qterry22
Active Member
I wanted to increase the bio load on my already established 65g reeftank. So when I moved to my new apartment I reused some of my old sand in a 5gal bucket to create a Remote Deep Sand Bed(RDSB). Additionally I plumbed another 5gal bucket full of Pondmatrix, rubble rock, and a few larger pieces of live rock I had from another systems to the RDSB. The sand was covered and stored for a few days in the bucket with some old tank water but without any flow or oxygen. The rock and pondmatrix were stored the same way for a few days until I was able to set up the system separate from my main system which I had just relocated.
Finally I had the time to set the buckets up with a pump and another bucket full of fresh saltwater all plumbed together and running so it would cycle. I dumped some special blend into the system and let it go. Thinking this was going to take weeks or possibly over a month to cycle I only checked the params once a week. To my surprise half way through the third week the system had cycled and all my readings were at 0. Still hesitant I let it finish out the week, rechecked the params and then tied it into my main system. I attribute the relatively fast cycle to a having live sand and rock from previous systems and using some special blend.
Its been up for a day and a half without incident, a mini cycle, or any spikes that I have noticed. So now that you have a picture of my set up I want to get your feed back on adding more fish (Bio-load) to the system. Currently my fish livestock are:
2x clownfish
1x starry blenny
1x foxface
1x blue mandarin dragonette
1x orange spotted shrimp goby.
Invert live stock include(excluding corals)
1x RBTA
1x Flower Anemone
1x Ball Anemone (cool hitchiker)
1x pistol shrimp
1x cleaner shrimp
1x rock urchin
and a decent clean up crew.
I would like to add a Hectors Goby and one dwarf angel (Coral Beauty or Flame Angel). With a potentially full bio-load prior to the addition of the new filtration system do you think adding these fish with the new system will still be a system overload or will it be capable of handling the extra bio-load. Currently all my corals seem to have great growth and all my fish appear healthy and happy (with the exception of my starry being a bully occasionally).
I should also mention that I have a large HOB refugium with macro, tons of pods and bristle worms, and unfortunately some red slime cyano
I also have two loads of ceramic media balls in my sump, a reef octopus skimmer rated for a 150g tank, 3x turbo twist UV Sterilizer, GFO reactor, and two chemipure GAC bags (In the process of building a DIY dual media reactor that I will share with the forum once its complete and tested).
So after reading my lengthy post(I tried to structure this post so it wasn't to painful to read. I am still working on my forum etiquette) do you feel that I would be capable of successfully adding a few more fish. I will also be continuing to build my coral collection. It is a mixed reef and currently a thriving system that I want to remain stable and thriving. I greatly appreciate any and all feedback.
Finally I had the time to set the buckets up with a pump and another bucket full of fresh saltwater all plumbed together and running so it would cycle. I dumped some special blend into the system and let it go. Thinking this was going to take weeks or possibly over a month to cycle I only checked the params once a week. To my surprise half way through the third week the system had cycled and all my readings were at 0. Still hesitant I let it finish out the week, rechecked the params and then tied it into my main system. I attribute the relatively fast cycle to a having live sand and rock from previous systems and using some special blend.
Its been up for a day and a half without incident, a mini cycle, or any spikes that I have noticed. So now that you have a picture of my set up I want to get your feed back on adding more fish (Bio-load) to the system. Currently my fish livestock are:
2x clownfish
1x starry blenny
1x foxface
1x blue mandarin dragonette
1x orange spotted shrimp goby.
Invert live stock include(excluding corals)
1x RBTA
1x Flower Anemone
1x Ball Anemone (cool hitchiker)
1x pistol shrimp
1x cleaner shrimp
1x rock urchin
and a decent clean up crew.
I would like to add a Hectors Goby and one dwarf angel (Coral Beauty or Flame Angel). With a potentially full bio-load prior to the addition of the new filtration system do you think adding these fish with the new system will still be a system overload or will it be capable of handling the extra bio-load. Currently all my corals seem to have great growth and all my fish appear healthy and happy (with the exception of my starry being a bully occasionally).
I should also mention that I have a large HOB refugium with macro, tons of pods and bristle worms, and unfortunately some red slime cyano
I also have two loads of ceramic media balls in my sump, a reef octopus skimmer rated for a 150g tank, 3x turbo twist UV Sterilizer, GFO reactor, and two chemipure GAC bags (In the process of building a DIY dual media reactor that I will share with the forum once its complete and tested). So after reading my lengthy post(I tried to structure this post so it wasn't to painful to read. I am still working on my forum etiquette) do you feel that I would be capable of successfully adding a few more fish. I will also be continuing to build my coral collection. It is a mixed reef and currently a thriving system that I want to remain stable and thriving. I greatly appreciate any and all feedback.
