New 180 gallon tank, mostly DIY

Mgoc · Jun 5, 2013

Hi everyone. I currently own a 55 gallon saltwater tank but I wouldn't say its a true saltwater aquarium since I only have 2 Columbian sharks and 1 Mono with a few scarlett hermit crabs. But now we acquired a used 180 gallon and built the overflows and sump with a 40 gallon breeder. I have a few questions and I would really appreciate any help from you guys. First of all. I filled it up and put sand and base rock in along with a couple of pieces of live rock and sand from my other aquarium in order to "seed it". On the first couple of days my ammonia was around 0.25 ppm, nitrates were somewhere around 0.50 ppm and nitrates between 0 and 5.0 ppm. only a couple of days later they were all close to zero. Is something wrong with my tank or did it cycle so fast I didn't even notice?.

Also, we bought a reef octopus water blaster hy 10000 but when we opened the box, we found out that the outlet fitting the pump comes with are in "british size" and are made of plastic. How am I supposed to hard plumb it? We couldn't find any PVC fitting that would fit and I dont think I can bond plastic ti PVC.

Last question. We bought a few hermit crabs from the LFS and put them in the 55 gallon and after a few hours I noticed a hitch hiker on one of the crabs that looks a lot like a BTA. Can anyone I.D. it?

Thanks everyone and sorry for the long post.

harriszm · Jun 5, 2013

off to a good start, I would suggest raising the water level in the skimmer section and adding an ATO or you will have a bad sucking noise when water gets low and skimmer will be more stable/preform better

harriszm · Jun 5, 2013

last pic looks like it could be an aiptasia not sure about the one on the hermit. You shouldn't really have any nitrates in the water after just filling it up, give it a few weeks and test again and get a 2nd source to check like your LFS

mike007 · Jun 5, 2013

Looking good so far.

AsphaltPays · Jun 5, 2013

Hello and Welcome to R2R!

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Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

harriszm said:
last pic looks like it could be an aiptasia not sure about the one on the hermit. You shouldn't really have any nitrates in the water after just filling it up, give it a few weeks and test again and get a 2nd source to check like your LFS

Its actually the same one. We took the picture of it on the crab 2 days ago. Then it went from the crab to that spot on the rock and "extended" its tentacles. I feed it shrimp and it ate like there was no tomorrow. It decided to stay in that spot but I think its kind of weird because its not getting direct light and I dont even have a good lighting system in that tank but it seems to like it there. Dont anemones like lots of light?

Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

thanks. I just registered tonight and I am already getting answers from all of you guys. Great site!!!!

Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

harriszm said:
off to a good start, I would suggest raising the water level in the skimmer section and adding an ATO or you will have a bad sucking noise when water gets low and skimmer will be more stable/preform better

Thanks man I appreciate the advise I havent turn on the skimmer for more than a few minutes a a time, only enough to make sure my setup was in working condition but I didnt hear any sucking noises but I would like to ask you this. The skimmer pump is right next to the flexible tubing coming from one of the overflows, is that going to be a problem?

Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

So... I contacted customer service at the website I bought the pump from and they told me to use PVC cement to glue the fitting to my return line plumbing. I'll let you all know how it went and Ill post pics.

Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

harriszm said:
last pic looks like it could be an aiptasia not sure about the one on the hermit. You shouldn't really have any nitrates in the water after just filling it up, give it a few weeks and test again and get a 2nd source to check like your LFS

And about the levels in the water. Shouldnt there be ammonia and or nitrites after a week of cycling?

JMMJ13902 · Jun 6, 2013

Welcome to the family.

If you are using clean water from rodi with 0 tds.....getting undetected nitrate and ammonia is kind of expected. But a mini cycle or full cycle will soon happen which you can tell from brown algae (called cyno) covering your rock but eventually will go away.

Good luck and happy reefing bud.

Mgoc · Jun 6, 2013

JMMJ13902 said:
Welcome to the family.

If you are using clean water from rodi with 0 tds.....getting undetected nitrate and ammonia is kind of expected. But a mini cycle or full cycle will soon happen which you can tell from brown algae (called cyno) covering your rock but eventually will go away.

Good luck and happy reefing bud.

I am currently using tap water and I used a small piece of live rock from my other tank and s few pounds of Marco rock along with a couple pieces of base rock from my other tank as well, the last pieces are covered with brownish stuff all over that started to disappear as soon as I put it in the new tank. Do you think this might have helped the cycling process enough to were my ammonia and nitrites spike was of 0.25 ppm and 5 ppm? If so, is that what you call a "mini cycle" and is it safe to add some inverts or hardy fish now?

Thanks for your help