setting up first Marine tank :)

[jaival]

thanks guys

[jaival]

it has been quite long that i have updated anything. so here it goes.

made plenty of rocks, stand is in its place and covered it with the wood, the tank came and set it up with proper liners, sump chambers are made and plumbing is in the verge of completion.



gere goes the pics

old tank, which is now sump and rocks in making



stand comes and the old tank goes down in the bottom with the rocks for cycling



did shopping for marines when i was in US for Business trip 3-4 weeks back



Partition of the Sump



Trunk load of stuff from LFS



new tank came and staff for cleaning



Rocks going in for cycling



Plumbing



spray bar





QUERIES
now waiting for the rocks to cure... still the PH of the tanks water is 7.9 to 8.2. Please advice me how long will i need to cycle the tank ??

plumbing needs to be completed, ll be done today.


Please guys comment and critiquie your suggestions are most welcome.

thanks for taking time and reading

[TL1000RSquid]

Originally Posted by jaival

QUERIES
now waiting for the rocks to cure... still the PH of the tanks water is 7.9 to 8.2. Please advice me how long will i need to cycle the tank ??

plumbing needs to be completed, ll be done today.


Please guys comment and critiquie your suggestions are most welcome.

thanks for taking time and reading

Have you added an ammonia source to begin the cycle? If not I would suggest taking a fresh/frozen shrimp sticking it into a filter sock then putting it into the tank. You'll probably be looking at several weeks for the process to happen.

I've only done 1 tank cycle that was with 100% dry rock took about 6 weeks for the cycle to go before I slowly started adding livestock.

Do you have circulation pumps in the main tank?

[jaival]

Originally Posted by TL1000RSquid

Have you added an ammonia source to begin the cycle? If not I would suggest taking a fresh/frozen shrimp sticking it into a filter sock then putting it into the tank. You'll probably be looking at several weeks for the process to happen.

I've only done 1 tank cycle that was with 100% dry rock took about 6 weeks for the cycle to go before I slowly started adding livestock.

Do you have circulation pumps in the main tank?

I am currently cycling my DIY rocks made out of cement and coral sand. So this makes the ph of water high. The cycling is still in fresh water not salt water.

To start cycling process with salt water i ll use bacterias to speed up the process

Yes in main tank there are 4 pumps for circulation placed near rocks and the tank gets 100% waterchange every 2-3 days

[jaival]

No replies on the last post. Thats something unusual on this forum.

Anyways hers the update, after loads and loads of problems, leaks and loads of reading comes the work.

The skimmer is set and working



Water level maintained



Problem : the water has started skimming and micro bubbles foaming but the foam is not getting up..... Soo when will it start foaming ??

Did the test for the first time today after making water, test kit used is API
And all the water parameters are positive. And very near to 0pp





Water has been cleared and now is crystal clear

Here goes a night shot





Now waiting for reefractometer to come.

Problem : still the FW algae is not cleaning up... What to do ??

Thanks for reading and watching. Critics are welcome and appreciated.

[TL1000RSquid]

Looking pretty good. Might have to dial in the skimmer some to get more foam going, might take a week or two to get the pump and all broken in over which time you could have to make several adjustments.

Where is the algae you're having trouble with?

[jaival]

Originally Posted by TL1000RSquid

Looking pretty good. Might have to dial in the skimmer some to get more foam going, might take a week or two to get the pump and all broken in over which time you could have to make several adjustments.

Where is the algae you're having trouble with?

thank you, bud didnt got what are you trying to tell me of the skimmer. can you please elaborate.

the algae are on the rocks, it was on the rocks when i started to cycle the rocks with fresh water, thought they will go with time in salt water but they are not. i am attaching the picture here with

[MrJawfish]

Originally Posted by Agu

I'd suggest you get the Conscientious Marine Aquarist and learn the basics first. It'll save you a lot of time and money.

I 2nd this recommendation. I have this book along with Saltwater Fish for Dummies and both a good reads. There is however, a lot of valuable info on this website.

[jaival]

thanks ll try to source it from somewhere, here its not available.

[TL1000RSquid]

I would say the rock will eventually fade as the tank matures, I had a couple pieces of rock that were in a FW tank for awhile that had a little bit of growth on them, several months later now I wouldn't be able to tell you which rocks were out of the FW tank.

The skimmer likely has some kind of flow adjustment knob on it, keep in mind though its a new tank with nothing in it so you don't have much of anything for it to skim.

[jaival]

thanks, yes i read it yesterday only somewhere that fresh water algae ll eventually fade in salt water...

the skimmer is now set and i dont think i ll fiddle around with it since i ll have a very low stock.

i am also in plan to make my own ATS lets see how the plan goes on......

[jaival]

hee comes an update

4 days back got 2 pieces of live rock, not the stuff i was expecting but it was not bad as well. cleaned them thoroughly and placed them in sump right now with no lights. planning to make ATS in the middle chamber aswell so was thinking on the lights.

soo here is the plan.

option 1 ) either go with santamonica's design ATS or to make a simple small and cheap ATS and give light such a way that it helps ATS aswell as live rock and cheatos to grow in

option 2 ) go with 10W LED in the sump for cheatos and LR and then when time permits make ATS that ll go in first chamber.

now let me know what do you guys think ....... ?? inputs are important.

here goes the pics







today went to city to get myself drum for the water change.



i also want suggestion here. to leave the drums as it is on the side and pump out water from the drum to the tank
OR to drill in the hole and rise the drum and make it permanent so i just need to press the switch on and everything done ??

Thanks for having a look.

[jaival]

i am back with update

the buckets that i bought are washed and now ready to use for water change.

since last 1 week checked the water parameters for 3 times and everything was perfect. no ammonia, nitrite, nitrate everything was near to 0 on the API test kits. then what was it i was waiting for ??

i was waiting for reefractometer to check the gravity and finally it came tonight before few hours.



the SG is also perfect 1.023-1.024 so this makes my tank is ready to get the fishes.....

soo experts and friends can this be said that the cycling process is over ?? can i introduce a fish or two ??
if yes then what should i introduce ?? a couple of blue-green chromis or a pair of clown ??

thanks for reading.

[TL1000RSquid]

Other then the 2 pieces of live rock have you added anything into the tank to kick off the cycle prior? Need to introduce an ammonia source to begin it. If you already did then its safe to add a couple small fish and or invert's, just go slowly and stay with smaller fish until your rock all gets seeded which will take a couple months.

[skykingcory]

Is that tank inside or outside

[jaival]

Originally Posted by TL1000RSquid

Other then the 2 pieces of live rock have you added anything into the tank to kick off the cycle prior? Need to introduce an ammonia source to begin it. If you already did then its safe to add a couple small fish and or invert's, just go slowly and stay with smaller fish until your rock all gets seeded which will take a couple months.

i added 2 pinch of food every alternate day. soo cycling is started. i am planning to get 2 chromis or 2 clowns....

Originally Posted by skykingcory

Is that tank inside or outside

the tank is outside..

[skykingcory]

Interesting concept. An outside tank has never even crossed my mind.

[jaival]

Originally Posted by skykingcory

Interesting concept. An outside tank has never even crossed my mind.

why ?? reason ?? sometimes i feel its lot easier to maintain than the tank in house.

but you have to be very carefull of the light, temperature weather etc.

[jaival]

it has been quite long i have updated the tank

soo here it goes

in this weeks time slowly and steadily added few fishes no proper light setup and no good camera in hand so not able to click the pics
so current tank inhabitants
started with 2 chromis
added 1 seabe clown
1 yellow tail chromis
again 2 small chromis
6 turbo snails
2 hermit (local ones so they are in sump, dont wanna get them to main tank)
and finally today 1 yellow tang (this yellow tang is in a lfs tank with other tang since 4 months and full set, and due to diwali the lfs guy gave me for 50%)

in this week did 3 tests and all test are positive, so this makes me confident to add new fishes.



finally i got the long waited prodibio products, i wish i would have got this product at the time of cycling the cycling would be easier and faster
got stopamo, biodigest, biotim and chlora
used it for the first time before 30 mins in the tank lets see how it works on the tank



Problem: i am not sure is this a problem or not, but the thing is skimmer has not yet started to foam.
on the far left side of the tank can see algae picking up with the indirect sunlight. lets see how this prodibio products responds.

have also ordered 660nm red LED for the ATS, trying to replicate the santamonica.

comments and criticism please !!!!

[TL1000RSquid]

Originally Posted by jaival

Problem: i am not sure is this a problem or not, but the thing is skimmer has not yet started to foam.
on the far left side of the tank can see algae picking up with the indirect sunlight. lets see how this prodibio products responds.

have also ordered 660nm red LED for the ATS, trying to replicate the santamonica.

comments and criticism please !!!!

No way to increase or decrease the flow on the skimmer? The algae caused by sunlight I don't think you'll be able to do much about other then scraping a couple times a week before it gets out of hand or putting something up to block the sunlight.

[jaival]

Originally Posted by TL1000RSquid

No way to increase or decrease the flow on the skimmer? The algae caused by sunlight I don't think you'll be able to do much about other then scraping a couple times a week before it gets out of hand or putting something up to block the sunlight.

tried each and everything on the skimmer to increase the flow and decrease, adjusted the height and finally maintained the level marked on the skimmer.

for the algae ll try to use a black background paper on the side soo ll stop the sunlight directly hitting the tank.

[jaival]

hello its been quite long i havent uploaded any-stuff was busy like hell since last few days

so the update is

finally got my camera working..... can someone explain me why i love all expensive hobbies ?? :cnf :cnf any one with same problem ?? :LOL

lost 5 small chromis in 2 days last week dont know why ?? just 2 dead bodies recovered 3 still missing.
due to this reason i am checking the water parameters with test kits every 2 days and everything is perfect no amonia, nitrate, nitrite spike. rest of the inhabitants are all fine enjoying the open tank.

HELP me with algae, its taking the tank and also looking very dirty.

2nd HELP required is with the skimmer. it havent started to skim :cnf any reason for that ???

here are few pics of the fishes i have

iphone pic clicked today morning before i got the camera back


both my hermits were in two chambers of sump since last 15-17 days, today shifted them to main display tank and i was surprised in just few minutes


i was surprised to see this...

i think they both ended up fighting and the smaller one ll be dead.





this is the image somehow i loved.... dont have time to fiddle around with photoshop but stilled loved it




comment and help me solving the problem of skimmer and fighting algae
thanks for having a look and commenting.

[jaival]

lovely snails helping a lot to keep the tank clean... but they are too less to control the algae


the seabe clown was a diwali gift from lfs along with yellow tail damsel

[jaival]

lovely snails helping a lot to keep the tank clean... but they are too less to control the algae


the seabe clown was a diwali gift from lfs along with yellow tail damsel

[jaival]

any views/critisism
help ?? thanks