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75 gallon tank - New to Saltwater (1 Viewer)

Your method might work better. Ill be interested to see what happens.

Yah the flow slows a bit but I have a ehiem 1260 which is plenty of return even with it T off.
 
JayJeep said:
Ironman, Where did you get your gate valves?
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I ordered all mine from Amazon, they cost me around $12.00 a piece with shipping, sign up for an amazon prime trial and you can have them in two days. Otherwise, if you are looking locally, SWE has them for around $26.00 a piece, and BRS also sells them.

Also, one other thing I did, that I now wish I hadn't, was attach my return pipe to the back of my stand, if something should ever happen to it, I will need to tear down the tank to remove it. When I move next year, I will remove the pipe clamp I used because it is held in place tightly by the overflow.
 
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I put 40 lbs of acid washed Pukani dry rock from BRS in the tank and put 40 lbs of Seaflor special grade and 30 lbs of aragamax select in around that. I'm going to add more sand today or tomorrow. The tank is now filled half way and I should be finishing the plumbing tonight.

Should I add some live rock in there once I get it filled and plumbed? Or should I wait until after it cycles?
 
JayJeep said:
I put 40 lbs of acid washed Pukani dry rock from BRS in the tank and put 40 lbs of Seaflor special grade and 30 lbs of aragamax select in around that. I'm going to add more sand today or tomorrow. The tank is now filled half way and I should be finishing the plumbing tonight.

Should I add some live rock in there once I get it filled and plumbed? Or should I wait until after it cycles?
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your call, if you put it in before it cycles, you will have to wait till it cycles to add livestock, but if you wait till the rock cycles, you won't be able to add livestock till you add the rock anyway. My vote is aquascape now, and wait for the cycle to finish. I used Bio-spira on my tank, whether it worked or not, I'm not sure, the tank did cycle faster than i was expecting, and there have been no adverse affects from it that I can tell. Some people will tell you it's a waste of money, and it very well could be, it's your call. Others will tell you that using quick start bacteria will only lead to an unstable bio filtration and ultimately lead to tank crashes, this is utter rubbish, once the bacteria establishes in your tank, it's there for good. It's the same bacteria that would have grown in your tank during the normal cycle. Note, this stuff probably won't cycle your tank overnight, wait for two weeks and test all your levels before you even think about adding livestock. If all looks good, add slowly. Also, plan what livestock you want in your tank, saltwater fish tend to be more territorial and aggressive than freshwater fish so they are not always compatible.
 
Odd thing is, I wish I secured my return line to the back of my stand! Its a bit loose when I move my pump around in the sump and hopefully it doesnt cause the attachment on my pump to crack.

I say add the rock now. I added some stuff from SWE for like $10 bucks. If it doesnt work, no biggie.
 
deneed4spd said:
Odd thing is, I wish I secured my return line to the back of my stand! Its a bit loose when I move my pump around in the sump and hopefully it doesnt cause the attachment on my pump to crack.

I say add the rock now. I added some stuff from SWE for like $10 bucks. If it doesnt work, no biggie.
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OH! I just brain stormed, bolt it to the stand, that way, you just need to reach behind with an open ended wrench to remove it. (nut side to the wall of course, otherwise you won't have room to remove the bolts) I used a galvanized tubing clamp, the kind you often find holding conduit to walls. I wish i would have thought of that when I was putting my build together.
 
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I got about 10 lbs of Live rock yesterday from Wet World and put that in. I also got the tank about 3/4 of the way full but I am waiting for my gate valves to arrive. Supposed to get here today. I also got the plumbing glued except for the valves. I set up the RKL for my heaters and everything seems to be working fine as of this morning.

Once I get the plumbing done and tank filled the rest of the way, then I can run water to the sump.

Should I be running my skimmer while the tank is cycling? What should I put in the Refugium, macro algae? Currently it is empty, will be adding some sand and some live rock. Do I add the macro algae now or after the cycle?
 
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this is what i did and i didnt have an algae bloom or anything after cycle

1. I put in the rocks in DT and ran it for 2 wks without skimmer. I did run carbon because it started stinking up house. Turned on skimmer after two weeks.
2. After 4 wks when cycle is starting to finish, start putting in chaeto in sump
3. I didnt turn on lights until wk 4. Why turn on lights and waste electricity and start an algae bloom
4. Cycle finished in 6 wks. Put in initial light CUC
5. Cycle done, cuc established. Started running GFO at wk 8
6. Add fish - one fish per 2 weeks.

All fish was first put in QT for 3 wks before put into DT. No problems have yet to arise from the fish.
 
I got the drain plumbed with gate valves and adjusted it. It seems to be working just fine. I also did a power outage test and the sump filled to about 2 inches from the top.

I adjusted the level in the overflow to almost the top but still cant stop the sound from the water coming over the overflow. There seems to be a spot in the back corner of the plastic overflow that creates a weird sounding bubble noise. I'll have to think of a solution.

Next, let it cycle and start building the canopy. The tank is really cloudy right now from the sand that I put in. I will post pics once it has cleared up.
 
JayJeep said:
I got the drain plumbed with gate valves and adjusted it. It seems to be working just fine. I also did a power outage test and the sump filled to about 2 inches from the top.

I adjusted the level in the overflow to almost the top but still cant stop the sound from the water coming over the overflow. There seems to be a spot in the back corner of the plastic overflow that creates a weird sounding bubble noise. I'll have to think of a solution.

Next, let it cycle and start building the canopy. The tank is really cloudy right now from the sand that I put in. I will post pics once it has cleared up.
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I had the same issue, I just lowered the water level in the overflow a bit and got silence. Make sure the water level is above any strainers you may have on your main drain though, otherwise you get a flushing toilet sound. Also Did you drill anti siphon holes in your return above the waterline?
 
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Got the fuge dialed in but was having trouble keeping the temp up. I think I will get a bigger heater. I move both heaters to the return chamber (one was in the refuge. and one was in the return before). Hopefully, that will help due to more flow in there than the refugium. Ammonia level is still going up as of yesterday. I still need to build a canopy for the tank....busy time of the year makes it hard to do anything.

The tank is about clear now so I can see everything in it now. I'm planning on putting in a CUC (after it cycles) but need to do some more research. Any suggestions?
 
deneed4spd said:
Right after you cycle, you just need a light CUC. Dont buy too much because there isnt much in your tank to eat so they starve.
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+ 1 on this. I have several radical viewpoints (ask me about aggressiveness of crabs and other livestock as related to feeding the tank...I'll make many here shake their heads in disgust) One of them is related to the CUC. I believe that many people actually overdo it. I am running a medium bio-load in my 75 with a roughly 9G refugium, and I probably overfeed by many people's accounts. I don't have a lot of nuisance algae (yet?). And I have in my main display 20 snails of various species, 2 red legged hermit crabs, 1 emerald crab and probably a small colony of bristle worms somewhere. In my sump I have 2 hermit crabs and 8 snails. I feel this may actually be too many. After all, they may literally eat themselves to death (IE consume the food supply to the point where they cannot be sustained by what is left in the tank), then I get dead creatures decaying in my tank, which prompts an algae outbreak...and if I buy a huge CUC to combat it, the same thing will happen, but to a larger scale, and the downward cycle begins. My thoughts are CUC in moderation, you can always baste, scrub, and filter out nutrients to reduce algae should it get out of hand.
 
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Go to HD and buy a clip on worklight for like $5 bucks. POP in a 5000K or 6500K curly bulb and you are set! Lowes sells the 6500K bulbs.
 
by curly do you mean a CFL? I have a work light that I was going to use but I just wasn't sure if it would work.

Thanks
 
Yup CFL. Work light will work fine. Just plug in a 75-100 watt rated cfl at those temps and you are set!
 
Started up the skimmer today and I think I have it adjusted right for skimming but it is making a gurgling sound. I bought it used and it already has the /mesh mod and the gate valve mod. Any ideas on how to make it stop gurgling?
 
Right now I have 3 koralia 750s and i think I will hook them up to the wave maker function on the RKL. I read somewhere that you can have them turn on for 30 sec and off for 30 sec. Is it supposed to do that all the time or only certain parts of the day or what? I understand how to program the RKL but I don't know what I should program it to do for the wave maker.

There is one pump on the left and two on the right as of now.
 
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