A Noobs Adventure - My First Saltwater Tank

[CreatiVe2]

First off let me start by saying this is a hobby i have been wanting to get into for the better part of the last 5 years. the issues, Money, and time. who would have thought....

during any project i tackle i try to throughly read and understand what i am getting into before the point of no return. ya know, past the windmill on the train in Back to the future III...
I may have read enough of waterkeepers articles to be a full time reef book editor ;D
My other ongoing/mostly complete project: Here

I have also determined the my LFS employs a bunch of college drop outs that are good for only their supply of RO/DI water, and MAYBE some corals. Their LR is overpriced and not that "live", most of their fish show signs of disease, and they do not know about it. sad...

enough dabble, On to the current setup.

I have a 50 Gal bow front tank, with a rena XP3 canister filter (overkill i know) circulating the water. My Specific gravity is steady at 1.024, and i just added my first premium live fiji rock from liveaquaria.com. I have a chart from day 1 until now of all of my ph, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate levels. 5 days after adding the fiji rock my ammonia went from 1ppm - 8ppm, Nitrate 15ppm - 40 ppm, Nitrite 0ppm - 1.5ppm. By the looks, I should be right at the start of my Nitrogen cycle.

I have a RO/DI system being delivered today, and my first water change will be whenever i have 25 Gal (2 days max). I also have a Over the tank protein skimmer coming in the mail, but there is less of a rush for this as i only have live rock/substrate in the tank.

My lighting (for now) consists of a single fluorescent T5 bulb, at the highest kelvin rating i could find. As this will be my backup light. I have searched a while on my final light and have come across This. I will not be venturing into SPS corals yet, i mainly am trying to setup as FOWLR and soft corals. Any other suggestions for lighting setup? (i do have a timer in mind too)

Hopefully i surpass my noob status by realizing fish are a long long way off, help from you guys, and planing, planing, planing....
I honestly got excited to see a small starfish already inhabiting the tank, not even the size of my pinky nail.

I do have a colleague at work, who has had a well established 100 gal saltwater setup for 3+ years. he has guided me thus far, and helped me rid most of my terror from the salt water aquarium hobby. He also directed me to this forum.

i know i am probably missing a bunch of info on my first post, so please bear with me, although some questions i do have are below:

My Rena Xp3 came with biostars, and are currently in the canister. Is it necessary to have these with the amount of LR in the tank? (53lbs)

Algae, Its starting to form all over my glass and filter components. i know this is due to the LR and ammonia levels, but i don't want a full out bloom. what should i look for/prepare so this will not happen? like i said, water changes will be done as soon as i have enough RO water.

My water is very clear, i am pretty surprised actually. Would i need to add an activated carbon pack to the canister?


I have attached some pictures of the tank setup as of this morning. Also there is a macro shot of the algae.

*edit: the glass heater is a backup, i am waiting for my Rena inline heater to arrive.

[C-Russ]

Thats an awesome setup. Keep your lights off for a few days and the algae will die off.
And BTW, that is hardly a "algae bloom". It will get much much worse. Also after your cycle you can expect what looks like a brown algae bloom. Its not algae at all but diatoms and on a fresh setup its natrual and will go away after 10-14 days or so.

I would only keep your light on < 3 hrs a day. That way you keep the algae and bacteria in check. The next thing to buy is new T5 lighting for sure, you can hold off on the skimmer for a bit if $$$ is part of the equation, or search craigls list. I got mine for $25!!.

It looks good if the back of your auqarium is Black or Blue. You can paint it or fasten acrylic to it. But overall Looks really good. Later on your can replace the cainster filter with a sump/refugium, but your stand kinda limits you on that at the moment.

Good job.

[CreatiVe2]

thanks russ! good to know i didn't set myself up for disaster in at least 1 area... hah!
I didn't think about this going in, but a sump probably wouldn't work on this setup. I did plan however to hang some chaeto in the tank, down the road. i got my skimmer on ebay for 57$ shipped! i also found a lot of supplies for the rena on ebay, for very cheap.
I only turned the light on for these pics, however some sunlight does get in the room during the day... so i assume this can affect the growth too.

and i dont have anything on the back of the tank yet! hah. i plan on putting some black acrylic, how would you fasten it to the tank?

[C-Russ]

you can glue it to the inside with aquarium seal, but its a little late for that now. You can always just fasten it with black velco and put some electric tape or something else around it to keep any light form shining down between the glass and it.

[thegrun]

Get a TDS meter as soon as you can to measure your RO/DI output. My tap water is so bad I needed to add a second DI cartridge to my system to get the TDS below 25 PPM (anything above 5 PPM is too high, preferably below 3 PPM). Use a calibrated refractometer to measure your salinity if you are not already using one; hydrometers are notorious for being inaccurate. Welcome to Reef Central.

[C3gear]

I second the thought about the TDS & Refractometer, also choose you salt mix carefully for your needs.

[CreatiVe2]

thanks grun. I was going to order a tds meter with the Mighty Mite from Air water Ice, but i found it cheaper on ebay. Its on the list of "things to get".

I hope my tap water isn't that bad

i have just stated reading about refractometers, and here i already got a hydrometer
any one you like specifically? ones to stay away from?

Originally Posted by C3gear

I second the thought about the TDS & Refractometer, also choose you salt mix carefully for your needs.

I am using the Oceanic Natural Sea Salt Mix, i have heard good things about it. would another brand be more suitable?


*Edit: just purchased a TDS meter for 19$ shipped on ebay. thanks for the recommendation guys.
Also bidding on a refractometer.

[chow]

good job

[CreatiVe2]

the mighty mite arrived yesterday, and just as i thought, The dimensions would be perfect for it to sit right behind my bathroom toilet, and use its water source. After a trip to Lowes you can see the fitting i used to bridge off a water line for the RO/DI.

This first batch is Probably the only water changes i am looking forward to doing... hah

does anyone know where i can get some decent 10 gal buckets?
Where do you put you rodi water? I have most heard in large trash cans, but anything on the smaller scale?

And also about the question i asked above. (off topic)
do i need bio media if i am keeping live rock?

[wrudge]

It looks like you are off to a good start so far. Good luck with the tank.

[stevek480]

I use the 5 gallon buckets from Home Depot to store water. Looks good so far!

[CreatiVe2]

Today was 24 hrs after my first water change (first time with ro/di water) mixed with salt.

It has been almost a week since i put my fiji LR in the tank. Below are the water parameter values from nov 25th to today.

Notice the dip in ammonia and nitrate 24 hrs after my first water change. should i expect the values to rise again and then do another water change?
or is the cycle coming to a end already?

the only bio media i have put in the tank was the live fiji rock.
(from liveaquaria.com)

[stevek480]

Originally Posted by CreatiVe2

Today was 24 hrs after my first water change (first time with ro/di water) mixed with salt.

It has been almost a week since i put my fiji LR in the tank. Below are the water parameter values from nov 25th to today.

Notice the dip in ammonia and nitrate 24 hrs after my first water change. should i expect the values to rise again and then do another water change?
or is the cycle coming to a end already?

the only bio media i have put in the tank was the live fiji rock.
(from liveaquaria.com)

It's difficult to say for sure because there are so many variables involved, but your ammonia level could very well have peaked. You will know when the cycle is near the end when both your ammonia AND nitrite are going down.

[Rangereefer]

10 gallon buckets? hmm I usually use the 5's from lowes but I did pick up a big 13 gallon from there during the spring/summer with the rope handles not sure if they still carry them but it can't hurt to ask...as for storage I use a 37 gallon drum to store my water...Basically anything that is listed as food safe is fine for storage of Water and shouldn't leach chemicals

[CreatiVe2]

So i just got my TDS meter in the mail and all i can say is Wow...

Hot Tap water: 487ppm
Cold Tap water: 350ppm

After Ro/di: 11ppm

Should i get another DI inline filter? Or is the water coming out suitable for use?

[stevek480]

In my experience 10 ppm TDS is enough to cause algae problems. I had a bad DI filter that was putting out 9ppm water and I had bad hair algae. Switching to a better DI brought it down to 0ppm and my hair algae disappeared.

[ken6217]

I would either get rid of the sand bed or make it shallower. If you do keep it, make sure you thoroughly gravel siphon it at every water change.
Ken

[theyammieguy]

Looks good but your gonna kick yourself in the butt when you try to clean the glass that the LR is touching on the right side.

[DC_40gallon]

first of all I hope you know not to hook your RO/DI unit up to a hot water line. This will instantly blow your membrane and cause you to spend $50-80 more to get another one on a simple accident.

Second on your 11ppm TDS reading, how long has the unit been running ro/di water? was it on hot water any of that time?

If its a new unit, it takes 5-10 gallons of ro/di water to waste through the system sort of a "break in" period. This gets everything synchronized and then you will see 0 TDS.

If you ran hot water through the unit at any time, then 11 ppm TDS is probably accurate because the membrane got burned up on that hot water. It takes little hot water to burn up a membrane unfortunately.

[CreatiVe2]

Originally Posted by stevek480

In my experience 10 ppm TDS is enough to cause algae problems. I had a bad DI filter that was putting out 9ppm water and I had bad hair algae. Switching to a better DI brought it down to 0ppm and my hair algae disappeared.

Thats what i am afraid of. I'm looking into trying a new DI filter or a 2nd inline one. if the problem gets to out of hand. I haven't seen any hair algae yet, Just small diatoms all around the glass/rock.

Originally Posted by ken6217

I would either get rid of the sand bed or make it shallower. If you do keep it, make sure you thoroughly gravel siphon it at every water change.
Ken

what would be the benefit of this? i do plan to siphon areas that get bad, but i heard to much could alter some of the deeper seeded bacteria.

Originally Posted by theyammieguy

Looks good but your gonna kick yourself in the butt when you try to clean the glass that the LR is touching on the right side.

I have moved the rock around 3 - 4 times since those pictures were taken. plus gotten a new inline Rena heater, saves a bunch of space. id say its a little tight around 1 small spot now, i will tackle that issue at a later date.

[CreatiVe2]

Originally Posted by DC_40gallon

first of all I hope you know not to hook your RO/DI unit up to a hot water....

did you see the pictures above? Unless toilets run hot water, i think your answer is there.

I did however just read about the "flushing" and that was directly from the unit after 4 days of inactivity, i'm currently bleeding it off and will measure it later tonight.

[ken6217]

There are two schools of thoughts on sand beds. No sand or sand. No sand and you have less of a chance of having anything build up in the sand. A true DSB (deep sand bed) is constructed in such a way so that you have an anaerobic area deep in the bed that will reduce nitrates in the tank. You would read up on the correct way of doing this.

If you want to keep sand you should have a rather shallow depth for aesthetics and do gravel siphoning to all of it as part of your regular maintenance.

I can tell you first hand from experience that the sand can be an issue if you do not do maintenance to it.
Ken

[CreatiVe2]

So i took another set of readings 12 hours after i did my 2nd 20% water change. the values are attached below.

It looks like i am almost ready for some life. But i wont jump the gun.
I still need lightning, i have been looking at other solutions for that and came up with this:

AquaticLife PowerCompact CF Light Fixture
-4 Lunar LEDs
-36 Inch 2x96 Watt

Also, i need to raise my Ph, i have seen these products in the LFS, what do you guys recommend? i Know i need to be in the 8.1 - 8.4 Range.

I also took out my bioballs, they seem to make next to no difference.

Before i add any corals to the tank, would you recommend getting a "reef test kit" for Calcium, Phosphate and , Alkalinity ?

[Chiefsurfer]

that aquaticlife light should be fine if you only intend to have a FOWLR, and MAYBE a few softees. HOWEVER, you ever get into sps, lps, etc. You will need better lighting. It seems to me, some of the average t5's would be a better fit, because they are not MUCH above the cost of those PC's, and much better lights, and you would not need to upgrade lighting for sps, lps.

I got the 4-bulb 24" aquaticlife with moon-light led's. I think mine cost about $250 shipped. For an extra few bucks I'd say it's worth it. Just my $.02.

Seems you're doing pretty good, and yes I would say that letting the RO/DI go through the break-in before using, although you might have already used it. You don't want to kill your cycle, but after your cycle is done, I would suggest at least a 50% WC with 0ppm TDS water. You should still be getting 0TDS out of your machine, however with such high TDS reading on the incoming side, you may have to frequently do filter changes. If you are questioning at all, get an in-line meter. It costs about $50 with shipping, and you can put the IN side behind the RO membrane, and the OUT side at the very end behind the DI canister. This will monitor quality of the RO membrane, and the DI resin, as you will probably be replacing both fairly frequently.

[CreatiVe2]

Thanks for the response chief, I was afraid the light wouldn't be adequate for some of the corals. Is this the one you have? (but in 24")
thanks for pointing me in the right direction, i will be getting this light!

T5 dual Bulb
39W*4 = 156watts / 46 gal = 3.39W/gal

Would this be enough for soft corals at least?

also the CF light comes out to this Value:
96w*2 = 192 Watts / 46 gal = 4.17W/gal

the t5 puts out less power, but is it a better light quality than the compact fluorescent?

As far as the RO/Di. I started putting in 0TDS water a few days after my ammonia spike, and then again yesterday. nitrite and ammonia have been steadily going down since. They are both as 0 (or close to it) now. I have a portable TDS meter, and record the levels every time i use it. the filters should be fine for a while, as i do not make that much Per week. the filters are only 30$ for the mighty mite, so i will get a few and then swap them in later.