My New 40 Gal Long Reef Tank

[jrobbins]

Hi all,

This is my first time really posting on the site (not just asking to buy or sell stuff). After a few months of lurking around I bit the bullet and decided to upgrade from the little 12gal nano i am running in my office.

Since I bought Bristol's 40long setup off of this site, and i have been lurking around reading all the threads, I figured the least I could do was keep you guys updated on my progress.

Thus begins...my 40gal thread.

Current Setup:
40gal long oceanic tank, drilled w/ 3/4 and 1 in bulkheads.
13 gal refugium/sump. right now it is going to stay as a sump.
won bros skimmer
Odyssea 48 in fixture w/ 65w 10ks and 2 actinic 03s
via aqua return pump
about 15lbs of rock from my nano
a zoo frag that i had still sitting around

Issues so far:
1. I cant figure out the drain situation, it works fine, but it's quite noisy. my girlfriend hasn't heard it in operation yet, but i am almost certain she will have something to say about it. I have tried turning the intake elbow in all directions, messing with the airintake(siphon break?) valve on top of the durso, and it still sounds like the toilet is leaking.

If anybody has anything to add on this i would be grateful.

2. The skimmer seems to only want to fill with water. i get tons of bubbles, but they quickly overflow the collectioncup and i am left with a cup of water. i saw it working on bristols tank before, so i am sure this is due to my own stupidity more than anything else.

Again, any input is welcome

3. Currently I just threw the rock from my tank and the cleaner shrimp in ( i was worried about leaving him alone in the nano with my pseudochromis, esp. now that he has no rocks to hide in there) I am going to pull the sand from my nano in the next few days, and return the nasty little purple pseudo to the fish store. Also will be getting some more cured lr this weekend, so i would rather get all the rock in before i add the sand.

I guess the only real question here is, should i add a "dead" aragonite substrate and then seed it with the ls from my nano, or should i add the ls first? or at the same time?

Thats about it.

I welcome any input, and nice to meet you all

-Jon

 

[rookie07]

skimmer collection cup is to low.

YOU'RE TANK IS GOING TO CYCLE...... It will kill anything living in the tank.....put the srimp back into your other tank...find something for it to live in/under and place that into your nano

 

[jrobbins]

will it still cycle even though i used a bunch of my old water and the rock is fully cured? i also used about 4 gallons (the whole box) of nutri-sea water b/c i was worried about that.

 

[jrobbins]

the real issue is that i have to break down the nano, and i dont really have a choice regarding the shrimp and the frag. if you or anybody close (on the uws ideally) wants to hold them in their tank for me for a few weeks just in case, that would be really cool.

 

[ellebelle]

If your rock is fully cured and you used the old tank water, you might have a mini-cycle, but it shouldn't be bad. I assume you have more rock to put in there!

Unfortunately, I don't have any experience with that skimmer, but it sounds like its currently set to skim really wet. Is there a valve somewhere that you can close? My AquaC does that when I've accidently opened the valve instead of closing it up.

I was having a similar drain problem, and I fixed it by reducing the rate of return to my tank. It was also suggested to me that I drill a second hole and/or enlarge the hole in my durso cap.

 

[jrobbins]

I tried reducing the flow with a ball valve on the return, but it still sounds pretty loud.

I was thinking of pulling the top cap off the durso and seeing what happens, but i am not sure i would want to leave it totally opened longterm (not sure why not, just seems like a bad idea).

 

[ellebelle]

Taking the cap all the way off will raise the water level in your tank.

If you put a ball valve on the return without a release, you may be putting back pressure on the pump. What size is the drain on that tank? 1"?

 

[jrobbins]

yeah

 

[ellebelle]

Your via aqua pump might be too strong for a 1" drain. I have 2 1" drains on my 40Br w/ a Via Aqua and I have soundless drainage. You could try a Mag 5 or something like that.

 

[jrobbins]

how about a T on the return going back to the sump?

 

[jrobbins]

and how bad is it to backpressure the pump (ie. use a ball valve on the return)?

 

[ellebelle]

To reduce the flow from your Via Aqua, a T with a ball valve is probably your best bet. If you do a little fancy plumbing, you could T your via aqua off to a phosban reactor or something like that.

If the backpressure on your pump is bad enough that it starts to sound really loud, then it is very bad.

 

[rookie07]

Are you going to be adding 40+lbs of LS and 25+lbs LR?
If so, that will cause a cycle.

Thats what ive been told. I havent had that experiance yet.

 

[jrobbins]

yes i will be adding some more sand and rock. the sand is from my system that has been running for a few months, and the rock has been in another system even longer. I dont see why what i am doing here is any different than breaking down and moving a tank, as i am mostly using rock/sand/water from an established system. however, due to all of your concerns, i will pull the chemi-pure bag that is in back of my nano and chuck it in the sump. should add to the biofilter.

j.

 

[bigbris1]

Jon, whatever you do, don't restrict the flow from the return pump as this will significantly shorten the life of your pump. This is why I had the T going back to the sump.

As far as the drain, adusting it takes some finesse, trust me, it took a while to get it right. But even when you have it tuned properly, drilled tanks are noisier than non-drilled tanks (you'll get used to it).

With the drain elbow set at about 45 degrees, and the water level just above the top trim (so you can't see the water line when viewing tank from front) adjust the return flow rate using the T valve.

The ball valve going up to the tank should be all the way open. Adjust the one going back to the sump. You have to give it a few minutes between adjustments so it can steady out. Watch both of the water lines (the one I drew on the sump & the water level in the tank).

Sometimes the issue is as simple as not having enough water in the tank, or having too much. Once you have it set, you still have to watch it for a couple of days to make sure it's constant. You'll be able to sleep after a couple of weeks

For the skimmer, there is an adjustment knob you turn to adjust the water level. The desired level is marked on the skimmer. Anything more & the cup will fill as you described.

Feel free to give me a call & I can stop by & give you a hand.

 

[ellebelle]

J, I think you'll be fine. There may be a mini-cycle, but nothing to be super worried about. When I set up my tank for the first time, I used cured LR that then sat in someone else's tank for a month before I got mine up and running. Even with the rocks being in and out of the water in transport, and even with brand new sand, I never saw a cycle. I also didn't see a cycle when I moved my tanks (but I was careful to keep the sand covered).

As far as your sand issues are concerned ... I don't really think it matters.

 

[jrobbins]

Jon, whatever you do, don't restrict the flow from the return pump as this will significantly shorten the life of your pump. This is why I had the T going back to the sump.

As far as the drain, adusting it takes some finesse, trust me, it took a while to get it right. But even when you have it tuned properly, drilled tanks are noisier than non-drilled tanks (you'll get used to it).

With the drain elbow set at about 45 degrees, and the water level just above the top trim (so you can't see the water line when viewing tank from front) adjust the return flow rate using the T valve.

Hey Bris,

Yeah, I have to put the T you had there back on. I took it off b/c i installed a check valve and figured i could just throttle back the pump with the ball valve. guess this is what i get for trying to reinvent the wheel.

As for the skimmer, yeah, i finally got around to wondering what that little valve did. i fiddled with it, and volia, foam

As for help, feel free to come by (you know where i live . i owe you a beer anyway

 

[jrobbins]

its been a few weeks, and i have been letting everything settle in. i figured i would post a few pics to let you guys know how it has been going.

there was some hair algae on one piece of rock that i got. i was going to pull it out, but it looks like some of the snails and crabs are eating it, and it doesnt seem to be spreading so i figured i wouldnt mess with it at this point.

the only issue right now is that i am getting some cyano growth in a few spots in the tank. i was thinking about adding another powerhead to increase the flow, but i am a little nervous, as the tank runs pretty hot right now (it gets up to 83 in the day sometimes) and i don't want to do anything increase the heat.

 

[jrobbins]

my idea was to divide the tank with two rock islands. on the left side i was planning on letting the encrusting and or rapidly spreading species to go nuts. that pile is made up of a bunch of smaller rocks, and the thinking was that it will be easier to thin things out or frag off colonies by using the smaller rock pile for the zoas, mushrooms, briareum, etc.

on the right side are a few bigger pieces of rock. this pile reaches up a bit higher in the water, and will initially be used for soft corals and leathers. right now a finger leather (sinularia?) is doing really well and taking on a deep yellow color (it is hard to see it in the pics). ideally i will use the right side to for some lps corals, but that is further down the road when i feel a little more confident in my abilities.

 

[rookie07]

I didnt know your rocks and LS came from existing systems. I misunderstood. Sorry, I thought you were adding new LR&LS, I was wrong.
Hope its going well.