55 gallon build

G

Gietz

Guest
FINALLY!!!!

with the thanks to many of you out there I'm finally starting to setup my tank!  i just finished the plumbing today and I'm putting the sand in tonight.
ill post pics later this week

here is what i have,
55 gal tank with wooden stand
35 gal sump
4 HO T5 lights
I'm getting a NAC 7 but with this postal strike I'm kinda stuck at the moment lol

but i do have some other question lol
first, i have 60 lbs of sand and Ive been told that will that will give me 2 inch but Ive been putting it in and its seems deeper than 2 inch lol so if 60 lbs to much and i don't want a deep sand bed so is 2 inch to much

second should i put sand in my sump?? pros or cons ?



first
 
P

phi delt reefer

Guest
theres going to be air pockets and what not so you'll need to rake it once the water is in.

Good luck.

I am in the middle of setting mine up, once i got the water flowing it just muddied right up. Like not a sand storm...mud water. The Bahamas fine sand looks really nice but I am worried what will happen if I get a sand sifting fish or invertebrate. I am just going to get a conch who moves slow enough to gently move the sand and stay away from all the sand sifters until it thickens up a bit.  I let it sit for a full day and it semi settled. I ran some filter floss (Changed daily for the last two days) to catch the sand dust and its helped. Things are really clear now but its still kind of hazy.

DO NOT put sand in your sump. If you want put it in a bucket and have it so that your return pump pumps water into the bucket then overflows (drill a bulkhead near the top of the bucket on the side and plumb it back into your sump) into your sump. AKA Remote Sand Bed. This way it can be removed and cleaned if ever needed. 
 
G

Gietz

Guest
Ya I've seen your progress and it's really looking nice buddy OK so no sand in the sump!!  I'm thinking the that the reason why the sand looks so much is because it's dry Sand once it gets wet it will compress or at least I hope lol
 
G

Gietz

Guest
OK so i finished the aqua-scape and posted pic, what do you think??

all that's left is setting up the RO/DI unit, figuring out what powerhead size and placement, buying my NAC7 and ordering my return pump but overall i think i have the harder stuff completed that is until i start putting fish in lol

thx again to everyone who helped, its much appreciated
 
G

Gietz

Guest
RODI unit is hook up! Sump is all finished! (after having to recut the baffles lol and not breaking one!!!!) and all the equipment is accounted for and ready to go! 

Bring on the water!!!!!!!  and it time to cycle

ill post picks up when water is in
 
G

Gietz

Guest
some pics of my plumbing, sump and tank while in the cycle stage.
 
K

Krazykarl

Super Active Member
Joined
Nov 30, 2010
Very clean. I'd maybe suggest trying a 90 in the drilled bulkhead to eliminate noise and turbulence.  If it's feasible that is.. Do a short 90 for that size... Just a thought. Did it on my 90 and it's so quiet
 
G

Gietz

Guest
Krazykarl link said:
Very clean. I'd maybe suggest trying a 90 in the drilled bulkhead to eliminate noise and turbulence.  If it's feasible that is.. Do a short 90 for that size... Just a thought. Did it on my 90 and it's so quiet
Click to expand...

im thinking about it but as you can see i dont have alot of room to work with lol
 
G

Gietz

Guest
Success!! It's alot quieter thx for the ideas. Know I just added about 8 lbs of LR to my sump and 5 lbs to my display, what's my next move?? I've got mushrooms and a couple of starfish that hitchhiked in, how do I kick start my cycle?? Can I add a fish?? I do have 30 gals of already cycled water so. 
 
Darryl_V

Darryl_V

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
wow...this reminds me of my first tank, it was a 55g too with 4xT5HO etc.  haha...well actually this is a nicer looking setup.

As far as the cycle.....don't think of it as a one time thing or something you really need to "do".  The cycle is happening constantly.....you tank is cycling now....even with just dry rock you tank is cycling.  The "cycle" is just bacteria processing organic nutrients.  People often think of the cycle as just the period when bacteria is establishing it's self (think of it as the bacteria playing catch up)...but like I said the actual nitrogen cycle is happening always in an aquarium.

So the big question is then....what is your bacteria or "cycle" like right now.  Well being a new tank the bacteria are just establishing them selves but since you have mostly dry rock (hopefully you washed/dunked etc the dry rock) the organic nutrients are low and the time it takes for the bacteria to establish and process what little organics there are will be fast.  Big difference to that and getting all live rock that has been shipped 24hrs and stored badly with lots of organic die off.

Anyway sorry this got long winded but your tanks nitrogen cycle should equalize quickly......as soon as you test 0 nitrite and say below 30ppm nitrate...that is when I would start adding fish.  Down side of using all dry rock is that you have to slowly ramp up bio-load (fish).  So add a few small fish....get to feeding them....this creates more organic waste and creates more bacteria so add another fish and slowing increase feedings etc..
 
G

Gietz

Guest
Ok so when should I add the CUC?? I was thinking very little to start with or evening adding them first. Any way I just found out that my bulbs (that were suppose to be in today didn't get throught customs so now all I have is one attinic running but I'll try to take some pics
 
G

Gietz

Guest
i now these are mushroom but what the starfrish, the brown coral and the weed looking thing about the mushroom
 
Blob-79

Blob-79

Super Active Member
Joined
Jan 13, 2017
Location
Tillsonburg
the pic of the starfish is too blury to say for sure. but im still sticking by my first guess of it being asterina star.

the pics you have of the mushrooms, pretty sure i see a few baby aptaisia anemone's...nuke em fast
 
Darryl_V

Darryl_V

Super Active Member
Joined
Jun 29, 2011
Location
Woodstock, Ontario
Asterna starfish for sure......they can get to plague proportions but thank fully they don't harm anything.

You do have lots of aiptasia on that rock though....and that can turn into a BIG problem pretty fast.

As far as adding clean up crew.....if that asterna and those aiptasia are kicking than I would guess your tank is ready.  Possibly even ready for a small fish or two.  Just test the water to make sure.  You want to see 0ppm NO2 and 30ppm or under of NO3.  To add corals I would wait till your NO3 drops to 10 or below for LPS, softie and 5 and below if you want to add any SPS.  Just my basic guide line though.
 
G

Gietz

Guest
ya Ive been told those things are bad news so im bring back the rock!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and getting new stuff.  but im also get a shrimp  that eats them to just incase  :p 
 
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