Equipment Check!

[Grendel0501]

I've amassed alot of equipment over the last 2-3 months. I'm trying to be "prepared".
And I think , equipment-wise , I'm ready.

Here's what all I have.
45g Tank , Stand , and spare light
100lbs of rock 50lbs dry and 50lbs live waiting in a friends tank.
40lbs Caribsea live sand
2 Koralia 2's , Visi-therm 200w , mag-float , 2 thermometers , multi-purpose alage tool , tongs , net and some replacement filters for my emporer
4 power filters given to me by random friends with extra equipment , I might use them , I might not.
2 7g portable water container for water changes. I intend to get saltwater made at my LFS.
Sealife systems Wet/Dry which I gutted out , and intend to use as my sump.
Converted wet/dry w/ rio 2100 return and Coralife Super Skimmer already modded out by previous owner , not sure wether I am going to leave it like this or try and fit the skimmer inside the sump. There is a rio 2100 for the return pump. I also have a 18in NO fluorescent fixture w/ GE aquarium bulb that will be used to grow cheato in the sump at night.
Eshopps PF-800 overflow and return plumbing
Odyssea 250w MW + 2x96w CF fixture , the stock ballast pulls 190 , I intend to do Evil66's ballast mod for more wattage. If it's not enough I'll get new ballasts some day. The light will be hung from some bent EMT piping.
I also put together a small shelf to store aquarium stuff. It's also where the timers are mounted.
Last but not least I have a refractometer from NIS on ebay.

I think that's everything , besides some books and magazines.
I figure all I need now is some test kits and maybe afew chems.

What do you think? Am I missing anything? Am I ready to start adding salt water and begin my cycle?

[ihavtats29]

you need a bag of salt and 40 gal of ro/di also a container to keep fresh ro/di in for top off i use 5 gal gass plastic cans from walmart other than that and your test kits , it looks to be time to get it put together and start filling the tank get your salinity and temp right add your base rock and sand once your temp and salinity are stable get the live rock in and let the cycle start in a month or 2 you'll be ready for some fish and corals

[Grendel0501]

Cool , thanks for looking it over for me.

I intend to get saltwater premade from kermit's.
Is it a better idea to get RO from them and mix my own salt?

I have some Instant Ocean Sea Salt and afew chems that came with the original tank , unsure as to the age of all of these , the salt says 2003 on it.
COPPERSAFE was in this stack of chems given me , but the original owner promised me he didn't use any in the tank with the rock. I'm hoping he didn't , otherwise I need to redo the seals and get new dry rock.

The only problem I see is having to add the live rock later , I wasn't thinking about that.

I guess to get my scape right , I'll have to wait acouple of weeks , and sweep the sand out of the way , whereever I intend to put rock.

[ihavtats29]

thier salinity is around 1.024 i keep mine at 1.026. i used to get my water there untill i bought a ro/di , tither way you go you cannot go wrong, you can get a copper test kit or have memphish check for copper in your water after you set it up.


are you going to have a closed loop on your tank ? the 2 ) k-2's mite not be enough if they are new you could change them out for some k-3's then agian you mite be fine with the 2) k-2's.

get your self a good master marine test kit you will be using it allot

[Grendel0501]

From what I read most copper kits can only test for parts per million , where as parts per billion can be deadly to invertibrates.

If that's true , the only way to test down to PPB is using some kind of expensive equipment. If I got any reading off the PPM tests it would be serious.

The seller seemed like a pretty honest/knowledgeable guy and he did say had plenty of corals in the tank before he moved them to a larger tank.

To test for copper , I was going to add some of the CUC and watch them closely.

[ihavtats29]

i dont think you have anything to worry about , ive read there is a type of polypad you can place in the tanks water flow that will change color if there are any trace amounts of copper in it but i dont know if its a reliable way of telling you anything

[Grendel0501]

All I see needing to do now is finish hanging the light , and get a sheet of plexi to line the bottom of my tank. (I'm unsure if my bottom is tempered or not)

I'll get the light finished tonight , and if my buddy with a saw is able to help , I should have the plexi done tommorrow.

And that's it. Whew , what a releif.
I can actually start thinking about what livestock I want.

[Grendel0501]

Ihavtats , I missed earlier where you asked about the Koralia's.

What is a closed loop system?

I have the 2 Koralia 2's and the return pump has a directional flow peice on the return pipe. The return is going to be around 325gph. So that's 600 + 600 + 325 = ~15525gph for a 45g. In my mind that sounds like WAY too much.

[ihavtats29]

you will be surprized i thing you want to make sure of is that you use one of the power heads to keep the top of the water agitated
, like i said you mite be fine and can allways add another if needed, you can also in the future if needed add a closed loop , a closed loop is just taking place of the power heads. your taking water from the main tank thru a pump and back into the tank with multiple return pieces like what you currently have on your return . 1 pump and some pvc can eliminate the need for all the power heads in your tank. i have a closed loop that is going to be on my build in progress that i got from dzones.

[Grendel0501]

I'm a night owl.




It's possible to get all the dead areas in rockwork by just using one super flow closed loop? I imagine there would be dead areas in the rock work.

I'm still debating on placement , I'm hoping the return pump is enough for surface agitation , if so the koralias can be placed deaper. Can't work on placenment until I find a screw to connect the
mounting hardware to the pole.

[Grendel0501]

Got the light hung.
It's nice , to do water changes I can turn push the bar out of the way.



Only thing I don't like , is how much the unsupported end bends under the weight of the light , I wish there was some way around this. I can't think of one. Unless I want to add another bar on the right side to handle the right sides weight.

[Grendel0501]

I have a question.

I picked up saltwater from kermit's about 5 days ago. I thought I was ready to put it in my tank the day I bought it , but I wasn't.
So the water has sat in 2 7g containers over the last 5 days or so , is it still good to use , or should I throw it out to be safe?

I'm hoping to be ready in the next few days , got acouple more projects to finish before I add water.

[ducklabdad]

Should not be a problem as long as the containers are stable.

[Grendel0501]

Stable? You mean like it won't tip over , or something else?

[scarson61]

meaning food grade containers otherwise you might get some plastic leaching, but I would guess it is ok.

[Grendel0501]

I'm pretty sure these arn't food grade.

I got them from walmart for $10 each.
What will plastic leaching cause?

[Mako Shark II]

You're good.

[Grendel0501]

Thanks fo the info.

Wait , are you saying it's ok to have saltwater stored for awhile , or are you saying these are food grade containers?

[Mako Shark II]

LOL! Use the water!

You're going to start to cycling the tank, right? And you're going to use "Stabiliity" by SeaChem to jump start it. (The correct answer is "Yes".)

And of course, you rinsed out those new containers before you put .025 water into it, right?

And you'll do water changes before you add critters.

Ergo, "You're Good".

[Grendel0501]

Ah crap. Didn't wash the containers first.

What is Stability? A tank seeding or fast cycling product?
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Looked it up , looks like some good stuff to help seed my tank.

Do I want to add everything at the same time. IE , dry rock , live rock , live sand , and the stability , all at the same time?

[Mako Shark II]

It's a One-shot deal to jump start the Bio-bed.
Stability
Product Description
Stabilityâ„¢ will rapidly and safely establish the aquarium biofilter in freshwater and marine systems, thereby preventing the #1 cause of fish death: "new tank syndrome". Stabilityâ„¢ is formulated specifically for the aquarium and contains a synergistic blend of aerobic, anaerobic, and facultative bacteria which facilitate the breakdown of waste organics, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate. Unlike competing products, the bacteria employed by Stabilityâ„¢ are non-sulfur fixing and will not produce toxic hydrogen sulfide. Stabilityâ„¢ is completely harmless to all aquatic organisms as well as aquatic plants, thus there is no danger of over use. Stabilityâ„¢ is the culmination of nearly a decade of research and development and represents the current state of the art in natural biological management.

Sizes: 50 mL, 100 mL, 250 mL, 500 mL, 2 L, 4 L, 20 L

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...Stability.html

[Mako Shark II]

If you're going to the meeting, I'll bring you some. LMK.

[Grendel0501]

I'm debating on it , I don't think I'm ready for the club yet. I'll be known as the "crashing tank" guy.

[scarson61]

debate no more, you really should come, and I bet we could be all called "crashing tank" guy at some point in our tank keeping history. IF you are just setting up a wealth of knowledge will be wandering around and be glad to talk tank setup with you.

[Mako Shark II]

Yes, you shold come & meet the folks.

Sort of a: Test drive, before you Buy!