In Progress: Sumpless 55g Tank

[hhoang]

Update: All the misc stuff (test kit, refractometer, powerheads) should be delivered today. I decided to go with black sand (I know some of it can be magnetic, can show crud easier, and is a pain in the butt to clean but I really like it). I found some that won't mess with the ph and the grains are all pretty much the same so any bottom dwellers won't have an issue sifting through it. I went and checked out my friends tank and he has black sand in his mixed reef, all the pretty colors just popped. My dry rock will be here in about 4 days and that same friend offered to help me speed up the cycling process by transferring some things from his tank to mine (some including filter media since he also runs a canister filter, but he uses a mix of matrix and carbon. His tank is super duper healthy and has remained steady for 2 years, no diseases or anything. I'll be able to jump start my cycling here by the weekend.

[Pigpen17]

Right on. Love getting stuff in the mail. Please post a pic when you have everything in the tank. I would love to see this up and running.

Just got my LED's today. Marineland "reef ready".It's basically a toy, but holy shiz! What a difference! I love it! No pic can show how brilliant these are. For real, I have tried. They are such an improvement. I know it's a bottom of the line LED, but I can't imagine them being much brighter! Wow!

I understand that is far from full spectrum. It has only white and blue, but I am digging it! I could try some med light soft corals. I just might.

That’s it on the tank cash for a while though. Time to start setting up my QT. I could actually be buying fish in a month!

Before:


After!




Yeah, the photos just don't do it.

[hhoang]

That looks great! I love the way the purple on your rock just pops out.
When you get some fish in there it's going to look awesome & I love what you've done with the aquascaping.

IMO my lights have too much blue, I wish there were more red leds to balance it out. I almost want to replace my actinic bulb with a pink actinic bulb and see how that looks. I think I might actually get a dual bulb so I can run a 50/50 and a pink actinic bulb.

[Pigpen17]

Yeah. That is the bummer with this light. I am stuck with what it has out of the box. I also thought that it could run over an open tank. I don't know where I got that idea, but I was sure of it. But no.

Crazy. My shrimp seems mesmerized buy them. When I first turned them on, it climbed to the tallest rock and then reached up as far as it could!

Oh, but my first reaction after the shock of the brightness is they lack the warmth of fluorescents. Not the one that came with the tank. That sucked. But it is a lot cooler that my old lamps. Maybe that's the pink you refer to as well.

[hhoang]

yeah there's going to be a lot of playing around to get it to our personal likings. it's going to be an adventure haha

[Pigpen17]

HA! I know where I got the idea you could run the light over open water. Marineland has pictures of it over an open tank!

I put it on there last night just to see how it looks. It's sweet. Might risk it.



I am thinking of maybe mounting a sheet of plexi to the light as it's own cover, or something. Not sure. Also have a question out to Marineland about it. Maybe if I wipe it down often.

[GT350pwns]

Wipe it down often and maybe look into sealing around the edges of the housing w/ silicone?

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by GT350pwns

Wipe it down often and maybe look into sealing around the edges of the housing w/ silicone?

Good advice. I will take a look tonight at the housing for potential danger points. This is way too cool looking to just say "you can't do that."

[kjboggs]

You can have a successful reef with no sump. I have a 55 reef with the same eshopps skimmer, phosphate reactor, and a canister with uv and a surface skimmer installed. Don't over feed or overstock, and I have 0 nitrates. I Clean my canister monthly.

[hhoang]

Originally Posted by kjboggs

You can have a successful reef with no sump. I have a 55 reef with the same eshopps skimmer, phosphate reactor, and a canister with uv and a surface skimmer installed. Don't over feed or overstock, and I have 0 nitrates. I Clean my canister monthly.

It's always so nice to see people reaffirm a sumpless system. Makes me feel a little more confident.
I'm running a canister but was told if I'm running a HOB skimmer to run matrix and carbon through it with filterfloss instead of the ceramic rings, sponges and water polisher. Your opinion kjboggs?

I love how you did your rock btw.

[hhoang]

Originally Posted by Pigpen17

Good advice. I will take a look tonight at the housing for potential danger points. This is way too cool looking to just say "you can't do that."

I actually want to put a screen on top instead of the glass, I want to get some fish but they're notorious for carpet surfing.

[hhoang]

Hey guys quick update, I got my refractometer and powerheads...I placed the korlias in the tank already, now all I need is rock, sand and water!!!




Here is it with daylights


Here it is with the night mode & actinic bulb in, I like the way the pink is given off from the actinic bulb )

[kjboggs]

I only use filter floss in my canister to catch detritus and so I can completely clean it monthly. I put carbon and gfo in my reactor and change monthly to six weeks.

[hhoang]

Originally Posted by kjboggs

I only use filter floss in my canister to catch detritus and so I can completely clean it monthly. I put carbon and gfo in my reactor and change monthly to six weeks.

I don't have a reactor, I should be fine using carbon and gfo in the trays of my cansister right? There's 4 trays in it.

[AwwNuts]

U can have an amazing tank without a sump. I have a 125 gal sumpless. Reef Octopus BH2000 hang on back skimmer which is just a killer machine at filling a cup with dark gunk in days. I run rowa phosban media in a phosban reactor and it polishes the water very well. I have clear water considering the amount of fish I have in my tank.
Large Hawaiian naso tang
Large sail fin tang
Pair of male and female blue jaw triggers
Niger trigger
3 yellow tangs
Pair Oscelarus clown fish
Maroon clown fish
ORA purple dotty back
Bicolor blenny
Pajama cardinal
Bangai cardinal
Large fox face
Citron goby
Anthias
Mandarin
Huge Snails
Hermits
Shrimps
Horseshoe crab

Tons of sps, lps softies and mushrooms growing like crazy under leds

My cousin that has a 215 gal with a 55 gal sump doesn't have clear water like i do on my system and he has just a few fishes only. With my skimmer and phosban reactor it does an amazing job. When i do a water change every 2 to 3 weeks my water is not tinted yellow once so ever. I have tons of water flow and my rocks are extremely clean thanks to all my grassing fish and cleaners. No algae or detritus build up on them.

[AwwNuts]

Sorry for the crappy pics as their cell phone pics

[Pigpen17]

Originally Posted by AwwNuts

Sorry for the crappy pics as their cell phone pics

WOW! Amazing. One day. One day......

[hhoang]

Got my quarantine tank set up, cycled and ready to go! hopefully going to be putting some fish in there this weekend and have them finished in quarantine by the time my tank is done cycling and the CUC is established and doing there thing

Originally Posted by AwwNuts

Sorry for the crappy pics as their cell phone pics

I'm trying to imagine how awesome it looks in person!

[AwwNuts]

Thanks and it looks amazing seeing that variety of fish swimming. Truly peaceful and all happy and well fed

[AwwNuts]

Happy guys and loving the scenery

[hhoang]

I've got my QT set up and cycled. I am going to go to my LFS and pick up these paired clowns that I've had my eye on. They look great, vibrant, active and good appetites. Any tips on preventative measures? A lot of people have been saying cupramine is a good idea for prevention.

Originally Posted by AwwNuts

Happy guys and loving the scenery

What is your light set up? It looks amazing!

[AwwNuts]

In quarantine I just carefully look for signs of ich. If fish gets ich I do hypo salinity and it takes care of the problem. Been very lucky with fish not giving problems. Only had to deal with it 2 times. Also I add garlic to the fish food to enhance their immune system.
As for lighting I have euphotica full spectrum led units. Most awesome. Their like the photon that someone had recommended u at one point earlier in the thread

[Pigpen17]

I'm with nuts here. I am fearful of copper. Some people believe in preventive treatment of copper, and if you are weighing the health of your tank vs the risk to one fish, I guess it makes sense. Not sure if that is what I am going to do though. I think I am going to treat for disease and watch for ich. Then probably drop salinity for treatment.

[hhoang]

Thanks guys I planned on soaking the food with some garlic anyway, I usually do with bettas...Their water quality is questionable. I've only ever had to deal with fin rot and velvet but I feel like I will eventually get hit with ich.

[AwwNuts]

I say as long as u feed the fish well and provide it meals with garlic he shouldn't developed problems at all. Also I would add pcv plumbing elbows of various sizes to provide hiding places for the fish in the quarantine. They are easy to clean after use. Hypo salinity is a great natural method to treat for ich and very successful. Also once u add copper to the quarantine tank u will not be able to use it for inverts and corals as the silicone will absorb the copper making it toxic for those that shouldn't be exposed to copper.

So good feeding and garlic juice is a great preventative in my book