My Solana 34 Gallon

[sillysidewinder]

So I am about to start back up again with a new tank. It's been a while since I did any kind of work on a tank, so I'm a little nervous.

My plan is as follows:

I am getting a Solana 34 gallon tank from an MR member this Friday and hope to fill it with water, sand, and live rock this weekend. The sand is from another tank and it is quite old. I will be rinsing that thoroughly before putting it in the tank. I am getting water from Randy (Prattreef) probably ~20-25 gallons and will fill the remainder with fresh saltwater that I will make. Shortly after putting water in there I will add the sand. It may be a few days or a week before I put the live rock in. I hope that this is ok...

The tank comes with the Tunze 9002 skimmer, In-tank skimmer cup, and Steve T media rack. I am not sure what media to run as I start up the tank, any suggestions? Any other suggestions to get me started on the right track would be most appreciated.

Also, I'd like to thank a few people for their help along the way... Richie (Rkaragozler) Russ (Masterswimmer) Randy (Prattreef) you are all awesome, thank you so much for everything.

 

[xxxAngeloxxx]

Welcome back buddy! Hope to see your tank come alive and full of corals too buddy =D

 

[sillysidewinder]

Finally got myself motivated to do some work on the tank.

The tank hung over the back of the stand exactly 1/4 inch. I took a piece of wood, cut it 20" wide and screwed it into the stand to accomodate for it.

I had to shim up the right side of the tank, but it turned out easier than I expected. Here is what it looks like now.

The water is cycling through the tank just fine, however, the Tunze 9002 skimmer that came with the tank doesn't seem to be doing much. I still am not sure what to put in the media rack.

Also, anyone got a good article to read about tank cycling?

 

[rkaragozler]

imo, empty the tank and go to home depot and have them cut you a piece os 3/4" plywood to the dimension of your tank and a piece of 1/4" styrofoam. then screw down the plywood to the stand. The way you have that piece with 4 screws i wont trust, even though their is no downward pressure on the side glass. better to be safe than sorry.

 

[sillysidewinder]

i got the 3/4" plywood that you suggested today and am going to install it this weekend. i couldn't find 1/4" styrofoam but will keep looking. they only had 1/2" at home depot. thanks for the input.

I had the tank running with return pump the previous owner had for a couple of hours. After a few hours the water level of the display part of the tank had risen about an inch and was on its way to overflowing. I checked to see if anything was blocking the flow into the back chamber but didn't see anything. Any suggestions? I obviously can't run the tank if this is going to happen...

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Do you have the foam in the overflow compartment?

 

[sillysidewinder]

No, where should I put it?

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

I would take everything out of the back and see if anything is stuck in the chambers or the pass throughs. Also try lowering the flow of the pump if you are able to.

 

[sillysidewinder]

So I got the tank the circulate correctly. Per Chief's suggestion I lowered the flow on the pump which worked out great. I put the 3/4" piece of plywood underneath that was suggested. I tested yesterday with the kits that I have although I know that I am missing a few which I will get soon. The test results are as follows:

Alk: 10.9 dkh
Cal: 350 ppm
Mag: 1350 mg/lt
Nitrate: 0 ppm
Ammonia: .25 mg/l

The tank has been running for about 2 weeks without any filter media. I am getting ready to fill up my steve-t media rack, but would like some suggestions on what to put in there and in what order if anyone wants to chime in.

Here is a photo of the tank as it sits today:

 

[Chiefmcfuz]

Awesome! More pictures!

 

[sillysidewinder]

So I just found the following link which gave me some input on how the back of an AIO tank operates. Anyone have input on the best stuff to put on the shelves of my media rack?

http://www.mediabaskets.com/demos.html

 

[harryreef]

you will always have problems with this tank as a reef setup if you DO NOT go and purchase at lease 35 pounds of live rock to include with the cycle.....if you plan to add live rock pieces every now and then you will be delaying the end process of cycling due to continued spikes. These tanks are very sweet & mostly simple to maintain, but without the proper amount of live rock you will never have a stable system.....just put the 30 pounds in & wait for 2-3 weeks for a full cycle & then add the "clean up crew". You will not be disappointed. Also, that is a 34 gallon cube, not 25. good luck and great start (with a few changes).


34 gallon solana led HOB refug
yellow banded possum, geometric pygmy hawk, red dot trimma goby, candycane trimma goby, panda goby, 2 banggi cardinal & too many shrooms & corals to count. happy reefing! :Lurking: