My 140 Gallon Build

[zibba]

Beautiful and unique tank Jonathan. You're right, ammonia should spike to around 3-5ppm, but just continue monitoring it until it drops. That's the more important step. Once it drops, I'd leave the shrimp in for a bit longer (as it will just continue to decay and ammonia will stay elevated) so it continues building up that bacteria population. At least, that's my plan. I'm at a similar position with my tank -- just dry rock at the moment -- and I'm taking a similar path as you on cycling the tank. I am planning to add in a shrimp tonight and get the cycle started before adding any live rock. I'm just going pick up a small piece of live rock to start getting coraline established. Going the route you did and adding 4-lbs of live rock to help start the cycle is harmless and just another way to "skin a cat."

Looking forward to watching you progress.

 

[Aqua fire/medic]

Sweet build! Keep those pics coming!

 

[Jonathan G]

Thanks for the confirmation zibba! Had a little set back yesterday, a threaded connection on my drain line had a couple drops of water on it when I came home last night(I've been checking all the connections daily since I turned the pump on). Gonna use some silicon on the threads instead of the teflon tape just to be sure but I've shut down my pump until I can do that. Probably be a few days till the silicon gets here and it takes 72 hours to cure. I'm hoping that doesn't screw up my cycle. I have my powerheads running and moved my heaters from the sump to the display to keep it heated so hopefully that will help. Will it be an issue to have the water sitting in the sump for 4 to 5 days until I get this taken care of?

 

[zibba]

Personally, I used teflon tape and then a bead (or more) of silicone as a safety net on my threaded connections. On my barbed connections, I went so far as to completely cover the stainless steal clamps with silicone. Belt & suspenders, definitely! But I'd rather be safe than sorry and it's easy enough to peal/cut silicone back if I need to remove the clamps. Are you just getting small drips out of the threaded connections? If so, I'd just redo the teflon tape, silicone the seal, let it set for 24hrs and then test it. I'm not sure if you have a home depot, lowes or some other store nearby, but you can use (and I used) this:

** Just make sure it's "Silicone I" -- you don't want to use "Silicone II"

If you're going to wait for the other silicone to arrive and wait another 72 hrs, I wouldn't worry about the water sitting in the sump for a few days at this point. Just start the cycle in your display. Wouldn't hurt to put a powerhead in the sump to get some circulation and oxygen exchange going. No real rush on any of this stuff since it will take a bit for your cycle to complete once you're back up and running 100%.

 

[Jonathan G]

It's not even dripping, just a drop of water that site on the ridge of the pipe, I wipe it off and come back an hour later and it's back. I let it go for 3 hours and it doesn't get any bigger. I already took it apart once to redo the tape so maybe I'll just silicon around the seal. I'm sort of like you with the belt/suspenders mentality, below the tank in the basement is my theater room and I do not want an issue. Good news though, my ammonia level has been going up the past 4 days, up to 1 ppm as of today. I tested for Nitrite and its at .25ppm.

One more question, I'm running 4 powerheads, 2 upper and 2 lower on a controller and I'm getting some sand movement, some blowing onto some lower rocks. I've cut the lower powerheads for now, should I clean the rocks off or won't the sand affect them?

 

[Jonathan G]

Also how do you edit posts? I can't seem to find the edit button, made a typo in the previous post but couldn't edit it?

 

[zibba]

It's not even dripping, just a drop of water that site on the ridge of the pipe, I wipe it off and come back an hour later and it's back. I let it go for 3 hours and it doesn't get any bigger. I already took it apart once to redo the tape so maybe I'll just silicon around the seal. I'm sort of like you with the belt/suspenders mentality, below the tank in the basement is my theater room and I do not want an issue. Good news though, my ammonia level has been going up the past 4 days, up to 1 ppm as of today. I tested for Nitrite and its at .25ppm.

One more question, I'm running 4 powerheads, 2 upper and 2 lower on a controller and I'm getting some sand movement, some blowing onto some lower rocks. I've cut the lower powerheads for now, should I clean the rocks off or won't the sand affect them?

If that's the case, then a little silicone should do the trick! I had the same issue -- thankfully the leak was on a ball valve over my sump. A little silicone and it was all good.

The sand will settle in over time (think months, not days), so the powerheads will blow the sane around for awhile. If sand is settling on the rocks, you can use a turkey baster to blow it off.

Also how do you edit posts? I can't seem to find the edit button, made a typo in the previous post but couldn't edit it?

The edit button is right below your post but you can only edit posts for a limited time period.

 

[zebe00]

Awesome tank, I was looking at a 200 Gallon bowfront but my wife didn't like the stand color. I got the first 40 gallons in last night and the RO/Di unit is working overtime today!

As for stock, I'm not sure yet. I'd like a community tank, but haven't really sat down to make a list.

Another question about a CUC, when is it time for them and any sugestions? I've heard good and bad about hermits and also curious about snails. I'm going for a DSB and I'm concerned that some of the CUC will consume beneficial inhabitants of the DSB.

As soon as you are cycled you can add the crew, make sure to get a sand sifting star with the DSB. Inverts take a lot longer to acclimate than fish, FYI, so take your time!

 

[skinz78]

Great looking custom tank, I'm looking forward to seeing it wet!

 

[Tangmaniac]

Haven't been here for few days and see some progress , if I was in your place I would redo the connection where leaks developed, just to make sure it's good for long run.

 

[Tangmaniac]

Ohh and also to speed up the process of cycling I have used Microbe Lift Special Blend

 

[Jonathan G]

You and I think alike Tangmaniac, I decided to take it apart and redo it just to be sure. All sealed up and happy suprise the silicon bottle says only a 48 hour cure time. Now a cycling question. My ammonia seems to have spiked at only 1ppm a couple days ago. Now the ammonia is dropping (at .5 ppm last night) and my nitrite is up to 4 ppm. Nitrate is at .25 ppm. I'm concerned that my ammonia didn't spike high enough and that when I add livestock it will cause a mini cycle. I'm thinking about tossing a couple shrimp in to spike the ammonia higher. I'm not concerned about waiting longer I just want to make it's done right.

 

[Tangmaniac]

I wanted to ask you if you added all of your live rock ? I would complete that first and leave it for at least three weeks give it enough time to cure and cycle completely before I add livestock, the key is to be patient .

 

[Jonathan G]

Yes I added all the live rock, but I only used 4 lbs, the rest was dry. That was 2 weeks ago and I only had a spike of ammonia up to 1ppm. I'm thinking I need the ammonia to go higher than that. Good news is the silicon did the trick and everything is sealed and not leaking. I'll have some pics tomorrow. No livestock until everything reads 0, just want to make sure I have enough ammonia eating bacteria that adding livestock doesn't cause a mini cycle. What do you think to adding a shrimp to boost the ammonia?

 

[Tangmaniac]

In that case I would go ahead and add shrimps and let it stay for little longer at this point . I would like to see some pics of your scape . You are off to good start so far .

 

[Jonathan G]

Added a shrimp last night so I'm hoping this will boost the ammonia. Some new pics

Current rockscape. i have about 40 lbs of dry still sitting here but I like the look so far.

Sump up and running

 

[skinz78]

And now the waiting begins.....:xd:

 

[Jonathan G]

Well things seem to be progressing although I'm not sure what to make of the test readings. Tomorrow will be a week since I dropped a 4" shrimp in and I still see no spike in ammonia, it is actually going down. In addition my nitrites which were at 4ppm or higher have started to drop, today it was around 2ppm. Nitrates seem to be going up, I'm in the 20 ppm to 30 ppm range and the color between the 2 is so close I can't really tell. Also I'm seeing some color on the rocks in the refug. I have the lights in the refug on their schedule (8pm to 8am) but don't have the lights on the main tank yet. Here are a couple pics.

 

[revhtree]

Congrats and nice tank so far!

 

[Jonathan G]

So another round of tests and Ammonia is almost gone, nitrite is almost gone, and Nitrate is slowly dropping. I'm thinking that in the next 2 weeks I will be ready for something other than the dead shrimp. To that end I have some questions. I want to add some macroalgea, copepods, and some clean up crew before the fish but I'm concerned that there isn't enough waste to support them without the fish. Is there an order to adding these items? Should I have a couple fish first and then the rest? Also with regards to the dead shrimp, when should I remove it...or should I leave it in and let the cuc take care of it?