Questions

[ironman58]

Hey y'all-Hope everybody had a wonderful Christmas! My tank seems to be coming along very nicely! I never knew water could be so clear! Seems like there's some "things" growing a little bit on the rock too...look like little 'tubes' or something.

Anyway-I have this incredible T-5 light setup that Greg at Optimum Aquarium set me up with. It cost around $400.00 but I think it's worth it. It's a 36" Coralife Aqualite pro with halide, flourescent and moonlight LEDs that I set up to run on a dual timer

>http://www.coralreefecosystems.com/images/aqualight-53502.jpg</a>

I picked up a couple of Maxi-Jet 400 powerheads. I put one head on each side of the tank and plugged 'em in in such a way as one pushes water one way for 12 hours and the other one pushes it the other way for 12 hours.

1). Is there enough flow for my tank? (it's a 42 gallon bowfront). Each pump pushes 106 gallons per hour. It SEEMS to be ok, because the little tubes and hairy things hanging off the rock are swaying back and forth.

2). With this type of lighting, can I eventually get SPS?
3). Pardon my ignorance, but WHAT ARE SPS?? Is that something I should plan on for the future when I get a little more experience?

4). I notice a little temperature variance,cooler in the mornings, warmer in the evening-I imagine it's from the halide lighting? it only runs 8 hours and it's only 3-4 degrees difference, is that normal?

5). I noticed some 'evaporation" -I added about a gallon of distilled water yesterday. The tank's been filled with water since Saturday. Is THAT normal?

6). I read that putting in a cooked shrimp can help the cycling process along, so I chunked one in there a few days ago. It's sorta swelled up now, should I leave it or get it out of there? ( I know, I shoulda asked BEFORE I did it :doh: )

I'm gonna try to get some pics and post 'em so y'all can see what I've got going and get any advice..
THANKS!

 

[xyzpdq0121]

No questions is ignorant... We are here to help.

First off, those little tube things you see and tiny feather duster worms. They are good guys and help clean your water.

Flow is an advanced concept, it is not all about how many gallons per hour your can push, but also how you angle the pumps to work together. For the most part, drop some food in the tank, are there any areas where the food drops to the sand in what is called a "dead spot"? if so, then you need to work on your flow design a bit to try to get as many of those dead spots out as you can.

With that lighting you should be able to get SPS IN THE FUTURE.

LOL, If you do not know what SPS are, how do you know you want them in your tank?!? SPS (Small Polyp Stony Coral) are hard corals. They are one of the three types of corals, Soft coral and LPS (Large Polyp Stony) being the other two. It is pretty accepted that SPS corals are some of the hardest corals to keep and most demanding on a system. If you are new to reefs, I would suggest that soft corals and LPS be where you get your feet wet.

Yes, tempature differences are a bit normal but 3-4 degrees is on the high side of a shift. You need to worry more about how high and low that is. If your tank is getting up to 84 degrees and then down to 80 degrees, that 84 could cause you problems. If your tank is going up to 80 degrees and then dropping to 76 degrees, that 76 could cause you problems. Sounds like you need to vent your hood a bit better and make sure your heater is set right. To give you an idea, my temp rises and lowers in my tank .5 of a degree from its baseline.

Yes, you are going to have evaporation. My 55 gal looses about 1 gallon a day.

Umm, raw shrimp would have been a better thing to start your cycle with then a cooked one. But still it is not needed. pull it out of there. If you have live rock in your tank, it will cycle just as fast. Rule number one about reef tanks, do not add anything that you do not know exactly what it will do to your tank in the long run.

Yes please post some pics when you can..

 

[wbholwell]

Brandon and Barbara gave very good advice. The only thing I have to add is a couple of suggestions.

-You could add a small fan to blow air across the top of the water of your display tank or your sump. Put the fan on the same timer as your lights so that it'll come on when the lights do. You'll see a much lower swing in temperature. (Be aware that more water will evaporate, though.)

-Your powerheads probably aren't stong enough to be ideal. MJ 900's would probably be a better choice, though there are many other options too. I wouldn't sweat it, though, this early in the game.

Just remember, take things slow and do your homework before making any changes to your tank.

Good luck!

 

[ironman58]

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[ironman58]

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[ironman58]

Here's pix of what I have so far:

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[skriz]

like Bryan said, you'll probably want to add more flow.

I added one uncooked shrimp in my tank to aid in the cycle process. All you want it to do is to start to decompose, just like fish poop. it won't take too long then you can pull it out.

add a background, it will hide all the wiring and such.

a temp swing is normal, but you want to minimize it. A fan will work great, but you should look into a topoff system to keep your salinity stable. In the summer, my tank can evap 25g in one day!

 

[jetchris]

look in to gettin 2ea tunze nano streams model #6025. Or hydor Koralia #4's.
Light looks nice, why did you choose a tank that is not reef ready "overfow box" as opposed to a RR tank "drilled"???

 

[ericmcj31]

you might wanna take those bioballs out and put some live rock rubble in there to help to keep nitrates under control--the bioballs are known for harboring nitrates (unless you are willing to take them out every week and rise with clean saltwater).

 

[ironman58]

chrisjet;114417 wrote: look in to gettin 2ea tunze nano streams model #6025. Or hydor Koralia #4's.
Light looks nice, why did you choose a tank that is not reef ready "overfow box" as opposed to a RR tank "drilled"???

Well-it was a freshwater tank about a week ago-I picked up a blue background and a maxi-jet 900 (from the used stuff box) for $10.00 at Optimum and put it on the back of the tank, right in the middle. I also picked up a 'wavemaker" and set it so the pumps alternatley come on at about a minute interval. The 900 pump puts out a LOT of pressure, because when it runs, it causes 'waves' on the top of the tank. I did that to get the flow to hit the front of the tank and wash back on the rock. It looks like I have PLENTY of flow now, because all the little tubes and hairs on the rock are waving like crazy now..I did take the shrimp out and flush it. Now I'm about to do a water test, since it's been a week now since I set everything up. This is FUN stuff!!!:thumbs: