afgun Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Can't see anything in the tank right now... added 100 lbs of sugar fine sand to the DSB in the refugium, and about 50 pounds of LRR above it. Tossed in a couple of frozen shrimp to start the cycling of the rock wall, LRR and sand! Lights are now out while we cycle... Scooped out a bunch of "sand foam". Tomorrow the new bubble blaster pump for our skimmer should arrive, so I hope to have it running in the evening. Nothing worth seeing so no pics today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Solid work! If you have one laying around, run a HOB filter full of fine filter material to help clear the sand storm... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
+olaggie01 Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Looks great Andrew. Andy came by and took some measurements for my stand, still debating on what to do with it. Can you take some additional pictures of the benthic zone? I may run a dsb in a bucket in my sump but I'm debating on how to run it. May try and do a cryptic zone in a bucket instead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RobR Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Wow that is one great build. Can't wait to see some more pics as it progresses, and that rock wall is amazing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Solid work! If you have one laying around, run a HOB filter full of fine filter material to help clear the sand storm... Unfortuntely, I don't. So I'm thinking about picking up some filter socks today and attaching them to the drains in my sump. Think that'll help? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 14, 2011 Author Share Posted February 14, 2011 Looks great Andrew. Andy came by and took some measurements for my stand, still debating on what to do with it. Can you take some additional pictures of the benthic zone? I may run a dsb in a bucket in my sump but I'm debating on how to run it. May try and do a cryptic zone in a bucket instead. Still not much to see... when the dust clears I will definitely do so for you though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted February 14, 2011 Share Posted February 14, 2011 Unfortuntely, I don't. So I'm thinking about picking up some filter socks today and attaching them to the drains in my sump. Think that'll help? Yup, Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 15, 2011 Author Share Posted February 15, 2011 Can you take some additional pictures of the benthic zone? I may run a dsb in a bucket in my sump but I'm debating on how to run it. May try and do a cryptic zone in a bucket instead. Here's my zone. Approx 6" of RDSB, 6" of benthic zone (with eggcrate for tunicates et al to attach to), 6" of LRR (when I'm done) for a 'pod home and then 4-6" of space for macro algae to grow. Crazy? Yes I am! There are a couple pieces of live rock to-be on top of the LRR, which might be confusing. They'll move to the main tank after we get a sand bed in it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 16, 2011 Author Share Posted February 16, 2011 I picked up the Bubble Blaster 3000 yesterday. Plumbed it in today and squeeeeeeeeeezed the skimmer into the sump. When I fired it up... WOW that thing puts out the air! Now I need to get a valve and make a silencer for it. I don't know if it will be worth the effort to convert to recirc... it looks to me like it will do a fabulous job without. The test kit that I bought doesn't have ammonia... doh, what an oversight. So I'll head out to the store this evening to pick one up. A nitrite test today showed 0, but I'm not really surprised as the 2 shrimp we dropped in the sump only disintegrated today. I also forgot that I had bought some stability, so I started dosing it today. I am going to order up a couple of bulbs for the Pacific Sun fixture. My RODI booster pump should arrive by the weekend, so I'll have a little fun setting that up. Otherwise, things are basically in a wait mode now until the tank cycles... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 18, 2011 Author Share Posted February 18, 2011 The booster pump arrived yesterday; unfortunately the mounting bracket was damaged in shipping So... have to wait and see how BRS wants to address this before installing it and making more RODI. I got an ammonia test kit yesterday and it shows between .1 and .25... nothing on nitrites yet. Going pretty slowly, so I think I'm going to dose household ammonia to kickstart the tank. It's off to the grocery store today! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 22, 2011 Author Share Posted February 22, 2011 Updates! BRS is sending a new pump. Should be here in the next couple of days. Frustrated with my high TDS after adding the piggyback RO cartridge and watching rejection rate basically go to 0, I determined that both membranes are somehow shot now Testing one cartridge at a time confirms the results. However, the good folks at BFS are now taking care of me, and are MUCH more helpful than my old RODI supplier, including talking to me after-hours and shipping my system that same day! New system will hopefully be here by the end of the week. Dosed household ammonia up to 2ppm and daily dosing of bacteria. Still waiting for it to drop... I'm just anxious I guess. Next projects: Connect pump to drain for semi-automated water changes Acquire/build tank for ATO to be mounted in stand above sump Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted February 27, 2011 Author Share Posted February 27, 2011 So, still waiting for the tank cycle to really get going. NH3/NH4 has dropped to 1ppm finally, but it's been there for a couple of days now. I keep dosing bacteria too. I'm too anxious! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Updates? When is the liverock going in? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 Funny you should ask; we just dumped in 200# of live sand from Tampa Bay Saltwater... first order of live rock should be here this weekend. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Awesome. So we should have some pics to look soon? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 18, 2011 Author Share Posted March 18, 2011 That's the plan; the dust from the live sand will hopefully settle today or tomorrow... pics coming soon! We have counted at least 4 snails and an urchin that hitchhiked with the sand so far... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 18, 2011 Share Posted March 18, 2011 Ohhhhh, TBS! I wanted to use them when I first setup but couldn't justify the expense. Looking forward to pics. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 Aaaaaaaaand rookie mistake on my part (filter sock hung over edge of sump) allowed untold gallons of water to quietly spill out of the tank today. I am just glad that I heard the auto-topoff filling the reservoir for much longer than it should have and investigated. Thank goodness my wife had a steam-vac; I have been using it for hours to dry the carpet. I have to throw in the towel for tonight though as my back is killing me. Back at it tomorrow in the am to get any straggling moisture out of the carpet. The fan will have to do for tonight... Any recommendations on a water alarm for my watertight (but overflowed!) stand? --andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted March 19, 2011 Share Posted March 19, 2011 You can get leak alarms at HD or Lowes. http://www.lowes.com/pd_117272-84862-BWD-HWA_?PL=1&productId=1005609 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 19, 2011 Author Share Posted March 19, 2011 (edited) I was only able to get a tiny additional amount of water out of the carpet today, so I'm just going to keep running the fan and crossing my fingers. As promised, here are a couple of photos. We found a fair number of different kinds of snails and a sea urchin that hitchhiked with the sand! The only Southwest direct flight from TPA to AUS today had its cargo booked, so we're crossing our fingers that they'll find room for cargo soon and bring us the rock. Edited March 19, 2011 by afgun Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 First batch of rock arrived! No aquascaping has been done yet as we just finished cleaning up after going through the rock and placing it in the tank... First of all, we have another sea urchin hitchhiking in... looks like the same kind as in the sand We found this crab, and aren't sure if we should put it in the tank or not... advice? It has some markings like it might be a young porcelain crab, but we are a bit wary. ID? We were quite surprised to find a fish had secreted himself in a rock; we didn't notice him as we cleaned the rocks in 2 separate buckets of saltwater! And I know you've been waiting for a full-tank shot... here you go, in the dark under the lights. Remember, no aquascaping yet. Lots of color, a TON of sponges. Very nice looking rock! Thoughts? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chrisp Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Looks great already. It's amazing that the fish survived. Were the rocks completely submerged during shipping? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 22, 2011 Author Share Posted March 22, 2011 There was a lot of water in each bag; the rocks were largely submerged. We did the "sniff test" and only found a few small sponges that smelled bad enough to warrant scraping off. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robb in Austin Posted March 22, 2011 Share Posted March 22, 2011 Not sure on the crab, but it does look like a porcelain crab to me as well. As a rule of thumb, any crab with pointy and hairy claws is bad. I'd banish him to the sump until you can ID it for sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
afgun Posted March 23, 2011 Author Share Posted March 23, 2011 Found us another hitchhiker... we hadn't discarded the bucket of water that I used to clean the rock in, and look what was hiding in the gunk at the bottom! It's hairy, which we think means bad, so he's living in the sump right now. Ideas on what he might be? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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