper, ended. However, I would be more than happy to help you with any questions about the ReefKeeper. I have one on my tank and know how to navigate the interface pretty well.
Lights are not too important at the moment since it’s FOWLR, but it’ll help for viewing pleasure. I would try to get them running.

Any help in navigating the interface would be great. I still need to figure out basic operations with it. The heater, light, powerhead, etc.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 19, 2018

cromag27 said:
skimmers should be kept in chambers where the water level does not change. however, skimmers do need a breaking in period if they’re cleaned really well or not used for a while. do any of these apply?

and finally, i wouldn’t even run a skimmer on this tank.

I would say no, both skimmers were up and running when we went to take the tank down and they seem fairly clean. I’m pretty certain it’s user error.

Thoughts on why you wouldn’t run a skimmer?

cromag27 · Nov 19, 2018

BirdGuy21 said:
I would say no, both skimmers were up and running when we went to take the tank down and they seem fairly clean. I’m pretty certain it’s user error.

Thoughts on why you wouldn’t run a skimmer?

on a smaller tank like this, i have always kept no3 down by staying on top of water changes. much easier for a lot of people as it’s one less thing to mess with, or two in your case! you’ll still most likely be doing water changes, so just change out a little more each time if your no3 is high. especially not necessary if you’re not going to carry a huge bioload.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 19, 2018

cromag27 said:
on a smaller tank like this, i have always kept no3 down by staying on top of water changes. much easier for a lot of people as it’s one less thing to mess with, or two in your case! you’ll still most likely be doing water changes, so just change out a little more each time if your no3 is high. especially not necessary if you’re not going to carry a huge bioload.

Gotchya, that makes sense. Since I have two (and a few spares, I think?) I will try and see if I can get them to work. Watched s couple videos this afternoon, I think I need to adjust the height of the skimmer so it’s higher out of the water.

cromag27 · Nov 19, 2018

BirdGuy21 said:
Gotchya, that makes sense. Since I have two (and a few spares, I think?) I will try and see if I can get them to work. Watched s couple videos this afternoon, I think I need to adjust the height of the skimmer so it’s higher out of the water.

if you just had to have a skimmer, you could get away with just one of those.

yes, skimmers do have a min/max for water height where they will work best. the solution is not to change the water level, but rather the skimmer height. can make all the difference in the world.

zippgirlRN · Nov 19, 2018

Hey birdguy21 I have a downloaded version of RKL manual I could try to send you. I don't know how to attach a file to the forum, but you could pm me you email and I could try to send it that way. If your interested send me pm.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 19, 2018

cromag27 said:
if you just had to have a skimmer, you could get away with just one of those.

yes, skimmers do have a min/max for water height where they will work best. the solution is not to change the water level, but rather the skimmer height. can make all the difference in the world.

I played around with the heights a bit and it definitely made a difference. Let the one skimmer run for about an hour and it filled approximately a quarter inch- mostly water though. From the videos I found online I’m looking for more of a dark, thicker substance to be in the collection cup. Unplugged it for the night as I didn’t trust it to not overflow when I’m asleep, and will mess with it again tomorrow.

zippgirlRN said:
Hey birdguy21 I have a downloaded version of RKL manual I could try to send you. I don't know how to attach a file to the forum, but you could pm me you email and I could try to send it that way. If your interested send me pm.

That would be awesome, I’ll send you a PM. I messed around with it tonight and think I got the light working. Not sure if my light or the system are capable of alternating between the whites and blues spectrum? I hooked the heater up into it but it made me nervous to leave it overnight as I want to be sure I did it correctly.

Also set up the Tunze ATO today and gave it a test run. Still working through finding the appropriate fill level in my tank but at least with the ATO up and running I won’t have to worry about any salinity issues.

zippgirlRN · Nov 20, 2018

I just sent email, let me know if you don't get it.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 20, 2018

Got it, thank you! This will definitely help.

I want to set the heater up to the RKL but might need to calibrate my probe. The iTemp is reading 80.4 but my infrared thermometer says 76.5-heater is set to 78. Makes me nervous to run it if the temps are off.

I have the light running a mix of blue and daylight from 3-11:15, would that be sufficient for my tank at the moment? Figure the CUC will need some algae to feed on.

zippgirlRN · Nov 20, 2018

yeah it sound like you need to recalibrate the probe. if it is not in the manual let me know. i have a piece of paper that tells me how to calibrate the probe. my husband infrared thermometer is very accurate, so i trust his. I keep my heater set about 2 degrees higher than my reefkeeper as a fail safe for the reefkeeper prove. I only run my lights for 7 or 8 hrs a day because I have been fighting dinos off and on for couple years now. Your light cycle should be fine. I keep softies and have had so lps corals they all did fine with my light cycle

BirdGuy21 · Nov 20, 2018

Will do, thank you! My infrared thermometer is just a cheap one from Petsmart so I don’t necessarily trust it. It does match pretty closely to my regular thermometers in the freshwater though. Regardless, don’t want to mess around until I can be sure.

Good to know about the lights. I remember reading somewhere that people cycle through from more daylight to more actinctic for corals-not sure How or why to do so just yet but corals are a long ways down the road.

Attempted to make some more RO water to fill up the ATO (which went through about a quarter of the container in one day). Couldn’t get a 0 reading from the TDS meter, kept fluctuating between 10-15. My water from the tap read 667! Is this a sign of the filters needing replaced? And since I’ve been thinking of calibrating the temp probe, do TDS meters need calibrated, and if so, how?

Thanks for putting up with all my annoying newbie questions! This forum is great.

ScottBrew · Nov 20, 2018

I didn't see anything in your post about your RO system having a deionizing filter. The usual reef system has 2 (or more) pre-filters, the RO membrane and then a deionizing (DI) housing. It's filled with a media that would bring the TDS down to 0.

zippgirlRN · Nov 20, 2018

Far as I know you dont calibrate TDS meters. Are you running RO or RODI. I run RODI and always get 0 on my meter. I usually change my filters before I start getting a reading above 0 .If you are only running RO and no DI then I would think you probably would get a reading above 0. But you might wait for others that only run RO to chime in. My husbands infrared themometer is something you get from lowes or home depot and it is aewsome. In your case I think I would check temp with several tools and go based om the majority. Maybe a couple of thermometers and not just one.

BirdGuy21 · Nov 21, 2018

ScottBrew said:
I didn't see anything in your post about your RO system having a deionizing filter. The usual reef system has 2 (or more) pre-filters, the RO membrane and then a deionizing (DI) housing. It's filled with a media that would bring the TDS down to 0.

It's an RO/DI system- I think the seller said its currently running separate beds and suggested I go to mixed bed after this media exhausts?

zippgirlRN said:
Far as I know you dont calibrate TDS meters. Are you running RO or RODI. I run RODI and always get 0 on my meter. I usually change my filters before I start getting a reading above 0 .If you are only running RO and no DI then I would think you probably would get a reading above 0. But you might wait for others that only run RO to chime in. My husbands infrared themometer is something you get from lowes or home depot and it is aewsome. In your case I think I would check temp with several tools and go based om the majority. Maybe a couple of thermometers and not just one.

Good to know about the TDS meter- wanted to make sure I had it set up correctly and wasn't getting mixed readings. The system is RO/DI, I may be doing something wrong though. Still trying to get it all figured out. I have a lot of experimenting/tinkering to do over the holiday weekend

. I think I will pick up an infrared from Lowes/Home Depot to supplement my current one, just so I can feel safe with my temp readings.

ScottBrew · Nov 21, 2018

BirdGuy21 said:
It's an RO/DI system- I think the seller said its currently running separate beds and suggested I go to mixed bed after this media exhausts?

Cation and anion are the 2 kinds of media that make up the de-ionizing filter in the RODI. You can buy them separately or mixed. separately used 2 filter housings, 1 ea. and mixed is just that, mixed together in 1 housing.

https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/bulk...systems/reverse-osmosis-filters/di-resin.html

BirdGuy21 · Nov 21, 2018

Great video, very helpful. I will check out what I have going on with my unit tonight. I know I have a few unopened bags of mixed resin that came with the tank.

My system does not have an inline TDS meter, should I install one? Just watched another BRS TV video which suggested it. Also, how do I calculate my rejection ratio?

ScottBrew · Nov 21, 2018

BirdGuy21 said:
Great video, very helpful. I will check out what I have going on with my unit tonight. I know I have a few unopened bags of mixed resin that came with the tank.

My system does not have an inline TDS meter, should I install one? Just watched another BRS TV video which suggested it. Also, how do I calculate my rejection ratio?

My TDS has dual sensors. First is between the RO membrane and the DI stage, second is after the DI stage. My before DI is usually 10-20 and my after is 0. For rejection rate, get 2 containers and run waste into 1 and RODI water into the other and measure how much each has in it after a set period of time. 3:1 is about average.